Shattered Memoires
Prologue
Prologue
Approximately nine years before the present day
The young fur looked up at the wolf, much of his face concealed behind a surgical mask. Behind his head, a bright light shone down on him, momentarily blinding him. He tried to turn his face away, but his head – and his whole body – was strapped to a table tightly by cuffs. His entire vision was taken up by the wolf, a large, gray, ugly fur with a small pair of spectacles perched on the tip of his nose. The wolf looked down at the boy and chuckled.
“Good,” the wolf said. “He’s awake. Start him on an IV of…”
The child had just come to this place. He didn’t know what he was doing there, or, for that matter, how he got there, but he was old enough to know what an IV was. As the doctors got ready to begin their experiments, the boy whimpered. The table he was strapped to was cold against his fur. The only decoration in the room was a hand-knitted picture of a small smiling angel with the words YOU ARE SPECIAL! above it.
Special? the young fur thought. This is what being special means?
He felt pricks and prods all over his body, but he did not mind all that much. That is, until he felt a searing pain in his head.
“AARRRRRRRRGGGHHHH!!!”
He screamed loud and high, his eyes shut tight causing him to nearly pass out. The pain didn’t stop, however, and it seemed to work his way deep into his brain. Vainly, he tried to close his eyes tighter, to grip the table with all his strength, but nothing could distract him from whatever was going on in his head. Once he thought his head was going to explode from the flaming pain, it vanished just as suddenly as it had came. The boy laid back down on the table quietly. His breathing came hoarse and ragged as two furs watched from the side.
“He survived.” A husky voice mused.
“Unsurprising – my theory was correct, I guess.” A second voice joined the first.
“What should we do with him now?”
“Start phase two.”
There was a pause, then the second voice spoke again.”…are you sure? Phase two is generally reserved for older subjects.”
“I know.”The second voice leaned in close to the boy – he could now see the voice belonged to the wolf from earlier. “Start phase two.”
“Very well, sir.” The husky voice trailed off, leaving the boy and the wolf alone in the dank room.
“My, my, young sprout, you seem completely beat.” The wolf grinned. “Don’t worry, the hard part is over.” The wolf grinned as he said this. Yes, he thought to himself. The hard part is over. The harder journey is just ahead. “Yes, my boy. We are going to take you to a place where there are no more tests like this. Instead, we shall give you a teacher, a bedroom, and everything you want – anything to make you comfortable! Does that sound nice?”
The boy, his head restrained by the table, simply whispered “Yes.”
“Excellent! Now, before we move to your new home, I just have to ask – what is the thing you want more than anything? We can get you anything you want, just say the word, and it’s yours…”
The boy smiled. Finally, FINALLY he could have what he had only dreamed about – what he had only hear rumors of. The word tickled his lips as he said them.
“A friend…”
*SLAP*
The wolf laid it into the child; his cheek was now extremely sore – he immediately knew something wasn’t right. “NO! Anything you want, but that – toys, games, books…yes, that will do…I’ll have some nice books put in. If the next phase goes smoothly, you can have all the friends you want when we are done. But for now, we should escort you to your new abode.”
With a clap of the wolf’s paws, the young fur was released of his restraints. He straightened up and stretched his small frame. He searched the wolf’s face, looking for a hint as to what to say. All he found was a blank stare. After what seemed like an eternity, the wolf finally spoke.
“You may call me Jonathan. Please, let me lead you to your new home.”
The boy took Jonathan’s hand, and the wolf led him through a series of rooms and hallways that all looked the same as the room they were just in – dreary and dull.
Left, right, right, up, left, down, right, left, left…the boy could only keep track of the first few twists and turns before losing himself in the dreariness of the halls. Finally, after passing through nearly two dozen rooms, the duo stopped outside a steel door.
“Now, don’t be too surprised when you walk through this door. To anyone who might ask, you got lost, and I found you and led you back up here. Do you understand?”
The smaller fur nodded.
“Excellent. Now, open the door and try not to gasp too loudly…”
The pup complied. He pushed open the heavy steel door, and despite the doctors warning, he could not help himself. He gasped. Furs of every shape and size walked around and chatted in small groups, all dressed in professional white lab coats. The floor they had arrived on was a bright combination of greens and blues, leading anyone who might stop and think about it to imagine a lake in the middle of a peaceful forest. The young boy stared in wonder at the bright colors surrounding him, soaking in every little detail.
Jonathan bent down next to the boy and whispered in his ear. “Yes, from now on you will have furs walking around all the time – don’t mind them, just keep to yourself and you’ll be fine. Follow me, your room is on the seventeenth floor.”
Nodding in agreement, the child followed the wolf towards an elevator, which was soon swiftly traveling upwards towards the higher regions of the building. With a chime, the doors slid open, and the pup poked his head out to survey the scene.
This floor was very modern in appearance – a quiet waterfall stood sentry at nearly every corner. The sandy colored floor tiles matched the deep brown of the wall, and potted plants of every shape and size were placed on nearly every available surface. Like the lower floor, there were furs walking in every direction. The furs up here, however, seemed to have wisdom that stretched back through the years, creating a sharp contrast between them and the modernistic rooms and halls. The boy’s thoughts were interrupted by Jonathan’s slick voice behind him.
“Let’s not waste anymore time,” the wolf said, taking the pup’s hand and leading him down a brightly lit hallway. “Your lessons begin tomorrow, and we want you to be nice and comfortable with your surroundings….”
Lessons? The boy thought. And who’s we? Are there more people here like Jonathan? Are they nice? Will my room be big? This is all so new…
“…so unless you want all your fur burned off, you’ll do well to stay away from that room. Are you still listening?”
“Wah? Oh, yes, sir, stay away from that room. Gotcha!”
The doctor gazed at the cub with...admiration? “Never mind…here we are. Your new home!”
The pair stopped outside a door with a nameplate slotted in about halfway up the door. Seeing the name – the way it was etched into the gold of the plate, the glare of it when you looked at it just right – seemed to scream to the boy that when he entered this room, a new hellish life would begin.
The boy turned up to the doctor, once again searching for a sign of what to do. The doctor gazed back at him with an amused smile on his face.
“Go ahead, kid. Check it out!” The wolf eagerly pushed open the door, allowing the pup access to the room. “Welcome to your new home!”
The boy walked into the dim room, taking one last look at the nameplate on the door. As the doctor closed the door, the child pictured the nameplate just outside, and the words engraved into it:
GRANT BLAYFUR
Test Patient #1529429
Sector of Testing: Top Priority
Test Patient #1529429
Sector of Testing: Top Priority
