Something’s Changing

Today I wake suddenly to a new sound for an alarm and make a mental note, "Mum! Did you change my alarm sound? You know I hate it when you do." I say quietly to myself, reminding myself what to tell her later when she's awake. "Another day of school, I guess." I say with a sigh. I love being in a routine but after a while it gets unbearable, but at least today there's a change, the principal wants me to come in early to meet someone. I pull off the sheets, stand up, walk to my right about 4 steps, reach out for the second draw on the left side of my chest of draws, pick out my school uniform, which is already buttoned up, then push that draw back in and pull out the draw directly below only two draws down and get out some socks. I then go over to my bed, sit down and put on the socks then reach up to the shoe hangers above my head and pick off some shoes. Then as I am sitting on the edge of my bed I reach in front of me to my bed-side table and get off my dark glasses. I get up off my bed and walk to my left 4 steps, touch the doorpost to make sure I am in the correct place, reach down in front of the already opened door to get my walking stick and push it against the skirting of the walls. I walk past my parent's room to make sure they are still asleep. I stop at their door and listen in, I can hear them snoring and I nod. I make my way to the kitchen walking close to the walls. I leave my stick leaning up against the table and walk 3 steps to the bench and activate the house artificial intelligence unit.

"Hello, Attilika." I whisper.

"Good morning Nick."

"Attillika? What time is it?"

"At the tone, the time will be 7 am Tuesday morning..." Waits a few seconds. "Beep. Anything else I can help you with today?"

"No thanks, Attillika. Thank you for your service."

I reach up to the cupboard and pick out a cereal, then I put it on the bench in front of me, I reach below the bench and pull out the draw and get out a bowl. I walk backward with the cereal in one hand and the bowl in the other. I place the bowl on the table and pour the cereal into it. As I do I remember I forgot the milk, so I stand up hitting my knee on the bottom of the table. I hear the sound of porcelain smashing on the ground. This hasn't happened since I was only 10, oh what a klutz I am, but I've got no time to clean it up.

"Attilika, can you find some way of cleaning up my mess?"

"Certainly master Clearly."

"Thanks, Attilika."

I hear the sound of a small motor behind me. Then the voice comes back on.

"There you go master Clearly, your mess is cleaned up. Is that all today sir?"

"Ye...wait no, Just before I go I want to ask you to remind my mother of something when she wakes."

"Sure, what is it you'd like me to remind your mother of?"

"When she wakes, tell her Nick doesn't like the new alarm sound, please change it back."

"Yes sir, your reminder has been set. Have a nice day master Clearly."

I make my way to the front door and there I meet my friends Alberto and Taslem who are here to help me to school.

"Ready for school, Nick?" They say in unison. "Got your walking stick?"

"Yes and yes. Let's go I need to get to school early today."

"Why?" Alberto asks.

"I need to see the principle, he wants me to meet someone."

"Who?" Taslem adds.

"See, that's what I don't know."

"Okay, well we had better be on our way."

We walk about a hundred meters and I can smell smoke and paint fumes. My friends make remarks about it. Things like...

"Smell that paint? It's the gang called the tanks. Maybe we shouldn't have come this way. Sorry Nick, I..." And...

"Doesn't that look bad on the building. Oh, sorry Nick, I didn't mean..."

And then I hear the sound of fists beating open palms and mud slowly squelching under shoes. I don't know what to feel but I unwillingly feel scared.

"G'day Nick, can you see clearly yet? I hope you can't see me when I do this."

Before I get to reply I feel this hand on my shoulder, and something wrapped around my ankle. I fe my center of gravity shifts, my glasses fly off, I feel a bit sick and my nose is berried in mud and my cheeks feel wet. "Guys help me." I call to Alberto and Taslem but the only reply I get is a winning hum from both from behind something. I try getting up but I'm kicked back to the ground. I hold my ribs in pain. "Guys really! Come on, help me." I say in agony. My ribs are killing me. I hear the squelching again so I spin myself, trip the guy in front of me and stand up. Then my nose is dug into the mud again. Then one of the tanks shrieks. "Ouch, you son of a..." He stops to pick his words. "Why bite me?" And the squelch happens again and I roll over and kick whoever that was.

"Here Nick, I'll help you up. Raise your hand." I raise my hand and I feel a hand grab my wrist and jerk me up onto my feet.

"Thank you Taslem." I say as I am raised to my feet and as he hands me my glasses

As we walk to school I'm greeted by old Mrs. Chapmen who is over at her house. "Could you young chaps please come help an old lady with her garden?" I would love to but I gotta get to school so I keep walking. My heart sinks but I know I've got to go.

