《Normality: The Story of Two Siblings》


 First Step Outside

    Their story starts not by breathing air for the first time, but opening their eyes in a cylinder of liquid. For both, from the moment they were born, they were surrounded by white lab coats. Needles were poked into their skins and they became tied to IV bags, never allowed to eat actual food.


    Their worlds were filled with the color white. From their clothes and furniture to their hair and the walls. The only colors they could see were the different skin tones of the people who came to check up on them, and the colors that they were introduced to them only once.


    Their hearing and sight was tested on a daily basis. Their memory was tested every month, and they were required to remember things from the moment they were born. The first face they saw, the first thing they did, it would always be something from a long time ago.


    They didn''t have names, only numbers. Their only access to the outside world was the occasional person dressed in the finest fashion who did nothing but fiddle with their bodies and stare at them from behind a piece glass.


    They were taught everything that could be fit in their heads. From proper manners on every front, to every language, mathematics, the history of every country, science, phycology. Everything that could be taught was taught to them one after another. And then, they were killed. For reasons that were never told to them, they were killed. As though, they were filled with flaws from the moments they were born.


    The process happened over and over again. Before they even managed to configure a sense of self. Before they could do something on their own. Before they could even speak their own opinions. Death would find them over and over and over and over. And they remembered every single death. They remembered every number, name, person. They remembered everything. It was from those experiences that they formulated their personalities.


    And then, while being called 100A and 100B, the two were allowed to meet for the first time as an experiment. The white coated people wanted to know how they would react to someone who was the same as them. The product of multiple experiments and testing. A child born not from a women''s womb. An artificial life form.


    At first, the two were surprised. The person in front of them had the same silver hair and clothes. Their eyes were probably the same too. The same black obsidian eyes. They were complete copies of each other. It was as though they were the same person, and it put them on guard. After all, they learned the doppelg?nger theory, and were scared that they would get absorbed by the other. But then, they started circling each other. Finding the differences between the two. Finding the theory to not affect them.


    One was male and one was female. They didn''t seem to be the same age because they weren''t the same height. The male component of the two was taller and a little more developed, proving that he was older. The female was smaller in comparison making her younger and a bit bolder.


    "Like me," she said, speaking for the first time.


    The male was surprised to suddenly hear her voice and was taken aback. He smiled and patted her on the head, "Like you."


    The interaction between the two changed all of the experiments from then. From then on, all of their tests were taken together, and they started living in the same room. They practiced talking together until they could form full sentences and have a proper conversation with another person. They played games provided by the white coated people like chess checkers, and card games. The two had become dependent on each other slowly but surly.


    "I win." 100B said. They played multiple games of chess over the past hour that always ended in the girl''s win.


    "It''s pretty boring playing with the same person all the time, huh? Knowing that you''re going to win?" 100A asked. 100B shook her head in response, her silver hair slightly flowing side to side, "It''s better then not having anything to do."


    "Right. Staring at a wall all day is also boring. Wanna play again?"


    100A started resetting the chess board like he''d done the last few times they played.


    "Do you want to play again?" 100B said with a little guilt. "You always ask if I want to play, but you never say whether you wanted to. It''s always what I want."


    100A smiled his heart a little fluffy inside, "Do you feel bad about that?" he asked. 100B nodded slowly which caused him to laugh out of joy. "Why would I not want to play with my little sister?"


    100B froze, "Little sister? Me?"


    She''d never thought that having a family was an option for her. 100B didn''t even have a mother, so what family could she have. Yet, the boy in front of her, someone who was just like her, claimed that she was his sister. That the two of them were family. It was something she never imagined happening before. Like how she could''ve never imagined that there was an existence just like her who would gladly lose in chess to her over and over.


    "Yep, my little sister," he said, a gentle smile on his face, reassuring every single thought that was in 100B''s mind.


    "Umm, then," she was a little flustered, "Would you play with me again...big brother?"


    "Oh my god..." he stood up and hugged his sister, ruining the chess board set up, "You''re so cute!!!"


    100A hugged his sister tightly and had their cheeks rub together.


    In truth, 100A had always imagined lively expression on his sister''s face. Emotions like happiness, excitement, or awe. After all, from the moment they were allowed to meet, he''d only seen subtle expression on her face. Like when she was focused on something, her eyes would only close the tiniest bit. Or when she was annoyed, her jaw would just slightly clench. When it came to smiling, 100A had never seen a hint of it. Not the smallest up turn of her lips. Yet, just now, without having to observe every facial muscle, he''d seen his little sister flustered. And, it was nothing like what he imagined. Honestly, it was 100x cuter then he thought it would be, and it made 100A start worrying for another person to see it and want to take her away. It was the first thing he had to fear.


    "W-What!? Why are you being so weird?!"


    "How did I survive without you!? My cute, darling little sister!"


    100B hugged her brother back with a small smile, "You''re exaggerating...stupid."


    "So cute!!!"


    After the two played a few more games, they both had their IV bags changed by a white coated who walked into the room. Like always they dd exchange a single word with the people who fed their bodies nutrients. They didn''t even pay mind to the changing of the bags and just continued on with another game of chess.


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    "Knight C3."


    "Pawn H5..." 100B yawned, and that caught her brother''s attention. Though, 100A did find it a bit weird that 100B was tried out of nowhere. Just a moment ago they were talking without a hint of drowsiness, but now, 100B''s eyes were slowly drooping. Even 100A was starting to feel the sleepiness of his sister. It was sort of unnatural, but who were they to go against it.


    "Are you tired? Want to take a nap?" 100A said before even deciding his next move.


    "Yeah..." she said, dosing off and eventually passing out next to the board. Her older brother managed to catch her before hitting the ground. Though this sudden sleepiness was unnormal for them, 100A wasn''t going to mind it. He just smiled and carried her to bed she slept in.


    When he was about to walk away, after laying her down, he found the his little sister had grabbed onto his sleeve. He felt bad about having to force her to let go, and since he was tired too, he decided to just share the bed with her. He covered the both of them with the white sheets and hugged his sister.


    "Sleep well, my little sister," 100A said.


    When the two woke up again, they found themselves in different rooms. Again, they were all alone in rooms made of nothing but white, and in front of each other them were formal clothes all in white with instructions to put them on. In which case, they did. From past experiences, they found that resisting any order given to them, verbally or written, would only result in punishments that they never enjoyed. Punishments like excessive blood letting, confiscating their IV bags, overstimulation that prevented sleep, and other unsavory things. So, with a simple order like putting on different clothes, there was no reason to even consider putting up resistance. Plus, a wardrobe change signified someone important coming. the punishments would only worsen if they did something to interfere with that.


    100B wore a plain white dress that was made up of two layers. One being silk which was the under layer, and the top layer was a while sheer fabric. Her shoes were 3in heals that were simple slip-on''s. Complementing that, 100A wore a full white tuxedo with white dress shoes.


    The two felt uncomfortable in such clothes, as they''ve never worn something so formal, but they''d gotten used to it minutes after they''d put them on. After putting everything on, white coat''s had walked into the room and pulled the two of them out then shoved them into different cars without getting the chance to see each other or even a strand of the other''s hair.


    While in the cars, the two couldn''t see anything. The windows within their vision were covered by black curtains, and the lights in the car weren''t on causing their sight to be completely useless. However, if there was one thing the two of them knew. They knew that they were surround by people. There was no way to break out of the car even if they had the strength to do that. It''s not like they had the common sense to survive in the real world anyway. Their worlds have always been a single room dashed in white, and they only knew how to communicate with each other. They could have all the knowledge in the world, but it wouldn''t help them survive on the streets.


    "Get out of the car."


    The two got pushed out of the car and were in awe of what they saw. It was a mansion. One decorated shades of yellow and orange. They loved it. Though, 100B loved the color more then her counterpart. She didn''t even notice when her brother took a glance at her awing the building. He was glad that his sister was loving the outside world even more then he was.


    "Don''t keep standing there. Keep walking," said the person who pushed them out of the car who seemed to be going inside of the colorful mansion with them. Following the person''s order, the two walked next to each other into the building with their white coated supervisor behind them.


    The inside of the building was way more impressive then the outside, or maybe it was because there was a party going on. Still, it was amazing. There were more people then they could count dressed in al sorts of colors that intertwined. It was beautiful. Then, there was the splatter of food, something the two kids had only seen in pictures and their imagination. the scent that wafted over to them from the table was almost irresistible. The two itched to run over to the table and shove some of the food in their mouths. The entire scene was something they only got to imagine. It was the biggest part of the real world they''ve ever got, and it was better then everything they imagined and saw through photographs. But, the two didn''t have the time to explore the place. They weren''t there to play around.


    "Go on. The director is waiting for you."


    Their supervisor pointed to a man in one of the groups of people, and they walked towards the director together without complaint.


    The first face they''d ever saw. His smiling face was the first thing both pairs of obsidian eyes laid on. His smile of success. The look of pride and excitement for when he reached the wanted outcome. The first and only time they saw him. From what they learned, the director was their father. Well, like their father. At least, he was the one who brought them into the world.


    When the two got to the director''s side, they stood there, straight faced. None of their wants to run to the food buffet or look around the hall venue, could be seen on their faces. Right then, they were just puppets to have their strings pulled.


    "These are the two I was talking about. My little experimental miracles."


    Miracles...? Of course, they were a great success. They were the first artificial lifeforms that were able to walk around on their own and communicate. They were beings that were illegal to exist, yet an achievement that was sought out by. Though, using that word, miracles, did catch their attention, but it was only for a moment. Being called such a thing, didn''t matter in the long run.


    "Go on, introduce yourselves," the director said, finally looking at the two of them. Both looked at the people in front of them. It was a mix of both gender, ages, and clothing types. However, if there was one similarity they could pick up on, it would be the fact that all the people in front of them were of high standings. The crowed was filled with faces they were told to memorize. All of them interested in their composition and actions.


    100A went first and step forward to introduce himself. Using the manners he''d learned while confined to a room, he put his right hand over his heart and bowed, "It''s a pleasure meeting you on his fine evening. My name is 100A. I hope our interactions are as pleasant as this beautiful night."


    The women in the crowed were in awe at how polite he was. His mannerisms were perfect and his speech was flattering. It was more then they expected from a lab made creature. They talked about how a person like him would be the perfect man for their daughter to marry, and it set quite the precedent for the girl''s introduction.


    100B picked up her dress by pinching the fabric as she put her right foot forward, gently bent her knees, and slightly lowered her head, "It''s quite the pleasure meeting all of you extravagant people tonight. My name it 100B. I wish you many years of health."


    The crowd was impressed by 100B too. Her introduction was just as proper as the boy''s. Her words were flattering and from no perspective could be taken as an insult. Even her curtsy footing, which was commonly forgotten, was correct. Both of their introductions majestic, and it made the people want the two for themselves. Their unworldly appearance and actions, it was something each person in the crowed wanted for themselves, and it was a greed clearly seen.


    The people surrounding them started closing in. Their hands reaching out to feel the unworldly features, and the eyes that were full of envy. Thankfully, before their hair was grabbed by every person and their skin was touched. Before they were treated like exhibit animals, the director stepped between them and everyone, "Unfortunately, we haven''t gotten to test them in real world situations, so they aren''t ready for intense interactions with other people. Please, don''t approach them rashly."


    The people in the crowed chuckled nervously saying that they understood and was looking forward to such tests happening.


    Real world situations...? The two of them were ecstatic, on the inside only. Did that mean that they were going to be able to explore the real world? The one thing they always wanted. Was it finally going to happen? The one test they''ve always been waiting for?


    "For this test, is it possible that I could house them?" One of the party attendees asked the obvious interest and greed still in their eyes. The director shook his head, "We haven''t decided when the test was going to take place, but if you send a request, I''ll make sure to take it into consideration. I wouldn''t want my little miracles ending up in the wrong hands."


    Everyone started laughing, agreeing with what the director said. However, the two "miracles" were excited. They''d just learned that they were going to be allowed to explore outside. They couldn''t wait to see all of the beautiful things of the outside world.

 Truth

    With the director¡¯s words, the 100A and 100B left the party early. Although, they''d never got the chance to explore the venue and just stuck to the director''s side as ordered which sucked, but they kind of expected. It was their first time outside, and there was no chance that they weren''t going to be monitored. But, they had to admit that getting their first taste of the outside world was exciting, and it was even better when they found out they would be able to walk around that same world in due time. They found many things to look forward to, unlike before where their future was filled with only white walls and multiple tests.


    The car trip back was different then the trip there. Unlike before, 100A and 100B weren''t just shoved into a car with no explanation of where they were going, and they able to ride in the same car together with there were no curtains over the windows. They were allowed to see the outside world while the sun was away for the first time. What the were looking at weren''t the pictures they would get quick glances at, but the real thing. And with all of the electric lights lighting up the busy buildings and streets, it looked like a night sky filled with dozens of stars. Truthfully, they wanted to jump out of the car, and start their exploration of modern society, but they couldn''t because the director was in the car with them.


    It had been the first time the two of them were alone with the director. After being created, they''d never even seen his face past the moment of his child like excitement while looking at them floating in a large test tube. While he was like their father, the two of them didn''t know what he thought of them because they''d never been around him. They didn''t know what he wanted from them. They didn''t know why he''d brought them outside or why they were even created in the first place. Yes, after all that time surrounded and being taken care of by people with lab coats, neither 100A or 100B figured out the reason for their creation. So, they were nervous. For the first time in their lives, they were nervous. They sat in the car proper and mature like in hopes of giving off a good impression. They stopped their urges to run to the window to look outside and stayed sitting down in their seats. They wanted to impress, like every child, their father figure, but seeing the kids act so mature, just made the director smile, "Relax a little. You kids are too tense. It''s your first time outside, so look outside."


    Given the go ahead to act childish, the two kids ran to the nearest window and looked outside. Now, they''d gotten a closer look at the man made stars that they passed by one after another because of the speed of the car. They saw the tall office skyscrapers, apartment buildings, trees, and people who were coming out of clubs. 100A took the chance to point out everything he could to his little sister as though he''d seen everything before even though he was in the same situation as her.


    "And that''s an auditorium. It probably has a big stage inside."


    "For orchestras and bands?"


    "Um-hm! Stuff for entertainers, award ceremonies, and graduations."


    "And fireworks."


    "Yeah! Seeing colors shoot into the sky and spread across the stars seems pretty right?"


    100B nodded, "I want to see that one day."


    "Can we? Director?" 100A asked without giving much thought and turning to look at the director. However, as soon as he realized what he said, he bowed his head, "I got ahead of myself. I apologize."


    There was no way he was actually going to take them to see anything. Just going outside the facility was something he only dreamed of. It was rude to ask for anything more. Just being able to see all of this through his own eyes should be enough for him, but his sister did want to see it. Still, it wasn''t his place. No matter how much his sister or him wanted more, they should never ask.


    "You want to see fireworks?" the director asked. 100A only smiled, "No, it''s alright. This outing was more than enough for us."


    "Is that so?" he asked, "I had planned to go shopping with the two of you."


    Shopping, huh? They''ve never done that before. They wondered what it was like to pick things out for themselves. Getting different colors of clothes in all sorts of styles, or toys that peak their interest, or maybe even books. Actually, just setting foot in a store sounded fun. All of the different colors organized on shelves and hangers. Choosing sounded fun, but looking at everything, observing the surroundings, seemed better.


    100B grabbed onto her brother. It was clear that she wanted to go but was hesitant about it, same as him. They''d never had someone from the facility pay attention to what they wanted to do. It was abnormal. From their studies, they learned that people don''t do good things without wanting something in turn, and usually, that something was bigger then the past kindness. It was suspicious.


    "Do you not want to? If that''s not interesting we could go to a buffet. If I remember correctly, you two have never eaten actual food."


    A buffet? They''d never been to one of those either. They had saw the food spread at the party and honesty wanted to try some, but they were by the director¡¯s side so much that there wasn''t a chance to go look at the table. It was a little sad that they didn''t get to eat a single bite. And honestly, it sounded really good. The sweetness of desserts, the sourness of lemons, the juicy flavor of well cooked meat. All of it made their mouth water.


    "Or you two can laze around and watch tv."


    TV?! 100A always had an interest in that kind of stuff. The people who acted out different scenes as though it was their life. The over exaggerated reactions. It was probably a fun activity.


    100A wanted to give in right there, but he felt the uneasy hold of his sister grabbing onto his sleeve. Despite everything the director said, she still didn''t trust him. She didn''t know what he wanted. She could never trust a person who''d yet to give a reason as to why he created two artificial humans. There was obviously some story there, and she was sure if it was a good one. She wanted it to be a meaningful one.


    "But that would be difficult to do in those clothes, so I''ll take the two of you back and let you think on it a bit. How does that sound?"


    The two of them nodded their heads, silently agreeing that they were going to talk about what to do when during their thinking time in their white room.


    The car stopped, "Go on and get some rest now. Partying is really exhausting,¡± the director said to the two, and the door was open by a guy in a traditional black tuxedo with sunglasses.


    "Yes, director. Thank you for taking us out today," 100A said.


    "Thank you," 100B said, quietly, right after.


    After that, the two got out of the car and were led back into the building. They changed into their normal white clothes, and laid on their separate beds. However, they found that their beds were pushed together making it so it was more like a single bed that the two of them shared.


    "Do you want to go along with it?" 100A asked his little sister. After all, her opinion was more important then his own. She was small and more fragile then him. If someone even grabbed her wrist hard, he worried that she would get hurt. It was also the reason why he was wary of stepping into the outside world.


    That place was dangerous. It was filled with killers, addicts, and all round crazy people. He couldn''t imagine the bad influence they could have on her. He wouldn¡¯t put it past them to end up turning his cute little sister into a maniac or worse, kill her.


    "Well..." she started off, "You want to go, so it''s alright. It''s not like a chance like this will come again."


    100A wasn¡¯t sure about his sister¡¯s answer. In the car, she was clutching onto his jacket in wariness. She obviously didn¡¯t trust the director, yet she was willing to push that aside for 100A because he really wanted to go. And if that¡¯s what she wanted to do, then that¡¯s what they¡¯ll do.


    "If you''re sure about it, then it''s cool, and if you get scared, your big brother will be there to protect you!"


    100B jabbed her brother in the side, "I won''t get scared."


    "Yeah, yeah. My cute little sister is such a brave girl."


    100B turned around for her back to face her brother, "Shut up."


    100A laughed at how cute his sister was. Seriously, before meeting her, he couldn''t have imagined that there was such a child as bright as her.


    From the moment he opened his eyes, he''d always been alone. He''d never had someone who would talk with him, play with him, or care about his antics. Plus, she was just so cute, and he couldn''t bring himself to leave her behind. She was the only person who would be able to understand him. His little sister was like his other half. The more important one.


