My arm broke out of the water's surface and I rested my elbow on the pool deck. For the hundreth time in just a few weeks, I watched the nurse prepare the needle.
They were taking samples daily, sometimes hourly. Granted they were replenishing all that Iwas losing and more with a healthy, thick diet and plenty of means of exercise. But constantly having my blood extracted was beginning to verge on more than annoying.
"Sorry Jace," the nurse said once again as she put the needle to my skin. But on this particular day, I wasn't feeling the sincerity of her apology. I was about to accompany the jjerk of my arm with a demand for explanation as to why these tets had to occur so frequently, but my choice came hald a moment too late. The thin metal rod dragged across my flesh, splicing my skin into a thick, red line.
The resulting cut was far less gruesome than witnessing its creation, but my nurse somehow refused to t her eyes off my arm. She was watching my wound heal right before her... my cells fusing back into each other with fantastical speed. The remaining redness could be peel off like a wet sticker.
"Your body- you- it..." Neither of us could fathom how to begin this conversation. She got to her feet and went straight for the door.
That night I was haunted by a thought in the form of a a nightmare. I am in chains; the rust gathered thick on he metal, itching away at the skin on my wrists restlessly. My pool now more closely resembles a cube-ish glass dunk tank, where I have been put on display as a spectacle for all humanity to view. My next two visitors are an older couple. The woman puts her hand to the glass, and I recognize the agely pattern of my mother's palm. Her voice comes as a gentle whisper into my mind:
"We're coming to find you, Jace."
I awaken, not exactly breathless but paranoia pulsing through my veins. I push myself off the pool floor and launch to the surface, crawl onto the deck, and laid flat on my back there until I had nearly dripped myself dry. With an extra shake to release the last few droplets off my skin, I get to my feet and begin my escape.
It's not a very thought-through plan... nor am I certain I will actually go through with it. In that moment I wasn't thinking of the consequences of running away nor the rarity of places that would cater to my unique situation. No- all I could think about was how I was once offered the entire ocean as my home, and instead I chose a small pool and a career as a lab rat to be the preferable destiny.
I recalled another caged creature as I quietly and cautiously slipped through the darkened halls, so I decided to pay her a visit.
Only somewhat startled to find herself not alone at this late an hour, Shelly timidly croaked her head out of her shell to look at me.
I needed to know: given the option, would the animal choose freedom? I unlatched the metal gate that divided us, and- half expecting she would waste no time to charge through- positioned myself out of her path. But Shelly showed little interest in escaping.
After a few minutes of waiting, I found my way to the floor, sitting directly across from her so I could study her form. This time I was looking beyond her intricate patterns and antique texture. I was looking right into the globes of her eyes, searching for her reason not to leave.
She seemed to be analyzing me too, perhaps wondering why I gazed upon her with such emotion. I couldn't help but draw a smile on my face when she stretched her jaw open for a satisfied yawn, her purplish gums revealed, guarding the deep abyss of her throat. It was only when she retreated back into her shell that I had my answer.
The anima who doesn't seek escape carries her home wherever she goes.
"I wish I could be rock solid like you," were my parting words with the turtle I was sobbing the moment I slipped back into the water.
Dr. Crowley approached me curiously the next morning. I was out of the pool, which wasn't unusual. I tended to spend a few hours sitting out on the deck on a daily basis.
"Am I interrupting anything...?" he mentioned out of courtesy. I lacked the energy to respond with the same patience, so I kept my mouth shut.
From the couple of weeks I'd gotten to know the man, I understood that Dr. Crowley was extremely motivated by discovery. I knew he would not let scientific knowledge go unyielded due to a difficult question.
"The nurse reported something interesting to me yesterday." Still, the most polite thing I was capable of was remaining silent. "I was hoping you would permit me to try something."
I was decided on silence until my emotional well-being was in question, which was naturally his second concern. "Jace, are you alright?"
I shook my head. "No, doctor. I'm not."
Psychology, it seemed, was a department of science Dr. Crowley had never dared to touch. He stood behind me nervously.
"What's wrong?"
"When I came to Ramecha five years ago, I was forced to tell a dangerous lie. It was so that my parents and I could be safe. Now I'm here, and they've been banished from the zone."
Dr. Crowley cleared his throat. "I don't know what to say... as a scientific man, honoring the rules is the only way to make progress. In your parents eyes it must've seemed right to lie, but..."
"But what!?" I snarled, "but the 'right' decision was to wait another five years in the park, where people were dropping like flies everyday? You're a doctor, you're supposed to help people!"
"I'm a researcher," he retorted, though I could sense discomfort in his tone. I'd never shown him this much rage before. "And I'm not saying I believe the world to be fair, but there's a reason we call this place a SafeZone. We have rules like the one your parents disobeyed in order to protect ourselves."
"Well it didn't protect my family."
The doctor's impatient grunt implied that f it wasn't about him or his family, it wasn't his problem. But I was about to make it his.
