Tasteless Apple

By Emmerson Meurett

A singled beam of light insinuated itself into the pitch black room, cutting through the darkness like a blade. Gazing at it... the first light I'd seen in months. I stood up, and walked over to a mirror on the other side of the room. I'd forgotten my hair color, my eye color, what I'd had on for clothes. I didn't recognize the pale skinned, dull eyed person in front of me. I punched the mirror and the light turned off. It was starting again. The walls of the room tightened together, so I moved up. Leg, Leg, Arm, Arm. My muscles burning with pain. Leg, Leg, Arm, Arm. My wrists and ankles buckling. I'd make it this time... nothing would stop me. Leg, Leg, Arm, Arm. Leg, Leg, Arm, And there was a ledge under my finger tips. One more push and I'd make it. Leg, Leg. And I made it. This time, there were two beams of light crossing in an "X" in the middle of the room. They blinked on, off, on to red. I was running out of time. I dove to the center of the lights and the whole room was white. I knees and elbows taking most of the blow were weak. I turned my body over and sat up. I looked like a deer in head lights <i>(cliche)</i>. I was so scared. But that was their purpose, I'd broken the rules. The floor began to rise, now I was compacted horizontal instead of vertical. I shouldn't have turned my body over. Everything looked bright, but it all looked the same. Being in the white room was almost as scary as the dark one. I was writhing between the two metal plates. I reached my arms out and tried to squirm my way forward. This wasn't over yet, I'm not giving in now. Arm, arm, and pull. repeat. repeat.. repeat... until I fingers met another edge. The space between the ledge and the vertical wall was only big enough of the thickest part of my body to fit through. I pulled myself through the tiny space. My shoulders and hips taking it the hardest. What was ahead of me was the hardest part. I couldn't see well enough to tell if it was really it or not, but I'm almost positive I'd made it out. Thank God. A single beam of light cut through the darkness like a blade. I could hear the breathing of a separate entity from myself. "Hello?" My voice was shaky. "Hello." A voice said back to me. This voice was harsh, it cut trough the air and all his words crammed in to my ears. "What is next?" As soon as the last syllable fell from my lips, a second beam of light came the other side of the room. Then a third lit up right in the center. The went from white. To Red To yellow To green. And then back off. The floor fell out from beneath us. My body landed with a hard curplunk on to a dirt floor. I haven't been so close to the outside in so long I'd forgotten that this is what it felt like to have dirt between your toes. The four acrylic walls around me and the other person around me. It revealed that I was outdoors. In the light, with trees, and the sun, and fresh air and... my brother. I remember our story. We'd both been put in reassignment after we tried to escape. We'd been so close, seeing him now was like seeing a whole new person. I ran to him and hugged him.

"Joshua, speak to me!" I spoke to him. Hello was the last thing he ever said to me.

"Say something!" I yelled. We stood in the middle of the box, between, as if from the heavens to apples fell. 

He traced two fingers down the middle of his throat. 

"Can you not talk?"

He nodded yes.

he bent over to pick up the apples, and handed one to me. I took a bite in to it, it was the first real thing I'd eaten for so long. when I pushed my tongue against the roof of my mouth to truly taste the juiciness of the sweet apple, I couldn't taste it. I felt the juice go down my throat, but I felt like I wasn't eating. My brother continued to eat in front of me, savoring every bite of that apple.

"I can't taste it." I said

He looked confused and handed my his apple. I tried his, it was equally as tasteless.

"What's wrong with me?" I handed his apple back to him, he kept eating. 

He gestured to me to keep eating. I did, not getting nutrients was the worst thing I could do. The sun was beating against my skin... I could feel my pale body burning.  My hair was down to my waist at this point, seeing it for the first time in forever, I'd forgotten how blonde it was. How the sun washed out my highlights and they looked almost white. My brother had the same hair color as me. It wasn't as long, he was bald when we'd tried to escape, and grew quite slow. It was ear length, so very long for a young man. 

He was laying on his back, soaking up the sun. even though his long brown trousers and long sleeved brown t shirt really kept him from doing that.