    "Be honest," 100B said, "Do you think the director is a good person? He made artificial people, but for what purpose? What''s his end goal? Why were we even born...?"


    "You know sis, there''s no such thing as a good person. It''s more like someone who does favorable actions towards you. They''ll always be the chance of getting betrayed. You''ll always have the smallest bit of doubt that will keep you on edge. That''s why it''s better to have someone you have complete faith in, so you''ll be sure that they''ll come to your rescue anywhere. Of course, that in itself is a little contradicting."


    "Because you can never put your full faith in someone. You''ll always be filled with doubts,¡± she said, pointing out why his words contradicted themselves.


    "But it''s different for us. You have full faith in me, and I have faith in you. Do you think I would lie to you or betray you?"


    "Um...Well..."


    100A shot up from laying down and looked over to his sister, "Do you really not trust me?"


    "Well..." 100B dragged off, "I wouldn''t say that I think you would betray me or anything to the extreme."


    "But you don''t trust me?! Your older brother!"


    "I don''t, not trust you. And plus, I know you would never leave me."


    100A sighed, "Guess I''m just going to have to accept that, huh? What am I kidding? I don''t have a choice not to accept it..."


    100B turned around to face her sad older brother, "But don''t worry. You''ll always be my big brother. No one can replace you. Make sure you remember that, okay?"


    100A lightened up and smiled as brightly as he could. He was so happy that he had a cute little sister. A sister that was smaller then him, but was able to reassure him on anything. Especially, when he was feeling down.


    "I won''t forget a single thing you say."


    "Yeah, okay." 100B said, nonchalantly. Almost like she was being sarcastic, and it was a little hurtful. Especially after the words they just exchanged.


    "I''m serious. I always keep my word!"


    100B perked up and looked at her older brother with a curious expression, "So, you''re saying that every word that comes out of your mouth is a promise?"


    "When it comes to you, it most definitely is! It''s a promise through and through!" He said quickly before he could comprehend just exactly what he was promising to.


    100B smiled, a sweet smile, "I''ll hold you to it then."


    ¡­


    Why did 100A feel like he just fell into a trap? Not fall into a trap and more like jump straight into it.


    ¡­


    Well, he could worry about that later. He just saw the sweetest and cutest smile on his sister''s face. Who cares if he walked into a trap? It was set my his sister, so it didn''t matter anyway. If she set obvious box rope trap, 100A would pick up whatever was inside even it was a dying leaf. Besides, as long as it wasn''t a random person, everything was going to be fine...right?


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    Um, you know what, he was second guessing what he just said, but he couldn''t take it back. He didn''t want to see a said expression on his sister''s face when he took back his promise right after it was made, and she just looked so happy when he said that. He couldn¡¯t handle seeing a sad expression on her face, so he wasn''t going to think about it that way. Sure, his sister might have tricked him into making an unfavorable promise for other promises, but he was determined to make everything his sister wanted come true. He could do anything if it was for his little sister!


    Or maybe, he was just a fool. But, it didn''t matter! Everything was for his sister!


    "Come on. Let''s sleep, so we can see the outside world with the director later."


    "Okay," she nodded.


    When the two woke up from their little nap, they found that their white room covered in boxes wrapped in different colors and patters of paper with bows on top that complimented the paper. Seeing all of those different colors dye their white room with color was uneasy. It kind of felt like a bad omen because there was no reason for them to be seeing some gift. They thought that the boxes could hold some deadly thing inside. Curiosity killed the cat and it was rare for satisfaction to bring it back after all. And so, they decided to play games like they usually did.


    Like always, 100B won statistic and luck based games like chess and old maid while 100A won the physical needing games like 52 card pick up. They played these games over and over, doing their best to keep their curiosity at bay.


    However, in the end, they always ended up looking back at the boxes. They were just so eye catching and full of colors. In their dull room, their vision could help but be drawn to those bright colors. But, those new things could never distract them from the opening of the room door that could only be opened by the white coats.


    "What game are you two playing?"


    The person who came through that door was the director. The person they wanted recognition from but were warry of him just the same. Their father or something like that.


    "It''s just a little game we made," 100B said, who back up behind her brother as soon as she saw the director''s figure. "It''s nothing special."


    "Is it? Why don''t you teach it to me anyway? I''m curious about it."


    The director took steps closer to the two children until he was about to sit down next to them.


    ¡°Then, please bear with me.¡± 100A picked up the deck of cards he and his sister had placed onto the floor.


    "This game only works with two people."


    100A shuffled the deck then split it, putting one of the halves to the side, "First, split the deck because only half of the 54 cards will be used. Then, six cards are laid out in a pyramid pattern."


    Then, placed six card in the mentioned forms.


    "As soon as all the cards are in place, you get three seconds to pick grab any and all cards from the other side. But, you have to pick up the card, not drag them across the playing surface or bend them in any form. You have to lift it from the floor."


    100A demonstrated the wrong way in picking up the cards by sliding one of the cards that he laid down. Then, the correct way by sliding his finger under the card using his nail first then picking it up.


    "After, the cards grabbed get flipped over, and the card points are counted. The cards that weren''t grabbed stay on the playing surface. It''s important to remember that the number of points assigned to each card is different each time you play the game which is decided by the parties before hand. Then, the process repeats until the split deck is gone. Whoever had the most points win."


    Without hesitation the director smiled and picked up the five remaining cards on the ground, "That seems like a fun game. Can I try playing?"


    The two were wary about sharing the game they made for the purpose of playing with each other. Yes, they wanted to be acknowledged, but they didn''t want to give up something that was theirs''s. This game was important to them.


    "Okay..." 100B said.


    Usually, she was the one who was more on guard towards people, yet she was letting the game only played by them be played by someone else. It was even more surprising that the person she was sharing it with was the person she was most warry of.


    "But if I win, you have to answer a question without lying."


    The director handed the cards he picked up to 100A and nodded, "Then, I''ll be playing against you then?"


    100B moved away from her brother and sat right across from the director. In full confidence she said, "Yes, you''ll be playing me."


    100A looked at his sister move from behind him. Truthfully, he was worried for what his sister was doing even though there wasn''t anything he should be worried about. After all, he knew what she wanted to know from the game they were playing, but she''d never played with anyone other then him. It was a little worrying. Plus, this was a deal. He was scared that the director would want something from her as well. Something that was anything but friendly. But, he trusted her. She was smart and dependable no matter how much younger she was. And besides, this game was made specifically for the two of them. It was a game unlike chess where 100B always won or 52 card pick up when 100A always won. It was a game they made to go up against each other using their strengths and still win or lose. Though, they''d never played this game with another person. 100A was sure that his sister wasn''t going to lose.


    "Since you want something, it''s far that I get something if I win," the director said, a little amused about the situation.


    "What is it?" 100B replied completely on guard.


    "If I win, you have to open one of the wrapped gift boxes over there."


    They knew it. It was the director that had those boxes put in their room. Boxes that could hold their death. It was no wonder why they were taken outside. It was a little mercy from what ever deadly thing was going to come out of the box. The director was showing them off, then killing them. It was crazy. He''d probably have a psychotic smile on his face as 100A''s little sister died, and then it would be his turn.


    100B clenched her fists, "Sure."


    Now that 100B was emotionally shaken, 100A was worried about how this was going to turn out, but he didn''t stop his little sister. It was something she wanted to do, and he wasn''t going to stop that. Besides, there wasn''t going to be a point in whether she won or lost because if those boxes really had what they though in them, when the director left, they were sure that the room was going to be filled with poison gas. If not that, then their next IV bag was going to be filled with some translucent toxin. Either way, the two of them were going to die. So, he just shuffled the deck and cut it in half.


    "Because it''s your first time playing, I''ll help count down the seconds. When you get comfortable with the game, I''ll stop counting down. I''ll also be looking out for any rule violations. Either then that, I will not be interfering in the game. Since that''s been said, I''ll be putting values onto the cards now.


    "Hearts are worth 0.5x their value, diamonds are 2x, clubs are 5x, and spades are 0.7x. These rules apply to all of the cards. Aces are worth three points. Jacks are 11, Queens, 12, and Kings, 13. Jokers are the exception to the pervious value multiplying and are only worth 5. The rest are their same worth as the number on the card plus the pervious multiplying explained. Are you two okay with these values?"


    The two players nodded their heads.


    "Alright. With that, you two can begin."


    The one card that 100A picked up was replaced with another, and the director and 100B started looking at the cards.100B only took a single glance at the cards before deciding which one she wanted to pick up while the director stayed staring at the cards trying to find which one he could pick up given the limited time. Because of the specific way of picking up the cards, the director really had to think about which one to pick up. With the limited time plus the way to pick up the cards, he was sure that he would only have time to pick up a single card. However, despite that, he seemed to not care about the chances of him even picking up a card because he started talking like he wasn''t about to lose a game.


    "Do you like being called 100B?"


    100B was put off by the question only for a moment then settled her self again. She couldn''t allow herself to be shaken by whatever words came out of the director''s mouth. This was a game she was going to win, so being shaken wasn''t an option. She had to continue being neutral, not caring. She had to stay focused on the game not on whatever was coming out of her opponents mouth. However, that doesn''t mean that she didn''t have an opinion.


    "100B is what I''m called. It doesn''t matter if I like it or not."


    The director was interested in her reaction. He expected a little more expression from her because of what happened yesterday. He thought that she would try to be proper and speak to him respectfully, but she wasn''t. Instead, he was getting an expression of complete indifference. Like she was speaking her own opinion of her situation like she didn''t care. Like she was just a passing bystander in her own life. It was a little impressive to him. That a child could manage to keep such difficult neutrality.


    "You don''t want a name?"


    "I''m an illegal experimental test subject that will end up being disposed of because of the law. I don''t need a name."


    Although, he had to admit that seeing her speak about her life in such a way was a tad bit annoying. Truth be told, he preferred children acting like kids. It suited them better.


    "I didn''t want to know whether you need one. I want to know if you want one."


    "What''s the point in wanting things I can''t have?"


    The director and 100B stopped talking giving 100A the go ahead to start the three second count down.


    "Remember, you only have three seconds. Ready? Go."


    Because of the rule of how the cards are to be picked up, it was difficult to even pick up a single card which was the reason why this game was one that meant an absolute win when 100A or 100B were playing with another person. It was the entire reason why this game didn''t have a decided winner before the first move. No matter how good their luck or reflexes are, there was never a definite winner, but that was only if it was 100A and his sister playing against each other. Right now, it was the director and 100B. The winner is definite. The winner was decided before the cads were even laid out, and this was the proof shown after the three seconds were over.


    The director picked up a single card. The same number of cards 100B did, but the difference was...


    "Jack of diamonds."


    "Joker."


    Her luck. 100B''s luck couldn''t be compared to anyone.


    "Ten of hearts."


    "Ten of spades."


    Even if the odds are 1 in 1,000, 100B will always get the special prize. She was the child of lady luck if not the lady herself. Calculations of pity didn''t matter to her. If it was something she wanted, and if she could get the chance of having it with a single press of a button or the pull of a lever, she would have it without even having to wish for it.


    "King of hearts."


    "Ace of hearts."


    And with that, the game ended with 100B being the winner like 100A expected. It was stupid for the director to even make his end of the deal. He wasn''t going to get anything anyway.


    "That''s some excellent luck you have. It''s impressive. So, what do you want to ask?"


    100B reached to her side and grabbed her brother''s sleeve. She was about to ask a question she wanted to know the answer to ever since she started breathing. It''s the one thing that was always in the back of her mind. A question she wanted the answer to, but also didn''t because of the disappointment that could come when getting an answer she wished wasn''t true. She clutched on the sleeve harder, almost to the point where she could feel her own nails through the shirt fabric, "Why were we..."


    100B didn''t know how to finish her question. No, she did, but she didn''t want to say it out loud. The fact that she could never be human. That she could never be like anyone else even though she came to life by their hands. She could never be like them, and it was time for her to face that.


    Being born was to be given birth to. Birth was to be separated from a mother, but they weren''t. 100A and 100B didn''t even have mother nor an actual father. They weren''t biologically related to anyone.


    "Why were we created?"


    "Why?" the director asked, as though the question was a light one. Like it meant nothing to him and didn''t mean the world to 100B. It made 100B clench the shirt to the point that her nails were piercing her skin through the fabric. But, it wasn''t because of her frustration for how lightly the director was taking the question. It was more because of her fear to hear the answer. Fear that rose with every second her question wasn''t answered.


    100A looked down at his sister''s hand. He could see the little spot of blood growing on his sleeve. He wanted to stop it. He wanted to tell her to let go because she was hurting herself and hold his hand instead, but he couldn''t. He knew this was important to her. No matter the neutral facial expression she wore, she was actually anxious. That was why blood was being soaked up on his sleeve. This was something his little sister wanted, so he was going to let her do what she wanted even if it pained him.


    The director thought about the question for what seemed to be ages. It was like he was trying to find a simple version of explaining it to them. Like he had a secret agenda for them in future production. Truth be told, they wouldn''t be surprised if that was the case. They always thought that they were made for a purpose like workable slaves since, technically, they couldn''t be classified as humans. To actual humans, they were closer to pets then actual humans.


    The director thought and thought. Putting his hand to his chin, looked around the room, closing his eyes. He continued thinking and thinking and thinking, keeping the anxiousness in 100B to grow. It was all until he smiled at them that he''d come up with an answer.


    "Because I was bored."


    Of course...


    100B loosened her hold on her brothers sleeve enough that her hand would slide down to touch the floor they were sitting on. However, her indifferent fa?ade never left her face, "Thank you for answering my question, director."


    What was she thinking? Of course he made them because he made them for such a selfish reason. It was stupid to think that it was something else. Stupid to think that they meant more to him then a toys to play with then discard. It was stupid to think that they had a special reason to be created. That they could do something to help the world without being treated as expendable slaves. That their lives meant something other then this. She wanted them to be more then experimental test subjects. She wanted them...She wanted them to be...She...She wanted...


    "Please leave."


    100A grabbed his sister''s hand that was laying on the ground, "I''ll ask you again. Please leave."


    "I thought you wanted to see fireworks."


    100A held his sister''s hand tighter. He could feel his little sister shaking. He knew that she was about to burst out in tears any second, and he didn''t want the director knowing that he could cause such an impact on her. He didn''t want to give people the satisfaction that they could cause them more then physically pain. He didn''t want people seeing his little sister cry.


    "I told you to leave."


    His eyes were those he''d never had to put on his face before. Eyes that were defiant to their creator. Eyes belonging to a person that was going to protect his little sister no matter what. He looked like a beast ready to hunt.


    "Alright, I''ll leave. You''re scary for a little kid."


    The director got up from the floor, "Try opening one of the presents. It might make you feel better," then walked out of the room.


    "Come here."


    100B let go of her brother and her head fell onto his shoulder while her body quivered. 100A gently picked up his sister and put her on his lap so that her face would be against his chest. He hugged her to make sure that she knew that she wasn''t alone. That the sadness, disappointment, and weakness wasn''t only effect her, but him too. 100A wanted her to know that he was there through every emotion she felt whether it was negative or positive.


    "I should''ve expected this..." 100B''s voice was quivering. Her body was shaking, and she was sniffling.


    100A put his hand on her head. He didn''t know what to say to her. He wanted to say something, but he couldn''t find the words to say. This was something his sister always wanted to know, and with that sort of answer given to her life long question, it would be more surprising if she didn''t break down.


    The answer wasn''t even something the two of them even thought of. Truthfully, they thought they were made to be sent off to other people to be used for whatever in return for money. Being made because some person was bored? Knowing that actually made them feel less then dirt. Something they might as well be. Dirt was just like them. It was created only to be used if fertile and ignored if not. They were created only for fun and killed if they weren''t.


    It was painfully funny at how close they were to the abiotic then the biotic. To the nonliving then the living. To dirt then to humans. And yet, they couldn''t laugh at it.

 Gifts

    After silently crying, 100B fell asleep because all of her energy was lost to her tears. Though, 100A wondered if it was a peaceful sleep seeing as she cried herself unconscious.


    100A picked up his sister, princess style, then placed her on her bed and covered her with the sheets. He looked at his shirt that had a blotch of tears soaked in from his sister''s eyes without so much as a whine or yell. They had fell out of her obsidian eyes as quietly as the wind blew on an autumn day. That wind is had so much impact, yet did everything in completely silence. Only the rustling of the trees in which the wind effected as it moved could be heard. Never the wind itself. The impact of wind had just as much impact as his sister''s silent tears had on him.


    From all of her crying, 100B didn''t even have the strength to hold onto her brother like she usually would. 100A couldn''t bare it. She would feel better if she opened one of the wrapped boxes? He doubted that. So much so that he didn''t even want to see them anymore. He wanted them completely out of his sight. Besides, he was sure that 100B wouldn''t even want to look at the wrapped gits anymore after she woke up. So, he moved them. He picked up all eleven boxes not scared about what could be in them and stacked them in the farthest corner from heaviest to lightest as to not damage them. After, to hide them even better, he grabbed the sheet from off his bed and covered the bright and foreign colors. There was no way of actually getting rid of them, so this was the best 100A could do.


    Coming back from the corner of the room, 100A saw that the playing cards were still laying on the floor. Earlier, he''d been to busy rushing the director out and comforting his sister that he forgot that the cards were still on the floor showing the winning side of the game. Looking at them, he sort of wished that his sister had never played the game in the first place. He wished that she didn''t win, so she wouldn''t have to cry.


    So, he took his time to clean that up. Wishing to go back in time to play that game instead no matter how much 100B insisted. If he did, his little sister wouldn''t be sleeping with her cheeks covered in tear stains. 100A picked up all of the card on the floor, then the box in which they were stored, and put all 54 playing cards into the box. After, he placed the box filled with cards in the middle of a set up chess board.


    After doing everything he thought he need to, there was nothing else for 100A to preoccupy his mind with. He wanted to watch over his sister, but he thought that she would want to be alone for a little while. Despite that, he still didn''t want to stray to far from her. So, that entire rest of that day, he sat against the front of the bed, on the floor, and stared at the the fully white room.


    Doing such a thing made 100A started thinking. He started thinking about everything that made them different from humans. Their genetic make up was mutated beyond recognition to enhance their physical and mental abilities. Their silver hair that was proof of an unnatural pigment and their obsidian colored pupils that struggled to reflect light. Their place of birth that was a glass cylinder and filled with translucent blue liquid as two cords were attached to their developing bodies. One for the mutated genic code to create them, and the other for the liquid sustenance, the only nutrients that ever entered their bodies. Their callings which were numbers rather then names. From any perspective made by any person, it was clear that they weren''t human. They were close but a different existence in their entirety. They couldn''t even define themselves in the same way humans do.