"I won't consent to any more studies until I'm reunited with my parents."
That had his attention. "What...?"
"You heard me."
"J-Jace," the doctor stuttered, "your parents could be anywhere!"
I glanced downward, attempting to hide my dejection under a look of contemplation. But my dream last night had already inspired a dark idea. "How under-wraps is my case, anyways? Eva isn't exactly the only one who knows about me, and she never had to sign a confidentiality agreement." My eyes narrowed as I turned to make contact with his. "My guess? The boy who lived over a year with the disease is almost a little too unbelievable... one of those things you really have to see to believe. So as long as my existence wasn't made public, it's just hushed between the gossip of all those who have known me."
"What are you suggesting?"
"Public fascination was never something I wanted. But if my name is out, it will spread beyond Ramecha. It might even get to my parents. Its the only way I can find them."
He was thinking about it; I could see his brain churning from the deep lines casted on his forehead. "A little publicity could always help the institution, but privacy is the most effective way of assuring nothing can go wrong."
"Please," I sighed, "its my last wish to see them again."
"So be it," he grumbled. "I'm going to make some calls. When I come back, you better answer my questions."
I felt victorious, , excited, and dreadfully nervousness. Now I wondered how Eva would feel about it when I told her during her visit today.
She was much more irritated than I'd expected. "Why didn't you talk to me before you said anything!?"
"Because..." I didn't want to unleash myself in front of Eva, but I could feel anger itching my throat, my decision would have been the same. I need to find my parents. Wherever my family is... that's where home is."
Eva frowned, looking as fragile as a glass chandelier hanging from a threat. "I'm not family?"
My natural reaction would usually be to comfort her with what she wanted to hear, but I took a moment to assess how I truly felt. Since I was put into care at the research center, Eva's visits dwindled from once a day to just a couple hours each week.
I'd thought too long about it, and Eva did not want to wait around for whatever hurtful thing I had to say.
"I'm leaving. But not without warning you- as someone who lives on the outside- that you're making a bad choice."
Watching her go wasn't quiet as entertaining now that I was I was under control of my sanity. I was so angered by her last retort that for the first time, I felt eager to be left alone after her company. "...well at least you get to live outside!" I called out to her as she reached to door.
"You think it's easier?" she spun around, shouting at me with the whole room between us. "The last you saw of Ramecha was a phony parade. Now you're fed and sheltered everyday!"
"Don't you are tell me its at no cost..." I could feel it boiling inside of me.
"You would have been dead-"
"I'm already dead!"
Dr. Crowley entered. From the look on his face, I could tell he'd heard enough of our argument from beyond the walls. I hadn't yelled this loud since my last encounter with Naceo. "May I come in?"
"I was just going," Eva did not look at me again as she left.
The doctor approached me again. "I notified the Protector's Council. They're eager to meet you."
The sound of it churned my stomach, but I accepted it was just a part of what had to be done to get my parents back.
He wasn't finished. "I'll do everything you instruct me to, but I ask that you allow our testing to continue in the meantime."
In one part of my mind it seemed like a fair deduction. But revoking my power was not something the demon inside me could allow, and it had been growing since last night.
"Don't you want to be cured by the time you see your parents again?"
MI saw right through him. "That's not what you're even testing for anymore... is it..."
Several of Crowley's minions entered now. I hadn't seen so many of them in the same place since my arrival. One of them was the nurse who'd cut me. She looked especially terrified to be in my presence again.
"We're still working on it, Jace. We haven't found anything too helpful yet, but failure is progress in the eyes of science! However... today there is another matter we wish to observe."
"Well I refuse."
Dr. Crowley narrowed his eyes. With a jerk of his wrist, he signaled one of his team members to hand him a device. I steadied my stance for a fight, then quickly realized he was only wielding a recorder.
He clicked the button. "Day- thirty six. Time- ten forty seven. Patient is incoherent. Must have spent night outside of water. Refuses to cooperate with simple requests."
Before I could react, I had a man on each of my arms. "Stop... where are you taking me!" I growled, trying to thrash free of their gasp without reveling the power Naceo gifted me on our last goodbye.
"Showing signs of aggressive behavior," he muttered into the device again. "Gentlemen, have him against that wall. Ruby- turn the electricity in the pool to 1000 volts. We don't want him running to where he can't get him."
"You're monsters!" I snarled as they pinned me to the wall. Extracting a chillingly shiny silver knife from his front pocket, the doctor drew a line across my chest. I was too bothered by the pain and betrayal to pay attention to their bewildered reactions.
"We're monsters...?" Dr. Crowley laughed.
The air was so silent, all i could hear was the plip and plop of my blood on the floor. After the last drop, they began to discuss, chattering excitedly. My mind was numb... brainded... overdosed on empty reason to keep living. Then one things becomes clear:
It isn't just my blood which will shed on this floor today.
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