Memory Share

[blindpuppet]

[content warning: implied child abuse, torture, needles, test subjects, prison, death.]


I wasn't in a cell like the others. The room was small and dark with a desk and some textbooks in the opposite corner. I'm laying on the bed with my eyes closed. I was dreaming? It's hard to remember what it's like.

I heard the lock of my room click and I sat up, I kept my eyes on the floor and my expression blank. I was just another pet, another project, another number but my father always dealt with me personally. Sometimes I wondered: 'does anyone know I exist?' The answer was most likely no. No one knew I was there and no one was coming to save me. I could only pray for death and that would only happen by accident. My father wouldn't let me go so easily, not anymore.

"Stand up." I always followed his instructions, my eyes trained on the floor. I tried to use my hair as a curtain, something to hide behind but the long dark locks were pushed aside as the scientist began to check my scars. I don't know how many I had now. I don't think you could see most of them, my father did his work to well for that and yet he's operated on me so many times before.

Today was supposed to be my birthday.

He knew that, my age was recorded in his precious data.

Sometimes it was difficult. I didn't know how to separate my own thoughts from those implanted into me. I ended up making files, treating myself like I was a computer. I felt pain and if you pricked me, I bleed but I don’t know if I can feel anything anymore.

I was lead from the room and then stepped down the familiar white washed halls I've come to know. I knew this whole place. I had the map in my head but I don't remember ever trying to escape. This is just how it is.

They took me to a small medical room. This one was new. It instantly sent a shiver creeping through my back. A new test? No. My father doesn't have that sort of jittery twitch he did when he was testing something new. I was directed towards the table in the center, I was able to see a large glass panel towards the top of the room. There were a few people there, most of whom I only had files for; no one important. I stepped up to the table and laid down. The pale blue of my clothes stood out against the gray's and whites of the room. It was uncomfortable.

I could hear the sounds of those around me getting into position. Metal scratching on metal as they rolled their gear into place. The lights overhead were too bright to see and with another adjustment I was completely blinded. I felt someone tug at my wrists and ankles. It was a precaution and one I was used too.

"Is she secure?" A voice echoed nearby.

A thin voice answered. "Yes."

That voice again. "Let's begin." It was my father.

I'm used to being awake during this part but what happened next surprised me. A sharp needle sank into my arm injecting something cold into me. The injection sight hurt and itched, I struggled against my bounds keeping my eyes closed as the burning sensation seeped through my body. I wanted to scream but my voice was lost as the sensation crept up my neck. I remembered when the feeling hit my heart, it shuttered under the pressure but then kept going. As the initial shock faded my heart began to beat wildly. I felt sweat breaking out over my skin, the sticky uncomfortable feeling and whatever was injected into me took hold.

The light began to burn and I could hear the frantic pulse of the monitor as my heart beat began to grown unstable.

I lost track of time.

It burned like every nerve ending had been grated raw and then set on fire. A scream tore from my throat despite my best efforts to remain calm. It was eating away at me, stealing what little of myself I still had left. Every moment of it was experienced in sharp painful clarity; as if my nerve endings were stripped away only to be healed and stripped again.

The heart monitor sounded like music through the room. Those watching held their breath as if reaching the climax of their show. I heard my heart stop but I wasn't dead, my thoughts were racing and I began to count. It lasted 37 seconds. My cries softened and I almost smiled at the sound.

'Please, let me die.'

The doctors worked frantically to get my heart beating again and after a shock the steady beat was back, stronger than before. I would have cried but I'd forgotten how. I only knew that the test was a success because I was alive. Everything hurt and as the hour struck seven I got very sleepy. I couldn't keep my eyes open. The burning light was the last thing I remembered before waking up back in my room.

Comments

[10milliondollars]

[Even though he can't help seeing it, Rhys feels like he's looking at something forbidden. He thinks back on his own surgeries, how he'd happily signed the consent forms and forked over his mining deal bonus. He'd been an adult, well into his twenties.

Enis had been a child.]