    But, it was okay. 100A had his sister, and 100B had her brother. Even if they weren''t human by any means or couldn''t define themselves as one normally could. It didn''t matter. Or, more like it didn''t hurt as much with them knowing that there was something just like them.


    Like their first meeting. 100A was like 100B, and 100B was like 100A. They were the same.


    After meeting, they realized that they weren''t alone. They had the same genetic mutations. The same unnatural silver pigment in their hair, and dark obsidian pupils. They shared the same liquid filled glass cylinder of a womb, and the same two cords for the flow of genetic information and nutrients. Both of their callings were numbers and held no true significance. From any perspective, but most importantly theirs''s, 100A and 100B were the exact same in physical appearance and mental instability.


    100A sighed, tucked his knees to his chest and laid his head down on them. He hoped his sister was going to be okay. He hoped that she was going to be able to pick herself up after resting for a bit. Though, for now, it was his time to rest. Then, when his sister woke up, he would ask her to play a game of chess with him even though he was bound to lose.


    100B woke up before her brother. She wok up feeling like she had an interesting dream, but she couldn''t remember a single aspect of it. She didn''t even care enough to try and remember. Right now, she didn''t have the energy to dig through her own brain to find an irrelevant dream or even move from her sleep position. She didn''t have the energy to more nor the motivation. Today, all she wanted was to lay around and do nothing else, but she knew she couldn''t.


    A women wearing a white coat entered the room with two IV bags to replace the one''s attached 100A and 100B''s arms. But, that wasn''t it. The lady walked in holding two clipboards with multiple papers attached and pens in her coat pocket. It was clear that she was there to conduct tests, but 100B really wasn''t in the mood. Still, it''s not like she had a choice. She never had a choice because she wasn''t human.


    Even though she didn''t want to, 100B pulled herself to sit up while her IV bag was being changed. She scraped her mind together as well as she could to answer whatever question the lady in the white lab coat was going to ask. 100B sighed feeling that this day was going to be longer then usual. Boring and long.


    Like always, the two clipboards were set down on the ground for 100B to pick up and grab. In truth, the white lab coat people never talked to them. Tests would always be clipped onto a clipboard labeled B and the questions would cause her to set up the test herself. For example, for sight test, 100B had to place the board against the wall on one side of the room and walked to the other side, then answer whatever question made her do this. And while she did all of that, the person who brough in the clipboard would just stand next to the room door waiting to pick up the clipboard whenever she was done.


    It was the same when it came to learning new material. Someone would just drop a textbook in the room with a pen to annotate and a highlighter to find the important information. There was no one to really teach her anything. Every piece of information in her head, every language she knew, formula she memorized, every theory. 100B taught herself all of that with a stack of textbooks.


    That however, happened when she had energy she wanted to spare. Right now, she struggled to even sit up, so when she had to get up to go get a clipboard, 100B suffered. She dragged herself out of the bed and walked, dragging her feet, to get the board.


    When she got to the board, 100B sat down in front of it, pulled the pin out of the clip, and picked up the clipboard. Slowly she started answering the questions.


    What was the first question on the last test?


    Please explain all 5 major psychological theories.


    Just answering the first question took a lot out of 100B, but she kept answering question after question. She wanted to finish the test and go back to laying down. For now, she didn''t want to think about having to get up for other things later in the day. Like baths or whatever else she had to do as an experimental lab subject.


    Explain why you didn''t open any of the gift boxes.


    What? 100B found this a stupid question, but she didn''t have the energy to question why such a question would be on the test. She could barely manage to think about how stupid and unfruitful the question was. She found that it was better to just answer the question and move on.


    I didn''t open the gifts because I don''t know the giver, and am unsure of the intentions behind multiple gifts.


    Going through the test, 100B found many other meaningless questions. Questions like, if you were in this situation what would you do. For example, the last question on the clipboard.


    If you were in a general store, what is the first section you would run to and for what reason?


    Toy section for puzzles.


    A question like that didn''t make sense to have on a test, but it was there anyway. Maybe, if she felt like it, 100B would talk to her older brother about it when he finished the test. Though, for now, he was busy sleeping at the front of the bed, and 100B didn''t feel like waking him up like she usually did. So, 100A was going to sleep for as long as he wanted while the white lab coated lady stood against the wall next to the door.


    100B put the clipboard back on the ground with the pen in the clip, then dragged her self back to the bed and pulled the bed sheets over her entire body. Right now, she didn''t even want the room light to be reflected in her eyes. She only wanted darkness. That was peaceful.


    When 100A woke up, he spread himself out from his tight sleeping position, and before his eyes managed to adjust, he caught a clipboard in his sight. As though it was instinct, his hand reached for the clipboard and grabbed it. Like every other test, he pulled the pen out of the clip and started answering the question. However, unlike his sister, he had the energy to question the meaning of the useless questions, but it didn''t take him long to figure out the meaning behind the questions.


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    With a little thinking, it was obvious that the lab coats weren''t the ones to put the question on the test. It was the director. Before they met him at the party, the questions were always based on the material they were given textbooks on or their physical prowess, but after meeting the director, everything changed. They were allowed to go outside, they were given presents, and now the questions on the test. It was proof that the director''s title wasn''t just for show. He really had the power to do whatever he wanted when it came to the project 100A and 100B were apart of. That also meant that the death of the pervious 99 were killed on his order. They were killed 99 times because of his whims. It was a little infuriating.


    The director could do whatever he wanted whenever he wanted to do it. 100A knew this before, but he and his sister had zero control over their own lives. It was a little pathetic, but there was nothing he could do about. He couldn''t free himself better yet his sister. He was completely helpless no matter what he did.


    100A thought of all of this while answering the same stupid questions his sister did, and he was infuriated because of it. But, he didn''t let it show. Nothing would happen if he did. He calmed his facial expression as much as he could through all of the questions and placed the clipboard back on the ground with the pen in the clip. The white lab coat lady in the room walked over and grabbed the clipboard then walked out of the room.


    After she left, 100A just sighed. He knew that the control over his life didn''t exist, but he hated when he had it shoved into his face like this. But, that didn''t matter now. His clipboard was taken then the lady walked out of the room meaning 100B had seen all of those questions before him. He knew that there was a chance that she thought as deeply into this as he did and came to the same conclusion. And after what happened yesterday, he was sure that coming to the conclusion affected her more then him. 100A sighed again and stood up from the floor.


    100A walk around to the side of the bed and saw a blanket with sliver hair coming out from under it. Because he couldn''t see her face, 100A didn''t know if 100B was awake or not, but he had a feeling that she was.


    "Good morning," he said in a gentle voice. 100A watched the blanket start moving until he saw his little sister''s face poking out from the blanket.


    "Morning," she said, quietly while dragging her words a bit. Just from this, 100A could tell that his sister wasn''t in the mood for anything. Even if he offered to play a game, he was sure that she wouldn''t want to. She''d rather laze around the entire day, and he was okay with doing that with her. He just hoped that she wouldn''t be in this slump forever. He liked it better when she was showing her subtle expressions of annoyance and embarrassment.


    "Those boxes..." she said. 100A didn''t think that she was actually going to mention the gifts he hid before sleeping.


    "They''re gone," he immediately responded, "I hid them."


    "Okay," she said.


    100A knew that there was a reason for 100B mentioning the hidden gift boxes. Did she just want to know where they went since she didn''t see them when she woke up? Did she want to rip he boxes and their contents apart because of what happened? Or, maybe she actually want to open one of them.


    "...Do you want one?" he asked, hesitantly, wanting to cover all of his bases.


    100B thought about it. She thought about what the director said before he left. That something inside of the present boxes would make her feel better. She wondered if that was really true. Was there really something that could bring her out of this slump? What could even be in one of the boxes anyway? Truth be told, she did want to open one of the boxes, only to know what was truly inside. Besides, it''s not like she had any expectations for what they held anyway. After what happened before, she decided to not have expectations for anything the director did. Whether it was something good or bad, she just wasn''t going to guess and expect anymore. She wasn''t going to wish and hope. She decided to just wait for the outcome. It was wasting energy doing anything more then that, so she was just going to open up all of the presents to stop her assumptions.


    "Let''s open them," she said, taking her brother aback. 100A bent down to eye level with his sister, so she wouldn''t have to look up anymore.


    "Are you sure?" he asked. 100B nodded.


    100A was still warry about what was in those boxes. Plus, his reason for hiding them was more then for his sister. It was for him too. 100A didn''t want to keep those presents in his mind, so he hid them. Out a sight, out of mind. But now, his sister wanted to open those gifts that he really didn''t want anything to do with. He didn''t even want to approach the corner he hid them in, but his sister seemed to. Maybe she remembered what the director said and wanted to see if it was true? If that''s the case, 100A couldn''t put it past her. If someone said that to him, he would want to know what was in the boxes as well, if only to prove the person wrong. Plus, if that was what she wanted then fine he would open all of the boxes.


    100A walked to the corner where he hid the gifts and pulled the sheet off from over them. One after another he grabbed a gift and brought it over to the bed in two separate piles as they seemed to actually be addressed to one of the two of them. At the end, it was an even split and one that had both of their names on it. Five boxes to 100A, five boxes to 100B, and a joint box, and they decided to open them all.


    100B moved from the bead to the ground, sitting against the bed side right next to her brother with her five gifts in front of her. Then simultaneously, the two picked up the first present. They found that it was a small gift card box and really light. It was like there was nothing inside of it, but they opened the first present anyway in a way that kept the paper in tact without a rip.


    After they took off the wrapping paper and opened the box, they both found that the were given two things, or more specifically, two questions that were in the little box. The questions had zero significance. They were two questions that neither 100A or 100B questioned about themselves about. Simple questions that even three year old''s could answer without hesitation. The questions were ''What''s your favorite color?'' and ''What''s your favorite animal?'' Then, they were instructed to answer the question in a complete sentence.


    Truth be told neither knew the answer to either question. They''d never thought about it. Neither a favorite color or animal nor did they feel like thinking about it. However, they still felt obligated to follow the part of their gift to say their favorite thing out loud, so they just said the first thing that came to mind.


    "My favorite color is blue. I don''t have a favorite animal"


    "My favorite color is purple, and my favorite animal is a tiger."


    After they said that, nothing happened. Honestly, they really didn''t see the point in doing this, but it wasn''t like anything was going to happen if they didn''t do it. It was better to do it and figure out what the point of saying their "favorite things" out loud later. So, they went and picked up the present. The weight and size of the box was different from the one before. These two had a more weight to it and was a small sized box. Like before, they unwrapped the present carefully and took the top off of the box. Inside the box was a set of cloths. It was weird, but they were interested in the clothes. They looked at each other, then pulled the outfit out of the box.


    The two outfits that 100A and 100b pulled out were matching outfits with a black and white color pallet. 100A''s outfit consisted of a black shirt with a long sleeve, black and white, button up, plaid shirt and white cargo pants with a black belt. A very dangerous outfit because white was prone to staining. Plus, the feeling of the fabric felt expensive. It was soft, smooth, and the color was very pigmented.100A didn''t want to imagine how much it would cost if he got a stain on the pants. 100B''s outfit was matching so it looked almost the same. She had a thick strapped tang-top with the matching long sleeved plaid over shirt that wasn''t button up, but a pull over. It was a shoulder-less, deep V-neck black and white plaid that tightened at the bottom of the shirt and sleeves. Like her brother, she also have white pants, but they were skinny jeans.


    The next present they picked up had weight to it. It was almost the same size of the box before but had a longer length. When they unwrapped the box, they found that it was different then the first two where they would take off the top. With these two boxes the top was attached to the box on one of the long sides, and it was a flip off top. After the top got flipped off, they found a pair of black based shoes with white laces and white stiches to put the parts of the shoe together in each of the boxes. The only different between the shoes was that one of the pairs were high tops which were 100A''s, and the other were low top shoes for 100B. They were shoes that completely matched to outfit set they previously unwrapped.


    Both of them had to admit that the outfits were really nice. Everything was obviously made of expensive materials. There wasn''t a brand on any piece of clothing, so they guessed that it was tailored which was stupid to do for casual clothes. The color pallet was nice too. It was all black and white which matched them perfectly because of their silver hair, pale skin, and obsidian eyes. Plus, the outfits matched, so they liked it even more. It seemed this actually did lighten 100B''s mood a little bit. She was a little less down with a little more energy. 100A liked it too, which kind of made him angry because the director was right. Still, he was glad that his sister did look happier.


    With two presents left, they decided to go for the one that had the most weight and honestly, the next gift they picked had the most weight out of all of them. And, when they opened the gift, they were surprised to find a book without a cover that has a single sticky note coming out of the side.


    At first, they didn''t care about the sticky note coming out of the side of the book and just flipped to the first page that wasn''t a title page, but a page filled of a long list of names. Names...? Why names? The two of them immediately flipped to the page with the sticky note and found it under a word with the sticky note saying that the word belong to them. That those words were going to be their names.


    The two looked at each other, then exchanged books and looked at the name. They looked at each other again, thinking about what they were just given.


    Just yesterday, the director had made his sister cry, and now he was giving them names. It was more proper to say that the names came first because the gift presents did. Still, all of these different things were giving mixed feelings. It was like the director was bipolar. No, that''s too extreme. The director was making himself seem like he had alexithymia but not a serious case of it. However, that didn''t take away from the fact that they were given names. None of it changed the fact that they were one step closer to actually being human. Something they wanted. Plus, it was given to them by someone like their dad. Well, that''s how it seemed out to be, so they were going to accept it. Everything. The questions, clothes, names. They were going to accept it all. Besides, they learned that it was disrespectful to decline a gift. If they were given something, they should accept it gracefully. So, those words were their names and the clothes were theirs''s. The first two things they could call their own. It was nice.


    Finally, it was was time to open the last two gifts. When they picked up the small rectangular box, they found that it had weight on it, a little more then the clothes did. The unwrapped the box again, not ripping the paper, but still in a hurry because they wanted to know what was inside.


    When they got to the box and opened it, there was a nice phone, faced down with matching black and white checkered cases. The phones were mostly likely just as expensive as clothes and shoes, but before they could check it out, someone came into the room. It was the same lady from an hour earlier. It was like she was waiting for them to finish opening all of the presents.


    "Time for a bath," she said, looking at the two of them.


    Both brother and sister put their last gift down and walked through the door, with a little pep in their steps. Either way, it was a little clear that they liked the gifts they received.

 Greed

    During baths, the two siblings were separated in two different rooms which was expected for privacy purposes between the two due to public opinions or maybe it was something else. Still, they had no say in what happened, and if they had to be honest, having a nice bathtub to themselves was the best. It was insanely relaxing. Even more so that the current bath they were taking was one of the best baths they''ve ever taken.


    The bath was nice. The water was smooth and warm, the tub was big and clean, the soaps smelled nice, and the wash rags were soft on the skin. It was refreshing, nice, and the quality of everything was better. It seemed like their quality of life had been getting better ever since the met the director. If put in a neighborhood situation, the director was like the gentrification that happened in a neighborhood that raised the quality of life for the people around in and around it. Of course, dismiss all of the negative attributes of gentrification, that was their life right now. Their lives were in the midst of being gentrified. Not like they hated it, but it was a good analogy.


    Bathing was like a good time to think with a clear mind. Steam the came off from a bath always had a sort of mind clearing effect. Maybe because it was floating all around, bring ease to the mind, but it was calming. Though, the heat of the bath counteracted that at some point. Either way, it was safe to say the the first five to ten minutes in a bath were the times were bot of their heads were clear to think and forget whatever they wanted to. Though, today, they were to stunned by what happened before to think. They just let their mind be cleared while their bodies were being cleaned. In truth, the big brother had almost fell asleep in the bath.


    When getting out of the bath, the cold air hit painfully, causing shivers, but the white towel they wrapped around themselves warmed then up soon after. They both dried themselves up and looked to the wood woven basket were their clothes would usually be. Like always, in separate rooms, they were expecting to see a freshly washed pair of their usual white clothes, but for some odd reason, the clothes that they''d opened from the present box was in the basket instead. It was really weird, because they didn''t hear anyone walk into the dressing room. Though, there was a smoked glass wall between the tub and the room which made it hard to see through to the other side, but they didn''t notice anyone walking into the room to put the clothes there. It was unusual, but those were the clothes they were supposed to wear. Plus, those clothes, technically, belonged to them, so they found nothing wrong with wearing the new outfit.


    The older brother had finished his bath as he didn''t want to fall asleep in the bath and over heat, so he got out of the bath earlier then he usually did. He got dressed earlier and returned to the room earlier. By the time he''d gotten dressed, his little sister was still in the bath in another room because of how much she enjoyed laying in warm bath water with bubbles. And when, he got to the room, he saw the phones on the bed. It was impossible to tell the two phones apart because of the identical cases, and he and his sister had never talked about how to tell the two apart. So, he just picked up one of the phones and the screen lit up as soon as he turned the screen to face him.


    It was then that he understood how they were supposed to tell the phones apart. When the screen turned on, the older brother found his new name to the the lock screen.


    Inizio. The word on the screen. His name that was of Italian origin with the meaning of beginning. It was his new name. It was something he was going to cherished for the rest of his life. It''s become the most important part of his life after all. Although, he wondered if the meaning of the name mattered. Well, he could guess that he did. The letter after 100 was ''A'' which was usually used when someone or something was first. Like how the alphabet starts with ''A,'' he was the first lab created human in the world. Yes, he was the beginning of that. He was the beginning of the serious advances in human technology. He was the start. He guessed that''s what his name was chosen for.


    Then, there was his little sister''s new name that held the place of the other phone''s lock screen. The name Srusti. A name that could be taken from the Indian god of creation or have the meaning of knowledge and insight. It was an accurate name to give her, but peculiar at the same time.


    Srusti was a knowledgeable strategist who had enough luck to make anything go her way. So, that was true, but from when she was born, she hadn''t created a single thing. Actually she just laid around, and too lazy to even put the work into tests. The name did seem to fit her though. She was good at strategic situations. Without even thinking, she could come up with a full proof plan. She was a genius.


    Thinking about, their names matched. Like their appearance, clothes, shoes, phone case, their names matched. Everything about them matched with each other.


    The beginning of something always started with creation. The beginning never happened without creation, yet creation happened continuously. One was dependent on the other while the other wasn''t. Who knows, maybe it reflected the relationship between the two of them, but that didn''t matter to him. Inizio didn''t care much about the actual meaning as to why those names were there''s. It just mattered that it was. That those names now belonged to them. That they had names. That was the only thing that really mattered. And of course, he couldn''t forget the most important thing. His sister and her small, sweet smile. Her little and faint emotions. She mattered most to him.


    Inizio smiled thinking about all of those little things.


