My heavy lids blinked repeatedly to minimize the blur that had settled in. I shielded them as soon as every detail came in focus. The brilliant white of the lab blinded me. I let out a barely audible gasp as my head throbbed. I squeezed my eyes shut as I remembered that night. My hands tightened around the white sheets I was laid on. Am I alive? Two men in pressed lab coats walked in, one of whom carried a clipboard. He waved a hand in front of my face, studying my pupils. He wrote something down. The other sat down on a chair in the corner of the stark white room. “Can you hear me?” the doctor questioned. I nodded, afraid of how my voice would sound. He reached a hand a tenderly squeezed my shoulder. I cried out in pain. “Good progress,” he mumbled. My focus sharpened and I noticed the series of tubes and wires attached to me. All sorts of liquids hung above me, looking full. A question formed in my mind but my mouth was too slow to respond. It came out as a gurgle. “Calm down, say it slow, it happens,” the wrinkles softened on the doctor’s aging face. “Where….am I,” I paused, feeling the soreness of my body. “Safe,” he answered, resting a gentle hand on my forearm. “Like, where? The hospital?” “You’re in our headquarters. Well, the infirmary part.” “Headquarters?” I wondered if this was a government involved sick joke. He leaned in and I noticed his tag read ‘Dr Cooper’. “You’re not in the world you used to remember. Things are different now. “Yeah obviously.” I glad I didn’t lost my attitude. He chuckled then wrote something else down. I hoped it’s ‘haven’t lost all brain cells’. “Do you remember anything about what happened?” I pretended to rack my mind. “Um, nope,” sarcasm dripped from my mouth. “Really?” Dr. Cooper’s winkled deepened. How does this guy live? “I remember,” I snapped, trying to move my legs so I could get off the bed. My knees gave out below me as I tumbled to the white tile floor. All the tubes and suctions ripped off me. Dr. Cooper immediately rushed over, lending me a hand. I gulped hard and tried to stand up. I must’ve been in comma for pretty long to make my muscles work this way. Scratch that, I have no muscles. Which meant I was skinner than before which means I was probably a skeleton. Sickly looking. Surprisingly, I wasn’t hungry at all. More revived actually. I wrapped my arms around Dr. Cooper’s neck and hoisted myself up. “Let’s go for a walk then,” he directed me to the door, handing me a pair of crutches. I took them and immediately felt comfortable with it. My mind played back the night. Me pinned against the wall, and a person, sucking my neck. I shuddered. “Was that all real? You know, that vampire kid?” I joked half-heartedly. However, Dr. Cooper looked dead serious, no glint in his dark eyes. “Wait. Was that real?” I chocked on my invisible cookie. His mouth stayed shut. “Does that mean, I’m, I’m…I’m one of them?” I stuttered, feeling my eyes pop out of my head. “Not exactly no,” he said grimly. We passed a giant aquarium full of giant octopus. They bubbled around, swimming happily with their tentacles billowing. I was distracted for a moment by the shining ray emitted through the exotic coloured water. “What do you mean ‘not exactly’” I did bunny ear quotes. “Let’s just say you’re not the same,” he shrugged. “Not the same. How different?” I sighed in frustration. It was harder to get information out of this man than to apple juice out of lemons. “ A lot,” he put emphasis on ‘a lot’. I clicked my tongue. “Where are my parent? Sister? Anyone” they have to get my out of here?” I tapped one of my crutches impatiently, hoping I would get better answers out of them. Dr. Cooper stopped breathing for a second. I smelled the anguish coming out of him. I don’t know how I did it but it’s like how horses smell fear. Realization crashed over me. “They’re not…” I faltered, my voice cracked. “They’re gone?” I felt the truth sink into my shrivelled heart. “They’re gone,” I repeated, sure of the reaction on his face. I felt a horrible clenching in my heart and I gasped in pain. They can’t be. “I’m sorry Eve. But they died a nice peaceful death. I’m sure,” he tried to calm my erratic breathing. I felt light headed and my crutches dropped my side. A couple other people in lab coats stared. One of them was smart enough to grab an inhaler for me. I weakly grabbed it and started huffing and puffing. “When?” I felt the whoosh go to my head. Dr. Cooper gave me a pity-filled look. “They’re gone. There’s nothing you can do. Just let it be. Let life live through each of us. And it will leave us. But it will leave us with the beautiful memories created by the love around us. One day, you will leave prints in people’s hearts and they will mourn over you. But would you want them to? No. You’d want them to cherish the thought of you. SO be happy finally got a rest.” I nodded, clutching the inhaler. I slipped it into my pocket. We passed a grotesque room with people lined up. It was like surgery, yet it wasn’t. Three bodies were lined up. Yet they seemed lifeless. Dead. I shuddered as a woman with turquoise hair removed a stomach. I gagged as I saw all the mucus dripping off of it. Dr. Cooper had an amused glint in his eyes. Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all. “Can I get discharged?” my voice had way too much hope in it. I knew the answer before he said it. “No. You’re not ready yet.” “So when can I….?” “Time will tell,” he said wistfully. I rolled my eyes at all the cheesy lines old guys tend to say. Like it makes them so wise. Makes them sound washed out. Fake. Wash out. How long has it been since I’ve heard a truthful answer? Not beauty pageant answers. Not about saving world hunger, war and all that crap. No, something from the heart. Like wanting to eat a whole cake. Just by yourself. No sharing. I wandered back to my room. My mind was bursting. My mum, my dad and my sister. They’re all gone now. And me, all alone in this world. No place to go but here. This creepy, mastermind lab. I took a shuddery breath and climbed on the bed, tucking the pressed sheets up to chin. I averted my gaze away as I felt the needles being repoked into my skin. I gazed up at the sac of thick dark liquid above me. I wondered what it was, drifting around. One bugging question has been ringing in my mind for too long now. “How long different?” Dr. Cooper sighed. “About a hundred years different.” Okay this is the rest of chapter 1
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 09:45:54 +0000