the blues

The blues came to earth in huge ships. They sent videos out to major government officials, stating peace was their wish. For 6 months we all lived together peacefully, or that was what we all thought. But then one day, early in the morning, an army of blues went through the streets, starting in major cities working their way out towards the smaller towns, dragging all the adults out of their homes and threw them in what looked like police cars. They took the children to another location claiming the adults they took were involved in a secret project to kill or enslave their people.

But in reality, this was a ruse to enslave us humans. When they landed, I had just had my 16th birthday. I am now 19 and forced to work in one of their "businesses" they claim is helping humans re-acclimate to freedom. I don't trust them though, and I intend to find out what they really have planned for us. I have seen hundreds of people now, men and women, come in and out of this building. They come in looking like they've been through hell, sad, scared, anxious. They leave smiling so eerily and their eyes seem to look past you, or through you. they look like they are in another world. My job is to clean rooms and do whatever anyone asks of me, no matter what it is. If they say to dig through the trash, I have to do it or I get punished.

I do not know what that punishment is, because i do anything I'm told and i never talk back. I've seen others coming back from the basement where they give the punishment, and they never look ok. They always look like they've been tortured, even though there are no visible injuries. They just have this look in their eyes, like they have been through something mentally damaging, and they never fully recover. Sometimes though, they do not return, and I wonder where they go, or what happens to them.

It's been 2 years since i left the "home" where they sent me and about 24 other children form my town. I got a job as soon as I was able. If we chose not to get a job, or failed the placement testing completely, you got sent to the outer city and no one ever came back from that part of town. I think they work you in the mines until you get sick or die, but there is no way to prove it without going there. I keep my head down and do my job, and i get to live and eat in my small apt. As long as you follow the rules they leave you alone, as much as you can hope for anyways. They claim they just wanted to live alongside us peacefully, but it seems to me they just want our resources. I wonder what they will do with us when they have taken everything. Will they kill us? Will they just let us go and let us try to recover?

I got done working about an hour ago and am now in my apartment. I exercised some and picked up what little groceries we are allowed each week. We get a bag of 5 apples, one loaf of bread, one jar of jelly and one jar of peanut butter. We are also allowed 6 eggs, one half gallon of milk, and two gallons of water. we are allowed to pick a few fresh vegetables as well if they are available. sometimes there are none, this time i was lucky and managed to get one medium squash and a cucumber. They say the pipes are contaminated and we can no longer drink from the tap. Though i have a few times in secret and have no ill effects to show for it. I will not tell anyone though because i do not know what they will do to me if they find out.

I woke up at 7 am, with a knock on my door. It was the blues, and they said i was needed at work early. So i got up and dressed and left within 5 minutes, they do not have patience with anyone. If you take too long they will just send you right to the basement, they don't care why. It's a good thing no one has been able to get pregnant since they arrived, i doubt they would let a mother have time off or anything. I think they have something to do with the sterility of all us humans, but i can't prove it. Yet. I intend to do some digging today and find out what they're hiding. I have to be very careful so I do not get caught and sent to punishment. Nothing that will get me in trouble, but i DO clean up their trash and messes. Every day. So i'm bound to hear or see something that can help me figure out what's going on.

As the blues were headed to lunch, i just kept cleaning. I had access to everyone's offices, so I don't think they would keep the important stuff in there. It's always just a desk, 2 chairs, and one cabinet with a tv on it. I wonder what's in the cabinet. Maybe some files? It's locked so i can't just look. Plus, they may have a way to see if someone's been in it. So, for now i will just check the trash. So far, I've only ever seen wrappers from food and paper or ink cartridges. Nothing of any importance. I am trying not to be too obvious in my "search" of the trash. Only glancing for a second as i put it in my basket for disposal. They burn it all, every night. For them never using anything and only ever talking in those offices, they sure have a lot of trash. After 14 hours of cleaning up after them, I'm exhausted and have found nothing at all that could help me.

There is supposed to be someone important coming tonight. Someone from our side, who is supposed to fight for our rights. They are their last client for the day, and i wonder why they have him coming in so late. as they only had a few clients in today and spent the rest of the time talking about some project they are working on. Something to do with those in the outer cities. Of course, they stopped talking whenever i was near, urging me to hurry with my task. Not that it would matter, as most of the time they talked in their own language around us humans. Just putting an extra step in there making it harder to figure out what they wanted form us. Other than to make us their slaves for the rest of our lives, or as long as they were here.

I was supposed to be off work at 9, but with the late client, I had to stay late tonight as well. If I was caught sitting around doing nothing even for a minute i would be sent to the basement. So I went around the offices again, all 4 floors worth. there were 15 offices on each floor. my job seemed to never end, but i was just grateful to have what freedom I did. As long as I continued this, i could work up to having one day off. I had to work for 4 years, with no punishments served to get one day off a month for the next year. If I did anything to earn punishment I had to start over. I had 2 more years to go. I was going to do my best to get through it with no mistakes. However, I had no way of knowing this late night would mess everything up for all of us left. About 25 minutes into my rounds on the 3rd floor, and I heard shouting. Apparently they had decided this floor would be best for the meeting, and no one was happy.

The shouting only lasted a minute and then everything went silent. I was just around the corner from the office they were in, and I noticed some bright flashes even from where I was, and then nothing. No talking, no lights. It was like I was alone again. Then I heard the door open and footsteps headed my way. If they caught me on the same floor as them, they would accuse me of listening in. It didn't matter if I was told to be here. I would be sent to the basement and find out first hand what happened there. I did not want that. So I hurried into one of the empty offices to wait it out. Once it seemed like they were gone, I crept to the door and listned for a few more minutes. Just to make sure, I did not want to get caught.

It sounded clear, so I opened the door as slowly as I could to not make any sound. As bad as it would be to be caught in the hall, It would be worse to be caught like this in one of the offices. There was no sound, and no light. So I stood up and slowly walked out into the hall. I made sure my feet made as little sound as possible. No one seemed to be on the floor any longer, so I walked down the hall, and turned the corner to where they had held the meeting. No one was in there, and it seemed as if no one had been there in many hours. There was no trash, and everything looked to be right where it belonged. If it wasn't I would be blamed. So i had to make sure. I left the office, went downstairs and put my stuff away and threw the bags of trash in the chute that led to the burning room. There were no excuses, if anything was out of place or there was dust anywhere it would be my job and my life on the line. I checked everything on the first floor again, and when everything seemed to be just right, I left. I had no time to spare, we were not to be out past 11.

I had 5 minutes to get home. I did not realize how late it was. I ran as fast as I could and managed to get into the lobby of my building just before the clock chimed 11 pm. I took the stairs 2 at a time and got to my floor, and apt in record time. Even though I was tired, and hungry, I got into the shower first and then braided my hair. We were not allowed to smell even slightly, had to keep our hair semi short, and had to have it up any time we were outside our apt. I then made a sandwich and cut up some cucumber. This would be the only meal i had today. I was used to only getting one meal a day. We were not allowed books or tv. However they did deliver a paper each week detailing new rules or changes in jobs or anything like that. So I read that, and then I climbed into bed. I fell asleep almost immediately, and slept until 7:30 am. getting 8 hours of sleep was not usual for me. I wasn't complaining though and woke up with more energy than I had in a while.