The Way They Want It

NOTE: THIS DOESNT GO WITH THE PROMPT.

CARSON

I wake up to a blinding light shining right at my eyes. I wince when I bring up my hand to block the light. The light is the sun. My eyes focus on my surroundings and I look around in confusion. My eyes water from pain when I push myself into a sitting position. My head is pounding with pain.

I look at my hands and find them full of cuts and scrapes, the skin rubbed off. I touch the back of my throbbing head and my hand comes back covered in blood. My heart freezes in fear. What is going on? How did I end up like this?

i don’t remember anything from the last twenty-four hours. My back aches from the time I’ve spent lying on the hard asphalt. I grunt as I push myself onto my feet. I see the world spinning right before I fall back down into a sleepless dream.

SIX DAYS LATER

I walk out of the doors of the hospital in confusion. I don’t ache as much and the back of my head has stopped bleeding, but why was I so injured in the first place? Deep down in my gut I know it wasn’t just some freak accident. I didn’t just fall. When I was half conscious on the asphalt, I studied my surroundings. I didn’t know a place so dull and grey could exist. There wasn’t a single cheerful color in sight. I thought that all the world was made of bright colors. This doesn’t make any sense.

i look at everything I’ve ever known and wonder for the first time if everything is too cheerful. Everyone always wears a smile, no one is ever sad or angry. Or any other negative emotion. ‘It is our job to be happy’ that’s what everyone always says. It’s like our motto.

i remember looking up at the sky when I was lying there, unable to move. I remember thinking it looked strange. It was a clear blue color instead of its usual cloudy pink. The sky has always been pink, it goes along with our cheerful world. The blue was interesting. It looked peaceful, pretty. Not overly bright, just peaceful. I’ve never thought about it before, but everything seems wrong now. Too bright and cheerful. I look around and see people milling about. There’s something strange about that. Not that people are out walking, but it seems like everyone in the town is out at the same time.

and not only are they all out, but they are all walking exactly the same. Same exact movements. Like they are all puppets. This has never happened before. I’ve always taken notice of how unique everyone around me is. It’s part of who I am. Then….what’s changed?

the normal scent of the air burns my nose, making me cough. I cover my nose and mouth with my shirt and rush to my apartment. When I enter my apartment, the same scent assaults me, clogging up my senses. I look around and find a spray bottle with a fresh scent in it. I give it a try and breathe a sigh of relief when it covers the sweet smell. My brain feels foggy and I’m not sure why. It felt normal in the hospital. It only took five minutes outside for my head to start pounding again.

was it the air? I take a deep breath of air and my headache gradually goes away and my mind clears. I’ve heard people saying that the government houses have a different smell to them, maybe like a different type of air. Like I just did in this room.

whenever the government comes to town, they always are wearing masks. I’ve always thought it was to hide their identities, but maybe it’s really to keep them from smelling the air. Images flash through my mind, me on the asphalt. Me in the hospital. The robot-like people in town. The pink sky. The blue sky. It all rushes in on me.

i stumble back into a table as a realization hits me. This is the only town that has pink skies. Everywhere else has blue. The cheerfulness only happens here, along with the smiles. Something is going on here, and I intend to find out what it is.