The End Of Human Life

July 12

     Dear Diary,

    I don't know where to begin. I'm trapped in a metal room by a man who is assumed to be important. Which, I think he's cruel.

    Let's begin on the part where everyone is running with their mouths hanging open, screaming. I could feel the cruise motion moving from side to side, in any second, it could've toppled into the water. Everyone has an expression of fear. I didn't exactly know what was going on because I just woke up. So, I begin trying to catch up with people and asking them, "what's happening?" Or "why are you running?" Nobody seemed to care about answering my question.

    I ran to an old woman who was walking, and I asked her, "can you tell me what's wrong?" The strange thing about the old lady was that she wasn't running with the crowd, she was walking away from the crowd. I stared at her, waiting for a response. She turned to look at me with rare soft hazel eyes. Her expression looked as if she just remembered what she had to do because she raised her eyebrows.       

     Finally, she spoke, “Follow me.” She walked towards the empty wide hallways. Turned left, then a right, and a left. And towards a wall. We stood there for a minute. Then, the old lady raised her finger towards the rigid maroon wall. She tapped it, once. The wall in front of us turned slowly, and I felt as if I were the wall moving. The old woman walked into the darkness, and I was left behind with revelation. I didn’t want to go on, but something on my feet made me move. As I entered, the wall behind me turned around and I reassured myself that I was going to get out, somehow.

     I stared at the stone walls that we were passing and noticed that there were words or drawings carved into the stone wall. It didn’t make any sense. They weren’t numbers or letters you see. I let my hand touch the stone wall as we passed by inches of the wall. Then, a bolt of shocks went through me, like electricity. My hand felt weak and hurt. I rubbed it. I walked back to the part that shocked me. It was right on numbers, I could read. The set of numbers were:

 15932

   I wanted to ask what the numbers were, but the other part told me to keep quiet. There were torches with fire on the stone wall, which darkened the corridor. Then, I thought of what I was doing. Why was I doing this, anyway? Could I trust her? I stopped at the same place, clenched my fists and prepared for whatever was ahead of me. “Where are you taking me?” I yelled. 

     The old lady continued walking like she couldn’t hear. Does she have hearing problems? I don’t know, but what I do know is probably not what you expected to hear, a bolt of net trapped me and I was stuck in the itchy net in an uncomfortable position. I wiggled and pulled while screaming “Help! Get. Me. Out! Help!” And this time the old lady did turn her head to face me. Her eyes were shining red, like a red flashlight. And she was smiling, a wicked smile. I stared in horror. I felt as if this event couldn’t get any worse. Trapped in the net, the old woman was 11 feet away from me with flashing lights in her eyes. I screamed from the top of my lungs. All I did was to try to find some people, maybe for help because I heard footsteps coming our way. But, it wasn’t coming from the wall we came in, it was coming from the opposite hallway. It wasn’t one footstep, it felt as if there were three. I sat there relieved that someone was coming to rescue me. I could see the shadow of people coming towards us. 

     However, I was wrong. I wasn’t going to be rescued. I could just tell by the look on their faces. As I expected, there were three people. One was standing in front of the two men behind him, looking at me with green and brown eyes. That makes him look even scarier. I yelled, “whatever you’re going to do to me, I won’t let it happen!” I pulled and twisted some more. 

    “Get her out of the net and bring her directly to me. Don’t let her go.” The person in front instructs the persons behind him. The two men nodded and said, “yes sir.” And walked towards me with a stern look. I don’t know what it was, but something about one of the men looked similar. At the moment I couldn’t quite get what it was. It was like stuck in the back of my head, and I couldn’t reach it. The two men somehow managed to get me out of the net, while not letting me go off. They pulled me with their rough hands and squeezed my arm tight and it was painful. I tried to pull back three times, but they always pulled me forward, so it was useless pulling back. As I passed the old woman I said, “thanks for nothing.” I was mad. Why did I trust this stranger? I have never just trusted a stranger because I am a girl who likes to be safe, not in danger. That is when I remembered something I didn’t even notice before.

     On July 10, the same old lady was at the buffet next to me, she seemed to be following me everywhere I went. I just ignored it and thought it was a coincidence. My plate was full and I went to my family’s table where Mom and my brothers, Mike and Taylor sat. But as I started eating my rice, I realized I forgot to get shrimp, my favorite. So I left my plate right where it was, and went to go get some shrimp. When I returned, something fishy was going on, because my plate had more rice than it had before. “Hey...uh, why does my plate have more rice?” I asked everyone on the table.

     Mom finished eating her broccoli she had just shoved into her mouth and said, “Oh, this woman named Martha Jenkins came and gave you more of everything you had on your plate.” Mom looked very pleased with what Martha did. “Darling, isn’t that nice of her?” 

     I didn’t want to get Martha wrong, but something was weird, why would she do that for me? I nodded slowly and continued eating. As I ate, my mind sorta went blank and I forgot a lot of things. I forgot to get mom’s newspaper, what my favorite candy was, but the most important thing I forgot was Martha Jenkins. 

     Now, I’m looking at her with her gangster trying to kidnap me. I mean, I’m only thirteen! Finally, I scowled at her and added, “Martha Jenkins.” I stared at her with rage coming in my blood. I clenched my fists. The old woman looked shocked, probably because their memory wipe didn’t work that well! I was so mad, I wanted to punch them all. But I took deep breaths and calmed myself down like I usually did when I got angry. 