    Then, he heard the room door opening. Like he was, Srusti was also wearing her new clothes, and Inizio was in shocked. His sister was so cute.


    The way her long hair fell past her shoulders. The contrast between the black and her milky pale skin that had a small shimmer after the bath. Her silver eyelashes that still had a bit of water on the end that softly reflected the light, and her cheeks that were flushed because she''d just gotten out of the bath. She was really cute! But, Inizio found a problem with her outfit. His little sister''s shoulders were showing! Srusti was only a 8 year old child! She wasn''t old enough to be wearing thing like this!


    What if someone saw how cute she was and dragged her off? What if one of the people kidnapped her? What if she ended up getting locked in a room and having multiple weird tests done on her? What if a pervert approached her? Inizio couldn''t allow that. He was going to protect his sister at all cost. Whether it was a normal person, a predator, a murderer, a leader of a country, a king, someone with a net worth of 1.5 million, Inizio wasn''t going to let a single person touch his sister. He swore to the world...No, to himself, that not a single person was going to get closer to his little sister!


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    "Um, brother, you look nice," Srusti said, pulling her brother out of his crazy thoughts.


    "I do?" he asked because he''d never gotten a good look at himself. There were no mirrors to look at, so he wouldn''t even be able to. He wouldn''t even be able to tell if he had pimples, freckles, or beauty marks. It was all on his sister to tell him that. But, she wasn''t into talking about things like that, so he didn''t know what he looked like. Still, his little sister was saying that he looked nice so of course he looked nice.


    His neck short, straight hair with long bangs that were pushed aside to allow his black eyes to show. His plain black shit that his pale shin also contrasted, and the baggy, white cargo pants add a nice touch. It gave him the cute over sized style which suited him given his current age of 10 years old. He was as good looking as his sister. He was just as cute as her. Multiple people would make the assumption that he was a girl and kidnap him. Or people with those weird fetishes would kidnap him and force him into a suspicious business. Either way, both brother and sister were cute enough to be kidnapped if they walked through a bad neighborhood or caught the eye of a bad person.


    Srusti nodded her head, "Yeah, you looked cute."


    "...thank you..."


    Inizio wanted to hear that he was cool, not cute. He wanted to be cool! But, it was a compliment from his sister, so he was happy to hear it nonetheless.


    "You look cute as always," Inizio said.


    "Thank you," she responded, secretly happy because of the compliment given to her. Though, it wasn''t that much as a secret as Inizio saw a little tension released from her body. This little change made Inizio want to hug his sister, but he didn''t, scared that he might want to mess up her clothes.


    After that little interaction, the two held their new phones in their hands and fiddled around with all of the apps and functions. Well, that''s what Srusti was doing. Inizio was taking this moment to take pictures of his sister in her cute little outfit and figuring out which one would work for her contact picture. He tried multiple different filters that came with the picture taking process, but he didn''t know which one to use. She looked cute in every single filter. It was hard to pick just one. The warm tones add color to her skin and the area around it, the old camera like filter was just as nice. Though, if he had to admit. After going through all of the filters multiple times with the multiple pictures, he had to admit that Srusti without a filter was the best. Srusti in her natural form couldn''t be beaten by anything.


    Inizio was so happy that he could capture all of the moments he had with his sister in both his memory and a cloud storage. The pictures were always clearer then his memory, all it to pull out even more happy memories he had with her. He couldn''t wait to look back at all of the pictures he was going to take. Well, if he was allowed to live long enough to look back at them. But, he didn''t want to think about that now. He wanted to live in the moment. To live every moment as well as he could. To make sure that he was going to go out with no regrets. That was something he decided to live towards as, even with a normal human, people never know when they''re going to die. Sure, for some odd reason he was able to remember everything from his past 99 lives in a secluded white room, but it wasn''t always going to be like that. He wasn''t always going to be able to take his memories and jump into a different body. In truth, all of that was just an unexpected event. Inizio knew that a time was going to come when he actually died. When there wasn''t going to be a life to jump into, so like others, he didn''t know how long he was going to live and decided that living in the moment was the best thing he could do.


    Srusti, going through her phone, was more interested in the virtual world then she was her brother taking photos of her. She found that the phone only had the apps that were provided by the maker. For example, the calling app, message app, photo gallery, camera, calculator, and really any other app a phone provider would automatically install on a phone. So, the app part wasn''t entertaining to her. She was more interested in the web browser.


    She wanted to look up everything. She wanted to see so many pictures, watch so many videos, read webnovels. She wanted to immerse herself in the information of the virtual world. Then, she wanted to take off of the knowledge and apply to the real word whenever she went outside again. She couldn''t wait. Or at least, she didn''t want to. If she was able to leave the room, Srusti would in a heartbeat. Then, she would go out and buy something to bring back her brother if he wasn''t able to go because she wanted to share every nice thing with him. She didn''t want to have the good things all to herself. She wanted to share every piece of it with him. The sights, items, every new and exciting thing she got to experience or have, Srusti wanted her brother to have it as well. If she would be the only one to go outside, she would go then come back to her brother and share with him everything she got and the stories of the outside. She would want him to have the same excitement and awe she had in the moment of experiencing those things even if it wasn''t the real thing but just stories of it. Everything that was hers was also his.


    After a long while of messing with their phones for an hour, the two had to admit that phones weren''t as entertaining as they thought they would be. The phone was said to hold any and all information as well as multiple ways of entertainment which was true. Inizio and Srusti went through it themselves. But, the words, the pictures, everything. It couldn''t compete with the real life experience. It couldn''t fill the void of not being able to see the brightness of the sun, the glimmer of the stars, and the shinning of the moon through their own eyes. It couldn''t duplicate face to face interaction. It didn''t have the same ever changing entertainment--the facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, actions--as having a conversation did. It didn''t give off the same realness the two longed for. They found phones to be a good time waster, yes. However, they had to admit that while doing those time wasting things, boredom still filled their mind. Looking at a phone for so long was like staring at a white wall for them. They''d rather play a game with each other then look at that eye damaging screen for hours on end.


    "So, what now?" Inizio asked, after seeing his sister put her phone down. Now that they were bored with their phones, there was nothing for them to do besides the usual playing games, sleeping, and talking. Like always, there wasn''t much to talk about that the two of them didn''t know about already. They''d played card games, chess, and checkers so many times. And, they weren''t really tired. At least, not enough to need a nap. So, there wasn''t really anything they wanted to do.


    That seemed to be the case after going outside. Nothing that used to keep them entertained really did anything. The games, the round about conversations. There wasn''t a single thing that they could do in the room that they took an interest in. After going outside, that was the only place they wanted to be. That was the only thing they want to do. That little taste of the outside showed them color, the sky, the moon, the buildings, the people. It showed them the place they yearned to be. The place they wanted to explore and experience and be apart of. It showed them a world past their white walls and liquid IVs. It showed them life. So now, they wanted nothing more but to experience that world together.


    They wanted to walk those cracking concrete sidewalks. They wanted to see the colorful flowers. They wanted to feel the heat of them sun. They wanted to have everything in a normal life like everyone else did. They wanted a life like they were born out of a woman''s womb and not a test tube. There was nothing else that could satisfy them anymore. The loneliness and the yearning for that life had just become so great in their hearts that they couldn''t ignore it with the repetition of the same game as they used to. After that little taste, they wanted more. More then they could imagine. More then they could ever have. More then they could ever ask for. It was greed for the unreachable, and it hurt more then one would imagine it to.

 Taken Away

    The director was looking through clothing magazines when he heard that the kids had opened the presents. At first, he was relived that they hadn''t just left the presents in the corner. Then, he wanted to see their reaction to opening the presents. He wanted to see the changes in the farcical expressions. The confusion, happiness. He wanted to see them all, but he couldn''t. Unfortunately, he was in a meeting. One that he really didn''t want to be apart of because there really wasn''t any point to it. Though, he was glad that he''d managed to sneak in a clothing magazine to keep him entertained during the meeting and focused on the actual important thing he should be doing.


    "Aarth, any comments on this topic?"


    "No," he said disregarding the need for his input on a subject he''s not in the least bit interested in. Honestly, he didn''t even know what the subject was. He was that uninterested that he didn''t care to figure it out. He just said that he had nothing to say and allowed the other people in the meeting to move on to whatever other topic they found important while he made not of nice clothing styles.


    When the meeting was over, Aarth shot up from his seat and walked straight out of the meeting room. However, that didn''t stop one of the other meeting participants--the one sitting at the front of the table--from catching him and starting up a conversation.


    "Can you at least pay attention during the meetings? Act like you''re interested." The guy had said, slightly frustrated by the way Aarth acted.


    "I don''t feel like it," Aarth responded which was a normal response for him. An unacceptable response but a normal one. See, Aarth only pay attention to things he was interested in. If he was interested in something he would put 110% into it, but if he wasn''t, he wouldn''t even bother looking up. It was a miracle in itself that he decided to attend all of the meetings. Though, he didn''t really give much input to help, and whenever he did say something it was always about the need to end the meeting because he had something more important to do. In essence, he was a child. Only interested in what he likes and nothing else. Of course, the interested constantly changed multiple times throughout the month, so it was unsure of what he was obsessing over now.


    Aarth felt the clothing magazine that he hid within the nice leather folder be snatched from his hands from the guy that stopped him.


    "Really clothing? This is what you''re into now?" he asked, annoyed. Aarth just shrugged and took back the magazine, leaving the folder filled with charts and the hard work of other people.


    "Something like that," he said continuing his walk away from the working environment, leaving the semi-frustrated guy alone to have to deal with everything Aarth didn''t feel like doing. Really business environments have never been good for him.


    Exiting the building, there was already a running car in front of the entrance which Aarth stepped into and sat in the back seat of. Stacked in the seat next to him were multiple other magazines of all sorts of variety. Some of them were focused on clothes like the one in his hand. Some focused on home and room d¨¦cor. Some was about the newest technologies. He really just had all sorts of magazines to look at and to circle things he liked. Well, things that he thought would be appreciated by other people.


    "Where to?" the driver of the car asked, looking at Aarth from the rear view mirror.


    "The kids," he said, stacking the magazine in his hand on top of the the rest to complete the stack.


    Srusti and Inizio, still bored from their phones, just looked at each other, trying to find something fun to do through each other. But, no matter how much they looked, they couldn''t find anything. They tried playing clapping games, coming up with multiple handshakes, but it was all so boring.


    "The two of you look quite nice in your new clothes," they heard someone say, and looked towards the open door. Immediately, Inizio was on guard, moving in front of her sister to cover her.


    The voice and the person it belonged to were familiar. It was the exact voice that made his sister cry. It was the voice of the person who gave them the clothes they were wearing, and the voice of the person Inizio currently hated the most.


    "Good afternoon, director."


    Inizio had never used such a time accurate greeting before because he never knew the time. Now, however, he was able to tell morning from night. He was finally able to know when the sun rose and fell. Though, all of that was insignificant in their current situation. It meant nothing when it came to having to protect Srusti.


    "You look like you''re ready to kill me kid, but I''m not going to do anything to you."


    There was no way Inizio was actually going to trust this guy. Actually, it wasn''t about whether the guy could be trusted enough. That was something that hadn''t been figured out yet. What was actually causing this hostile reaction was the fact that Srusti cried after the guy left the first time and struggled to keep those same tears in until he finally left the room. After that moment, there was no way that Inizio was going to let the guy closer to his sister. Was he a father figure? Yes, but not all children loved their fathers as not all children loved their mothers. And since there was only one parent to hate, he was going to dislike his father figure for a very viable reason.


    The guy shrugged, not getting any other responses that wasn''t hostile from Inizio who was shielding his sister. He couldn''t even see Srusti''s face because of the cover. He could only see the strands of her long silver hair that almost blended into the white color of the bed sheets.


    "I had planned to take you two away, but if you''re so against it then it can''t be helped."


    Take them away and go where? Was he going to do as he said? Was he going to take them shopping? To a restaurant? To see fireworks? But why? Because he was bored? Because he just wanted to keep messing with them? Because he wanted to see them dance in the palm of his hand with painful fake smiles? Was that what he wanted from them? The clothes, the phones, questions, and shoes. They were all just ways to get them to start dancing like fools. To make them into obedient dogs.


    Inizio refused to let that happen. He and his sister had emotions. They had consciousness'', self awareness. They has self esteem. They weren''t just lifeless dolls or oblivious idiots. They weren''t weak to manipulation. They had pride in themselves.


    "Brother..."


    But, they also wanted to go outside. They realized today that staying trapped inside of the all white room wasn''t going to be an option for them anymore. Before, they knew nothing of the outside world, so they could imagine it on the fully white walls. They thought of the outside as though it was multiple years into history. They thought of it as an unreachable place. However, now, they knew it was real. Now, they knew they could reach it, and they wanted to get there. They couldn''t survive in this white room anymore. They had to get out or else they might just go insane wanting to see the outside.


    So, they had to think. How could they leave? The door to the room could only be opened with a badge ID that is clipped to a pocket somewhere. Getting one of those was nearly impossible. Then, there was the layout of the building. They didn''t know if the building had multiple stories, if they were in the basement section. They only knew how to get to the bathroom and back which was a single hallway up and down. There was no other hallways connected to that one hallway to the bathroom. At least, none that they knew of. With all of these things to consider, they couldn''t escape on their own, and Inizio and Srusti weren''t stupid to try. And while they wanted to get out, they also didn''t want to be put in danger. So, they had to think. At least Srusti had to while her brother was overcome with emotions. And she sure was thinking.


    Behind her brother, she was thinking about the pros and cons of their situation. She already knew that getting outside by themselves was impossible. They needed someone to take them outside like the first time they went out. And the one who orchestrated that happening just so happened to be in front of them. Not only that, he was going to take them away. He was going to get them out of the building which was the majority of the plan. Then, before they were brought to the next place, they could run away. Then they could go as far as they wanted to go, see what they wanted to see, and do whatever they wanted to do. They would be free of their white world. But first, they were going to use this guy to get out.


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    "It''ll be fine," Srusti said, "Trust me."


    Inizio heard his sister and trusted her. If she said that it was going to be fine, then she was going to make sure that it was. She was going to make sure that the plan in her head was going to work out by the letter. And if her luck and strategy wasn''t enough, then he was going to use his physical abilities and emotional observation skills to help her out until she got the ending she wanted.


    "If you''re sure."


    "I am," she said, then tilted her head so her face could be seen by the guy, "We''ll go with you. Just give us a second. We''ve never tied putting on actual shoes before."


    "Take your time. I can wait," the guy responded, smiling.


    The two slide off of the bed to the ground where their shoes were, and while putting them on started talking under their breath. So quiet that only their ears could hear.


    "What are you thinking?" Inizio asked, putting his shoes on as slowly as possible. Srusti was doing the same. She kept messing with her shoes, acting like she was having a difficult time tying them but actually was stalling for time like her brother.


    "We lose him in a store. Hop out of the car right before a green light. Just run. Then go to the authorities, claim that we were kidnapped and get put into child protective services seeing as there''s a high chance of us not being registered and don''t have any biologically related parents."


    "What has the highest rate of success?"


    "Getting out of the car, but not before a green light."


    "On a highway, right? Jump out of the car while it''s on the highway?"


    Srusti slightly nodded, "If the car is in the middle of traffic, they''ll have to chase after us which is hard considering how small and nimble we both are. And, if the car''s running, there''s a big chance of us getting hurt maybe even killed, but the car would have a hard time stopping giving the speed it''s running at and the cars that should also be on the highway. Which would give us the opportunity to hide giving the chance that there greenery on the side of the highway, and if there''s a chance he catches us in any of those situations, we cause a scene alerting others which can lead them to thinking that we were kidnapped creating a human wall between us and him."


    Inizio knew this plan was going to work, but was scared about them jumping out of a car moving on the middle of the highway. He wasn''t scared for him. He could take it. A broken bone, a concision, the loss of blood. He could take anything. But if something happened to his little sister. Her lifeless body. Blood flowing out of her to create a puddle. An arm or leg that was bent the wrong way. A scratch on her body. Inizio wouldn''t be able to recover from that. He would be scared to leave the house. Scared to even think about going outside anymore. He could feel himself shaking just thinking about.


    He was starting to second guess this whole thing. Maybe it would be better if they just stayed inside. Maybe they should just stop thinking about the outside. They would be safer. She wouldn''t get hurt. She wouldn''t have to cry. His little sister would be completely safe. She wouldn''t leave him. He would never be alone. They''d...they''d always be together. He promised. They promised each other. He couldn''t do without her. He didn''t know how to survive without her, not anymore. He couldn''t do it. He didn''t want to. Without her...Without his little sister...


    "Big brother."


    All these thoughts running through Inizio''s head came to an abrupt stop hearing his little sister''s voice and feeling her grab his hand. She knew how scared he was. She saw how scared he saw, and honestly, she felt the same. She couldn''t live without her brother. She couldn''t stand thinking about him getting hurt. She didn''t want to see him in pain or suffering. She didn''t want to see him sad or scared. She only want to see him happy, but she knew that the plan she just came up with came with fear. She knew that getting hurt was an option for bother of them. However, she was strong. At least, that''s the front she was putting on. Srusti knew all of the risks, but she knew they would get through them. Unlike her usual self, she disregarded that changes of one of them getting hurt and just decided to became optimistic. It was better that way. They were going to go through with the plan and end up just fine. After everything, they were always going to be together. She decided to place all of her hope on that one thing because the numbers and possibilities were just endless. She could only rely on the promise they had to each other.


    "We''ll always be together. No matter what."


    The two stopped stalling for time and tied their shoes. Then, they stood up next to each other facing their ticket outside. Both were scared, but they stood with confidence only because they were together with the belief that they would never leave each other.


    "We''re ready to go," Inizio said, holding his sister''s hand.


    "I''m glad you two opened up to me," he said smiling at the two kids.


    The two kids were guided out of the building without blindfolds. They were allowed out of the rooms into the one way hallway and found that the all white walls had a door at the very end of the hallway. It would be hard to find even if you were looking for it because it perfectly blended into the wall until it opened. Though, this door was different from the door to get into their room. There was no handle or automatic way of opening it. Rather there was a specific way of knocking and the person on the other side would open the door. Meaning that this place was a complete safe house. Once inside, no one could even get out without another person outside. It was overdoing it just for two kids.


    Past the invisible door was a perfect laboratory with monitors on one wall showing live feed of the room they had just left. It was like the kids always thought. Their room was covered in cameras and microphones. Though, it was unsure of whether the microphones could hear the little whispers they would talk to each other with. Still, it didn''t matter.


