Beyond the Thorns: A Novel

I’m walking away from someplace. The Lab. Or what was once the Lab, and what’s now ruins. Almost like a supernatural being dipped the broken walls in tar and placed them in an abstract sculpture after setting a large fire onto the foundation. Someone beside me pointed upward, I looked and saw a mural. Like the one in the Yard. But this one was different, I didn’t see any walls. Or an end to it. Is this the real sky? I inhaled a lungful of the air, it was stale. Like the Lab. I felt a falling sensation that signaled my awakening to reality. I wake up on a hard platform, I hear one of the Curio click their pen in.

“Jess- not now,” one of them hisses underneath their breath.

I sit up and blink, the Curio with a pen started to ask me questions. The usual, "did I dream?", "What did you witness in your dream?", and intense jotting down of notes. I answer them with a fake dream, one about a raccoon holding a teddy bear and other raccoons fighting it for the teddy bear. Abstract and confusing, perfect for their hyperactive imagination and brains.

They send me back to the Yard and left, minds highly focused on the dream I ‘dreamt’. I look around, wondering where to sit and process the vision. Before I decide, a Tested my age waves towards me. The girl that goes by Unkno, I remember. I silently walk over to where she sat, her left arm (my right) was bandaged up in at least three centimeters of gause. Their tests on her must be bloody.

“Do you need me?” I ask.

“Nope, just wanted to hang out with ya’,” she beamed.

“Okay,” I sit down beside her on the bench, I guess this could work for zoning out.

“How did you get here? The Lab I mean,” Unkno asks. I answer honestly.

“Really? Normally people have at least some memories of their family. Not to offend you-” she deadpans.

“It’s fine, I believe my parents died soon after I was born and the government took custody of me. The rest is history I guess,” I explain. Gosh, why is she so talkative?

“Kind of funny, I dunno what happened to my parents either, not even a name nor keepsake. I guess we’re one and the same in that way,” Unkno smiles, looking down at the tile floor.

“Mm,” I respond. My brain clicked, “let’s stick together, I have a feeling something is coming. Something that’ll change everything for us in here.” I lock eyes with her, hoping Unkno understands.

“Like what?” She asks, curiosity flooding her eyes.

“I don’t know, I saw a vision of the Lab, gone. And everyone was out in the real world,” I glance up, the mural seems even more unrealistic, “with real sky.”

She doubts my power. I’m not surprised.

“It’s my ability, I can see a future in my dreams or another place in the present.” I describe the abnormality with a monotonous tone, as I do every time.

“Wow, that’s nice. I can’t do anything like that! All I can do is not die from extremely painful stuff.” She responds with amazement. I don’t understand why everyone does, ”we should keep everyone together. Maybe then all of us could escape.”

“Heh,” I huff, “I dunno if that future will even happen. We might live here until they kill us and dump us out who knows where.”

“But it wouldn’t hurt to try and make that future a reality, right?” Unkno asks.

“We can try, if you want to get you and most in here punished for it.”

She starts to yap about the advantages we have over the Curio.

I hesitate, “you’re right, it’s at least worth a try. And then maybe we can see the real world,” I offer out my hand. Hoping I didn’t make the situation more weird. We did just start talking to one another.

“All we can do is try,” Unkno took my hand and firmly shook it once. I mentally congratulate myself as we nod in sync, (which felt satisfying in the oddest way).

“So what can I call you?” Unkno asks, a dumb smile branching across her face.

“Everyone calls me Mist, but I don’t really have a name besides the number the Curio branded me with.” I say after an awkward pause.

“I like it! It’s better than ‘Unkno’ that’s for sure. But call me Cana, I like that much more than a shortened version of unknown.” She tells me animatedly as we release one another’s hands.

“Cana and Mist! The Saviors of Salvation!” She spans her arms out like she was unveiling a title, though it was a little awkward with her bandaged arm.

“That’s a little powerful, it makes us feel like gods or something,” I criticize.

“What about… The Destruction Duo,” Unkno- er Cana says in a stage-whisper, repeating the action with her arms.

“That makes us sound like we’re a part of ‘The Cruelest Villains of All Time’,” I copy her arm motion.

She makes a pout of disapproval at the mimicry, before quickly stiffening and facing the door to the Yard that just previously opened.

“Yer curvew’ ‘as star'ed. Get to yer beds,” A Curio with a think accent commanded as everyone dropped what they were doing and made their way out of the Yard. We all mindlessly walked to our assigned bunk-esque beds and placed the single sheet over our bodies, resting out heads on the thin pillow and closing our eyes. If we don’t, who knows what they’ll do to us.