II
Feeling had no place within my body when I awoke; but, somehow, I still moved.
It wasn’t by my own doing, though.
I was being pushed – wheeled down a tapered hallway with a murky aura lingering around it.
Hysteria bathed me from my lack of control; I could do nothing but stare at my immovable limbs through the barely lit region – powerless.
The unfamiliar walls surrounding me were a sooty white, stained with humidity. The linoleum floors didn’t differ much; where the dents made with time and the lines between squares were smeared with vomitous, green mire.
“Where am I? What’s going on?” The words I wanted to ask, but not even my voice was under my control.
The unrevealed person wheeling me around made one last turn at the end of the hallway, and then we stopped in front of a thick, metal door. A male hand opened it, and my eyes widened immediately at the sight of all the curious machinery and medical equipment.
‘Help.’
“Another one?” A young man spoke, and my eyes instantly perked up to scan the owner of the sultry voice.
He wore a long, white lab coat with black clothing underneath. His pale white skin reminded me very much of my own. His eyes were a seemingly unreal, polished, deep shade of blue – the perfect stereotype of beauty and appeal. His long, ebony straight hair sat comfortably combed towards the left of his face, and the way it hung over his eyes immediately made my mind stray back to Kayden.
Kayden. Every inch of my insides tautened, pushing acid to char its way up from my empty stomach into my throat. The last thing I could remember experiencing were the throes of our separation – where was he? Without him, there was no security. I was vulnerable beyond words…
“She’s the last one that came in from Wilhelm Prison.” I was broken away from my thoughts by the confirmation that the person who had been wheeling me about was male. He possessed a very hoarse voice, and it probably sent shivers down my spine – I just couldn’t feel them.
The young scientist sighed and turned to a small table with syringes laying on it, “Put her on the table.”
The man came in front of me then – a hard expression painted on his face, and his gray eyes stone cold. I watched him slide his arms under my legs and behind my back, then carry me over to the metal table and lay me down. The most disturbing part was that I felt nothing; not if his arms were warm or cool, or if the metal surface itself was cold or hot – I was completely numb. The one thing I could only barely make out was the vague smell of fresh blood that hung in the air; and all that managed to do was make the distress grow.
Without even turning around, the doctor motioned for the other male to leave.
I saw him come next to the table then with a clipboard in his hand. He gently lifted my right arm up, studying the bracelet that marked me, and wrote down the numbers on his clipboard.
Then he put it down and walked back with an empty syringe in his right hand, quietly injecting it into my unfeeling arm and taking some blood out.
His action made some feeling begin to make its way back to me, and I did my best to hold my breath in, tense under his touch.
His eyes found mine for a moment, but he said nothing. Instead, he turned around and walked over to a small cabinet in the corner – piles of gray and black suits folded on the different shelves were revealed when he opened it. His hands grabbed a black suit and a small pair of dark shoes, and he then walked back over to where I lay.
“The effect of the sedative should fully wear off in a couple of minutes,” He began. “When it does, you’ll go over to the shower room and get cleaned up.” He had a smooth and easy flowing voice that ruffled my insides. It galled me – for an enemy to be enticing in any way had to defy some ruling.
When more feeling finally surfaced in my body, I steadily made an effort to push myself up to a sitting position, and finally off the table.
“Do you need any help?” He asked stretching his hands out towards me.
“No.” I snatched my hand from where he could grab it, refusing to even look at him.
He backed off and eyed me curiously as I worked my way off the table, carefully setting my feet on the floor underneath; but my legs weren’t ready for me when I placed all my weight on them, and they immediately gave out – making me fall straight into his arms.
Instinctively, his hands stiffened around my waist, and mine reposed on his chest, our eyes locking for a split second, but even it was long enough for me to see that virtue reflected in his eyes. Unsettling.
My reasoning saw it as deception – he was an enemy, and integrity seemed impossible.
“I guess it wasn’t fully worn off, huh?” He chuckled.
“Guess not.” Half the sound remained stuck in my throat.
Pathetic.
He helped me stand up straight, gradually releasing his hold over me, and then grabbing the items he’d picked out earlier.
“Here,” he placed them on my hands, but didn’t let go. “Think you can make it all the way over there without falling?”
“Of course.” I swiped the clothing from him, now feeling like I needed to prove something.
