My name is Ruby. I am fifteen. I don't know exactly where I am. All I know is that this bright white facility is somewhere in California. I don't know what I'm here for. I have all kinds of wires and tubes connected to me. Heart monitors, brain wave monitors, you name it, all there. The men in the white lab coats told me to go into that room over there, the room at the end of the hallway. They said to choose one of the items on the table and describe everything into the microphone. What items? They wouldn't tell me anything else.
        I walked toward the lonely door down the hallway that seemed to go on forever. Maybe that was just me, because it felt like forever although it was seemingly short. I turned the silver doorknob. It led into a white room. What's with all the white? White lab coats, white halls, white rooms; no imagination whatsoever. The room smelled horrible, like one of those dentist offices. I absolutely hated that smell.
       Ignoring the odor, I sat down at the lonely chair next to the lonely table. I wondered what it would be like to be the chair, just be sitting there in a boring room with a boring companion forever. I didn't like that thought. Why would I be imagining that I'm a chair? It seemed strange to do that.
       Turning my attention back to the table I saw that there were  four things. There was an ugly old ring with some of the red stones missing. I didn't like it. A hearing aid was next to the ring. I thought about it. Didn't seem that useful where I was right now. A cookie. I picked it up. Eugh. Raisin. I immediately threw it down. The cookie was in bits. I looked right. A glass. I picked it up. It smelled like cat vomit. There was no way I was going to drink that.
      I've always had a little trouble hearing so I chose the hearing aid. "It feels normal." No response from the microphone. I put it in my ear. "Nothing is happening. Perfectly normal. I can't even hear better. It's like absolutely nothing happened." It stayed the same for another 30 seconds. Then it happened. For about five seconds the hearing aid went all glitchy. I heard an ear splitting BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. "Okay, so, the thing went all weird on me and my eardrums REALLY FREAKING HURT!!" A deep voice on the intercom went up. "Can you hear anything unusual?" Yes I could, I could hear that voice about five times at once. There was something else too, It sounded like the faintest of whispers. Okay, now I'm going crazy. How could there be whispers? The nearest people were about 30 feet away. It's not from the intercom, I know that. I lied. "Nope, nothing weird." I wanted to know more.
      A couple of minutes passed. The whispers grew louder and I could start to understand them. "How could this not work?" "I don't know! It wasn't my job to program it. Ask Jerry!" "I-I don't understand i-it should  have worked."Well figure out what's wrong with it!" That was the voice from the intercom. "She should be able to hear what's in the room next to her. It doesn't make sense." "I'm sorry! I may have done a slight miscalculation."
      I had two questions. 1) How could I hear them? They were rooms away! 2) What was in the other room? I tried to concentrate. I focused to sounds closer to me. I heard it. There was a high pitched beep that sounded right next to me. Was that what they wanted me to hear? I dismissed the noise that was probably computer generated. "What is this supposed to do?" I asked. No response. I waited in that room for about five more minutes until the door opened. It was a scientist I hadn't seen yet. "I'm sorry for wasting your time, Ruby. It seems that there may have been a slight miscalculation on our part. Are You sure that you can't hear anything unusual, abnormal?" 'No, I can't even hear any better," I lied. He looked disappointed. "I'll take the headpiece and then you can go home. I'm sorry to waste your time."
       A few minutes later I was ready to leave. I could see the earpiece lying on a table. The people in lab coats were talking quietly. I was intrigued by the earpiece, I didn't want to leave it. I quickly picked it up and put it into my jean pocket. They didn't notice. They said I could leave, so I did. About a block away I put the earpiece back in. The scientists were wondering where it went. They thought I stole it. I ran.
                                             To be continued...