The girl awoke on the cold metal table; her soft copper red hair rested around her shoulders. She blinked her deep emerald eyes a couple of times. The bright white lights were burning her eyes and she closed them again.
A thought came to her head and she spoke it out loud, “We cannot be defined by reality”
“And why is that Hope?”
Hope sat up; a man with a small hand-held device dressed in a white jumpsuit stood by the metal table. His dark hair was slicked back from his fore-head and his blue eyes were hidden behind wire frames.
“Because reality does not exist” Hope replied, “We cannot tell for sure if the life we’re living is real or if it’s just an elaborately layered fantasy thought up by ourselves or others”
“So reality is a dream?” the man said
“Yes...No...I don’t know. But no-one really knows. You can’t tell me this is real because for all I know you’re not real or I’m not real”
“So reality is baseless?”
“Reality is nothing more than an a abstract concept”
“But what about what I show you Hope? What you’ve seen is that reality?” the man said.
“No; I know it’s not real”
“Wouldn’t that make this reality then?” the man asked making notes on his hand-held device.
“No; because this could be another dream...another fantasy”
“Hope do you know where you are?” the man asked touching Hope’s arm.
“Yes, but knowledge of where you are doesn’t mean you’re in reality”
“Care to explain what you mean by that?” the man murmured.
“Even in a dream...a fantasy, you can know where you are, who you are or even why you’re there” Hope said softly.
“So why are you here Hope?”
“To achieve my purpose” Hope replied as she closed her eyes
“Your purpose?”
“To prove that reality is non-existent”
The man smiled, and pressed a button on the wall; hidden doors slid open and Hope’s eyes widened in shock at what she saw. The roof was a giant television screen and dozens of people were lying on beds in neat rows below this screen. Their heads were covered by silver half-tubes and their rights arms were hooked up to an IV bag holding a pink liquid.
“What is this place?” Hope whispered.
The man smiled, and reached a hand out to touch Hope; she flinched and pulled away, “its okay” he murmured, “They wanted this”.
“How can you say that?” Hope demanded.
The man smiled again, “Hope those people are part of an experiment. An experiment to test the mind to see if we can manipulate people’s ideas about reality”
“So these people let you drug them, screw with their minds so you can alter their beliefs about something that doesn’t exist?” Hope said in outrage.
The man smiled, “Hope, reality does exist. This is reality”
“No it’s not” Hope said, “Reality does not exist”
Hope leapt up from the metal table and pressed the button so the doors closed and Hope could no longer see the people. She backed away from the man and looked for another escape route...a way out. The man could see Hope was agitated and held his hands out in a calming gesture, “Please calm down, the drugs are still present in your system. If you don’t calm down you will pass out”.
“Go to hell” Hope yelled.
“Hope please” the man begged.
Hope turned away from him and as she did her legs buckled beneath her and she blacked out.
Sighing the man easily lifted Hope onto the metal table, standing over her, he inserted a needle into her right arm; the needle was hooked up to an IV drip. Inside the IV bag was a pink liquid; the liquid dripped down slowly into the tube and into Hope’s arm.
“I’d hate to take advantage of you in this state” the man said, “But scientific research trumps a patient’s health”
The man attached electrodes to either side of Hope’s head; these electrodes were connected to wires that attached to a slim, silver half tube. He fitted the half tube over Hope’s head. Pressing a button on the top of the silver half-tube; it emitted a faint whistling sound and fell silent again. The man pressed another button and a slim keyboard slid from the half-tube. He began to type quickly.
The words came up onto a computer screen:
Subject: Hope
Place: Pandora’s box
Human contact: Leon
Time: 15:25
The man hit the enter key and watched as they words transmitted into the reality program. Typing in another command a small television screen came up over Hope’s head.
Hope was lying on a green-tiled surface, glass walls and doors were all around her; even the ceiling was made of glass. Sunlight streamed through the walls and ceiling and an endless blue sky was easily seen through the transparent ceiling.
Another man; a younger one than the one before pulled open the glass door and went to the sleeping Hope lying on the tiled floor. Sitting beside her he said, “Welcome to Pandora’s box; population Hope”
Hope opened her eyes and smiled, “And you Leon”
Leon smiled, his light hair was drenched in sunlight and his misty grey eyes bore a soft expression.
“Welcome back to Pandora’s Box; your very own reality” Leon smiled
“Leon” Hope said softly, “This isn’t reality...I’m dreaming”
“Can you be sure?” Leon muttered.
“I know I’m dreaming...this place...you...it doesn’t really exist” Hope said serenely
“How can you be sure?” Leon asked
“Because, I know what he does...he screws with people’s heads. He tries to alter their beliefs in reality by manipulating their minds. By drugging them and showing them programmed fantasy lands...dream states” Hope said hysterically
“Hope” Leon said gently, “How do you know that Dr Lake isn’t a dream?”
“I don’t” Hope snapped, “I don’t know what reality is because it doesn’t exist”
“So Dr Lake’s reality altering experiment worked on you?” Leon asked tucking Hope’s coppery-red hair behind her ear.
“That’s assuming that Dr Lake is real” Hope said watching the clouds drift across the sky.
There was a shuddering movement and Hope’s world fell away.
Waking with a start she watched as Dr Lake slid the silver half-tube away from her head, he gently peeled the electrodes off her flesh. As he removed the needle she felt a slight pinch in her arm.
