The Human Exhibit

by Kaitlyn, 10

A Summer 2025 Monthly Story Challenge Winner 

In a small dusty lab in Chicago, Dr Evelyn Sparks and Dr Theo Marsh had worked for years trying to make a magnet that couldn’t be broken apart by hands, lasers, or anything else. 

Evelyn felt frustrated with how weak magnets on phone holders were, making her phone slip and fall every time, and she wanted to create a magnet that would hold in any condition. Making an indestructible magnet would make it reusable and reduce the need to buy additional magnets, benefiting the Earth and the environment. An unbreakable magnet would also create a lot of spare energy, which could go to important research like improved healthcare, clean water, etc. Evelyn had met Theo at a science convention, and found that he, too, was annoyed with current magnets. He hated how they kept slipping and falling on his foot whenever he opened the fridge, and they had decided to build an unbreakable magnet together.

Evelyn was good at engineering, and Theo was a natural with electronics. Their prototype looked like two bottle cap sized pieces of metal, and they had successfully made it indestructible to everything except superconductors. 

“For the last time, Evelyn, no one is going to use a superconductor to break apart magnets! Heck, barely anyone knows what it is. We’re never going to get anywhere if you keep acting stubborn like this!” Theo said, exasperated. He sat on a rolling chair with a giant bag of pretzels on his lap.

“We have to make it indestructible to everything,” Evelyn replied, not looking up. “Plus, I’m almost done. Just one more little tweak…” She poked the magnet with some sort of drill. “Alright, let’s test it one more time.” 

Theo reluctantly said, “Fine, but if this doesn’t work-”

Before he could finish, Evelyn twisted the dial and suddenly--BOOM!

The lab was filled with an ear-splitting sound, like a volcano eruption, followed by multiple bright flashes. The magnets on the table shook violently and hummed.

“Evelyn!” Theo roared, jumping off of his chair. “What did you do?!”

“I-I’m sorry! It wasn’t supposed to-” Evelyn was cut off as the whole lab shook. 

Then it happened.

The walls seemed to bend, and the floor rippled. The lights flickered, and a high-pitched shrieking sound filled the air. 

Silence.

When the haze cleared from their eyes, Evelyn and Theo were no longer in their lab. They appeared to be in some sort of empty room, with white walls all around them and a glass barrier. It was completely bare, save for a table and two chairs. But by far the most unsettling thing was the chimpanzees staring at them through the glass barrier. The animals seemed to be observing them and -wait, holding clipboards?? 

“Wh-where are we? What happened? And why are there chimpanzees staring at us?” Theo sputtered. 

Evelyn replied, “I don’t know! It’s like we’re in an exhibit or something.” The truth dawned on her. “Theo… I think we’re in a zoo. But we’re the animals inside it!”

“Look, the chimpanzees are moving.” Theo noticed. It was several hours after they appeared in the cage. They had been warily watching the animals take notes on everything they did.

“It’s coming towards us,” Evelyn remarked, her brow furrowed with worry. 

 The chimpanzee slowly opened a hidden door at the side of the room, then pushed two plates of food inside. The meal consisted of some spoiled tuna that smelled like used diapers, shriveled up pieces of broccoli, and green, fuzzy, moldy bread. The chimpanzee closed the door and went back to watching them.

“Ugh, the food’s disgusting,” Theo complained, pushing it away. On the other side, the chimpanzee carefully wrote something down.

When Evelyn finished eating, the chimpanzee opened the door and beckoned both of them into another room. This one also had a glass wall, but it was much better furnished, with a bed, couch, desk, chair, and toilet. It smelled like animal urine, as if the cleaning team themselves had dirtied it.

“This is your exhibit,” the chimpanzee said, speaking for the first time. Evelyn and Theo looked at each other, surprised. “You two are the first humans to appear on Planet #55382 Krypto Arrakis Skaro Magrathea Pyrrhus, nicknamed Htrae. We have read about your species, but we have never seen them before.”

Evelyn hurriedly asked, “Excuse me? I think we’re here as a mistake. Could you please let us out?” 

“And can I have some pretzels?” Theo added hopefully.

“No,” the chimpanzee said, glaring at both of them. He shut the door and triple bolted it.

“Why can the animals speak? I thought only humans could,” Theo wondered, slumping into a chair. 

Evelyn was thoughtful. “It kind of feels like animals and humans have switched roles, and now animals are in charge.”

“Oh well,” Theo sighed. “I guess we'll just wait here. It’s not like we’ll suddenly find a way to fix this.”