“Ok.” He threw his arms up in the air and backed off innocently.
I turned around and gulped – I felt like a baby just learning to walk under the intimidating watch of a parent, nervous under the knowledge that sometimes just their presence was enough to make one fall.
I took a step forward and bit my lip when I felt my leg almost giving out again; not one of the steps was undemanding, but I was determined to make it to the other side without any help.
When I finally arrived at the door, I turned around to look at him – spelling out ‘I told you so’ with my eyes as clearly as I could.
“Take your time.” Was all he said – his arms folded across his chest
I nodded, not letting go of his gaze, and then walked inside.
Immediately upon turning the water handle blistering hot water began shooting towards me – every sharp drop seemingly penetrating my body. I let myself soak in it, my pains temporarily washed away. I grabbed the small bottle of 2-in-1 on the floor, squeezed some of the contents into my hand, and calmly massaged it into my hair. I lost track of the time while I was in there; the fiery liquid numbing my body somewhat made me lose awareness of my surroundings; but I was eventually brought back when the feverous water began to cool, and my hand immediately moved to shut the water off.
With my hands still rested on the handles, I closed my eyes, swallowed hard, and stood there motionless.
The sound of the water dripping down from my hair and skin onto the floor was the only sound that I could hear, each drop’s echo burning in through my ears.
Finally, I turned to look at the small table where I had placed the black suit and small shoes I had been given, and I let out a deep breath as I made my way towards the table.
I nabbed the thin, rough towel from the table and began to dry myself, wincing as it scraped my skin.
I finally gave up upon realizing it did little more than rearrange the water around my body rather than actually absorbing it to dry me. As I tossed it back to the table, the hot steam from the shower began to dissipate, and a crisp air clutched at my body in its place. Shivering, I grabbed the garments that had been provided for me, swiftly sliding into them, and then proceeding to pull the thin shoes on my feet. Surprisingly enough, everything fit me perfectly.
Before leaving, my hand dug into the pocket of the jeans I’d been wearing and pulled out the necklace Kayden had given me in our last meeting. My heart churned as his person entered my head again, my reaction to swallow hard, warily tie the necklace around my neck, and hide the pendant underneath the suit, fearing they’d take it away if they knew I had it.
“Finished?” He asked when I walked back into the lab.
“Yes.” I stared raptly at him, my bearing cold.
Expressionless, he motioned for me to come forward and sit back on the table. As I did, he grabbed a small hairbrush from yet another one of the many drawers in the room, and then headed back over to where I sat.
“I think you know how to use this better than I do.” He let out a small chuckle and handed me the brush.
Wordlessly, I began to run it through my ebony, wet hair, gently pulling it all back, and then pulled it all into a tight braid. He handed me a small rubber band and I carefully tied it around the braid to hold it together at the end.
He sighed then, placing both hands on the table and leaning forward, somehow as if he didn’t want to move on to whatever was next; but he eventually walked over to the lab door and steadily flung it open. When he did, another brawny man made his way inside.
“She’s ready.” The doctor motioned towards me with his eyes.
The other man nodded and silently tromped towards me. I didn’t struggle when he clasped my upper arm with one powerful hand and jerked me down from the table.
I was submissive. Barely felt anything.
Nothing scared me anymore – no amount of physical or emotional pain could be any worse than the one I’d already endured; and I had a promise to keep.
As the new stranger dragged me about the hallways, I finally realized this new location was an unmistakable, abandoned asylum. I’d only ever seen pictures or read of its terror in the history books – The Aguirre Asylum. The only history we really knew about was that the government had closed it down because they’d concluded locking people here was inhumane.
When did it stop being sadistic, then?
We stopped, and the towering stranger pulled open a massive metal door before us.
No amount of madness could ever deserve a door such as this one, not to mention its cleanliness was out of place in the derelict building.
So I realized that the original door had been replaced with this one especially for me – just another one of the insignificant individuals that posed a probable threat to the whole of humanity.
They shouldn’t have gone through the trouble.
I was thrust into the dark, confined cell by two strapping hands, and barely managed to place my own hands in front of me to avoid a bash to my face.
My head swirled around just in time to watch the last of the tawny light fade to black – the last of my hope apparently vanishing with it.
»Sam.
