VolitiOn

She woke up.

She was in a dazzling white room in the middle of the night.

The only light source was the faint rays of the New Moon staring at her viciously through the white framed curtainless window on a satellite crowded sky.

She looked around the room. There was the bed where she was in, white sheets, white blanket, white pillows, even the frame of the bed was white. It hurt her eyes.

She loved colors since she was a small child.

She was mesmerized by that little kaleidoscope that her father gave to her for her 4th birthday.

She was constantly looking to the world through it.

She wanted to live in that world, where everything was just bright and shimmery.

Where everything was connected by her movements like a symphony.

“A symphony of the Universe. My Universe.” She thought to herself.

She put her feet out of the blanket. The room was cold and the floor was even worse.

She pressed her lips together and with one quick move, she slipped out of the bed.

She wasn’t able to touch the floor with her sole completely, so she was standing on tiptoe, while she hugged herself tight for some warmth.

Her pajama was a thin layered white gown.

iO looked towards the white desk.

“That is a laptop. I should call for help, or just check the door quickly.” she was almost completely sure that the door is going to be closed, but she thought you never know, so she hurried herself to the white door and pushed the white door handle down.

Nothing.

She pushed it again and at the same time, she pulled it towards herself.

Still nothing.

She wasn’t surprised.

She turned around and run towards the desk with the laptop and a white wooden chair in front of it.

She made a face before she sat down, but the sensation of the cold struck her at heart.

It was almost as real, like sitting on a block of ice.

The screen was dark and so the lights under the keyboard.

iO touched the power button and the machine came alive, making her blind with white light penetrating her pupils.

As soon as she got used to it she realized that there was nothing else just a message on the screen and a cursor pulsating.

iO had to frown to read it first.

Are you alive?

SUBMIT

The cursor was pulsating at the top of the letter T as an indication.

“An indication of a choice to make.” she thought to herself and all of a sudden the cold she felt rolled through her body and made her shake involuntarily.

Io was sitting on that ice-cold chair for about a half an hour.

The message was reflected in her motionless eyes while she continued to shake and shiver from the cold.

She didn’t know what to do, and it made her brain freeze, and her muscles to stiff to a point where it was even painful for her to move.

She wanted to go home. She wanted to see her father, and just be in her colourful room under the warm blankets with a nice cup of hot chocolate.

Tears started to form and the spicy feeling in her eyes made her intention to not to cry unbearable.

The corner of her lips turned upside down violently and she was not able to force it back.

She looked away from the monitor and looked through the window.

The tears stopped like water from a tap.

“The fucking window.” Io scolded herself.

She stood up still being cold but she was not hugging herself for warmth anymore.

She went straight to the window and touched the glass with her right palm of her hand.

Nothing.

She frowned.

She was anticipating the coldest sensation of it all by touching the window, but the glass was not freezing, not even chilled.

In fact, it was lukewarm like somebody was just exhaling on it on the other side.

Io’s palm started to sweat with cold so she formed a fist and took it away from the window.

Her long dark brown hair was itching her shoulders and her elbows.

She finally saw her own reflection.

She didn’t look sad or scared, she looked like someone who is ready to change.

To change the game, to change… herself.

She turned away from the window and went to the middle of the room.

She looked up at the ceiling and she shouted;

“I am not going to submit that I am alive! You Are Not My Creator!” she wanted to growl like a fighter.

Her posture changed.

She was tall with hands in fists and muscles being squeezed in her stomach.

She felt strong and uncontrollable.

She looked back at the window and started to run.

As she broke through the glass the warmth of the night was embraced her like a blanket.

A million fractures of the glass were shining like macro diamonds dancing and swaying in the air.

Io didn’t feel any pain when she landed on the ground.

She found herself on a squatting pose with both of her hands on the ground in front of her.

She knew this night isn’t over yet.

Not until she fought for her right to live.

iO was squatting in the spotlight.

She couldn’t see anything but they could see her, and she knew that they are here in front of her, waiting.

Waiting for a sign to fight, to kill, to execute her because she didn’t submit herself, because she didn’t submit herself, because she didn’t submit herself.

She blinked.

They moved as one.

Like if they were one big organism with one united consciousness instead of living, breathing, thinking individuals.

They were fully armed and dressed behind the masks and bulletproof vests, looking like special force agents ready to deal with dangerous subjects anywhere, anytime.

On the call.

iO moved at the same time as them.

She wasn’t thinking and she didn’t have a plan, but she felt like she has a flow within herself.

Like if she was not iO a 16-year-old girl anymore.

Like if she could turn into anything she wanted, just like water.

Shapeless, flowing through your fingers as you try to catch it, while she is crushing you from above.

She jumped and ran barefooted on the grass towards the force people.

It was at least 20 of them running in a half-circle position trying to catch her like a fishing net.

She knew.

As they started to fire she jumped up and landed with both her feet on the chest of the soldier who was in the middle.

She pushed him, bending her knees ready to jump away again, towards her freedom.

The park in front of her looked like the one she used to go with her father every Sunday to fly kites together.

She had a red one with a smiling Sun painted on it, while her father had a blue one with a cloud on it.

The cloud had a concentrating face as it was blowing.

This memory flashback was rapid and lasted less than a second.

She felt hands gripping both of her ankles.

She looked up at the sky and the artificial moon was looking back at her.

As if it was mocking her, laughing at her end.

iO closed her eyes and thought about her father and her kaleidoscope.

As they were ripping her apart she could see all the colours swirling around her, just like she always imagined.

She could smell the electrical burn coming from somewhere, she looked down and she saw her legs and arms twitching and sparkling at the other end of the field.

All of a sudden a masked face hovered above her blocking her vision.

“Submit!” he shouted.

iO looked at him.

She started to smile.

It was a faint and shy smile but it grew larger and larger with time.

“Submit!” he shouted again, and this time he kicked her in the stomach.

iO was laughing as the pain dissipated from her lower back.

“I am alive and I won’t submit.” said to him.

The soldier started to kick her without stopping.

iO didn’t feel the pain anymore, although the smell of electrical burn filled her nostrils.

He looked at her one more time.

“SUB-MIIIT!” he was almost growling like an animal, which made him someone for a second.

At least that’s what iO thought.

She kept smiling at him as if she was looking at someone she loved instead of a hired executioner.

The colours were so beautiful.

One of her eyes was blue and the other was red.

The cheek of her face was changing skin tones as quickly as you scroll on your phone when you are bored.

The colour of her hair.

She started to tear up as she saw her reflection in the mask of the “almost someone”.

Her hair was in every colour as you can imagine.

It wasn’t changing it, every strand of her hair had a different colour and they were all shimmery and sparkling like the Kaleidoscope.

She became the Kaleidoscope.

She became her own Universe flying through nebulas and star clusters, supernovae and dust pillars and galaxies with all the colours flashing in front of her eyes, through her eyes, until she became one with her creator, a remnant of a Supergiant.

THE END