Evelyn scowled. “Theo, we have to get out of here.” She looked through the glass wall at the badgers walking past, the rhinos oohing and aahing at them, and the baby bunnies pushing their noses up to the glass. She saw the inside of a big mall, with shops and stores galore. “We’re like, in a mall or shopping center.”

“And we’re the captives in the zoo,” Theo groused, wistfully looking up at the skylight in the room.

“Um, I can hear you…” the chimpanzee said, spooking Theo, who yelped and hid under the bed.

Evelyn shook her head at Theo, and started thinking about what to do. Not long after, she had made a grabber, a hammer, and a shovel using random things she found around the room. She hoped it would help sometime.

The next day, they were woken up early by the chimpanzees for breakfast. It was a piece of stale bread with a lump of margarine. “Margarine! Not even butter! How cheap are they?” Theo grumbled. When they had finished, the chimpanzee came in with two leashes. “Time for your daily walk,” he said in a monotone. 

“Walk?! You’re seriously going to walk us?” Evelyn exclaimed.

“Yes. Walk. Now,” the chimpanzee said, wielding the leash threateningly. Theo and Evelyn both groaned. This was going to be humiliating.

“This is the worst day of my life,” Theo declared. 

“Stop complaining. It isn’t that bad,” Evelyn said.

“There’s going to be animals watching us for the next ten hours! It’s a zoo! See, there’s already a few porcupines and a raccoon!” He pointed outside. Sure enough, there they were, and more animals were starting to trickle in.

“Enough about that. We really need to figure out how to get out of here.” Evelyn replied impatiently.

“I hate to ruin your idea, but how? It all started with that magnet, and we’ve lost it.” Theo whined.

“But maybe… just maybe, we can make it again. All we need are some metals and materials, and there’s a mineral shop right over there. Along with a hardware shop, candy shop, and boba place. Apparently, we’re in a mall or something.” Evelyn smiled. “It might not be that hard at all. We just need to break out, and steal all of the materials. We can assemble it here.”

“Now we’re stealing? This is not going to look good on my permanent record,” Theo lamented. 

Evelyn rolled her eyes. “Relax. We’re doing this for the greater good. Plus, you’re only going to be a criminal in this world. Now, a practical question. How do we actually break out?”

A few minutes later, Evelyn started to make a plan in her notebook. “First,” she announced, “we need a distraction.”

Theo scoffed. “What are we going to do? Pull the fire alarm?”

“That’s it!” Evelyn exclaimed. “We can ‘accidentally’ set fire to something and then escape while they’re distracted!”

“And how, exactly, do we get out?” Theo asked skeptically.

“Hmm…” Evelyn mused. “Aha! See that shaft up there? It’s probably for ventilation, which means it will go through the whole mall. We just have to climb up there and work our way through the building until we see the right store. Then, we climb in, grab the materials, and get back in. No one will be in the store since they’re all panicking and trying to evacuate.”

Theo was still dubious. “Are you sure no one will see us? There are security cameras everywhere. I’m not risking it.”

“Come on, Theo,” Evelyn wheedled. “It’s our only chance! Or would you rather spend the rest of your life rotting in this place?”

Theo sighed. He knew he had no choice. Besides, it wasn’t as if he could let Evelyn go alone. “Fine, I’m in.”

The next day, they put their plan into action. “We need neodymium, iron, boron, and samarium cobalt. The mineral store should have all of that,” Evelyn said.

“And how do we make the fire again?” Theo asked.

Evelyn sighed, annoyed. She put her hand under the sun coming from the skylight.

“Haven’t you ever heard of a magnifying glass, wood, and sunlight? I always carry around a magnifying glass, we can chip off some wood from the bed, and there’s a skylight in here that shines onto the floor. If you’re worried about it burning all our stuff, it’ll only be a small, contained fire.”

Theo raised his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay, I get it. Let’s get going.” He started chipping at the bed, while Evelyn took out the magnifying glass and all the tools they would need to infiltrate the shops. 

Thirty minutes later, they were ready. Theo had amassed a sizable pile of wood, and Evelyn had grabbed a bag, made a rope with some sheets, and created a fire pit.

“Ready?” Evelyn asked.

Shaking, Theo held up the magnifying glass and replied, “Ready.” 

Evelyn reminded him, “Remember, we don’t have too much time. Be quick.” Theo pointed the magnifying glass at the pile of wood. Slowly, but surely, the pile started smoking, and soon it was on fire. Then the fire alarm went off. Sirens sounded, and sprinklers turned on. Everyone panicked and hid, which meant no one looked at the human exhibit. Evelyn quickly jumped on the bed and climbed into the ventilation shaft at the top of the wall, with a boost from Theo, who quickly came in after her. 