     The man standing in front of me gave an evil look, smiled, and said “Don’t worry. We’ll take good care of you. We will, Abigail. Trust us.” His voice wasn’t pleasing to me. It was somehow impertinent. I didn’t know how he knew my name. It was a horrible feeling knowing that a stranger knew your name. I pulled and jerked from side to side, trying to let go of the two men behind me. “Oh, you don’t want to leave, do you? Cause we are going to have some fun.” The man said. 

     “Who are you?” I said, lifting my chin to face him. I examined his face. He had a thin face with two different colored eyes. He had thin dark eyebrows. He looked as if he hadn’t taken a shower for a long time. But he was wearing a fancy blue suit that didn’t look like it belonged to him. 

     “I am Mr.Power.” The man said with a fake smile. Then his expression changed and he added, “follow me.” He turned around and walked deeper into the dark hallways. It was dark and dusty as if it had sat there for a long time and no one had used it. It looked sad, and for some reason, it made me sad. “As I was saying, I am Mr.Power and you know why?” He asked, extended the word ‘why’ that it sounded like he was saying the letter y. He glanced back at me raising his eyebrows. 

     “Yes. Probably because you think you have all the power from the world, which you don’t.” It felt weird saying those rude words. I am the type of person who was always kind and humble. Not rude. My soul aches with disappointment. I didn’t want to be a rude person. I stared back at the old woman looking at the floor while walking. As I examined her more, she did look old, she had tons of wrinkles around her face and hands. I felt sorta bad for her, but my anger took over me again. She had let this happen to me.

      Mr.Power laughed. It echoed around us like a ghost moving gracefully through the air. Forward and back. It made his voice sound smaller and maybe thinner. “Of course not!” He said, between talking and laughing that he began snorting. Then he stopped laughing and snorting and walked faster. “I have quite some power, though.” He raised a finger in the air while putting a hand behind his back like a teacher would do. “According to my calculations, I have more power than any person with two guards. As I already said, I have power. I can make things that no one can. Because I have….” He paused and looked at me waiting for a response, probably. “Power!” He screamed. 

     Finally, we arrived at our destination, because Mr.Power stopped. The hallway was the same as it was before. My heart pounded, what was ahead of me. Was I in danger? How can I get out? Am I gonna ever leave? Mom? HELP! All these thoughts ran through my mind like race cars zooming past leaving a dust of gas which was my fear. I wanted to cry and yell right at that moment. But I forced myself to not. 

     Mr.Power turned around to look directly at me. I assumed he was going to start telling me something secret and dark but he didn’t he said, “John, Paul, you know what to do.” He said as if he were talking to me. I waited. Then the two men pulled me towards a wall and we stood there for a minute. A flash of red light scanned us and the wall turned around, smoothly. I was so surprised, I wondered if there were more secret doors like this. A motion of fresh air flowed past us as the door opened freely. Inside the room were walls that shimmer. It was metal. There was a chair in the middle and that was it. I stared in disbelief. Was I going to stay there for the rest of my life? How awful! The guards pushed me in and I pushed back. But, of course, they won. And as soon as I entered the wall behind me closed and I was trapped. Maybe for life. 

      I stood there for a long time, standing. Thinking about what I was going to do. Thinking about Mom, Mike, and Taylor. I couldn’t stand living without my brothers bothering me. Then something hit me, hard. It wasn’t a physical hit, it was a mental hit. I remembered my father! He was… I mean he is John. My father was being controlled by Bossy Mr.Power! I couldn’t stand the thought. It was like a thing that I couldn’t believe no matter how hard I tried. I finally walked to the plastic blue chair and slopped into it and cried. I cried like I never cried before. I cried because my father was being controlled by a kidnapper. I cried because I was being kidnapped. And I believed I would never get out. I walked towards the wall and saw a keypad where there were numbers. It was 5 digit code. I smiled a small smile while remembering the numbers I had seen earlier. I tapped each number with encouragement and delight while crying. The wall made a sound of a click and it opened. I stared at the floor in front of me with surprise. I had just cracked one the code. Yes! I beat you, you false smartie Power! I cried with happiness. But I had nothing to lose and stepped forward. 

     “Don’t cry. I’ll tell you everything. I promise.” I looked up and saw Martha Jenkins. I examined her face and I couldn’t tell whether she was telling the truth or lying. The truth was that she did look kind and welcoming, but I was so angry I couldn’t imagine her telling the truth. She took hold of my hand and pulled me back to my chair. I sat and sniffled. I was ready for the truth. Hopefully, the true truth. “Mr.Jone. I mean...Mr.Power-”

     “Wait. His real name isn’t Mr.Power?” I couldn’t help disturbing. I wanted to laugh at Mr.Power and his big lie. I did get to manage a small giggle. 

     “Yes. He changed his name, so he could become a better person, he had said. Though, I don’t see how that could change a thing.” Martha said, smiling a little. Then her mode changed, it was dark and sad. If I had to choose a color for the mood it would’ve been dark blue. “Want me to spill the truth?” I nodded slowly, unsure. “You are not human. You are a robot.” She said those words as if they were natural. As if it was her flesh and blood. I couldn’t breathe. I sat there still. How were you supposed to act, when you just found out you are a robot? I don’t know, but I cried like a baby wanting its teddy bear. I cried because I wanted to be human. 

     Blink. Blink. I was crying. I rubbed my eyes and I adjusted my eyes to my room. I was home, not in a metal wall room. I was a human, not a robot. I took a deep breath full of relief. I hugged my teddy bear beside me and was thankful for being a human and not being controlled by someone. Now here I am, writing my nightmare. Yawn. I’m tired. I’ll write to you tomorrow. 

P.S: Now I’m scared of robots.

              Love,

                         Abigail Powell