Blinding lights. Little spots danced around my eyes. I felt cornered, observed. Something was wrong. I wasn't alone.
They'd put someone in the room with me. They'd always been careful not to let me out, and not to let any stranger in, either. So, that was a first.
The room came into focus at last. A woman was crouched behind the bathtub. She was scared, of what, I wasn't sure.
The silence of the room amplified the little sounds. Her muffled voice came to me from a distance. She was talking, repeating something unintelligible, over and over.
I knew why she was here. Why they'd locked her up with me. I had to get to her and tell her to escape before it was too late, before I couldn't control myself. I knew what they wanted me to do to her, but I wasn't
that soulless.
I staggered a little on my way to her. I felt drunk, the dizziness clinging to me and making everything go blurry.
What did they give me this time?
The second she saw me coming she started screaming her lungs out. The high-pitched sound pierced my ears, and no matter how hard I pressed my hands to them, I couldn't drown it out.
"Shut up!" I screamed. She did.
Her body was half concealed by the bathtub she sat behind of, but I got a clear view of her young, oval-shaped face. She was leering up at me. Challenging me.
"So," she said, calmly. "Did they tell you yet?"
"Tell me what?" I said without thinking.
"What they're gonna do to you." She smirked. "I heard them talking about it," she said. "About all the experiments they've got planned to do on you. Sounded painful. Now if you'll excuse me, there's someone I need to see."
"You have to tell me what you heard!" I said, grabbing her arm to keep her from leaving.
"Evan?" she whispered. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't do this to me! Tell me! Tell me what they're gonna do to me!"
"Who's gonna do
what to you, Evan?"
She was pretending she didn't know. How could someone be so mean? Didn't she care about me
at all?
"Evan, you're hurting me," she said, looking down at my hand holding her in place. But I couldn't let her go.
"I'm not letting you go," I said, "until you tell me everything you know."
"Help!" she screamed.
I covered her face with my free hand, and said, "Tell me, or I'll kill you."
But she didn't tell me anything. Because before she could, they came for me. They put something in my arm, that stung me and made me lose consciousness.
And the experiments began. I was out for most of them, thank God.
Sometimes I'd come to, and I'd hear them speaking in whispers about me.
"The deliria has got a firm grip on him," they said.
I had no idea what it meant, other than I was dying.
--------------------
This is my entry for the
Flash5 Contest on
Figment.com. The rules were not to write over 500 words, and include the words: delirium, corner, stagger, bathtub and oval, using any variation of these words.
Any thoughts?
xo,
Ella