The ventilation shaft was dark and narrow, with iron gratings every few feet, indicating a new room. Theo and Evelyn could barely wriggle through with their gear. Theo, who was pretty claustrophobic, kept moaning every few seconds, until Evelyn whispered, “Jackpot,” and told him to look down the grate underneath them. It was the mineral store, and it already had a display of neodymium and boron. Slowly, they opened the grate, which was unlocked, when Theo tensed and pointed to the left. There was a ten foot long Siberian tiger pacing the shop, but then it hid under the boron display. They would have to go right past him, and worse, he appeared to be a security guard.

“What do we do?” Theo asked while fidgeting.

Evelyn bit her lip. “Maybe we can get past it. We could use something to grab it from further away. Then we wouldn’t even have to walk by the table.”

“Yeah, but with what?” Theo questioned.

Evelyn smirked. “I’m always prepared. I made a grabber while you were sleeping, just in case something like this happened.”

“Alright, but we still have to be careful getting down so he doesn’t hear us,” Theo warned.

Carefully, Evelyn fed the rope through the hole and climbed down, barely daring to breathe. Theo followed, a troubled expression on his face, as the rope slipped out of his hands. At last, he grabbed onto it and dangled six feet off the ground, sweating buckets. Evelyn grimaced and helped Theo get down. Thankfully, the guard tiger didn’t seem to hear any of it. Between the alarms and animals screaming, it was actually quite loud. The guard himself looked pretty nervous too, as he cowered inside the store, watching the commotions in the mall.

Theo and Evelyn tiptoed to the neodymium display, and quickly snatched it. Theo worried the cameras would see, but Evelyn assured him no one was looking at them right now. Next, the iron. It was relatively easy to find, as iron was pretty common. They grabbed it with no concern. Ditto the drill, knife, and boron, with the help of the grabber.

But where was the samarium cobalt? Evelyn and Theo snuck around, avoiding the area with the guard. Just as they were on their second scan of the shop, disaster struck. Theo tripped on a stray bolt and crashed to the floor with an “oof!” 

“Are you okay?!” Evelyn whispered, on the verge of panicking.

Theo replied, “I’m fine. Let’s go get the samarium…” He trailed off as he realized the security guard was in front, glowering at them. All the color immediately drained from his face. “Oops,” he whispered. 

“What are you two doing here? Shouldn’t you be in your human exhibit?” The security guard narrowed his eyes. “And are you stealing from my shop?”

Slowly, Theo and Evelyn backed away. Suddenly, a glint of metal caught Theo’s eye. He chanced a look in the direction. It was the samarium cobalt! 

Besides him, Evelyn said  to the guard, “We’re sorry to intrude! We were just lost!”

“Don’t give me that garbage!” he said, grabbing for Evelyn. Just as he was about to close in on her with his sharp claws, Theo suddenly bolted towards the samarium cobalt. “RUN!!” he shouted at Evelyn. 

“Hey, come back here!” The security guard chased after Theo, running as fast as he could, leaving Evelyn unguarded.

I’m dead, Theo thought. He got closer to the cobalt, but the guard gained on him fast. 

And then Theo saw the boxes of rocks. Suddenly, he had a crazy but exhilarating idea. He abruptly turned, stopping on a dime, and grabbed a box of lubricating wax. He tore it open and hurled it on the ground just as the guard recovered. The guard stepped on the slippery wax and slid around, lunging for Theo, who stood behind him. He tried to stop, but his own inertia made him keep going. With a resounding crash, he rammed into a tall tower of boxes full of crystals, gems, and metals. The boxes burst open, sending the expensive rocks tumbling down onto the guard, trapping him temporarily. The tiger growled and screamed, whimpering as each rock hit him. Theo laughed, and quickly grabbed the samarium cobalt, much to the dismay of the guard, and raced outside to tell Evelyn.

“I got the cobalt!” Theo declared, beaming. “And I took care of the guard, too.”

“What did you do to him?” Evelyn asked.

“I made him slip and crash into a bunch or boxes full of rocks. He won’t be bothering us anymore!”

Right as he said that, the angry security guard dashed out of the store. His fur was matted, and he had a bunch of scrapes and cuts. “Not again,” Theo sighed.

“I thought you said you took care of him!” Evelyn accused.

