Ivory walls, light teal bed sheets, a tree, not a real one, it was the outline of a tree on the wall opposite of his bed. He sat up and stretched his arms.

Morning, a new day, he thought.

He got up to use the conjoined bathroom, to the right of his bedroom door. He took a shower and readied himself for the day. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. A round face with dark brown hair, brown eyes, and small pink lips stared back from the mirror. He opened his mouth and saw his straight white teeth. Where’s my toothbrush? He reached over the counter to hold said object.

I can’t leave that messy, he thought as he walked back out. He wore the only thing he had to wear, light blue shirt and pants. Once he was done making his bed, he sat at his desk. His breakfast was neatly placed at the side, nutritional bars and supplements accompanied by a nice glass of water.

When did they even come in? he wondered as he looked towards the door. Shrugging off the thought, he downed the pills in one go.

He looked at the textbook and the papers with notes scribbled on them. He felt odd. He lifted a piece of paper and knew he had studied it before. Did I really write this? He looked at the other notes scattered around, when did I write all this?

He swiveled the chair and looked around observing each object displayed about. He knew this was his room, his stuff, but he couldn’t really remember doing anything before today.

Suho scratched his head as he stared at the wall with a tree plastered on it. He definitely knew he had seen it many times before.

I’m probably just tired, he concluded and shrugged the feeling off.

He grabbed the textbook and read the title out loud.

“Water properties.”

A couple of hours had passed and they came for him. A female assistant with a clip card that read X1LA6 walked him to test room A-1. The room was the same as yesterday. He remembered the glass tank at the middle. As they were preparing him for the test he noticed that there were three chairs in front of the tank, he thought it was strange.

“Are we having spectators?” Suho asked.

“Yes, boss wants to see our progress,” the assistant said.

“Is Mama going to be here?” he asked a bit too eager. Maybe this time he could do things right, maybe he can make her proud of him again. Maybe, just maybe she might smile this time.

“She will,” answered the assistant. “Now get in the tank.”

Submerged in the water something felt off. He knew the water entering his lungs wouldn’t settle. He felt it in his gut that he had to get out of there. Quickly he swam back and sat up on the bench to take the oxygen mask off and cough the water out. A bright red light illuminated his vision and to his horror the tank began to fill with water. He tried to find an opening for the top hatch as water rose dangerously fast. There was no way out, the hatch could only be opened from the outside. He punched the top fruitlessly, bringing his face close to the metal hatch to breathe the little air left.

No, don’t let me drown! –Suho tried to scream, but the water rushing into his throat prevented him from speaking.

His whole body was underwater and he was stupid enough gulp in water instead of holding in air. He knew he wasn’t ready to breathe underwater, he knew he was going to drown and that completely terrified him.

I don’t want to die!

He moved towards the front glass and banged as hard as he could to no avail. Suho watched in horror as the heartless lab assistants took notes and the main scientists discussed hypothesis. He hit the glass again, trying to get their attention. Why didn’t they look at him? Couldn’t they see he was going to drown? Didn’t they care to save him?

Mama’s eyes looked at him, a brief encounter that made him realize she did notice his misery, but then she turned to speak with another scientist. Suho couldn’t hear what they spoke about, but he had a pretty good guess that it was about his failure at the test and how to progress and succeed next time. But for Suho there wouldn’t be a damn next time if they didn't get him out quick.

He could feel each heartbeat palpitate through his body as his blood pressure rose. His lungs felt as if they were burning as his abdomen clenched for air. He whined and punched the glass again. Mama waved her hand dismissively when a lab assistant pointed towards the tank. She didn’t care about him -he realized too late. She didn’t give a if he died in that tank. He had hoped that with the trials she would love him again, like when he was a young boy, but she only cared about the data. Results.

Suho couldn’t take it anymore, this feeling, this feeling of hopelessness, of feeling unwanted and left to die. All the muscles of his body flexed as he screamed out his pain, even though the sound was barely audible in the water.

He closed his eyes and decided to let go, to let go of the physical pain, to let go of the emotional pain, to let go of hope.

Let me just ing die already.

He felt how the pressure in his head rose, how the last gags for air hurtfully strained his gut. How his heart beat softened.

He opened his eyes. He felt it. Somehow he felt it.

I breathed. I’m still alive?

Suho looked up but his vision blurred and everything went black.

Morning, a new day.

He woke up. He was conscious that he was awake and he couldn’t explain why but it felt as if it was the first time he had ever been awake. He was trying to understand why the bed sheets felt new to him when he realized something was not right -he couldn’t breathe.

!

He gasped for air, small choking sounds emitted each time he tried to take a breath. Suho rubbed his throat trying to feel if there was a blockage. He hastily sat up to cough whatever was impeding him from breathing but his windpipe was clear, he could feel it clear.

Why can’t I breathe?

He felt his lungs were burning him inside out. It hurt so bad, they had to be collapsing. Air, he tried to breathe the air in his room but his lungs didn’t accept it.

It hurt, it hurt so badly. It burned, each muscle contracting hurt, it hurt. His eyes felt as if they were to pop out of his head. His brain felt as it were to explode from the lack of oxygen. His vision blurred, everything swirled. Thrashing on top of his bed, he tried to gasp for air again but ended up falling hard against the concrete floor.

Suho saw the outline of a tree contrasting against the ivory wall before everything went black.