So...Your dad was a real asshole, huh?

[blindpuppet]

That's one way to put it.

[She sounds tense but otherwise the same as always.]

He wasn't winning any father of the year awards.

[10milliondollars]

Well, of course not. Dads are supposed to teach their kids how to play ball, not experiment on them.

[blindpuppet]

Google taught me the concept.

[She doesn't sound all that upset about not playing ball.]

Is that really what kids do?

[10milliondollars]

Some kids. Others take up ballet, or play video games, or...Well, there are a lot of activities kids participate in.

[He pauses a moment, and then--]

What's Google? Is that like a babysitting service?

UN: Speed

[doubled_speed]

[It’s all so sickeningly familiar. What he knew and at the same time very different. The very thought of needles and white walls and fucking clip boards makes him sick. And Tommy? Tommy just can’t let this person bask in that. Because if he lets her, it’s like letting himself.]

So, name’s Tommy. I can make things explode. Wanna come blow some useless stuff up with me? We can start with small things like forks. Think it would be good for you. Nothing like a bit of casual boom to stick it to assholes like that.

un; defrag

[blindpuppet]

Enis.

[Hopefully he realizes that it's her name and as much of an introduction that he's going to get. Enis is still learning how to people appropriately.]

And sure. I'm generally game for mindless destruction.

[Even without the painful memory being broadcasted over the mental network. Blowing things up is fun.]

[doubled_speed]

Got it, Enis. There are some abandoned domes. You know where, or should I pick you up?

[blindpuppet]

I don't know where that is. I am still mapping the domes.

[It's all in her head, perfectly mapped but she's yet to go to the abandoned areas.]

Could you meet me at the dorms?

[doubled_speed]

Will do. You got a strong stomach? If so I can carry you.

[He’a already outside of the dorms, pacing.]

audio: un:iveheardthetinderjoke

[spherenpc]

[Max is normally a fucking asshole, as anyone knows. But his one soft spot is daughters, so this one hurts him, and he needs to comment even if he normally wouldn't.]

That man is a fucking bastard.

un; defrag

[blindpuppet]

He's dead if that makes you feel any better.

[There isn't a lot of emotion in Enis's tone. She doesn't like the fact that this has been shared with others but there is nothing she can do to stop it. To her, this is just a fact of her life. It isn't even the most painful experiment that her father had put her through.]

[spherenpc]

Did you kill him?

[It's clear that it sounds like Max hopes she did.]

[blindpuppet]

Sadly I was not able too [Even after the beacon broke, Enis couldn't go against the code that her father had implemented in her head.] -but the rest of his creations found him. I didn't find many pieces left of him.

[There is a little bit of annoyance in her voice but she's comforted by the fact that he's dead.]

[spherenpc]

That sucks. I'm sorry you didn't get to kill him.

audio: marshes

[gristle]

Fuck your dad.

un; defrag

[blindpuppet]

That is the general consensus.

[She doesn't really like him either.]

Thankfully he's dead. [Even if his research and experiments live.]

[gristle]

Good. People like that deserve to die.

[blindpuppet]

I agree.

I'm only sad that I wasn't the one to kill him.

[Which is a very true sentiment. Enis hadn't been capable of killing her father despite her best efforts.]

[gristle]

Did it at least hurt?

audio; un: thefunone

[itsnothingpersonal]

That was...notably unpleasant.

[blindpuppet]

You have a talent for pointing out the obvious.

[itsnothingpersonal]

But not for sympathy.

[He clears his throat.]

Are...you alright?

[blindpuppet]

Sympathy is overrated.

[She's not really that great at it either.]

I'm fine. This is history for me and so far the commentary hasn't made me want to kill anyone. [Which is a plus considering she'd probably get caught in the process of committing murder.]

That makes me sound heartless, doesn't it?

[itsnothingpersonal]

Sometimes it's nice to know someone cares.

[Even if it's a lie.]

Perhaps, but it says the same for both of us. Easier to watch it all burn, isn't it?