    While walking through the lab, none of the people inside made eye contact with either Inizio or Srusti. It was like they weren''t there, but it didn''t effect them. They were used to not being talked to. Used to being ignored. Used to acting like they didn''t exist. There was even a time when they acted dead and the people who walked into change their IV bags didn''t even care to check for a pulse. That meant that they knew they were playing dead, or just didn''t care if they died. Though, there was no point in even thinking about it. Not anymore anyways.


    Then, they walked up multiple flights of stairs until they got to the outside, and it was warm. Warmer then usual. It felt nice, but it was also bright. When they looked around, they saw that everything basked in light of the sun which created shadows. They saw the true green of trees, and the ridges in the brown bark. They looked up and saw the bright origin of life. They saw the sun, and it blinded them. Still, they wanted to reach up and grab it. However, they knew that it was impossible to grab. They were just itty bitty things to the great sun and moon. Although that was the case, the sun still kissed their untouched skin. The warmth still permeated through their bodies. The pure light of the sun hugged them gently, and they didn''t want to leave it''s arms.


    Then, there was the blue sky surrounding the bright sun. It was light and contracted the greenness of the trees perfectly while the white clouds moved across it. It was amazing. The fresh air, blue sky, green leaves, bright sun. It was all so amazing. They wanted to climb one of the tress or lay in the grass while staring up to the sky. Those activities would be fun and peaceful. Both of them would smile if they were able to act that way. To act like carefree children whenever they wanted. That life would be pure ecstasy.


    "Are you two done looking? We have places to go."


    The two focused in front of them and saw the black shinning car that broke the harmony of nature.


    "Apologies. We''re coming," Inizio said walking towards the open door of the car. As soon as they got into the car and the doors were closed, the car started moving.


    Four. That''s the amount of people that were in the car. There was the driver, the director in the passenger seat, and the two kids in the back seat. Like the last time they were in the car, the watched as the plants, cars, buildings, and roads passed by. They looked at everything in awe with the plan in the back of their minds. Both of them reminded themselves over and over that they were going to jump out of the car in a moving highway. Though, there was a little problem. The child lock was on for both of the passenger doors which the two of them noticed when first getting into the car. So, they couldn''t open the car door while inside of the door. They also tried rolling down the window, but those were locked to. That meant that they were going to have to break the window which didn''t seem enforced, so it wasn''t going to be a problem. Inizio could just break through the window using his arm. He would have to wrap his arm with the shirt tied to his waist, then punch or elbow that window which wasn''t going to be much of a problem due to his enhanced physical abilities.


    "If the two of you like," the director said from the passenger seat, "you can look through the magazines to see if there''s anything you like in there."


    Right, in the middle seat of the back of the car, there was a stack of magazines that neither of the kids cared to look at because they figured it was something they shouldn''t touch. But, they had to wonder what was the point of them looking for something they liked through the magazines. In truth, they were happy given even the smallest things and didn''t have many things they actually liked. So, when it came to decision making involving their own opinions on something that involved feelings, they were bad at it. Ask them about political things, and they would be able to answer using the facts placed in front of them. But, anything else that involved their own feelings where questions that they couldn''t answer. That didn''t mean that they weren''t going to look through the magazines though. They were interested in anything from the outside world.


    The magazines where filled with all sorts of things. From clothes, to home d¨¦cor, and even animals. Seeing all of the different designs, colors, and trends was nice. They wanted to imagine what it would be like to see all of those things in person. To step into those rooms, pet those animals, and see those clothes. Doing all of that would be so much fun. They couldn''t wait.


    "By the way, Inizio, Srusti," the director spoke again, "my name is Aarth, so stop calling me director. Either call me Aarth or Dad."


    Huh...? Dad? Just what the hell was this guy thinking?

 Dad?!

    Was this guy in his right mind? Calling him dad? Was he actually serious? He couldn''t be. He treats them as though they were toys. He only uses them for entertainment, so what was the point of acting like their father. It was insane! Like crazy insane!


    "I don''t think either will be possible, director," Inizio said, thinking that there was seriously something wrong with Aarth. Like mentally wrong. There had to be something wrong somewhere in his head.


    "It''s impolite for us to call you something like that. We''re not even human," Srusti added. Aarth looked at the two through the window, trying to read their facial expression rather then relying on the words coming out of their mouths, but he couldn''t read any of their facial muscles. Well, he could just barely see a confused expression on Inizio''s face, but he saw nothing from Srusti. That girl was a complete wall. He couldn''t even find a lift in her lips or eyebrows. Still, he still smiled at the two of them. They were just children who''d never gone outside before.


    "You two are children and need an adult to lean on. I''m the only guy that know of you two and have the ability and heart to take care of the two of you."


    Wow, what a benevolent guy he was. They both thought, sarcastically. There was no way they could actually trust this guy. He was insane. Like medically. However, neither of them were in the position to tell him that he was wrong. They just had to suck up his insanity and deal with it.


    "If that''s how you want to view us, then go ahead. We''re in no position to tell you any different, but it would be improper for us to view you as a parent," Srusti said, sticking her nose back into the magazines as a way to get away from the conversation.


    "Why is that?" Aarth asked.


    "Because we''re nothing more then scientific lab rats, and aren''t worthy enough to considered your children."


    "I think you two are plenty worthy," he said, "You both are smart and well behaved children. And even though you weren''t born like everyone else, the two of you don''t have to be human to need to be taken care of. You''re still children who need adults to guide you."


    Like hell they really needed a guide. The two kids were smart beyond compare. If they didn''t know something, they would learn it as soon as possible. If the environment was different, they would adapt as fast as they could. Besides, that was what they were meant for. To see the limits of their body and mind. If they couldn''t adapt to their surroundings fast enough, if they couldn''t even survive jumping out of a moving car, they would be considered faulty yet again. So, it was better if they just ran away now before they were considered failures again and killed.


    "So, call me dad," he said.


    Wow, they didn''t even have a choice anymore. He really just got ride of their second option just like that. It just showed how he did everything on a whim. But, they weren''t going to back down as easy as he took away the option. After all, they were starting to understand Aarth''s personality a bit more.


    "Is this an order?" Inizio asked keeping his nose in a magazine as his sister was.


    Aarth continued looking at the two through the mirror. He saw how uninterested the two seemed in the subject thought it was an important topic. It was something that could almost be seen as one of the most important things in their lives, yet they just suck their nose in magazines with no interest in this life changing moment. Rather, they found this topic bothersome and would rather browse through catalogs. It was annoying how he couldn''t read them like he could any other person. The two of them, in that moment, were completely unreadable.


    "If it was, what would you do?" he had to ask. The two continued their indifferent strike with Srusti taking the lead, "If it''s an order, then we''ll humbly oblige. If not, then I''m sorry," Srusti looked at Aarth through the mirror making eye contact that was ever so indifferent and emotionless, "but that''s not something we''re able to do."


    Aarth felt the pressure behind the emotionless stare, but just laughed it off. In truth, he was a little scared of the kids he said he was going to raise. Sometimes, they were like wild animals, sometimes actual children, and sometimes they were so emotionless that it would scare even him. Still, like how they weren''t showing what they were feeling, he wasn''t going to either.


    "Well, it''s not an order then. I don''t want you two to be uncomfortable after all."


    Srusti just looked away not caring as she always did, ending the serious little conversation.


    The next time the two kids got out of the car, they weren''t in front of an institute like building. It was more like a store. It looked like a rich person store too. The suspicion was only proven to be true when they walked into the store and found almost nothing to be seen. Proof that everything to be sold was way too valuable to be put on display. There was also a little waiting area with catalogs on the table and a dressing room. There were shelves that lined the walls, probably holding clothes of some sort. Of course there was no way of finding out as it was impolite to just open drawers in a place that didn''t belong to them. That didn''t mean they were curious though, but there was no time to think about it. As soon as they walked into the store, a lady walked out from the back of the store and picked up Srusti without any warning.


    "If I knew you two would look this lovely in my clothes, I would''ve made thousands of different outfits!" She said before even introducing herself. Srusti just let the lady do whatever she wanted, but Inizio was infuriating by the actions she took.


    "Please put down my little sister," he said, bringing the lady''s attention to him. The lady put Srusti down hand looked over the Inizio.


    "And you look cute too! Both of you are just perfect in black and white!"


    Was it because it was their first day outside, but they were just surrounded by weird people. It was sort of unnatural. Weren''t people supposed to be normal? Not like them, but rather normal people like the people in the lab. Well, the sort of normal they wanted to be, anyway.


    "Thank you for the compliment," Srusti said since her brother was still trying to over come his annoyance by how impolite the lady in front of them was being.


    "What polite little things you are! You sure are different front your father!" She said in response which immediately caught the children''s attention as they looked at Aarth through their prereferral vision. Spreading around the word that they were his kids really was a cry for him wanting the two of them to call him dad, wasn''t it? Nonetheless, they weren''t going to give in to his little wants, but that didn''t mean they were going to acknowledge the changes either. They found from reaching books that crushing such situations they were in now were easiest with silence. They were just going to act like the second sentence just wasn''t said, and since there was nothing else to say, they just look at the lady that was also observing them. Well, not them specifically, but the clothes on their body and how they matched with their unnatural features.


    Looking over the two, the woman nodded her head, "You were right in choosing a black and white color scheme for their first outfits. It fits them well."


    Aarth nodded his head as well, agreeing with the statements seeing as she was the one she was talking to, "Well of course. But they''re going to need outfits of all sorts and in different colors, so I brought them directly to you."


    So it really was the director who chose out the outfits. Honestly, they thought the clothes were just taken off a shelf for them to wear and matched because they were identical test subjects. That just seemed the most fitting answer, but hearing the conversation now, it started to make sense why there were magazines in the car that had some picture circled in black pen. It was probably the director that did that, they both thought at the time. Though the two of them didn''t see the merit of them choosing their own clothes. It''s not like they had a preference in the first place.


    "Well then," the lady said and kneeled down to the children''s level while smiling, probably to seem more friendly.


    "Are there any colors the two of you like?"


    Inizio and Srusti responded at the same time using the same word, "No."


    This got the lady''s smile to turn into an awkward one. She''d probably expected them to nervously tell her their favorite color or multiple colors, but they shot her down with a straight answer.


    "Then, do you two have a favorite color or a color you like better then others?"


    The two answered the same way. In an uninterested, bored tone at the same time.


    "No."


    The lady''s smile grew more and more awkward seeing that the conversation wasn''t going to go anywhere. However, she wasn''t going to let the conversation end in such awkwardness.


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    "Then how about you say the first color that comes to mind?"


    There was something they could do. It was as simple as going through all of the colors they knew rather then having to, on the spot, decide what color they favored the most when they''ve barely been exposed to them.


    "Purple," Srusti said first with the brother following with, "Blue."


    Now, with their answers, the lady''s face brightened up into an actual, happy smiled.


    "Alright," she said, "Then would one of you follow me or a moment?"


    Inizio and Srusti looked at each other. Just one of them? Why couldn''t it be both? What was this lady trying to do? Was she trying to take them away from each other? Inizio grabbed his little sister''s hand and slightly pulled her behind him, so he would be a little more towards the lady as a way of protecting his sister.


    Aarth saw this and spoke, "The two of them prefer not to be separated."


    The lady nodded, understandingly, "Of course, of course. Then the two of you can come along together."


    What was this about? The two siblings looked at each other again then nodded to the lady. After, they were lead to the back of the store, out of sight from Aarth. Waiting for the kids to come back, he decided to just sit on the couch that was behind the wooden table with the catalogs on them. Then, he picked up the catalog for children''s clothing and started flipping through it looking for nice designs.


    In the back of the store, Inizio was standing on a circle platform with a mirror in front of him while the lady was using a measuring tape to measure his body. He was the first to get measured because he didn''t trust the lady to touch his little sister, not after her impolite actions of just picking Srusti up. There was no way he could trust her after all of that. And either way, this was a completely new person who the two of them knew nothing about besides the fact that she was a clothing designer. Plus, they were brought to her by Aarth, and she seemed a little messed up in the head. With all that, there was no way that they were going to trust her. So, he was going to sacrifice himself to see if everything was going to be okay, and if it wasn''t then it would let his sister find hide or find a back door and leave.


    "The measurements from before are perfect," the lady said.


    Of course the measurements were perfect. They were constantly measured on the daily basis silently from a different person every time. If the measurements weren''t accurate, it would be even weirder.


    "You haven''t grown much, but don''t worry, you''ll be really tall when you grow up," she said softly.


    Inizio just looked at the lady through the mirror reflection not caring about what she was saying. He knew that he was going to get taller. He was sure that he would at least hit 6 ft while Srusti would grew to at least be 5''4. But, he couldn''t be sure. He''d never been allowed to grow up to see how tall he would be. He hoped that he would, but even more so his sister. He would love to see her pick up a hobby that she really enjoyed. Like writing, reading, drawing, playing a musical instrument, or even gardening. As long as she was having true fun with it, Inizio was going to be happy seeing it. He too wanted to get a hobby or maybe even make some friends. Either way, he wanted to live a life. One where he would be able to continue growing. That was something he was working for. For both him and his sister.


    "Thank you," Inizio said. The lady smiled, "You''re welcome."


    The, for some reason, she just continued talking, "You kids should loosen up a little. After all, you can''t be kids forever. Have some fun with it. Open up, laugh, throw tantrums, do whatever kids do while you can."


    She said that like it was easiest thing to do in the world. Like they could open up to random people that walk past them on the street. Like they could be nice to everyone before making any assumptions. Well, of course she did. Look at them. They were kids. They were 8 and 10. Now, they would be nervous or talking about multiple useless things on end. They would be naivet¨¦ be talking to a person they''d just met without any worry. Just like kids do.


    They''d smile without regret, cry without hiding, and laugh all the time. They would be lively. They would have a favorite color, a favorite animal, a favorite everything. Exactly, like children did.


    They would reach for someone to look up to, someone they could learn and follow. They would want and need protection from the outside world. They wouldn''t even know what desperation was. They would''ve never had to even think about jumping out of a moving car just to lay in green grass under the sun. They wouldn''t be scared and warry of everything single person. Just like kids were.


    But they couldn''t. So what if they were kids? So what if they were supposed to be talkative and smile all the time. They weren''t protected and held dearly. They were caged and ignored by everyone around them. They were experimental tests subjects who weren''t born to be loved in the first place but to just be objects to be thrown away.


    Suddenly being thrown in this new environment, of course, they were going to be warry. Of course, they were going to question and second guess everything. Of course, they wouldn''t be able to smile and talk with no conscious. Of course, they couldn''t be kids. That right was taken away from them over and over and over and over. And, they didn''t know how to get it back.


    But, there was no point in tis random lady needing to know this. She didn''t want to know of their vulnerability. About their boring past. No one did. Besides, who would actually believe them?


    "I''ll try," Inizio said. But, there was no way he could.


    Next it was Srusti''s turn to have her measurements checked. There was no need to, but the lady wanted to do it anyway. And like with her brother, she had stuff to say to Srusti too.


    "What a pretty thing you are," she said, "You look just like your brother."


    What was she going to look like if not her brother. She was modeled after him. He was the base for her. That''s why he was A and she was B. Her brother was based off a real human while she was the splitting image of him. She was the needed but not cared about second while her brother got claps from being created. He was special after all. The first genetically engineered human being made from scratch using none of the natural steps while she was the second, created only because the lab had to know if making females was possible as well. She was made for nothing more but that.


    "Thank you," Srusti said.


    "You need to loosen up too," the lady said, sighing, "Both you and your brother need to smile some more."


    Smiling sounded easy enough, but when Srusti looked at herself in the mirror and tried to smile, she couldn''t. No matter how much she thought about lifting her facial muscles, they never turned into a smile. Smiling really did sound easy, but it wasn''t. Not for her anyway.


    "Especially you. Smiling would make you even prettier hen you already are. Then you''d make a whole bunch of friends."


    Friends? Where there people who wanted to be her friends? How would she even go about making such a relationship? She didn''t know. Besides, there was not a single person she met that was her age. Friends aren''t limited to age, but still, that was how being friends usually worked. But, there was no one like that. And, she didn''t even know how she should react when it came to kids. They were so happy go lucky that it actually scared her a little. She wondered how they were so oblivious of the world even though they were let outside. It was weird, and it was an attitude she would never get used to nor did she want to have. However, despite that, she wanted friends. She wanted more people to talk to besides her brother. She wanted to play group games with other people. But most of all, she wanted to see her brother running around with his friends playing a game. After all, Srusti knew that being around her all the time was taxing and not fun. Her brother just smiled through all of it to make her feel better. She didn''t want to keep him chained to her anymore.


    "Well, your measurements are perfect as well," the lady said, stepping away and allowing Srusti off of the little elevated platform.


    "Now, if you two could stay here for a minute," she said, leaving the two kids to watch as she walked deeper into her store.


    When the lady walked away, Inizio reached to hold his little sister''s hand. He looked at her, and she looked at him. Both of them were thinking the same thing. Both of them were ready to take that first step forward, but Srusti shook her head. Now wasn''t the right time. Now, they would look suspicious. Now, they would get caught. They had to wait, but Inizio didn''t want to. He looked at his little sister and tightened his hold in his sister hand, telling her that he wanted to go. However, Srusti''s head shook again.


    Was it really necessary for them to go through with the most dangerous plan of all. He would have to break through the glass which would risk some of the fragments of the glass piercing through either of their skins which could cause a life threatening injury. Then, they''d have to jump out of a car moving at 60 mph or more. It was insane. Just putting the window down with the loud sound of the wind while it entered the car showed how bad it was going to be if they jumped out of a car moving at the speed. There was also everything that could be on the road. Dead animals, pieces of concrete, oil. All of it was something they didn''t want their faces touching. Still, it was the best plan Srusti came up with it. It had the most risk, but that was the risk they had to take for the freedom of the outside world they wanted.


    Inizio looked away from his sister''s obsidian eyes.


    "Okay," he said, rethink about his choice of wanting to go to the outside world this way. Maybe they could make a deal with Aarth about going outsides every so often after they get to their new, boring place of residence. That would be much safer. At least, it seemed to be.


    "Alright then," they lady said, coming back with multiple sheets of fabric with her that were all different colors. She put one fabric after another text to Inizio''s and Srusti''s figure, trying to figure out what colors would suit them the best.


    She came to find out that really anything worked for them. Well, except plain white. Because of their alright light color pallet, it was bad to put yet another light shade on top. Of course, white did work as long as it accompanied another color which was why the outfits the two were wearing right now were perfect. However, because of their white like tones, everything worked well with them, meaning that the lady''s creativity would have to be put to a stop simply because the color didn''t match the person. It was perfect. And see as she had already made a few more sets of clothes prior using the perfect measurements given to make the ones the children were currently wearing. She already had something made for them and didn''t have a change anything. It was all thanks to her sudden burst of inspiration after hearing that two angelic like people existed. Though, she did want to see them try on each and every outfit she made, but she remembered Aarth telling her not to ware them out seeing as there were multiple other places they needed to go.


