323

For a few minutes there’s silence in the little glass-walled room. The older man plucks the last shards from my skin, cleans the wound and wraps it up. The three of them say nothing, and I can tell the younger two are waiting for something, though what I cannot tell.

After he finishes, the older man takes off his round spectacles and rubs them with a soft looking cloth. Restless from staying still so long, I shuffle my feet and rock back and forth. Still, he says nothing, but his eyes are on me.

  “Max,” His voice makes My Nurse and Dr. Reynolds jump, but it doesn’t startle me. Few things do. Surprisingly he talks directly to me, not across me like so many of Them do. “I want you to tell me something about yourself.”

Oh no. I’ve been here before and I’m not playing this game again, mister.

I can’t remember the details. I only know that it didn’t end well for me. It ended in room 323.

 “Tell me, your favorite color.”

 “Doctor he can’t        ”Reynolds starts.

  “Let him try. If what Miss James says is true, and this man has a working, thinking brain capable of understanding what I’m asking, then he’ll find a way to communicate with me.”

 My Nurse looks suddenly frightened, those doe-brown eyes growing wider in fear. “But Doctor Hamilton, surely you can’t base such an important matter on stakes like this. Max doesn’t always respond in the right way. After all, I’m not saying that his mind works as well as yours or mine or Dr. Reynolds. You can’t expect this of him.”

  “Miss James, I want to monitor his response.” She opens her mouth again, but closes it as his stern gaze falls on her. She can’t help me out of this.

I swallow. I’ve been through this before, but with different workers and different questions. They play it like a game. Ask me a question and dare me to find a way to tell them the answer without using words. Point to an object in the room, use my hands; when that didn’t work they even forced me to try to speak.

  “Come on Max. We’re waiting.” He says coldly. I realize that all this time I’ve been trying to decide whether or not I like this man. Now I know.

I don’t.

I stand unresponsive and silent. I have all day, all year, all my life. I’m in no hurry. Chances are I won’t even remember this encounter tomorrow. He on the other hand, has a full day dealing with all the Others like me, washing those tools of his, cleaning his glasses. He won’t wait forever, and the longer I do nothing, the less likely he’ll be to play the game again.

  “Max, please.” My Nurse lays a gentle bare hand on my arm. The warmth of her touch is strange and foreign after countless months and years of latex gloves. I don’t look at her. She wants me to comply and if I look at her I might give in. She doesn’t understand. The only way to win the game is not to play.

 “Come on Max, why don’t you just do it so we can all go home. We’ll take you back to 323 and I’ll lock you in myself.” Reynolds smiles sardonically. “Oh, and then we’ll know your favorite color so we can help you redecorate.” He adds.

I say nothing. Somewhere deep down I remember faces and voices like his. He’s the sort of man who thinks himself above me and everyone like me. He has no compassion, not because he’s a bad man, but because he hasn’t learned how to become a good man. I know how to beat him.

I smile.

Because if I’m outnumbered and I can’t be stronger, I can at least be creepier.