The Story of Sophie Rose

If you have found this, read the whole thing. You or someone else might be able to do something about it. I have 20 minutes before they find me to write this down. My time will run out. I don’t want my life to be unknown. I hope someone will read this and my story and stories of other people are not forgotten. I am Sophie Rose. I used to have a younger brother and 2 parents, a goldfish and a cat. Well, the goldfish died before the cat and I think you can assume why that happened. I remember that clearly as I was the one cleaning up the floor and that tile was stained red for days.

I also ‘used to’ have my family. They died in an air raid. I only survived because of an argument. I ran away, the last words I had ever told to them were ‘I hate you. I wish you weren’t part of my life’ and just like that, they were gone. Well, I guess I cannot do anything about the past. I cannot change the future either in this life. 15 minutes left.

After my time is up, this will be the last trace of my existence. Prior to the air raids, my problems were of a normal 15 year old. Focus on studies, social networking (I was the quiet one) and figuring out how to stop your sibling from getting on your nerves, those were my plain, simple problems. There were, and still are many people who have problems much worse than me or who were better off than me. However, my life flipped over after I had lost everything I had had.

I was homeless, without family and with no clue about how to move and make a living. However, I was the kind of person who could disappear if they wished to, and I always noticed things. Like, in school, a boy in my class was always bullied when they thought nobody was around. I was the one who had seen it, the panic everytime he was near the bullies, and I was the one who ended that by reporting it. Like, how every Sunday night, in the town I had once slipped into, someone who is overlooked, and with no known family, dissapeard. Well, I could not let this be ignored, especially since nobody cared if they were there or not because they wouldn’t bother to do anything. 10 minutes

It went on for a month before I figured I needed to find out what was causing the sudden vanishment of these people. I guessed that they had eyes on me too. I melted into the shadows, undetected, but all-seeing. They never found me.

First it was a woman, maybe 25 years old. Then, a young girl, approximately 8 years old. An old man. A man, 30 years. 3 more boys between the ages of 5-15. Another 2 women, 3 men, 2 girls were taken. It went on for almost 5 months before I started to follow them to find out where these people were going or being taken to.

I went on the 14th week, tracking a young boy, probably 12 years old. He was taken down paths I had never even seen. I thought I knew every hidden nook & cranny of the town. I lost my chance when I shuffled slightly, causing pebbles to fall down. I had to leave before I was discovered. 7 minutes.

The next week, a woman, knocked out cold. I went further that time, careful how I moved and where and what I placed my feet on. They entered an abandoned building. I didn’t follow them, afraid of getting trapped inside.

I made a layout, a map of the path, in my head. The week after that, I went to the building earlier. As sure as snow, there was another one, an older man, 50 years I thought. They entered the same building as the previous week. I came closer that week, during the weekdays, in the daylight, just making sure that I was not seen. It was strange that nobody entered the building. It looked like it was built to live in, but there was no one willing to stay there, so it was abandoned. It was well maintained though.

The following week, there was a young man, 21 years most likely. I crept closer, near them, but hidden in the shadows, inside the building. The man was carried straight to a wall, not even the stairs that led upwards which I thought they would take. Then the masked people who carried and took these obscure people knocked on the wall. Not exactly what I had expected. Three slow fist knocks, three fast fist knocks and then two fast knuckle taps. Then the wall slid open to reveal a set of staircases leading downwards. It shut soundlessly, hidden unless you knew where it was and how to open it. That week I continued to search.

The door opened to white stairs, glistening, even in the dim light. Five minutes more.

The next month, I followed them once more, a middle-aged woman this time. Same path, same building, same entrance, same set of stairs, same pattern. I entered the building, staying close to them. They went down the set of stairs first. After five minutes of waiting, I started making my way down, my toes tapping lightly on each stair. I thought it took about ten minutes to reach the end, not daring to breathe lest they hear me. I first need to get a disguise.

There was another small, narrow door. I waited for another 5 minutes before entering the room. The door creaked open, revealing a room full of laboratory coats and equipment. I was thankful for the concealment the long coats provided, covering my dark clothes. I opened the door, expecting another abandoned project maybe which the masked people took as a base. But what I saw after the door opened made my stride falter as my mind still took in information based on what my eyes saw. It was a fully functioning, advanced lab underground. Four minutes left.

I stared, standing still, wide-eyed, fascinated by the environment. It was all futuristic, nothing that I had seen before was anywhere close to being as devoloped as this technology was. There were scientists walking around with purpose. I looked like the odd one out, gaping. I started to walk in no particular direction, hoping that I looked like I was doing something useful. Three minutes.

I stole an ID card, a small rectangular white card which had access to all rooms. I just needed to go into the closet to find an unused but still valuable item. After digging around in a room with files, I discovered that the lab was doing genetic experiments. Cross-breeding to make mutations, hybrids.

However, one file stood out. It was an experiment that included people. There were serums. They were going to put people into a small city and make it their world. But the people in that experiment would have their memories wiped clean and altered, starting a new, fake life, unaware of the people in lab coats sitting in front of computers, tracking and recording everything. Two more minutes.

I felt sick. They were picking off people just for an experiment. It did not matter for them if these people’s lives were forgotten in a way that even they could not remember it themselves. It didn’t matter that the people could die in the conditions of the experiment. I don't have much time to explain it though.

I scoured the rooms, in search of anything that could help me find them, such as a map of the labs. Then, I saw it. A fire escape route on a piece of paper in a glass case. I hurried to look at it, praying that nobody glanced in my direction as I headed towards it and while I looked at it.

I read it quickly, scanning, when I found the room I might have been looking for. I rushed to the room without drawing any attention to myself. Go left. Right. Left after the second corridor. Go down stairs. More directions following them.

I took the card out, panting by the time I reached the door. I swiped the card and looked up. All of the people were held in cells that looked like they were made and brought back from fifty years in the future. They were also unconcious.

I went closer to see what I needed to do to open the cells, if there was any way. My hopes fell when I saw that they needed a password, which I didn’t know. Then, one of the people moved slightly, shuffling and grunting. All of them were stirring. I signalled for them to be quiet as they got up groggily. Thankfully, they obeyed and stayed silent. I told them that I would come back, probably with a solution, and that they were to be quiet, pretending they never saw me.

I stepped out of the room slowly. However, people who were looking through cameras found it suspicious that they had never seen me enter the facility before. There were people already heading in my direction. I left the door slightly ajar, and rushed to hide. Only one minute left.

I ran to go back outside. I came back to the white stairs, panting. I climbed as fast as I could, leaving the labs. Then, I started to climb the stairs that lead up to the apartments. There are many houses. They’ll have to look through all of them. That is where I am right now. Apartement 512B. They might be here anytime now. Once I am found, they might wipe my memory or kill me, but they can never find this. This should be known to other people, all of our stories recognized. My time is almost up. I will end it here. Make my story and the stories of the other people known. Make it so people will understand what was set in motion, just so an experiment that can kill people could be done, just to see the results. Make this known and acknowledged to everyone who has a heart, and who cares about what happens to themselves and people around them. My time has come to an end. I hope you know what needs to be done.

Thank you,

Sophie Rose.