We are walking up to the principal's office door, I can tell because he's talking to someone else inside whereas there are no other classrooms with anyone inside. I slowly grab the door handle, turn it and...

"Oh hello nick, come, sit down. You remember me telling you I needed you to meet someone?"

"Right."

"Well, this is Dr. Nickeldon. He's bringing together a group of...well I think I should let him tell you."

"Yes well..." The Doctor starts. "Well you see, sorry my friend, anyway I guess you already know the danger of the radiation above ground?" I hear a warm, calm, snake like voice.

"Yes, sir. I do." I reply

"Well, I'm bringing together a group of young disabled kids, like yourself, to go up there and get rid of the radiation. What do you say?"

"Well, you see..." I pull fun. "I have read a braille book in the library that said that the radiation is so strong even the top HAZ mat suits will burn. So that means that is a death mission."

"No, no, haven't you learned that you can't believe everything you see, or in your case read or hear? I happen to know the people that wrote and published those books and I know they're all lies, spook stories, created to scare the children into obeying. You se...understand? You won't die, my team and I will look after you."

"Okay." I say hesitantly. "How many kids are going?"

"Oh, I don't know, too many to count, 1000 I think. So, what do you think?"

"I don't know, something doesn't seem right."

"Trust me, my team and I will oversee your de...mission. You'll be perfectly safe. I've come up with this formula that when it comes into contact with living tissue it acts as protection for that particular host, it's stronger than any HAZ mat suit and it won't burn up. What do you say?"

"I still don't know. I'll have to talk it over with my parents."

"Your parents already know, they think your such a hero for wanting to do this." He says to me. I still think somethings not right about him, maybe it's the uneasy feeling I get when he speaks, but if he says it's alright if I'll be safe I guess I can believe him. "If your willing we leave now. What do you say?"

"Why do you need a team of only disabled people? Why can't you just use the stronger people?"

"Us non-disabled people don't have skills you have."

"Like for instance?"

"Well, I don't mean for this to come across as rude or anything like that, but those like myself who do have the ability to see our hearing and or smell hasn't developed as much as those like yourself who have become or who were born blind. Your other senses have developed over the years to A point of almost superhuman ability to make up for that of which you do not have."

"I say okay, I mean if you're going to look after me, and if you've done all this research into keeping us safe then why waste it. Let's go."

I hear footsteps behind me and someone rests their hand on my shoulder. "Take this young lad to the car." Dr. Nickeldon says to someone behind me. I'm led out the door and I hear the door close behind us. I hear the principle and the doctor inside the room laughing. We take ten steps to the right, turn left and take another ten steps. I hear the door open and we walk through it, down four steps and keep walking. We stop and I hear the sound of a car engine in front of me, the guy with me pushes me into the car and shuts the door. I hear the front door unlatch and shut. The engine revs and we're jerked as the car starts moving.

"The company I work for owns a large tower directly in the middle of this city. We've spent years and millions to build this tower. The tower reaches up to the hatch that we should never open but we do anyway. What did he tell you, Nick?"

"How do you know my name?"

"He couldn't get over meeting you. He kept telling me he was going to meet you and his plan was finally going to start but he knew that he'd have to keep doing this every few years. I can't believe you agreed to join, you look like a young intelligent man. What did he tell you?"

"He told me I shouldn't always believe everything I hear or read."

"Well for the record, you can believe me. I had to listen to him telling me every little detail of his plan the whole way to your school and every school in this city. Plus, his plan is being put into action all over the world."

"He told me the books I've read about the radiation are all wrong."

"What kinds of things are wrong?"

"The fact that the books say that anyone will die if they go up there."

"No that's right."

"He told me his team and he will keep me safe. In fact, I got the feeling he wasn't altogether honest, he kept saying this over and over."

"That man Nickeldon isn't a very honest man. Did he introduce himself as Dr. Nickeldon?"

"No, the principle introduced the doctor. Why?"

"Well, he's not a doctor. If he told you about a special formula he created to keep you safe from the radiation, let me ensure you, it's not a formula, it's only water but now that you've agreed to join you can't back out now. He get's very angry if people agreed and then change their minds. In fact, we don't fully know what the radiation will do to such young bodies as you and the other kids that have joined."

"I thought you said It'll kill us. You sounded so sure of yourself."

"Yeah well I meant adults, but we've never tried this on young kids. Here we are, The DisCope tower."

As we enter the sliding door we are greeted by a happy receptionist.

"G'day and welcome to...oh John how are you today?" Her voice changes from being a happy, cheerful voice to being a slightly disappointed sad voice. "Oh you have to take this young gifted lad to the fitting room for Mr. Nickeldon and you know what?"

"Yes." He says sounding a bit disappointed.