“Hello Dr Lake” Hope said.
Dr Lake felt Hope’s pulse and gave her a half-smile; “How do you feel Hope?” he asked.
“Fine” Hope replied.
Dr Lake helped Hope to sit up,” What did you find?” he asked
Hope smiled, “What I’ve known all along” she said, “That reality doesn’t exist”
“So Leon is not real?” Dr Lake said holding his device.
“Yes...but you already knew that” Hope said.
Dr Lake smiled and helped Hope off the metal table, “Come on” he murmured
“Where are we going?” Hope asked.
“You need to eat” Dr Lake replied.
Dr Lake led Hope by the hand and took her to the dining hall.
Later that night Hope skulked the hallways; she opened a set of doors and stole into the room. She hit the light switch and the room was lit with a bright white light.
In a glass cabinet against the wall were rows of robots; stepping up to them Hope saw how crudely they were made. Their heads were made of metal and steel, wires were sticking up, and their eyes looked like half of a ping-pong ball that had been painted. Their joints were like old cinema film rolls and arms and legs were thin metal tubes.
“What the hell?” Hope said to herself; she was about to turn away from the robots when one of them raised its head. Hope backed away from the glass cabinet and the robot brought its hand against the glass. It cracked and Hope jumped back, again and again the robot banged against the glass until it shattered.
The robots began to move, in a jerky fashion. They were advancing towards Hope; she was frozen to the spot unable to move. The robot raised its hand and Hope gasped as she saw a gun melded to it.
The robot’s eyes were locked onto Hope; the others circled around her, blocking her way. The robot in front of Hope pulled the trigger.
Hope felt a hot, burning pain in her chest and dropped to the ground. Her blood oozed from the wound and Hope managed to weakly choke out “Help”
“HOPE” Dr Lake yelled.
Hope opened her eyes, “What the hell did you do that for?” she screamed, “Why did you show me that?”
Dr Lake made a soothing sound and caressed Hope’s cheek, “I’m sorry Hope but that was your reality once...I didn’t show it to you...you were dreaming of a repressed memory”
“NO” Hope yelled, “You’re wrong...it’s not my reality. It never was my reality. REALITY DOES NOT EXIST”
“REALITY DOES NOT EXIST” Hope was screaming these words now, screaming them again and again
“REALITY DOES NOT EXIST”
Hope was thrashing on her bed; her arms flaying. Dr Lake grabbed Hope’s arms and strapped them down to the bed. Moving down her body he bound her around her waist and by her ankles.
Still Hope was screaming and thrashing; the binds digging into her flesh. Dr Lake pulled a syringe from a cabinet and brought it back over to Hope. He plunged it into her arm and she fell silent and within minutes was peacefully asleep.
Dr Lake sat beside Hope and sighed deeply. He knew to experiment on her now would be wrong but if he didn’t rectify his mistake Hope would forever be trapped in an endless loop unable to accept that reality did exist.
This is not what he had set out to do. He only wanted to alter people’s concepts of reality but not to obliterate the concept of reality from their mind altogether, but for some reason with Hope it had gone wrong. Somewhere in the experimenting process something had gone wrong.
Dr Lake held Hope’s hand for a moment, “Don’t worry Hope, I’ll fix this...I’ll fix you”
Walking back to the cabinet Dr Lake pulled out an IV bag full of the pink liquid along with a needle and a couple of electrodes. He hooked Hope up to the IV and slid the half-tube over her head.
“I’m glad these things are in every room” Dr Lake muttered to himself
Once again he was typing on a computer keyboard:
Subject: Hope
Place: a home
Time: 22:57
Human Contact: a mother.
P.S: Hope’s own memories will fill in the details of the home and the mother.
Hope woke up on a lounge, a TV was flickering quietly in front of her, sitting up she looked all around her. She had been lying on a plush blue lounge and the walls were a pale blue to match the lounge. White lace curtains hung from the window; the room opened up to a small but cosy kitchen with wooden cupboards and a white bench top.
“Where am I?” Hope asked herself
“Hope” a woman’s voice called softly.
“Hello” Hope called back.
The woman came into view; she had Hope’s coppery red hair with a soft face and body. Her eyes were a light brown; she was wearing a plain blue dress with a white apron over it.
“Mum?” Hope said looking puzzled.
The woman smiled, “Of course it’s me silly”
Hope smiled slightly, “Where am I?” she repeated
Hope’s mother smiled, “At our house. Honey are you feeling alright?” she felt Hope’s forehead and moved away, “Well you’re not feverish”.
“Of course I feel fine” Hope said defensively, “I’m just confused as to what Dr Lake thinks he’s doing”
“Honey, who’s Dr Lake?”
Hope laughed, “A doctor who is trying to prove to me that reality exists”
Hope’s mother looked at her with concern, “You must have been dreaming sweetie. You don’t know anyone called Dr Lake and this is real”
“Nice try” Hope said rudely, “But I’m not stupid”
“Hope don’t speak to me like that” her mother reprimanded
“Look” Hope said impatiently, “You’re not my mother and this is not my home. This doesn’t exist, you’re not real... this is all in my head. This is not reality because reality does not exist”...
Hope woke up yet again; But Hope wasn’t Hope because she never existed.
Aura Wintergreen Community Member 
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