    "You two can go back to your dad now. I''ll be out in a second with your clothes."


    That guy wasn''t their dad, but there was no use refuting that anyway. So, they just followed her instructions and walked back to the front of the store where Aarth was sitting on the couch looking at catalogs.


    Looking at the two of them and the Aarth, it was perfectly clear that the three of them weren''t related by blood. And yet, they considered him to actually be a parental figure. At least, he was close to one. He had a direct hand in their making. He gave the order to start researching the creation of genetically engineered children. Plus, he was male, so he was, in one way, their father. However, no matter how you looked at it. In any other way, he wasn''t. So, calling him dad, father, or any other synonyms to the word was out of the question.

 Cursed

    After the getting the clothes from the tailor, Aarth and the kids got back into the car. They were hesitant about their little plan, so the entire ride, they just stared out of their different windows, watching the trees and building going by like a blur and the other cars that kept up with their car. With each car that slowly passed the window, they visualized the car not stopping when they jumped out of the car, and their bodies being crushed, smushed, and destroyed. They were scared, for their sibling who was seating a seat away from them.


    Srusti second guessed her plan, and as she was, Inizio grabbed her attention by grabbing her hand. But, instead of talking or looking at her, he looked through the rear view mirror. He didn''t want to see any of his sister hurt, so he was willing to negotiate. No matter what he had to give up, if his sister was going to go outside then he would be fine with it. He''d do whatever Aarth wanted him to do if his sister was going to be aloud to go to school and make friends. Though, he worried for her because she was introverted and couldn''t put her feelings into words. Anyone besides him and adults would be scared to approach her because of how closed off she was. That was his only worry.


    "Director," he said. Aarth immediately responded and looked at Inizio through the same mirror, waiting for him to speak.


    "Are we going to go back to the institution?" Inizio asked.


    "Do you want to do back?" he asked in response. Inizio just shook his head, knowing it was going to seen from the mirror.


    Aarth just smiled, "Then, you don''t have to."


    "Can we go outside then?"


    "You''re outside right now."


    "But, can we go outside whenever we want to or be allowed to go to school?"


    Aarth answered with another question again, "Do you want to go to school?"


    Inizio nodded, "If possible."


    "Public or private school?"


    "..."


    Inizio was taken aback. Was Aarth really considering allowing them to go to school? The place with play grounds, and other kids their age? Where they gave out food that was all processed and didn''t cost anything until you reach high school? Was he allowing them to go there? Inizio looked at his sister who was looking at him with the same disbelief at what they just heard.


    "Do you want to go to public school or private school?" Aarth said again, clarifying his question for the two which stunned them even more.


    "Actually," Aarth said, "You two will probably like public school better. With all the different personalities and classes."


    Srusti hesitantly looked at Aarth through the mirror, "So, we can go to school? Like everyday?"


    Aarth smiled at the surprised of the two kids. Honestly, he should be in jail because he didn''t let the kids go to school since it was a law.


    "You can go whenever you want to."


    "What do you want for it?" Inizio said, not forgetting that there was going to be something Aarth was going to want to take from them. Aarth was probably going to want extra tests or exploitations. Something that was bad. And Inizio was willing to give it. Whatever he wanted long as his sister could go to school.


    "Hmm," he started, "How about calling me dad and stop talking to me formally?"


    How did we end up back at this topic? They both thought. But seriously though, if that was all it was going to take for them to be able to go to public school, that was nothing compared to everything running through their heads. Just one title change was nothing. Besides, it wasn''t going to do anything in the long run as long as they didn''t get attached. After all, the only attachment they needed was to each other. But, it was a weird and disrespectful change from their entire life. Still, it was nothing compared to all of the other options.


    "Alright then, dad," Srusti said, jumping onto the train because of how slow it was going. And her brother was right behind her, "If that''s want you want then, okay dad."


    Aarth chuckled, "So it''s give and take with you two. Is that right?"


    Srusti nodded, "Yes."


    Aarth laughed at how blunt the small girl could be. They were nothing like anyone in the world who smiled as a mask with disgusting thoughts behind it. These two, on the other hand, rather then hiding behind smiles, said their actual feelings if asked. Well, they would try to answer in the best way possible at least. Really, they were the best kids.


    After the talk in the car, there wasn''t any thoughts of escaping anymore. There were no longer any benefits to getting out of this environment where everything seemed to be provided for them. Rather, it seemed stupid to run now. Aarth wasn''t a good guy, that''s for sure. But, they couldn''t push aside the fact that he was offering more pros then cons. So, for now, they were going to stay where they were.


    From there, the kids were brought to all sorts of stores. They went to general stores, toy stores, furniture stores, hardware stores, and in every store, they got to pick and get whatever they wanted. They got to pick the color of paint for their rooms. The furniture they wanted in their rooms. The toys, trinkets, and whatever they wanted. It was a dream come true, truly. The two were only happy throughout the rest of the day. Everything was just so bright, warm, and amazing. They couldn''t forgive themselves if they missed a single moment of it.


    Ending their shopping, Aarth then took the two kids to a buffet restaurant. The food served was predominantly from Asian culture. When they walked in, they payed for them eating food, then choose a table close to the buffet for them to eat at. Of course, the driver also sat at the table next to Aarth to eat along with them.


    Following all of the Asian food, the prime color design of the restaurant was red, and the entranced to different parts of the restaurant had a circle doorway rather then a squared. There were also Chinese characters on the wall that talked about food. There was also a menu that could be ordered off of separately for alcohol. Of course, Aarth didn''t allow the two to order from the menu. Actually, they just stuck with water.


    All of the food and different substances Srusti and Inizio could eat, kind of overwhelmed them. The two have never felt hungry nor full, and now that they had the choice to fill their stomachs, they didn''t know what to try first. They didn''t even know if their stomachs could handle ingesting food. Because of their studies, they knew that eating solid food was difficult for a stomach that wasn''t used to digesting or eating a lot. It would cause a person to feel sick and through it all up because the body wasn''t used to having to digest large amounts of food. For example, if someone was starved for a week, rather then feeding them chicken tenders, they would be given soup to ease in a more normal diet by normalizing the intake of food.


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    So, for two people who''ve never eaten food in their lives, or even took a drink water. It was almost guaranteed that they were going to throw up all over themselves after eating, so there was no point in bring them to a buffet. Rather they should''ve been brought home and ate rice porridge or some kind of soup that was gentle on the stomach. It was useless bring them there, and they thought Aarth would''ve been smart enough to know that. But, whether this was for them to get fed or just try tasting food, this was a new experience that the two kids weren''t going to let go of. They were going to let this slip through their fingers, so the two picked up the glass of water. They felt the cold from the ice inside, and saw a distorted image of the table through the moving water. They brought the cup of water to their face, feeling that same chill on their lips. Then, for the first time in their lives, the cold translucent liquid that was necessary for the survival of every living thing, touched their togues and slide down their throats.


    The water wasn''t as refreshing as the two thought it would be. Rather is tasted chemically. Like it wasn''t filled with the usual minerals that are in water, but rather, something human made. And they were right.


    "Tastes weird right?" Aarth said, "It''s tap water."


    Tap water. No wonder it wasn''t as refreshing. Tap water, even after being filtered and treated, still had small amounts of pesticides, lead, and other poisonous things. Of course, it was never enough to kill a person, but it made the water taste weird. On the upside, it was cheap and often served at restaurants because of that fact. It was also the reason why the majority of people prefer to order other drinks besides water at certain establishments.


    Because of the gross unrefreshing taste, the two kids now questioned the quality of the food. Was it just as weird tasting? Though, there was no point in wondering, and Aarth seemed to agree with that.


    "I''ll order something different for you two to drink while you go get some food," he said, making a gesture to like kicking them out of the table. the two kids slid out of their booth, picked up a plate, and started wandering the buffet.


    At first they were completely focused on getting to the soup section of the buffet, but slowly got distracted by all of the people and the smell of food. It all looked good and the smell and colors drew them in. Before they knew it, their hands moved to the tongs, spoons, and spatulas, and fit dish after dish on their plate. It was only until the plates were full, that they realized the mindless action they just committed after telling themselves why they couldn''t do such a thing. It was the first time they really had no self control. But, since there was already food on their plates, there was no sense in wasting it, so the two walked back to their table and slid back into their seats.


    Like Aarth had told them, the tap water was no longer on the table and was replaced with a light yellow looking drink. Before opening the napkin wrapped silverware, the two were a little hesitant seeing as there was a high chance their stomachs weren''t going to favor the meal. Plus, they didn''t want to mess up their new clothes and shoes. Still, they really wanted to try everything.


    Taking deep breaths, trying to get rid of all the guilt they would have after ruining their clothes, the two pulled the fork out of the wrapped napkin and stuck it in the first item on their plate.


    The two food items were completely different, but the two were still hit with foreign tastes. And whatever they ate, tasted delicious. They disregarded the cry for help their stomachs were going to have later in the day, and kept eating off of their plates.


    With each bite they took, they experience different flavors. Some things were spicy and heated up their tongues a bit while others soft and fluffy. There was also stuff with a lot of juices soaked in. They tasted the sweetness of watermelon, and the sourness of lemon. It was all so delicious and irresistible, until they couldn''t ignore their bodies that were stuffed to the brim. But, they didn''t regret a single thing. Even if their stomachs were to implode or their clothes were going to get ruined, they were find with it. After all, the food tasted so good. There was no way they were going to regret anything.


    Their outing ended as the sun had started laying down to sleep, and while in the car, the two found themselves staring through the windows watching the yellow, orange, and pinks in the sky. All of those colors dancing in the sky while saying goodbye to the bright sun and hello to the shimmering moon was mesmerizing. This, they really couldn''t taken their eyes off. It was like they were in a trance staring at the dimming sky. It was the completion of their wish of going outside. It was the curse that wouldn''t allow them to step foot in another white room with no windows. However, they weren''t angry. Rather, this curse was a joy. Finally, they could start living like everyone else.


    It was after the sun fully left their eyes, that the car stopped in front of a house that they stepped out of the car to look at. It wasn''t a mansion like they were expecting from a guy with enough money to create two people. Rather, it was just a house, in a middle to high class neighborhood. It was a regular, everyday, one story house with three bedrooms, three bathrooms, and an office space. It was exactly what the kids would want to live in. Nothing extravagant, but nothing that was in the dirt. It was perfectly average.


    There were lights that lined the driveway and pathway. They saw that it was a house with many windows meaning that they could look outside whenever they wanted. Rather then waking up to look at white walls shinned down on by electric light, they could wake up feeling the warmth of the sun through the window and see the green trees or the cars passing by. It was nice.


    "My room, the laundry room, office, and kitchen are on the first floor while the second floor completely belongs to the both of you. There''s two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a main room up there. You can put whatever you want up there, paint it however you want, design it however you want. It''s a space you two are free to do anything with," Aarth said, introducing the two to their house. He handed the two of them keys to the front door, "Go on. You live here."


    Srusti and Inizio looked at each other then walked on the path lit by lights to the front door. They reached the front door of the house that had the same type of glass as the bathing rooms in the institution. After, Inizio used the key in his hand and opened the front door. As soon as he took that first step into the house, all of the lights came on like the house was welcoming them home. It was warm and comforting unlike the cold white room. The two walked inside the house with Inizio a step behind of his sister in case anything happened.


    Right behind the two, Aarth gave them a little push forward, "Go to bed and explore later. It''s late. Everything you''ll need is up there already."


    Looking at Aarth, the two kids nodded and headed for the stairs. The second floor''s lights were on too, and it wasn''t furnished proving Aarth''s word of them being able to do whatever they wanted with it. The opened the doors, finding everything that was said to be up there and then some. In the bedrooms, were the furniture they picked out from the store organized exactly the way they wanted it to be. The bathrooms were filled with skin care, all sorts of soaps that they enjoyed the scents of, bathroom rugs, tooth brushes, and towels. All something they chose themselves. It was exactly how they imagined it. The base colors they chose of blue and purple and the placement. Everything was perfect. It was a dream come true. The whole day was really. It made the little fear of the white room form in their hearts.


    After getting ready for bed in their own bathrooms, they entered their rooms that were separated by walls and design. Srusti''s room was decorated with a purple aesthetic. Her white bed was full sized was pushed to the side of the room, neatly made, while there was a large white corner desk on the other side of the room. One side of the desk was made for paper work only and was organized as she liked. The other had a basic gaming set up that had a pc with nice led lights. Adding to all of that, she had sphere lights having from her ceiling because she thought they resembled planets. She also had LED lights lining the top of the walls, so she could change the color to whatever she wanted. Finally, in the middle of her room, on a small, white coffee table, was an at home planetarium projector.


    Seriously, she was surprised that it was there. She said she wanted one on a whim because she wanted to know is Aarth was actually willing to get her whatever she wanted. Plus, she always envied the characters in the few fiction books she read that got to sleep under the stars. She always thought that would be fun. She wondered if she would be able to dream if she slept under those stars. It made her smile a bit. She stepped into the center of the room and turned on her new projector. She watched as her entire room was filled with stars. Like she was in space surrounded by them. She loved it.


    Srusti collapsed in her bed, tired by her day that was more active then usual. It was soothing. So soothing, that she ended up falling asleep as soon as she curled up on top of the sheets.

 The House

    Inizio finished washing up. Unlike his sister that went straight to his room to check it out, he walked right past it and went to go check on his sister. He found that her room door was left open, and inside, he found that her projector was on showing the brightness of the artificial stars. He walked inside of the room, and found that his sister was passed out on her bed, curled up and not covered. Seeing this, Inizio smiled at how carless she was. It was unbecoming of her, but just so like her too. Thankfully, he made sure to pick out a nice plush throw blanket that was purple, and had it placed inside her closet where all of her clothes are. He quietly opened the closet and took out the nice, soft, and purple blanket. He unfolded the blanket and draped it over her sleeping figure. Then, he kneeled down to her bed side, happily.


    Inizio was grateful all of this was happening to them. He was grateful that he was able to watch his sister sleep peaceful in a place which she designed herself. He was glad that she was about to sleep in a stary room without having to worry about anything. He could only smile thinking about the future smiles and laughs she was going to have. He laughed imagining his sister with her friends. He could see the little annoyance his sister would have when her friends were playing little tricks on her. Inizio imagined so many things for her future that would do nothing but make her happy, and he couldn''t stop the joy from reaching his face as he wished would be the same for his sister as time continued.


    "Big brother...?" she called out, her soft soft and sleepy because she''d just woken up. Inizio brought his hand up and gently pet her head, "Go back to sleep."


    "But, why are you here? Are you having trouble sleeping?"


    Inizio shook his head, "No, I just wanted to check up on you."


    "Alright," she said, falling asleep again, "Don''t stay up late, okay..."


    Srusti''s voice dragged off as she drifted off back to sleep. She really was the cutest.


    In the morning, because the two children didn''t grow up with clocks, an alarm, or the visible sun, their sleep schedule was insanely erratic. They went to sleep when they felt like it and woke up when they felt like it. So, Aarth almost a day after he sent to kids to bed, he went to go check on the two of them. Quietly, he entered both of the kid''s rooms and was surprised to see that both of them had slept through the day. Neither one seemed to have waken up from the sun that shinned through their windows, or the light footsteps of him entering the room. It was quite a surprise to see two people who really could sleep the day away. He could almost laugh at the two of them, but he couldn''t. After all, he had work to do.


    Aarth ended up closing the doors to the two kid''s room and heading off to work. Ironically, five minutes after heading to work, the two children work up three minutes within each other. First, both looked outside their window and expected to see the sun shinning bright in the sky, but instead saw it''s dimming light.


    It was quite confusing since their senses of time didn''t exist, but they quickly realized that they''d slept through the time of the sun, which both were quite sad about. However, it was their fault. They should''ve set an alarm or something to wake them up while the sun was out. At least, tomorrow they were going to see the bright sun again. For now, they decided to wash up and change their clothes. After, they would go through the fridge and explore the house together. That seemed to be able to entertain them enough until they were able to go back to sleep.


    After going over the regular steps in hygiene, the two put on pajama''s that were made of nice fabric by the lady from the tailor store. And some how, they managed to pick the set of matching pajamas perfectly, so they matched. It was a sibling telepathy and the closeness they had to each other that made it happen. But, they paid no mind to that and walked down stairs to look for something to eat in the kitchen. Hopefully, something good.


    Coming down the stairs after a long nice sleep, gave the two kids an easier time looking around and noticing all of the details of the down stairs. They saw, at least in the living room, that everything was either gray, white, or black. A somewhat bland choice but also calming because of how simple it is. Rather then subconsciously causing anger, sadness, or happiness, people walking in weren''t really effect by the colors because of how bland they are. Not only that, the colors were soothing to the eyes. they weren''t unnecessarily bright nor unnecessarily dark. When put together, they were the perfect set of colors. Of course, none of that stopped Inizio or Srusti from painting their rooms in blue and purple aesthetics.


    The two continued their walk to the kitchen where the design and color pallet was the same everywhere. There was only the shine of the fridge that managed to pull out of the monotone setting. But, there was nothing wrong with that. Actually, it made the thing easier to locate.


    Opening the fridge was like opening the doors to a new world. There were all sorts of different foods. Some where ingredients, some were dishes. All of it was different, and all of it made the two of them confused.


    See, they knew food had to be cooked before eating it but overcooked food didn''t taste good. However, because they''ve only seen cooked food from a buffet restaurant, how were they supposed to tell the difference from raw food to cooked food. After all, all cooked food looks different. Something could be cooked but look raw, and some could be raw but look cooked. It was all so confusing about what they could eat without getting sick. They''ve never seen half of the stuff that was in there. Still, they started rummaging through the fridge, taking out the fruits and vegetables because they knew those could be eaten without being cooked. They placed everything they found on the white quartz countertop that was next to the fridge.


    Then, after taking everything out, they went through everything they thought were fruits and vegetables. There was cut up watermelon in a plastic container, strawberries, blueberries--they came to that conclusion because the fruit was blue. Then, there was a whole bunch of green stuff with one white tree looking thing that was probably a vegetable.


    Looking at all of this, the two were sure that there was probably something in there that wasn''t going to be good to eat health or taste wise, but it never hurt to try. Experiences are the best ways to learn, after all. So, the two kids first ate what they were sure wasn''t going to kill them.


    First, they went for the watermelon. But, if that was the case, they were going to have to go looking for forks.


    "I''ll find some," Srusti said because she was closer to the drawers.


    "Okay."


