Chapter 2 – The Paths That Never Cross
Good men through the ages, tryin’ to find the sun; and I wonder, still I wonder, who’ll stop the rain.
Day 2 of our glorious experiment. Humans have so many needs! Gerard needs sleep, badly, and he has figured out that the bed lies beyond the water maze.
He rounds one corner, then another. The thought of a warm bed keeps him going. I wonder what these humans think of us…
After an hour, the ladder is a welcome sight to Gerard. The humans must know, deep inside, that we are serving a greater purpose here.
Although his hunger bar is almost flat, he trudges past the kitchen, focused solely on his bed. Perhaps the humans are too busy surviving to show their appreciation to us.
Or perhaps … they are too distracted by survival to hate
Elana does the human toilet dance, a ritual I have observed that humans engage in while on their way to the bathroom.
After an hour of her own journey, she makes it to the toilet. She clutches her stomach … she needs food!
Her hunger bar is zero. Her sleep bar is zero. But Elana has something more important on her mind … she must find the sink to wash her hands!
While I study the humans, I worry about “Joe.” This is his first time in solitude. The life has gone out of his eyes.
He eats his cold cereal in front of a blank TV. Surely he knows this is for the greater good though.
We are allowed one 5-minute visit a day, so I go to cheer him up. We talk of tales of the humans, with their clean hands and hungry bellies.
We kiss. This is the first time I have been apart from “Joe.” I whisper his real name. I tell myself, this is for the greater good.
The humans wander the maze, but their paths rarely cross.
They have had no hugs, no kisses. Only fights for survival.
And so I remind myself, this is for the greater good.
