“My name is Eva. 

I yearn for tranquility. 

Yet must stay a fantasy. 

Must I be Eva? 

If Eva is but a wisp…

What of Elenor? 

I am Eva Elenor. 

Made for only one purpose. 

Yet my purpose shakes. 

Do I still if it shatters? 

I am but a lone thing. 

Simply too everchanging. 

Shot wandering aimlessly. 

Searching for the end. 

I may be called Elenor.”

A clicking sound ticks to the beat of a distant flickering light. Found once again in the illusion of tranquility, the young girl patiently waits for the time to pass. She writes in a small spiral notebook, scribbling various words and poems that come to mind. Anything she could associate with the word inconsistent, a word the lady in the suit gave her. The task of focusing on one theme and reciting all that she processed similar to it on one single page. 

A new facility. A new notebook. A new thought. 

“Another facade,” she sighs. “That’s five, four more lines to go.”

The young girl rests her head on the cold wooden table. Her eyes flick to her side where the notebook lies, and she begins sliding it with her finger. Up. Down. Up. Left. Down. Right. Up. Down. Up. Crunch. The notebook stills, then she taps it. Down. Crunch. She jolts upward, flipping the book over as to see what she might have broken. 

Nothing. The cardboard back is as new as when it was first handed to her.

“So, you’re the new Mother,  hm?” A woman of similar height and hair color stood by the door. She held a camera and a clipboard in her hands, and wore a tan dress under a long baby blue coat with white fur poking from the inside and a fitted belt dangling from the sides. “You’re a lot less adept than the last, she could sense me before I touched the doorknob. Hm. That’s fine for now, it just means we have quite a bit of work to do, and more work means we still get paid!” She laughs. “I see you changed your hair from pink to this. Black and white are, in theory, the most professional colors! Did you know that? I bet that’s why you picked it, uh, Eva Elenor, was it? Sorry, I tend to ramble. Nice to meet you, my name is Sasha! I will be your new advisor.”

“Oh! Pardon me,” Eva says. She stands and walks towards the cheerful lady to shake her hand. “It is very nice to meet you.”

“Okay, I am pretty sure you know the rundown the same as the one before, so we can skip the formalities. Before we get into the nitty gritty, though, let’s take a picture to document your first day! Seeing the amount of work you’ve done so far based on these papers here, and the way you responded to the little writing exercise, I can tell you developed quite far in the intelligence department. A little slow when it comes to reaction speed, formal speech could use some work but you could blend in just fine with your casual speech, your understanding of the written language is phenomenal, and your ability to function is great. Look at you! Standing with such great posture! And your clothes, oh I knew this would look good on you. The cropped blue knitted sweater and jeans. I pictured it complimenting your silver manufactured clothing, so your serial number could show, and it turned out swimmingly! If only you could change your blue skin too, now that is a defect if I say so myself. Oh, but pardon me, I got carried away again. Let’s get straight to business.”

Sasha drags the young girl out of the room and into a large, baren hallway where many other people sporadically walk past them. She shoves the clipboard into Eva’s hand and points her camera their way. She presses a button and it goes off with a bright flash. The scattered few who were blinded by the unannounced light glare at Sasha but continue on their way, and the others who noticed her through the small commotion start whispering amongst themselves.

“Oh, sorry!” She awkwardly laughs to ease the tension, but no one pays her apology any mind. She then looks at Eva and smiles. “You just have to love the old school cameras, they’re great for quick and easy physical transfers. I don’t have to wait to print the picture off of my phone, it’s just right here as soon as you press the button.”

The blank print slowly gains color, revealing the both of them in a small square. Sasha exchanges the camera for the clipboard, slips the picture into a small bag, and puts it under the clip.

“Not bad for your first picture if I do say so myself.” She grabs Eva’s hand again and pulls her down the hallway. “This is facility number nine, commonly called ‘09, but I like to call it Nine Away From Eternity–NAFE for short. You; however, may call this your new home. Since we are so close to that dreadful forest, your new job is to infiltrate and capture on good days; continue your progress with M.M.O.T.H.E.E.R.R. on others. As your advisor, I am here to track and monitor any developments and/or increase in any probable errors or harmful data intake. I am responsible for your physical well-being for as long as you are in this facility unless otherwise stated by those of higher status than I. Every other circumstance is dealt with by your coordinator who is, in fact, of higher status than me.”

“What about the lady who brought me?”

“Oh, the one with the crooked bun and uptight attitude, correct? Yeah, she’s fired. As for anyone else for that matter, do not comply with their requests or anything similar unless me or your coordinator give our permission. Remember everything that I said and write a report on it by the end of the day, that’s your first task of the day, simple.”

Sasha opens a set of doors and leads them down a set of stairs. One flight. Two flights.

“While you are here, you will undergo a routine amount of tests similar to that of your previous home. As you might have heard, these tests might be a bit rougher because of the time crunch, but I have faith that you will do swimmingly.”

Three flights. Four flights. 

“I want you to write about your day every night in that notebook I gave you. Everything you feel, see, touch, and hear that you deem significant. Including what happens outside of this facility. Bring it everywhere, there will be a bag to hold it in your room.”

Five flights, six, then seven. Sasha finally opens another set of doors and drops Eva’s hand. They walk past a few sets of doors before finally stopping. This corridor was different from those of the higher floors, it was darker, less maintained, and far more quiet. She knocks on the door in front of them and stands in place. Knock. Crunch. Knock, knock. Crunch. Eva looks at Sasha’s newly freed hand and finds her fiddling with a box of blue mints. She opens it, pops a mint into her mouth, closes the container, then chews very loudly.

“I will finish showing you around when you get back, but for now, listen to your coordinator until he hands you back to me.” She opens the door. “I talked my head off, so I don’t quite know your capabilities yet, but I hope you live up to our expectations. Now, be a good thing and go inside. He’ll be right with you soon.”

Sasha shoves her into the room and closes the door. It was pitch black.