Servitude

Chapter One

I sat staring at the one-way mirror spanning the whole front wall, watching the people walk past. Just like I did every morning. I have, in fact, been doing it every morning since I was five. At least that's the age I had convinced myself I was. But who knows!

I used to wonder where they went and what they did. But after many years of pondering the same question with no answers, after a while I forgot all about that and just watched the people.

It's crazy that I had watched them so long, but I had never once learnt anything about them. Seeing as it was only a corridor, people didn't stay long enough so never had a conversation's, I guess I never really saw the point.

At roughly the age of six I had worked out, it was a one-way mirror or, to them, just a mirror. that was because when people came up to it, they would smile then fix their hair and clothing.

I had tried to scream many times, but never got their attention, it never worked.

They never heard me.

Even though I couldn't speak to them, I tried and guess what they would say. I remember I use to play that game where if someone spoke, I would tried copy them and mimic what I thought their voices sounded like. Some very weird stuff was said!

After that it was clear I wasn't the best lip reader in the world.

One thing that I had learnt though, the room was special, as nobody saw in, and no voices could travel through it. In fact, the only voices I had ever heard were my own and the voices of my holders.

The holders were well... just look at the name.

My holders.

They hold me here.

I had never seen their faces as they wear masks covering them. It seems they liked to be mysterious because they even covered themselves in black clothing, so they all looked identical. But they did talk. Usually, was only a few sentences like.

'Sit.'

'Stand.'

'Clean.'

'Food.'

I guess they were not so much sentences just words.

When I was a kid, I tried to talk to them, but after a while, I just accepted that any kind of response was impossible.

It's been very lonely living day in and day out by yourself. It would be nice if I had a conversation now and again, but I never had anyone to talk too.

No friends.

No family.

Just me.

I like my company, but I still got lonely, especially watching the people walking along, smiling, and laughing. I wanted that. I've never had anyone to care for, but as relationships grew all I could did was watch through the window, it made me wish I did.

I sometimes wonder if there were others like me. Others that sat in their rooms all day without social interaction. If there were others with cuffs on their arms and ankles that tightened every time they so much as thought of stepping out of the doors.

You see, I was a test subject.

I think?

I had been at that facility for as long as I could remember. I knew I had been here my whole life because that place was the only place I'd know. Even that might be in-accurate as I don't remember much from my early childhood. If I tried too, I just got blurry visions with flashing lights, and sometimes I even got stinging pains all over my body. It was not a nice feeling, so I tried not to reminisce too much.