    Srusti opened drawer after drawer looking for the utensils. It took five drawers to find forks to eat with. She found them in the drawer that was right behind the dishwater which was right next to the two parted sink. A convenient place to put it seeing as forks, spoons, and butter knifes tend to be used more frequently then anything else. She took two forks out of the drawer then closed it. She walked back to her older brother who already opened the container with watermelon, and gave him one of the forks. Then, the two pierced two different pieces of watermelon with their forks and began their little fruit feast.


    The watermelon was delicious. It was sweet but not so sweet that it reminded them of some kind of desert. Some of the pieces to too big to eat in one bite, so they ate some pieces with smaller bites causing some of the enclosed sweet water to drip down from the corner of their mouths and get all over their cheeks. They made it seriously obvious that they had eaten all of the watermelon. However, because of they had to split the container of sweet fruit and slept the entire day, they still didn''t feel the fullness in their stomachs they had after eating at the buffet. So, they continued eating.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Next, the two went to open the container of strawberries, but there was a problem there too. Neither of them wanted to eat the strawberries with their hands, which was needed because of the green leaves at the top.


    "I''ll cut them," Inizio said, but Srusti shook her head, "I can do it."


    "No, you have to look for the knife and cutting board."


    Srusti knew that her brother was just trying to keep her away from the act of cutting something, but she listened to him anyways since he was her big brother. It was natural for him to want to keep her away from the possibility of hurting herself, but if he ended up hurting himself, she would be on standby to immediately take care of him because she was his little sister.


    Again, the little sister went looking through the draws and cabinets for different kitchen items. She found a knife on the counter in the little knife holder and the cutting bored in a slim cabinet that was right next to the dishwasher. Then, she delivered both items to her brother who had finished washing the strawberries and places the container on a red kitchen towel.


    "Don''t hurt yourself," Srusti said, watching her brother''s every move as long as that knife stayed in his reach.


    Inizio huffed out a smile, "If I do cut myself, I bet you wouldn''t leave this big brother''s side."


    He wasn''t wrong, but what did that have to do with the worry of him getting hurt? It made his sister furrow her brows because of the sudden switch in conversation topic.


    "You wouldn''t get chummy with any of the boys. You wouldn''t get married."


    Oh, never mind. Srusti''s faucal expression went back to normal. She knew why the conversation topic switched. Her insanely ill brother enjoyed the thoughts of her bring tied to his side. He would be forever content if she was attached to him by the hip. He was just adding fuel to the flames of his sister complex, and knowing nothing she could do was going to change that, Srusti let her brother be. Unlike him being worried about her being approached by boys, Srusti was actually concerned for her brother''s social life. She was sure that it wasn''t going to go anywhere if all he talked about was his little sister. Honestly, people would, most likely, call him weird and start distancing themselves from him. All of that would cause a great strain to him making friends, and he would end up as the weird loner. That was a title Srusti didn''t want her brother to have. Maybe, she thought, it''s my time to start distancing. After all, he brother would have an easier time if he didn''t have a sister complex. Or, at least, appear to not have one.


    "Of course, I''m just joking!" Inizio said, smiling. "You can do whatever you feel like doing, as long as you don''t get hurt."


    Yeah, no. He wasn''t. Srusti wondered why he even said that. Maybe, it was because it might scare her off. Though, at this point, she was used to him being overprotective. And, even if she was scared of him, there was no way she could leave. After all, there was no where for her to go. Her fear of being alone was worse than being scared of a single person. Besides, there was no reason as to why she could be scared. Her brother wouldn''t hurt her nor would he lock her up, so it was all good. There was no reason for her to be worried about anything else besides her brother''s social life. So, yeah, it was all good.


    "I''m hungry," she said, getting her brother back on topic to cutting the fruit.


    "Right, right. I''ll get right to it," Inizio chuckled and started cutting the strawberries one after another until the plastic container was empty.


    Thankfully, Inizio didn''t cut himself with the knife, and the two were able to enjoy the taste of strawberries in peace. Though, they were quite surprised by how the red berry fruit tasted. From the bright appearance of the fruit, and the ripeness, both of them expected to be drop dead sweet; however, it was nothing like that. All they got was a regular sweetness. They were ready to eat something that was as sweet as a chocolate bar--not like they ever had one--but it was nothing like that. Eating their first strawberry was like an anticlimactic ending to a movie or book, not like that''s ever happened to them either. Either way, it was safe to say that they were a little let down, but that didn''t mean they didn''t enjoy the red berry fruit.


    Unexpectedly, after they finished eating the strawberries, both of the two children felt full. It was most likely because of the large meal they ate a day ago. At least, that''s the conclusion they both came to, so after putting everything away or in the sink, the two of them started exploring the house.


    The place had the same color scheme everywhere through the first floor. At first, the two kids thought that the color scheme was chosen because of how neutral the colors were, but it seemed that the theme was chosen because Aarth favored it.


    Exploring the house didn''t take up as much energy as the two thought it would. Well, the please was small, so there wasn''t much exploring to be done. Plus, they couldn''t just to barging into the master bedroom, seeing as it was the private space of someone else. Still, everything in the house was fastinating. They saw a washer and dryer, multiple different cleaning products, and other common place items the they''d never seen before. But, none of that was enough for them to be tried, and want to go to sleep. So, the next thing on their list was to go school shopping online. Well, it wasn''t like they had a card to pay for all of it, so they were just going to put everything they wanted into a virtual cart and come back to it later. And so, they went back to their rooms to grab their phones, and decided to stay upstairs in the empty den room space they''d yet to decorate.


    Going online shopping was much more work then the two thought it would be. For one, each other them had to make an account using their phone number which neither of knew, so they had to look in their contacts to find each other''s number. Then, they had to do a whole bunch of verification steps to stop hackers which was a really smart thing to do, but very tedious. After that, they had to login in again and confirm whether or not they were human. In which case, they weren''t. Still, they passed this test with flying colors seeing as all they had to do was turn a picture to a certain angle. All in all, there were a lot of steps getting in the way of the kids starting their first online shopping journey.


    But, there was one more thing. Exactly what materials did one need to attend school? Did the supplies correlate with the level of school they were going into? IF that was the case, they were going to have to figure that out as well. So, Srusti opened up a new tab to figure out the school grade ranges, while Inizio opened a tab to look at the necessary school supplies.


    Currently, Srusti was 8 years old meaning that she fell in the elementary range, and since Inizio was two year older then her, he just barely fell in that range too. Click on a website for grade age rangers, Srusti found a more in-depth chart showing her that she was in second grade while her brother was in fourth. So, that would mean that they didn''t really need a lot of things, and going through a website with examples of supplies need for second grade, Inizio found that some of the supplies didn''t seem to be any different than household items. For example, his sister needed to begin boxes of tissue and disinfectant wipe which both of them found weird, but paid no mind. After all, they''ve never been to school before, how were they supposed to tell what was right?


    However, for 4th grade it seemed that the number of supplies doubled as the grade number did. What replaced his sister''s needs for sanitation items were binders, loose paper, and a protractor. That meant he was going to need a larger backpack then her.


    Looking over the list of what the two of them needed, they found that the majority of the stuff on this list was better to get in person rather than online, so their online journey came to an abrupt end, leaving them, again, with nothing to do.


    They thought about playing a card game like they did before, or they could play one of the board games they found stashed in one of the second floor closets. But, neither were really for that idea. They want to try something new. Something they''ve never done before, but where could they find something like that?


    "There was that big screen downstairs," Inizio mentioned, "It probably turns on."


    "Want to turn it on?" Srusti asked.


    "Sure."


    So, the two went back down the stairs to the first floor with their phones in hand. Immediately, going down the stairs, they saw the big screen they were curious about. The two ended up looking all around the screen for a power button, but they couldn''t find one. They look at the side of the screen, the bottom, Inizio even lifted his sister up to check the top, but they found nothing. They were about to give up when Srusti stepped back and found a stick with a whole bunch of buttons on it. She found a red button that was an incomplete circle with a line sticking out from the top of it. Coming to the conclusion that it was the power button, she pressed it, and the large screen started lighting up.


    Because of the sudden light, Inizio stepped back next to his sister, "What happened?"


    Srusti showed her brother the stick in her hand, "I pressed the red button-"


    All of a sudden both of the children started hearing voices. It was a conversation between two people that was happening on the screen. Now, this caught their attention. this big screen was a TV, and right now it was playing something that involved someone flying. It was interesting. The two ended up sitting on the couch only a few steps behind them while staring at the happenings on the TV. That was how they spent the next few hours until they fell asleep on the couch.

 School

    After a few couple days of adjusting to the house and correcting their sleeping schedules, finally, the subject of school was brought up in the middle of dinner which was nothing extravagant. It was just the causal chicken and rice that was served in every normal household. The same meal they were sure that someone else in their neighborhood was probably having at that same moment. However, that didn''t mean it wasn''t as delicious as everything else the two children had eaten. Although, such a thought wasn''t on the mind of anyone sitting at the dinner table.


    "I''ve signed the two of you up for public school since you both wanted to go. Of course, both of you are smart enough already, so it''ll probably be boring. If you ever feel like leaving, I''ll pull you out and get you the certificates needed to work a job," Aarth said.


    Both kids perked up with interest. Excited that one of their greatest wish was going to come true. Finally, they were going to meet kids that were their age. They were going to understand what being a child was like. Inizio could barely hold himself back from jumping with joy.


    "Thank you for this," Inizio said, holding himself down. In response Aarth smiled, "There''s no need for thanks. This is what a father does for his children after all."


    "Right..."


    In truth, out of everything that was new to the two kids, the addition of a father figure was something they''d yet to get used to. It was awkward for them to be able to rely on someone that wasn''t their sibling. It''s always just been just the two of them. It was never more or never less. It was always two. Inizio and Srusti. That was all there ever was, so with the appearance of a new person preaching that he would do anything for them, it made the two of them uneasy. It always kept them on their toes. After all, there wasn''t a single person who give someone anything they wanted. Honestly, it made Srusti question if the man would give his life to the two of them. One day, she was going to ask him such a question. If not out of necessity, then of pure curiosity. She wanted to know just how far he would go. Just how much of a push over he was. But, of course, that day wasn''t now. She wasn''t a reckless person after all, and she had a bit of modestly. A human was supposed to have that at least.


    "So, when are we starting?" Srusti asked.


    "In two weeks," he said, "So, we''ll go out tomorrow to get supplies and anything else the two of you want."


    The two kids nodded and continued eating their food.


    By the bright afternoon, the two kids were finally dressed in something other then their lofty pajamas. Like the first time they put on their outdoor clothes, the two children were wearing matching outfits. However, instead of the black and white color scheme, they settled on purple. Something that Inizio chose since Srusti cared nothing for choices that didn''t require numbers or strategies. So, Srusti ended up in a long sleeved, sweatshirt like purple romper with a hood and black thigh high socks while her hair laying however it wanted to after a nice, thorough brush and casual high top shoes that complimented her outfit. While Inizio was wearing a long sleeved, V-neck sweater of the same purple color with a white V-neck under it and black jeans with high top shoes just like his sister. All which was put together with his hair placed as it wanted to be. Another set of perfect matching outfits made just for the two of them.


    When they reached the bottom of the stairs, the two children found a slight surprise waiting more them. They found that the set of matching outfits was more then two. It was three, and they found Aarth wearing that exact outfit. How he knew what they were going to wear, they hadn''t figured it out, but it was more surprising that he''d chosen to match with them. Then, the surprise wore off, and they thought that it was weird.


    Why was he trying so hard? There was no point in trying to impress two children that weren''t even human. It''s not like they would make a break in curing cancer or would find a way to solve one of the major global problems. Actually, such problems were easy to fix if people weren''t so greedy. Either way, there was nothing to gain from getting on their good size. Well, that was if he wasn''t thinking about manipulating them. But, they were stupid enough to fall for the first trick in manipulation. It was going to take a lot more then this.


    "Let''s get going, you two."


    "Okay," the two said, following Aarth to the car.


    Unlike their first shopping trip, there was only three people in the car. Aarth, Inizio, and Srusti. It was a quiet car ride. The kids started out of the windows while Aarth focused on the road. He didn''t want his kids to have trauma from a car accident. That would ruin their outside experience, and he couldn''t have that. Aarth wanted his kids to have whatever life they wanted that wasn''t filled with unnecessary trauma. Although, there was already negativity rooted deep within them, and he knew there was nothing he could do about that. However, he knew that there was something he could do about the children''s future. He could paint the world in whatever color they wanted it to be painted. He could take them wherever he wanted to go. Aarth could make anything they wanted happen.


    Sure, the creation of Inizio and Srusti only happened because he was a little curious of whether or not a human could be made, but that didn''t mean he didn''t care for them. At first, the two of them were nothing but an experiment to him. They were nothing but little lab rats. Each and every single one of the 99 copies he made of them, and he planned for it to always be that way. However, on a whim, with the 100th copy, he decided to let the two meet each other. He wanted to know what would happen if he gave the children a little companionship. That''s when he saw it. Aarth saw the two children clinging to each other from the moment they met. It was as though both of them knew that they came out of the same test tubes and emerged in the same liquid. It was like they knew they were siblings from the moment they met each other, though it was pretty obvious with the way the two of them looked. Still, with all of the knowledge that was stuffed into their brain, he saw that they would be cautious of each other. They second guessed, analyzed, and over thought everything until they were sure. It was a completely different attitude from the moment the two saw each other. So, with the advancement made in his research, he let the two of them be. While doing that, he also exposed them to the outside world little by little with giving them simple games like chess, checkers, and poker. He saw the children''s strengths shine and unravel themselves when in front of their self-declared sibling. It was an intriguing change.


    Because of that, he watch the two kids more frequently than he did before. Usually, he would''ve only checked up on the two children whenever the thought popped into his head which was a rare occurrence or simply when he was bored. However, seeing their interactions, he wanted to see a little more of the children''s personality. He wanted to know how they would act in any situation. He wanted to get to know the two of them for who they were going to grow up to be. A thought he never thought he''d have.


    Then, he brought the two children to a party as a way to advertise them. Of course, he wasn''t going to do all that hard work for his hobby and not show it off like a child who won a game of tag. But then, at the party, fellow guests were asking if they could house them for a little while under the guise of it being an observation experiment. Obviously, he didn''t trust them. No human was to be trusted after all. That was one thing he was sure to subconsciously teach the kids through the multiple packets and textbooks. And yet, through all of that, the two children still trusted each other. Though, there was the chance that they went off of the fact that they couldn''t be considered human seeing as they were born out of test tubes. But, that wasn''t the only bit of enlightenment Aarth had while at the party.


    The man found himself not wanting to give the children to to the people. Whether it be someone who paid him enough money to last him a life time, or one of the kindest person he met. He found that something inside him didn''t want to give the children away. He found that he didn''t want to give away what was his. At least, not those two things. So, he said that it''ll be thought of at a later date and the guests would be taken into consideration, Aarth didn''t even know half of their names, but he forgot their faces as soon as he turned around. They were just regular pawns, but the children he had created out of scientifically created DNA were turning into their own character. They came to understand each other, care for each other. They started to remind him of himself. The him who found himself trapped in a small world, but the only difference was that he didn''t have anyone. He was a tad bit jealous of the two of them because they had each other. However, he couldn''t bare taking the two away from each other. He wasn''t a monster, after all.


    So, rather then leaving them in the white filled world, he took them out into the world of color. And he hoped that they could see something he couldn''t, so he could see such a thing through their eyes. He wanted to see the joys of the world he was blind to through them. Maybe that would make his life a bit more interesting.


    "Do you two have a particular store you want to go to?" he asked, covering up all of his thoughts. Neither one of the children knew. After all, they hadn''t taken the time to memorize the names of the stores seeing as they were too absorbed in the items sold in the stores.


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    "An office supplies store, or a general store," Inizio said because his sister was a little to occupied with the moving scenery outside of the window, and he didn''t want to disturb that. She did look really happy looking at the green grass, flowers, cars, and buildings as the car moved faster then she ever could with her own two legs. There was no way Inizio was going to let himself or anyone else get in the way of that.


    "Okay then," Aarth said, looking out of the rear view mirror to look at the kids. They really were the perfect pair of sibling. Both of them always looked out for each other. It made him wonder how they would fair in school. Being surrounded by kids who were completely different from them while being away from each other. He wondered how everything would turn out.


    In the store, the kids picked out everything they wanted. Though, they only got the minimum need that was need for them to make it though school in their colors of purple and green. However, the entire time they were shopping, Aarth kept thinking that they weren''t going to need all of that stuff. They were smart enough not to go to school, but he guessed that they already knew that. They were pretty smart kids after all. He made sure that they were. It made him have another wonder. Just what did they want to go to school for? Normal kids weren''t was controlled and well behaved as they were. Honestly, rather than having fun, Aarth was sure that his kids were going to get tortured by the others. But, that was their choice.


    After shopping, it was time for the two kids and their parent to take a tour of the school they were going to attended. While taking the tour, classes were still in session. There were some kids in the library, some kids on the play ground, some were in the middle of having lunch. But, it was safe to say that it was quite a large school with all sorts of people. And, all of the kids seemed to have a smile on their face. It was almost overwhelming for the two siblings who''ve only been in a white space room.


    "Well, aren''t you two a cute pair," and it was the same with the teachers, though some of their smiles seemed to be a little forced.


    "I''m one of the counselors of this school, and I''ll be giving you two a tour while your dad talks to the principle. Okay?"


    The two children didn''t even look back to their guardian when they heard he was going some place else. Instead, they grabbed each other''s hands.


    "Inizio, Srusti, I''ll see you two later," Aarth said, saying goodbye to the kids so they would give him some recognition. However, all he got was a simple okay from both of the kids. They didn''t even give him a little side glance, but it''s not like he was upset about that. It was what he deserved after what he put them through. So, he just turned and left the two kids in the care of the counselor. If push came to shove, he knew that they were able to protect themselves.


    "So," the counselor point at the boy, "you''re Inizio and," then the girl, "you''re Srusti, right?"


    "That''s correct, Sir," Inizio said.


    "And the two of you are siblings?"


    "That''s right."


    "Which one of you are older?"


    "That would be me," Inizio said. He answered every question the counselor felt like asking, but he always made sure that there was a space for his sister to answer if she felt like it. But, she never felt like answering. Srusti wasn''t much of a talker, after all. She was more interested in the scenery of the campus. But, the conversation was awkward with the short, stern, and confident answer''s Inizio was giving.


    "Then, how about we start the tour? We can''t have the two of you lost on your first day of school here."


    There was no response to the question. After all, it seemed like a rhetorical one. They were going to get the tour whether they wanted it or not. That was what they were brought there for, in the first place.


    "Well, let''s get going, you two," the counselor said. The two kids nodded and followed the counselor around the school.


