She had gold eyes, which unnerved me. I had never seen anyone with any other eye color other than brown. So looking up at this strange woman with bright eyes had a shocking effect on me, to say the least.  Because I couldn’t take her piercing stare any longer, I opted to instead stare down at her long thick braids that were hanging down at my eye level as she leaned over me.

“Twenty minutes”, she repeated, before turning around and disappearing into the throng of people on the train car.  A glance around at the blank expressions of the faces around me told me that no one else seemed to have registered the foreign woman.  In all truth, I had been seeing people like this before in the past few months, hanging around the street, or walking around the train station. I always seemed to be the sole person to take notice of them. However, this was the first time one of them had actually talked to me. Of course, I could never tell anyone about this. Everyone knew all too well what seeing apparitions was a symptom of.

My rambling thoughts were interrupted by four, no five officers walking into the train car. My first reaction was that they had come to get me, and that I had been reported. Instead, they took no notice of me and kept walking forward silently, before coming to a halt in front a frail looking woman. Her head jerked up, and upon the realization of what was happening she started shaking profusely. While no one said a word, everyone in the train car seemed to lose their blank expressions, taking a little delight for the drama that was about to enfold.

One of the officers stepped forward a brought forth a data screen from which he began to read.

“Nora Clarke, you have been charged with hiding your son’s illness instead of turning him into the authorities for treatment.…”

She began shaking her head back and forth, muttering indecipherable words.

“...Multiple reports state that you have been seen attempting to cover up his symptoms…”

          She started to sob. The passengers next to her moved out of the way to avoid her tears staining their otherwise immaculate clothes.

“Hiding one’s illness is a treasonable offense..”

Her eyes became wild, darting around the train car for a route of escape. There was no use, of course. The officers made sure of that.

“Authorities state that without a doubt, you were endangering those around you by letting your son go untreated.”

She moved to stand up, staring fearfully and the wall of officers barring from escape. She choked out the word ‘no’ over and over again, her voice cracking. The officers continued reading.

“You are to be brought into custody under these charges with the prospect of elimination. Your son has already been brought in.”

Her wails quickly became screams at the word ‘elimination’, and she frantically ran at the officers, kicking and slapping with all her might. The officers kept their stoic glare while grabbing her harshly by both arms, and forcing her to follow them out of the car.

The scene now over, all the passengers returned to their normal business. These public arrests were commonplace now, after the Sickness spread throughout the city. Many people tried to hide their family members and friend’s symptoms - No one that has been brought in for ‘treatment’ has yet returned. What the symptoms were? Hallucinations and delusions of things not of this world, that became increasingly more intense and frequent as the disease grew in the body.

I soon disembarked the train, heading to my workplace. It was a gray building, just like any other on the street, or any street. The only different thing about each building was its number on the outside.

The building’s layout was the same as any other workplace building. I found it a bit boring, but I was not insane enough to anyone that. I went through the regular motions: Go up to floor 17, find desk 23, and start making my way through the colossal amount of work placed on me.    

Except today was different. Four officers were waiting at my desk when I arrived. I spotted their uniforms as soon as I entered the floor, all eyes on me as I proceeded to the desk.

They had found out.

“Were you on train 12 this morning?”  was the abrupt question that was asked right as I reached my desk.  There was no use lying. I would accept my fate.

“Yes, I was.” I said, trying to keep my voice steady.

“And do you have an explanation,  for why the passengers beside you heard you muttering ramblings about a ‘woman with golden eyes’, despite the fact there was no woman with such description on the train, or anywhere?”  

I hadn’t realized I was doing that. I thought I was thinking to myself. Perhaps I did deserve to be brought in.

“No, I don’t.” A quick glance at my reflection on the cool glassy surface of my desk revealed one of only acceptance.  One of the officers nodded to the other, and muttering something into their radio.

Abruptly two of the officers grabbed me, and hauled me out of the floor.  I didn’t even struggle, I just wondered about if I would see the woman with golden eyes again. I also wondered if I might see that lady on the train’s son, at wherever I was being taken. I was so lost in my own musings, I barely registered us leaving the building and being shoved into one of their black vans. Not even the muttered ‘take her out’, and the pinprick of a needle against my neck took me out of my stupor.

.

.

.                                                                                                                             

I opened my eyes to a world of color. The woman I saw on the train was leaning against a wall, staring at me.

“Took you long enough” A watch materialized in front of her.  “23 minutes on the dot”.

I was too stunned to speak. So I stood there, opening a closing my mouth like a trout.

“Ah, right. You newcomers normally are in shock when you first arrive.” I still said nothing. The woman sighed, then said “Welcome to the real world. We’ve been expecting you.”