Chapter 2: Idk

“Food time!”

32 signed, his tail wagging excitedly. 

Gleeful chatters erupted around our room. Food time was always exciting. “I’m starving! Can’t wait to eat!”

25 signed. “What is it today?” I asked curiously. 

Exp#18 sniffed at it, then wrinkled her nose. “Whatever it is, it doesn’t smell very good.” She signed. I sniffed it, then signed “yuck! You’re right.” 

“Well, we’ll just have to make the best of it, whatever it is.” Exp#21 signed glumly. 

I grabbed a handful of the stuff. It was like little pebbles. “Oh wait, we’ve had this before!” 18 remembered. “No we didn’t!” 21 insisted. “Yes we did. Last month, remember?” 18 signed. “Oh yeah! You’re right!” 

“Told ya”

Exp#30 took the first bite. “It’s not too much bad.” He remarked. “I hate it!” I signed, making a “ew” face.

I looked around, and noticed that 24 was trying to feed some of the Food to Buggy. “Eat it!” She signed to the green insect as if it could understand her.

Exp#24 is so silly I thought to myself.

Then, the door to our room swung open, and 30 tensed up with fear. I held his hand tight so he wouldn’t be too scared. The doctors threw 33 back into the room, and 30 and my friends went up to make sure she was ok. “Did they hurt you bad? 30 asked. 33 nodded. “It’s ok. We’re all gonna be ok.” 30 said, helping 33 to her feet. 

Suddenly, footsteps sounded. All of us felt our hearts thumping in our chests. 33 started screeching, 24 promptly hid Buggy under her shirt, as if the Doctors would care that she had him. 20 waited by the door, tensed up as if he was going to attack anyone who came into our Room.

18 stood in frount of me, as if she had the power to protect me, and 21 stood beside me. 30 started shaking like crazy. “It’s ok” I signed, but he didn’t see me because he was staring at the door. Slowly, the door opened. 33 started pulling out the feathers in her wings. She does that sometimes when she’s real scared. 20 hissed, but calmed down when he saw the doctor at the door.

“Dr. Ellis!!!!” Exp#33 exclaimed. Everyone calmed down a little, though we knew that fully calming down is a bad idea, cuz anything can happen here in the lab. 

“Hello kids.” Dr.Ellis says. Her voice reminds me of cookies. I’ve only had cookies once, when doctor Ellis brought some to us.

“Do you got something for us today?” 25 signed curiously. 

Everyone in the room was excited. Dr.Ellis was our favorite nurse. 

“Well actually, I do got something for you!l Dr.Ellis said. Everyone was tense with excitement, including me. 

“Ok kids look what I got you…” Dr. Ellis said, revealing a brown bag. “Share the toys in it, ok.” She said, before leaving the room. Toys! How exciting I thought. 

24 was the first to look through the bag. For a moment I wondered where buggy was, but the. I noticed that Exp#24 was holding her tail out wierd, so I realized Buggy was balancing on her tail. I raced toward the bag, desperate for something of my own. Anything, really. As I reached at it, I realized it wasn’t there. I looked around confused, before seeing 24 holding the bag in her hands. “Mine!” She signed quickly. “Not fair!” 20 complained. I stomped my foot, angry. “I want too!” I signed. “Yeah, stop being a hoarder!” 32 signed. I stomped my foot again. 18 shot 24 a glare. “Still mine!” 24 signed, not wanted to give up. 25 growled at 24. She hissed at him. 33 walked toward her. “Dr.Ellis said to share.” Exp#33 said. “I know. But…I want!” 24 signed with a hiss. “Pleeasssssse” 33 said. “With a cherry on top?” She added. None of us knew what a “cherry” was. Probably a nonsense word. We just knew people said it. “Fiiinnne.” 24 signed, reluctantly handing the bag to Exp#33. “We will pass it around!” She announced. “So everyone gets to pick one thing!” 24 passed it to 30, who smiled. “Thanks.” He signed. 30, 20, and 33 had it rough today. It was good to see 30 happy now. 30 took a soft toy from the bag. It was brown, and had round ears. He passed the bag to 26 next. “Yay!” She signed, picking a pretty doll. 26 passed it to 29, passed it to 31, passed it to 20, passed it to 19, so on and so forth. Eventually, the bag got to me. I was so excited I could explode! I didn’t know what the word “explode” meant, but I still used it anyway. I chose a soft toy like 30, except mine had soft, long floppy ears, kind of like mine. I passed the bag to 21, who passed it to 18, who passed it to 25, who passed it to 32, so on and so forth. In the end, everyone was happy with their toy. 

I’m glad we can have some happiness in the lab.