As we keep walking I hear the sound of a pressure airlock opening. John leads me in and the air pressure closes again. The floor lifts as an elevator.

"What else did he tell you?" John asks.

"He told me that my parents already know. Is this true?"

"I don't know, but I wouldn't put it past him to tell a story like that. I imagine he has told them you died in a car crash on the way to school." He said.

The floor slows and comes to a halt. The sound of the airlock happens again and we step through the door.

"Greetings, you must be Nick, am I correct?"

"You would be."

"Welcome to the fitting room. Here you will be fitted with Dr. Nickeldon's new formula that will protect you from the radiation." She says as she pushes me. "This glass tube chamber will spray the formula on you every 5 minutes, you need to stay in there for 20 minutes." She shuts the glass door in front of me. "First it'll allow for sleeping gas to come down and put you to sleep then it'll spray the formula on you while your sleep. After the 20 minutes is over the gas will wear off and you'll wake up." I hear a beep and everything goes quiet.

Sound fades in as I wake up. I get up off the ground with a pain on the side of my head. I step through the doorway.

"Why does my head hurt?" I get no response. "Hello? Is there anyone there? Can anyone help me? I'm a blind boy who's disorientated and doesn't know where he is." I hear some footsteps in the sand coming toward me, then it comes clear to me, my shoes have been taken off me, I'm standing on sand or very fine dirt.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Who are you?" Says the voice.

"I could say the same thing to you. My name is Nick Clearly."

"Bert. Nice to meet you, nick. What's wrong? Don't trust me enough to shake my hand?"

"What!? No, sorry, I thought you heard me when I said I am blind. Where are we? I don't ever remember the feeling of sand under my feet."

"We are on the surface world. Sorry about forgetting you're blind, I have been blind myself, but..."

"Have been blind? You mean there's a cure?"

"No, no, did that Dr. Nickeldon tell you he was bringing together a group of disabled people?"

"Yeah actually."

"Did he tell you about his formula?"

"Yeah? In fact, I've got it on now."

"We've found out what it actually is. It's nothing special, only water and that pain on your head is because you fell over when you were put to sleep. Did he tell you, you won't die from the radiation?"

"Yes, but a book told me otherwise."

"He's right about that, you won't die, I've been here for 2 years."

"Oh? Now, what did you mean about the cure for my being blind?"

"For those who have been born with a disability the process won't take much time but for those who have been disabled it'll take quite a while but the radiation will, in time, fill in the chromosomes that are missing your DNA."

"So, what does that mean?"

"In other words, you'll be mutated to the point that you'll not only be able to see but you'll have other abilities too. Everyone's different."

"Does it hurt?"

"No, no it doesn't hurt but because you're blind your eyes will hurt as they adjust to the light you've never seen."

"How come it doesn't kill us, but does it kill normal people?"

"Yes, it kills those who haven't experienced a disability, but it doesn't kill us because we have something genetically missing."

"When will the process start?"

"It's already begun. It started when you were first exposed to it. Soon your sight will come until it does come and enjoy our service and hospitality back at my village."

We walk about a hundred meters away from where we were. Bert is holding my wrist as he guides me.

"So, how did you know to come to get me?"

"The elders somehow know when a new person comes up from the underground. I don't know how. I'll take you to my village and then to the elders, they'll tell you everything you need to know and we'll look after you

"So where is your village?"

"A few Kilometres away. My friends sleep here when we find new people like you."

I smell smoke and the ground under my feet feels like sand, loose rock, and shards of glass and my body feels as abandoned and destroyed as this place around me. We stop, Bert speaks.

"As we walk, I imagine you can smell smoke. I can too. I mean this as no insult or joke, but although you cannot see it yet, this pile of rubble around us used to be the famous town called 'Alice Springs'. Although you did not know it your hometown is right under us. In the war, this place was destroyed, so my friends and I use the rubble as shelter from the weather. The rain is like acid to our skin and the wind is like a hurricane."

"Really? This place sounds painful."

"Here, you can sleep here under this piece of rubble, get used to the surface, your sight will come soon and faster in sleep. I'll wake you up later."

As time passes the sound around me quietens and...

"Nick, time to get up. You need to meet some people. How do you feel?"

"I'm good, I'm awake. Wait what time is it?" I say in shock as I open my eyes. I start shaking in fear, my breathing is light and shallow, I start panicking... "Bert, Bert, What's happening? I don't know what to do. What's happening to me?"

"What, what!? What's wrong?"

"There's a large moving blur in front of me."

"You've been blind all your life, right?"

"Right."

"Your sight has come."

"But it hurts, my eyes hurt. Why do my eyes hurt?"