    They were shown the play ground with multiple colorful playground sets, all excluding the swings with had a shimmering color of iron. There was a square of bark under all of the sets which were close to each other. On such a play ground were kids all in their little groups to play multiple games. Then there were some that were just sitting on the side for their own reason which neither Inizio or Srusti cared to figure out.


    Next, they saw the library that was filled with books that never crossed that 6th grade reading level which made sense seeing as middle school started at the 6th grade. There were a classroom number of kids in there too. All surrounding an adult that had a book in their hand. They guessed that it was a little book reading circle. There was a time when the teacher looked up and made eye contact with the two kids. Immediately, they smiled, but didn''t get a single thing in return. The two kids just stared at the teacher until the other children pestered them to continue reading. Seeing this, the counselor pushed them towards the little circle.


    "Go on and join them. It''s a short book, so I''m sure it won''t take long."


    The counselor said that, but neither of them cared about a simple story time between the teacher and students. Inizio and Srusti didn''t know how to join them nor did they really want to. After all, look at those kids. They looked so absorbed in such a short fictional tale with an unrealistic happy ending. How could they look just like them? It was impossible, and even if it wasn''t, they wouldn''t know how to make it possible. But, Inizio was willing to try and find that way since it looked like his little sister wanted to sit among those ignorantly smiling kids. She wanted to know what it was like, so he did too.


    "Let''s go listen for a little while. It''s wouldn''t hurt, right?" As long as it was for his sister.


    "Okay," Srusti said, following her big brother ask he took steps towards the circle to children.


    The two found seats after the teacher reading asked the kids to create a place for them which they did with no much resistance. Though, because the teacher asked that of them, the children who were absorbed into the book reading were now interested in the two new children who''s skin and hair was like a blank canvas. And well, it was a given that was bound to happen. After all, Inizio and Srusti were quite the eye catchers. Seeing them for the first time, it was hard to take your eyes off of them until the two of them left. Especially for kids who found it difficult to keep their hands to themselves.


    They''d only been sitting there for a few minutes listening to the story for a few minutes. Looking at the drawings in the books, reading the words on the page as the teacher read it. Immersing themselves in the books. It''d only been a few minutes for them to understand and enjoy the story when Srusti felt a tug at her hair. At first she ignored it, thinking it was one of the kids getting exited over the story and had accidently sat or grabbed her hair. But then, she felt a few more tugs, and knew that this was either on purpose or the kid on her hair had no spatial awareness. Srusti''s eyes narrowed as she looked at the kid who was pulling at her hair.


    She found that the kid messing with her hair was of a light skin color and a male with short, curly, dirty blonde hair with blue eyes. Thankfully, it didn''t seem like the kid''s hands were covered in snot or whatever else could be on a child''s hands. Still, there was no way of knowing that 100%. Still, he didn''t look like a bully. He''d was probably pulling at her hair because of his curiosity.


    "..."


    Inizio saw this abnormality in his sister and looked over to see what was going to with his sister. He saw that she was looking away from the story which just moments ago she seemed pretty interested in. He looked past her to see what she was looking at and saw the same dirty blonde haired kid with blues eyes, and he was smiling at his sister all bubbly like. It was like he wasn''t doing anything wrong, but the bastard had the nerve to grab his sister''s hair like it was his play thing.


    "Would you please stop pulling my little sister''s hair?" he asked giving the kid a death stare. Thankfully, this kid knew how to be scared and backed off. Well, more like he let go of his Srusti''s hair and let it fall to the ground where it laid. Inizio gently pulled his little sister off of the children made carpet, "It''s time to go home."


    Srusti nodded her head, completely agreeing with her older brother, "Right."


    The two kids got up and turned away from teacher without telling even telling the teacher. The other kids who stopped paying attention to the story the moment Inizio spoke to the other kid. However, they didn''t look back. They closed their ears to the teacher who was telling the stunned child to apologize nor did they even care to get an apology from the kid. It was more important to them to return home. After all, they''d never decided on how they wanted to decorate the rest of the second floor. That was way more important then dealing with a dumb kid and an adult who forced a smile every other day.


    "Looks like I came at the right time." As though he was on call for when the children became upset, Aarth came walking in to part of the library where the reading was happening. Their faces had no emotion in them, but he was there near the end of the situation. He saw how the other kid pulled on Srusti''s hair while she annoying started, and he saw as Inizio gaze the kid a death glare.


    "What annoyed my two little angels?" he asked. Now, both of the kids were visibly annoyed. Is this guy in their right mind? They both thought. They weren''t angels. They were experimental test subjects that he created. Sure, they might look like the angels people imagined, but they weren''t. He knew that better then anyone. There was no way that he didn''t know that they weren''t. Yet, here he was calling them such without blinking an eye. Still, he did have good timing.


    "It''s nothing that important," Srusti said.


    "If you say so," Aarth said with the nerve of picking up to the two kids and allowing them to use his arms as chairs. It wasn''t like any of them were going to cause a scene from this sudden development. Still, they really thought that this guy really was insane.


    "Crazy, bipolar, idiot," Srusti said, under her breath to which Inizio nodded along.


    "Well, aren''t you two mean kids. Glaring at another kid like that. Why don''t you apologize to him? You scared him half to death."


    Right, putting Aarth''s insanity aside, there was that kid, and I think his being scared half to death was a little exaggeration. The kid looked just fine. Besides that fact that it looked like he was about to piss his pants which wasn''t a life threatening thing. Still, Inizio guessed that Aarth was at least a little right. He didn''t really need to be that mean. He was the more mature person when it came to him and the kid. It was his fault for acting out like that. He could''ve handled that situation a little more gently then he did.


    "Well, I''m sorry," Inizio said, his face never turning to a sympathetic one, "I would do something to show my apology, but it seems that my little sister is tired."


    On cue, Srusti let out a little yawn to which made her eyes start watering. Aarth nodded his head, going along with the kids, "I guess it''s time to go home then."


    All three of them knew that this was just a show. There was no way that it wasn''t.

 High School Days

    In this small world called high school, there were two different type of people. The first type had white hair, black eyes, with unparallel brain and beauty. The second type was everyone else. The second type was just the other type. They just existed in the small world that was just a singular high school.


    "Srusti!"


    "I told you to stop interrupting my classes, Inizio."


    The first type only consisted two people. It was only Inizio and his younger sister Srusti. Both had soft white hair and deep black eyes that were beautiful. Both had unnatural bodies that held specially modified brains that surpassed all others.


    "You did, but you can''t expect me to go 8 hours without seeing you. Our schedules never line up."


    The older brother was a complete sis-con who could barley go an entire class period without seeing a strand of his younger sister''s hair. He had even picked up a few more classes so he could have a reason to be on campus while she was there.


    "Which is why you should be in the middle of your AP Government class," and the younger sister was a bit of a tsundere because of her realistic view-point, but a love for her brother.


    "You memorized my class schedule?!" Inizio was surprised like he didn''t already know this. She memorized his schedules as he memorized hers.


    Now that they were out of their white room for six years, they''ve learned and experienced more then could''ve ever imagined. From tasting all sorts of different foods to going on all sorts of vacations. Still, they knew that there was so much more they haven''t done yet and were eager to try it all.


    "Stop bothering your sister when you''re supposed to be in class. You see her enough when you''re at your own house."


    So, this became their normal day. A black haired, blue eyed teen that switched from glasses to contacts, came and pulled Inizio out of the classroom in which he wasn''t supposed to be in. This happened at least once a day, if not twice.


    "I''ll see you after school, big brother."


    At first, the class wasn''t used to Inizio busting in the middle of instruction, but since it''d been going on since the start of the school year, they''ve all gotten used to it since they were two months into the year. And, it was through those instances that they found that Srusti wasn''t one to be judged by the cover.


    On the first day of class, it was like she was unworldly. Like she was untouchable. It was like she wasn''t even human. There was always a cold air around her. Her facial expressions never changed, and there was never a flaw to be seen in her appearance, clothing choice, or the answers she gave when in class. Just being in the same room as her was intimidating. Her brightness outshined everything and everyone around her. And, with all the talk about her around the school, it was clear that she was different from all of them. No one was ever meant to be in her presence, but ever since her brother started intruding into her classes in middle school, the untouchable air slowly started disappearing. The fact that she was perfect in every way didn''t change, but she became more approachable. If her hyper brother could approach her, maybe they could. People began to accept her coldness, perfection, and unworldliness, and they realized that she was actually a pretty nice person.


    "There''s no way your brother will get a girlfriend if he keeps this up." It was something that was usually said when this happened. This time is was Srusti''s desk mate, London, that also happened to be her friend...or something like that. Either way, they happened to have at least one class in common every year, so they naturally got closer. That''s how Srusti looked at it anyway.


    "What would he need a girlfriend for?" Srusti asked. Her brother was more then satifisyed with taking care of one female in his life, why would he need another?


    "Right," London rolled her eyes, "You''re also a fanatic."


    Let''s just say that Srusti loved her brother very much to the paint of going through his bag every morning, night, and afternoon. She even went through his phone once in a while too, with her brother''s permission of course.


    "How many times have I told you to stop intruding on your sister''s classes?" Alex, like always, after dragging Inizio out of the classroom, was scolding him.


    "Yeah, sure." But, of course, the scolding went in one ear and out the other. Everyone knew this, but Inizio was a sister fanatic and a little extroverted but that was all. He never talked to people first, never approached people unless he had to, and never cared if he was alone. All he ever talked about was his sister and the occasional school project, all he ever worried about was his sister, all he ever cared about was his sister. There was nothing more important then her. There was nothing that was important besides her. His sister was the sun while everyone and everything else was an ant. With the way he looked, it was hard to tell, but strip him down to nothing and all there would be is his sister. Nothing more and nothing less.


    "Well, don''t forget that I''m going over to your house after school," Alex sighed. He knew Inizio that well, but stilled tried his best to correct his ways the best he could.


    "You come over almost everyday. Don''t you have your own house?" Inizio said in a very sarcastic tone because Alex really went over to his house everyday in the week. It wasn''t anything bothersome, but it was one of the little wonders in the back of Inizio''s mind. But, there was no way he was going to ask why or tell him that he couldn''t come over. That was just indecent, and Alex was his only close friend.


    "We have a project that''s due tomorrow and you have been pushing it off because you wanted to play around with Srusti."


    "You''re making it sound like it''s my fault she''s so cute. You''re just jealous that I have a sweet, loving, and amazing cute little sister."


    That was just an excuse for not having self control. There was no reason to be bothering someone else when you have you''re own project to be doing. But, even if Alex said that, Inizio wasn''t going to listen in the slightest. The two stopped right outside of a classroom door for AP Government, knocking on the door, "Just get to class, and stop leaving, I''m not your babysitter. You''re lucky I come get you before teachers start calling your AP."


    "You over exaggerate," Inizio waved his hand back and forth.


    When the door opened, Alex pushed his friend inside, "Stay in there until the bell rings," then pulled it closed. Inizio walked right back into his class satisfied that he got to see his sister like he did any other day. She was as cold to his as ever, but there was no doubt that his little sister loved him.


    This was the second month into Sursti''s sophomore year in high school, and it was also the last year her and her brother were going to be in school together. It was a little sad that they were no longer going to be on the same campus. They couldn''t jus go walking down the hallway if they wanted to see each other.


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    After school, the two siblings had the routine of changing out of their school clothes and into rehearsal clothes which were a breathable shirt and shorts. Both of them, though the extracurriculars was made fun of, were in band and had to participate in marching rehearsal everyday. And, like in everything else, they choose to stay together and go into percussion. Sursti, being unathletic decided to stay in the front ensemble playing the center marimba with all of the keyboard and rack instruments while Inizio marched on the field with a share drum as the drum captain.


    Like every other day, before rehearsal starts, the front is required to move their instruments from inside the school to the outside practice field that was just a parking lot with yard lines marked. But, with other front ensemble members needing to push out their instruments, the drumline being lazy to help, and Inizio wanting to keep boys away from his sister, he always helped Sursti would with pushing her instrument out as he didn''t want her breaking the instrument because she was pushing it around all by herself. Plus, he didn''t want her to get run over by the cars that were still driving around.


    "Hold onto this for me," Inizio said, placing his water bottle in front of Sursti''s parked marimba.


    "Okay," she responded, plugging the wooden keyboard into the other marimba so sound was going to go to be let out by the speakers, "Don''t hurt yourself."


    Inizio wanted to go in for a hug, but he had his drum on. So, he just patted her on the head instead, "You too."


    Rehearsals went a little something like this. The band, more specifically the people marching, took the majority of the time perfecting the drill, and the front, who did nothing but stand in front of their instruments and play the same section over and over again, just stood there, talking to each other in low voices--for some reason they couldn''t sit down because it was deemed unfair. Though, if you really thought about it, the unfair part was keeping a handful of teens on a burning parking lot to do nothing but listen to people run sets for three hours. Honestly, being inside was more productive for the front, but this predicament was also better. If the front was inside, that would mean that Srusti and Inizio were separated which would lead to Inizio ditching rehearsal to go see his sister. Plus, when it was a cool sunny day outside, Srusti was able to take nice naps outside.


    "Srusti, we''re playing," of course, those naps came with the usual wake up call. It was usually her classmate Zack her woke her up. Though, he always waited until the last minute, so Srusti got yelled out by their director anyways, "Srusti! Stop dozing off during rehearsal!"


    Then, there were some mutters about how being in the front ensemble was easy. About how all they do is sleep after learning their music, but that was false. Being in the front was just as hard as marching on the field, it''s just that the effort wasn''t seen.


    "You know, Zack, if you woke me up three minutes before we play, I wouldn''t be getting yelled at al the time," Srusti said, yawning.


    "You wouldn''t be getting yelled at if you didn''t fall asleep all the time," Zack spitted out, "Why''re you so tired anyways?"


    Well, the thing is, Srusti wasn''t tired, she was just bored, and when she got bored she put herself into power saving mode--aka, she put herself to sleep. But she did have a test in her math class earlier that day. It took a little more energy out of her than usual. But, that was a dumb excuse.


    "I had a math tests today."


    "That''s it?" Zach was a bit suspicious. Maybe she pulled an all night-er and doesn''t want to admit it.


    "That''s it."


    "Srusti!" Inizio had put his drum down for the one minute break for water and rushed over to her, "What are you talking about?"


    He always butted into their conversations without fail. It was almost like it was his life goal to get between the two of them. But, he was an overprotective older brother, so no one would expect less. He was on guard against any man who came within a five feet distance of his sister no matter who it was or how long they knew each other. Of course, Srusti didn''t mind him doing this. Honestly, she put a barrier between her brother and other girls too. People just didn''t seen it as often.


    "He just asked why I''m tired," Sursti found herself being hugged by her older brother now that he had his drum off.


    "Really?" Because he developed the same habit, Inizio knew about her tendency to fall asleep when she was bored, and, like his sister, he made up excuses for it too, "Well, I heard that a new person is transferring here tomorrow."


    Zack didn''t know this and he was the Pit Section Leader, "They''re joining percussion? In the middle of marching season?"


    Inizio got pushed off of his sister for being too heavy, "I heard the directors talking about it. Apparently, the new person is going to be given the last marimba part, but that''s all I heard."


    Well that made sense. When they were handed the music in May, the percussion director had told them that there were three marimba parts. It was weird that they were half way through the season and there were only two marimbas on the field. That meant that the transferring was meaning to happen for a while. It made Zack a little curious about who was coming over and what school they were coming from. Of course, what Inizio said is probably all that he knows since he most likely stopped listening to the conversation when it became irrelevant to him and his sister.


    "Minute''s over! Get back to your spots," the head director yelled from the top of a tower. Hearing that Inizio dropped, "I didn''t even get water yet."


    Sursti picked up her brother''s water and handed it to him, "That''s what you get for talking all the time."


    Inizio drank some water while looking observing his sister. He motioned for her to turn around with her back facing him, and she did.


    "Hold this for a minute," Inizio placed his opened water bottle in Zack''s hands to close and hold while he pulled the hair tie that was holding his sister''s hair in a ponytail.


    "You''re hair is getting long," he said, braiding his sister''s hair into a loose braid starting from the base of her head.


    Sursti picked up the two bang pieces her brother left out of the braid and put them behind her ears. It really was long. Her hair ran from her head to her knees. Plus, she had thick hair, so it weighed her down a lot. But, it wasn''t like she hated her hair. It''s just that she never got to cutting it


    "Should I cut it?" she asked.


    Inizio finished the braid and tied it with a purple ribbon he had in his pocket, "Only if you want to."


    Well, her hair wasn''t a bother, to there was no point in cutting it yet, "Okay."


    Inizio finished out the braid by slightly pulling out the strands, making the braid look wider and get further from the ground. Then. he seeped it over his sister shoulders, "There."


    Sursti turned around and saw her brother''s work. It was the first time he did this during rehearsal.


    "As I thought," he said, "Any hair style works on you."


    "Inizio! Stop talking to Srusti and get back to your spot!" The two of them got yelled at from the top of the tower. Hearing this, Inizio rushed to his dot while his littler sister was a bit embarrassed. He always embarrassed her for no reason, and it was usually during school when she was talking to some of her friends. She never did that to her brother, but she was understanding as this was his just how he was since he was an overprotective older brother. There really was nothing she could do about him


    After the practice was over, the mixer cords were wrapped up and all the equipment was pulled back inside under the blasting air condition, and everyone was allowed to go home. Since Inizio was seventeen, he already had his license and actually got a car for his sixteenth birthday that he picked out himself at a dealership. He got a black, four door, gas powered, car. And, while he drove, Sursti was fast asleep in the passenger seat, her braid still over her shoulder. At first, he wanted a motorcycle, but once he realized that his sister had a habit of falling asleep in a car, he settled on getting a care while they were in high school.


    Arriving in the garage of their house, Inizio leaned on the stirring wheel while staring at his sister. She was so cute, whether she was asleep or awake. There was never anything wrong with her. She was the most perfect being Inizio knew. There was no way he deserved to be her older brother. But, he always wished that she should smile more. Just once a month would be fine. Only in front of him. Like when they were younger and she smiled outside the window looking the the bursting lights in the sky. If she started smiling in public, Inizio didn''t know if he could fend off all of the people that would come running after her. After all, even without a smile, she was a pure, untouchable fairy.


    "Sursti," he spoke, "We''re home."


    Sursti woke up groggy, rubbing her eyes, "Carry me?"


    When she was like this, Sursti was the cutest. Well, she was the cutest no matter what.


    "Okay," Inizio said. He left the drivers seat, opened the passenger side, and picked his little sister up from the seat. When she got picked up, Sursti snuggled her head into her brother''s chest, so she could fall asleep again. Inizio chuckled, "I spoil you too much."


    "You''re the one that lets me act like this," she said. Inizio smiled, "I sure do."