Upon this Dawning 2

"Ah, my prodigy. Are you prepared to flourish?"

Why the Hell was I a prodigy? What did he accomplish by stripping away my epidermis armor and leaving me endure to this harsh, harsh sea?

I attempted to speak, but all that came out was the rasp of a car engine failing. His facial expression remained constant. "You may be wondering why I did this to you."

As I went to nod, the two parts at the back of my neck touched and the room flooded with waves of white hot pain. I wanted to cry; the tide had grown far too high for tears though. How could one weep with water upon their face? The same with screaming or just dropping dead. If I did, I would just be a corpse on the shore of this room. What's the point in dying in front of Mr. Friendly? He wouldn't care. Wait until a stronger boat cruises past, I whispered to my body. My body affirmed an agreement.

"I chose you as an experiment. I want to prove that it is indeed possible to rebuild the outside body from the ground up. You will show that society should not be rewarded things. You will gain your skin back, one foot at a time." He clapped his hands together as if insanely pleased with himself. "How will you carry this forward? You will also be my errand runner for um, my research. All you have to do is collect items as instructed on a list. Any questions?" He bellowed with laughter, satisfied with his own cruel joke.

There was a question I had. My throat constricted, and the engine failed three times before starting up roughly, "Cloth..es?". Would it hurt to put on clothing? I could only imagine and shiver and wince.

He nodded and gestured to the Door of Expectancy while saying, "Someone will fit you in a rubber suit that will cover you in a way similar to skin."

I nodded once again. I found myself wondering why I was being so complacent to his demands and wishes. Why was I fitting to the mold of this lifestyle? You have no other choice, whispered my brain. He'll kill you where you sit.

Mr. Friendly walked out the Door of Expectancy, returning shortly with a thing that looked like half of a boy and half of a boy sown together. The boy half was slightly taller, standing at about 4'1". The girl eye looked me up and down, surveying the wreckage, while the boy's half crescent spoke to say "Assist." It seemed like both of us would be constructing one worded conversations. The halves presented a body skin that had been shed from rubber.

Getting ready brought upon further legions of pain. Don't let the wool go over the eyes and trick me into thinking that just because my false skin was upon me, that I would feel better. The rubber chafed and tore of bits of the meat of my skin as I walked out of the Door of Expectancy. I was given a letter and what looked like a bowling ball bag that clanked with unknown beasts.

I read the letter, titled Chores.

Names appear on the scroll. Male and female names, probably fifteen or so. Below them read collect. I am not surprised that that bowling bag is full of torture instruments.

To be continued.