Paranoia (2019)

“Mr. Reeves?”

It was so unusual. Nobody ever went to Cody’s room. Especially so late at night. There were three tiny knocks against his door. To make sure he wasn’t hallucinating, he waited a bit longer. Three more knocks, this time a bit more rushed. It was so faint that if he rustled around in his bed, he would’ve missed it. 

    He had no time to change so he answered the door as he was. Tousled hair, in his pajamas and his glasses still on his bed. To his surprise, Runo was waiting by the entrance, anxiously standing around the door waiting for Cody to answer. His tired face lit up the moment the door swung open.

    “Mr. Reeves! You’re awake-”

    “Not so loud Runo. You will wake God.” Cody whispered, crouching down to Runo’s height. “What’s wrong? Did Ciar throw up again?”

     Runo stifled a yawn before answering. “It’s not Ciar. It’s Reylen.”

     “Reylen? What is wrong with Reylen?”

     “He’s not going to bed as usual.”

      Cody already knew why but it was worth asking. “Do you know why that is?”

     “Not really. He keeps staying in our room. He won’t fall asleep unless he’s with me and Urien.”

     A quick sigh left his mouth before he held out his hand. Quick to grab it, Runo held it tightly as Cody navigated them quietly through the eerie corridors of the lab. The linoleum-lined aisles were already creepy when lit up. Roaming around in the pitch black darkness was more than terrifying for the kids. It was a miracle that Runo was able to find Cody’s room without backing out.

     Once Cody made it to Runo and Urien’s room, he opened the door just a crack. Almost instantly, he saw a figure scamper from the side of the room to the very back. It moved like a feral creature on all fours. 

    Cody took a step inside and the figure backed itself into a corner, trembling violently. The moment he turned on the light, the figure writhed in the light, blinded by its brightness. 

    “It’s okay, Reylen. It’s only Mr. Reeves.” Cody recognized the voice to be Urien’s who was also awake. Urien was sitting in his bed, watching over Reylen from afar. Man these kids. God would kill all of them if he found out that they were awake at this time.

    All Reylen could do was give Cody a harsh look. None of them could blame him. Today’s rounds of injections caused a few of the kid’s voices to go hoarse. They weren’t sure if Reylen was one of those kids but they wouldn't want to bother him with that.

    Cody slowly approached the shivering kid, Reylen inching back farther into his corner. “I’m not here to give you any medication Reylen. I’m only here to put you back into bed.”

    “I don’t trust you…” Reylen whispered. It came out hushed because he was beginning to hyperventilate. “L-L-Leave m-me a-a-alone!”

     “Reylen, it’s okay. I promise, I’m not here to hurt you. I’m not God. He’s fast asleep right now.” Cody coaxed, only a few feet from Reylen now. Runo and Urien watched from behind. “See, I have nothing on me. No needles, no pills, nothing.” Cody patted his pants and shirt to prove that there was nothing on his body. Nothing on him that could possibly hurt Reylen.

     Building trust with a paranoid kid was quite difficult if Cody didn’t know how to approach it. If Cody wore his lab coat, he would’ve been screwed the very moment he stepped into the room. It was too late for this and he wanted to go back to bed.

    By the time Cody had reached Reylen, he was just shaking in his corner, sweat dripping down his face as he breathed into his arm.

    It pained Cody to see Reylen like this. He was such a devious and mischievous kid during the day. He would steal kid’s food, call everyone names and at times sneak into quarantined parts of the lab and play with some of the broken machinery. Seeing Reylen in detention was nothing new. At the end of the day though, he was nothing more but a purely frightened kid. It was like seeing a completely new side of him.

     Cody held out his arms, waiting for a response. The response was automatic once Rey leaped into his arms and started sobbing. Cody could do nothing but embrace him and patted his back reassuringly as he cried into his shoulder.

     “Is he okay…?” Runo asked quietly, his face indicating concern. Urien could not give him an answer so the two of them looked at Cody for an answer. “Mr. Reeves, why is Reylen crying?”

     Cody rocked the shaking kid as he tried to answer in the most polite way he could. “He’s just scared. Once he calms down, he won’t be scared anymore and we can all finally go to bed.”

      Reylen gripped onto Cody’s shirt, his eyes were still watering with tears. “S-S-Sir, please don’t l-l-l-leave me. Please don’t leave me alone in my room. I want to stay h-here.”

     “And why is that?” Cody asked, slowly becoming more exasperated as the night went on.

     “Those two let me stay in their room. No one else will.”

     Cody raised an eyebrow at the two boys. “You let him stay here?”

     “I don’t mind.” Urien responded. Runo just nodded.

     “Please Sir. Stay with me.” Reylen asked quietly.

     At this moment, Cody knew he had dug himself into a very deep hole. With Reylen begging him to stay and the fact that Urien and Runo actually let him stay here, there was no convincing Rey to go back to his own room now. Praying that God wouldn’t catch him, he got onto the bed and laid down on the stiff mattress, placing Reylen by his side. 

    “Let’s just fall asleep here, okay? Promise you won’t tell God?”

    The three boys nodded. Runo closed the door, switched off the lights and took his spot by Cody’s side. It wasn’t long before all of them were asleep. Cody embraced them all, letting his thoughts trail and his eyes grow heavy.

    If God didn’t give a surprise round of injections in the middle of the night, none of this would be happening. Reylen wouldn’t be like this. He’s delusional. Why did he think it was a good idea to inject them while they were asleep? This medication was only supposed to be applied to the RUIN Kids and Dawn wasn’t apart of RUIN. 

 The worst part was when God had to explain to Cody what he did to Dawn and the unlucky few that were injected and the reason as to why. He had extras and wanted to inject them into the other kids for science. God even said it himself which made Cody sick to his stomach.

    Reylen’s paranoia stemmed from the death of Dawn, his twin sister. When God gave Dawn her injection, she had a seizure and died in her sleep. Reylen, who was secretly awake, had witnessed the whole thing. He didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye before God had got rid of her body. From then on, he refused to be anywhere near God. He couldn’t go a single night alone in his room without thinking he might get injected some time at night. 

    

    Cody could hear God saying that idiotic phrase clear as day. “It’s for science.” His blood would boil every time those words came out of his mouth. 

    The fact that God treated the children more like hamsters more than human children sickened Cody to his very core. Of the time he spent working here, four kids had passed away from careless injections and harsh punishments. Cody didn’t care if Astrid and Luise disrespected God, he didn’t care if Caron starved themselves to death. Cody didn’t care if these medicines was going to save lives or make history or get them money or fame. To hell with that. Dawn was an innocent and beautiful child with a brilliant future set for her. Astrid, Luise and Caron didn’t deserve to die either. And their lives were stolen once more because of some deranged man.

    He was a goddamn monster.