“I guess I spoke too early. Aaaaaand, we should probably run. To the maintenance room or something!”

“Where is that??!!” Evelyn cried.

“I don’t know! Just run! We’ll find it somehow!”

The security guard rushed after Theo and Evelyn. Desperately, Evelyn looked for a place to hide. There were no hiding spots, but she spotted one thing. Just beyond two moving walkways, a manhole cover sat flat on the ground, sealing an entrance to the city’s sewers. She quickened her pace and ran straight towards the walkway moving against her, quickly calculating and recalculating the trajectories. 

“Theo!!” she hollered. “Any chance you can stop the walkway on my command?”

“Roger!” he shouted back.

Evelyn stepped off a few paces in front of the guard and yelled “STOP!!” right before the guard was about to get off. The walkway stopped, but the tiger kept moving. Evelyn quickly tore off the manhole cover. Right as the guard passed her, she stuck out a leg and tripped him. It sent him sprawling right in the direction of the now-open sewer. He noticed it too late, and his eyes widened like pie plates. There was a sickening squelch as he fell in the poop of a few thousand animals, followed by screams of disgust and horror. Evelyn couldn’t resist snickering. She and Theo ran back to the store, where they climbed back into the ventilation shaft and returned to the exhibit.

“Can we put out the fire now?” was all Theo could say.

“After we build the magnet. We’re still not done yet,” reminded Evelyn.

Theo groaned. “Okay, fine. How about you build it, since you’re so eager?”

“Fine by me. I’ll be done soon. I have a good memory, and I actually worked back in Chicago, not just eat pretzels all day!” Evelyn retorted.

“ Hey, I helped here. We make a good team.” Theo flopped on the couch. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll just take a nap until you’re done.”

“No need for that. I’m already finished. Just that “last tweak” from before. Ready?” Theo was ecstatic. “Finally! We’ll be back in our lab and have no animals chasing us or staring at us 24/7!” “Although I will kind of miss the chimp,” he added. 

Evelyn laughed. She poked the magnet with the drill, and again, there was a sound like a jet engine, and a series of bright flashes. Again, the magnets started humming and shaking. Soon, the walls seemed to bend, the floor rippled, and the lights flickered, but this time the exhibit transfigured back into Theo and Evelyn’s lab. 

“I’ve never loved this old lab more! We’re free now!” Theo cried. “Although,” he continued, “We should probably put away the magnet.”

“Yeah, I guess. We’ve done enough damage already.” Evelyn chuckled. 

She picked up the magnet carefully and placed it in a steel box, triple-bolting it like the chimpanzees had done.

Theo collapsed into his chair. “Okay, new rule. NO MORE INDESTRUCTIBLE MAGNETS.”

Evelyn grinned. “Agreed.”

After a long pause, Evelyn said thoughtfully, “Maybe I’ll try making a toaster next time.”

Theo sat up, alarmed. “No! Definitely not! No more household appliances. You’ll probably invent a toaster that shoots pieces of bread that whack innocent bystanders and then flies into space.”

Evelyn shrugged. “Maybe. Thanks for the idea, though.”

Theo groaned and pulled the empty bag of pretzels over his head. “I really need a vacation.”

And just like that, everything in the lab was finally perfectly boring and normal.

(Or so they thought…)

Epilogue

The security guard sat at his desk, seething. He needed to get revenge on those two little brats who had made him plunge into that sewer! His gaze traveled to their exhibit. 

“Aha,” he muttered. “Let’s see how they like it when I come in to beat them up.” He grinned devilishly.

That night, he crept toward an employee’s door, where he covertly picked the lock and inched inside. There, one of the dull chimpanzees walked toward the exit, with his back on the security guard. The tiger suddenly lashed out and squeezed the chimp’s neck until he collapsed, unconscious. He walked into the human exhibit, prepared to torture them, but wait -where were they? They had vanished without a trace… except for some blob of metal and a drill. Curious, the guard picked up the drill and pressed it onto the metal, when it happened to him.

The room shook, and the floor rippled. The lights flickered, and the exhibit morphed into, that’s right, Evelyn and Theo’s lab. The new surroundings startled the guard, and he paced around, trying to find out what happened, when something got his attention. It was an old picture of the humans who had tormented him!

The tiger wasn’t too bright, but in his enraged state, he realized something, and a crafty look appeared on his face. If a picture of the humans were here, then they must work or live here. “Perfect,” he said, slipping into a crevice where he couldn’t be seen. “I shall get my vengeance!”

Photo: Kin Li on Unsplash