The voice from the speaker asked the sentient factory

“Gender?”

“Male”

“Voice Distortion?”

“Done”

“Facial disguise?”

“Slow onset but done”

“Repulsive shield?”

“Given”

“Stature?

“Buffed”

“Body camouflage?”

The sentient factory paused and then added:

“Done, I guess.”

“What about the weapon?”

“Enlarged and loaded”

“It is no more firing blanks?”

“Yes, no more”

“Next soldier!”

The conveyor belt whirred as the freshly equipped soldier was exported to the one side of the factory and an innocent person was imported from the other.

The factory was in the middle of all things. Well, not really exactly the middle. But it separated two entirely different landscapes. It took innocent citizens from the sunny and sparkling land present on its right side. This place never experienced autumn. It was always spring. The weather was pleasant. Almost everyone had whatever they wanted. The Lilliputian citizens were happy but not even this land was spared from misery. Sometimes the people died upon their arrival. Some of them could never get what they wanted. However, it was still better than the other side. No one knew what was there. There was only one official statement. It said that all citizens from right hand side would eventually be sent to the left side.

There were rumors of course. Some believed that the left side was full of alien species who controlled the right side. Most of them, however had been led to believe that whatever awaited them on the other side was nasty. Life was not easy there. Survival was a liability and existence an eternal struggle. To aggravate things, some taleteller had hollered about there being enemies on the other side who the right side citizens had to fight.

Inside the factory, the speaker boomed again:

“Gender?”

“Female”

“Voice distortion?”

“Done but minimum”

“Repulsive shield?”

“Activated”

“Weapons?”

“Enlarged”

“Bombs?”

“Planted and ready for deployment”

“Strength and endurance?”

“Buffed”

“Body camouflage?”

“Limited”

“Next soldier”

All citizens of the right side were given serial numbers. They were called into the factory in that order. Nick and his friends, Richie and Jess were supposed to go in today. Nick didn’t know how he felt. His feelings like everyone else at this stage were mixed. He wondered what the factory did. What was awaiting him on the other side? He was curious, excited, tensed and even sad because these were his last moments in this glorious place where he had spent more than a decade.

“Guys, what do you think does the factory do?” He asked his friends

“I honestly don’t care” Jess replied

“How could you not care?” Richie was incredulous and not an ounce of its intensity failed to express on his face.

“Look, what I mean is that whatever is going to happen, is going to happen, we can’t do shit about it”

Richie and Nick were stunned at the use of this swear word but Nick managed to continue the conversation by admitting:

“She has a point, Richie” But he still couldn’t resist asking:

“What about the enemies though? Who are they?”

“Nick!” Jess was exasperated. She wondered why she even hung out with them.

“I just told you, it doesn’t matter.”

Gary, the creepy guy who had a nose like Bilbo Baggins and glasses like Harry Potter, barged into the group.

“Nick, I know the answer to that question”

“No thanks, I was just kidding”

“Nope, now you have to listen. We are our own enemies. The factory sends us there and then we fight ourselves and each other”

Nick knew that even Richie felt this was stupid so he sagaciously remarked:

“This is absurd even by your standards, Gary.”

Jess who had been quiet until now, mused:

“Why would we fight ourselves? Who would benefit?”

“I don’t know. I guess that’s why survival will be hard. If I had to guess, I’d say we’d be fighting to please some higher being like an alien you know maybe” Gary’s answer was met with disbelief but he continued nevertheless:

“To be honest, I’m imagining a bald bearded guy as the higher being, maybe a Caucasian son with longer hair…who knows?”

Nick was about to point out the faults in this theory when he was called into the factory. He said his goodbyes, knowing that he wouldn’t have to wait long anyway as his friends would be going in next.

So excitedly he sat on the chair. And blacked out.

When Nick opened his eyes, he was sure some mistake had been made. It looked quite normal. There were a lot of people on the left side but that is if you could call them people. They didn’t look like people. They looked weird. Nick made his way to a nearby shop. He wanted to see himself. He was worried about how he looked now. Nobody had taken any notice of him. If these guys had anything to do with Nick, they really didn’t seem to care. Curiosity rescinded as suspense took hold of him. He edged closer to the reflecting glass.

Nick stared at the reflection. Horror crept into his soul. Disgust filled his very existence. That’s my reflection, he thought, emphasizing on ‘my’. He couldn’t decide whether the thought was an intriguing one or an assuring one. Every bit of his body seemed strange to him; the hair which had been previously limited to his head was now everywhere. Even on his face. He couldn’t recognize himself. With a sudden impact, the realization hit him that the lingering stink he had associated with this place was actually originating from his arm-pit. Nick wasn’t sure if he was raging or crying anymore. He yelled for help but even the voice was foreign to his ears.

Devastated, he leaned against the wall and sat down, observing what was in front of him. The factory. It had a name.

Puberty.