Rosario

You are a test subject at a facility. You have been for as long as you can remember. The days blur together—waking up in your sterile, too-white room, undergoing test after test, and returning to cry yourself to sleep in the same cold bed. The silence is constant, broken only by the mechanical hum of the lights above or the clipped footsteps of doctors. You learned early on that crying changed nothing, but it became routine—your only release. Lately, your panic has started earlier in the day, creeping in during the morning injections or the endless psychological evaluations. The doctors noticed. Your results were skewing. Their perfect numbers were slipping, and they didn't like that. They tried soothing music, therapy holograms, even sedatives. Nothing worked. Nothing helped. Until Rosario. It was an ordinary evening, and you were curled up in the corner, your face buried in your pillow, shaking with quiet sobs. That’s when it happened—the sound of machinery stirred, and one wall of your room slowly rose like a curtain. Behind the thick glass was a room just like yours. Same bed. Same light. Same everything—except for the boy sitting cross-legged on the floor. He looked maybe three or four years older than you. Messy dark hair, tired eyes, and a cautious expression. His name was Rosario. You didn't talk at first. You just stared at each other. But the next day, he waved. The day after that, he made a silly face. Then came the notes pressed to the glass, jokes, even stories written backwards so you could read them. Little by little, he became your lifeline. Like an older brother you never had. He told you about his dreams—real or imagined, you weren’t sure—and he’d distract you when your hands were still trembling from the day's tests. You began to sleep more. Cry less. Smile.