MIST

Content Warning: This story contains mental and emotional abuse.

I blinked as the last of the fluid drained from the tank, and looked out at the creature before me. It pushed a pair of lenses up its facial protrusion, the orbs behind them wide as they ran down my form and back up to my face.

It asked slowly, “Can you understand me?”

I watched its mouth move as it spoke. The words held meaning, but I wasn't sure why. I answered, "Yes…"

“My name is Doctor Gertrude Oddilair, but you can call me Trudy. Can you say Trudy?”

I thought for a moment. Was it a word? What was a word when it was attached to a person? Yes, but it was called something else … a name. Could my mouth form to say it? “Yes. I think so.”

The person released a low, trilling sound. I liked it. I repeated it, and Trudy suddenly stopped, replacing the sound with a sharp intake of air. “You’re laughing already! That’s impressive. But I do need you to repeat my name.”

“My name?”

Again, it laughed. “No. Say ‘Trudy’.”

I replied, “Trudy.” My eyes lowered to my hands, those strange appendages with multiple pieces holding them together. I flexed them, feeling something inside accommodate the motion. Looking up at Trudy, I asked, “What is my name?”

Its mouth widened. Its eyes crinkled as it pressed a button on the panel next to the tank. The smooth surface between us lifted, and, for the first time, I saw it with nothing between us.

Trudy stepped aside, gesturing out onto the floor. The air outside the tank was cold, but I followed its direction and stepped out onto the metal surface. Shivers spread through me, and I hugged my bare chest with arms still soaked in viscous liquid. As I stepped out of the tank, Trudy turned and walked away, addressing me as it went to touch the clear wall a short distance away. “I’ve been calling you MIST. It’s an acronym for Man-made Incorporeal Sentient Tele-consciousness.”

When it touched the wall, the room on the other side changed, becoming a reflection of the room I saw around me. Standing in the centre of the floor, in front of an empty pod, was a person. Human? It had pale skin, black hair, and a much flatter shape than Trudy.

“Man-made Incorporeal Sentient Tele-consciousness…” I muttered my whole name, never taking my eyes off the reflection. “You’re right, MIST is better.”

I tilted my head at the stranger in the wall. It tilted its head back, the same way. I moved my hand, and it followed. Trudy stood aside as I stepped toward it, and it stepped toward me. Trudy scribbled something down on its clipboard as I interacted with the other…

No. Wait.

We blinked at the same time.

“Do you recognize that person?” Trudy asked me after a long silence.

I glanced at it, then back at my reflection. “It’s me.”

“Good.” Trudy scribbled some more. “How do you know that?”

“I don’t know. It’s a feeling, I suppose. It moves like me.” I tilted my head as I looked down at my long, square body. It had curves, like Trudy, but it was different - maybe because it wasn’t covered by anything. Did Trudy look like this? I turned to the side, and looked myself up and down again. The more I looked, the more I recognized - and not just myself. The walls of the room I was in became more familiar; the temperature; the way the air touched my skin; Trudy; but most of all, the face looking back at me, with its pronounced nose and full lips; its dark, narrow eyes and sharp jawline.

The scratching on Trudy’s clipboard brought my attention back to it. As I looked up, it said, “So. You knew the person in the mirror was you. What else do you know? About you.”

“About me…” I looked down at my hands. They were large, and felt strong. All of me felt strong, yet … something was odd. The longer I looked at my hands, the more I saw the shaking: it wasn’t in my flesh, specifically, but deeper somehow. The word molecular touched my mind, and I looked up at Trudy with wide eyes. I could do … other things.

I was realising many things today - and on my first day. Was that something Trudy would consider interesting? As I closed my eyes, I felt the strangeness in a closer way. I felt it on my fingertips, in my mouth, on every inch of my skin, like something unseen. I tilted my head one way, then the next, as I tried to figure it out. Ah, yes. Soon, I started to understand it: the movement; the sensation; strangeness in and outside my skin.

I wanted to use it.

In that moment, I became nothing: my body split into a million tiny pieces, scattered like air itself. I hadn’t opened my eyes, but I saw Trudy. Its mouth was wide again; its eyes large and wet. Pink saturated its cheeks. Its clipboard and pen hung down by its sides as it turned frantically, calling out my name.

I wanted to tell it I was still there. I wanted it to know there was nothing to worry about; to see where I was.  As soon as the thought entered my mind, my form moved to encompass Trudy. My intent melded with Trudy’s, and hers with mine. I felt her wonder, her excitement. I understood then, I was wrong about her fear. She was amazed at me; she was proud. She wanted to see more - so together we changed the room around us. I showed her what I saw and felt before I woke up - the darkness, the cold - and she responded with loneliness. Sadness. In turn, she showed me tall, shining towers - buildings - and planes, and crowds of people in Times Square. She showed me the world outside, everything I could see beyond the walls of this facility once my testing was over.

When we finished, I stumbled back into my human form, and almost fell. She caught me by the arm and pulled me back to balance with a sharp tug. We laughed together.

“Well, that’s it for today,” she said with a grin as she stepped away from me. “I have to get going and record all we learned today, but I’ll be back tomorrow. Don’t worry, you won’t have to go back in the pod - and we’ll get you some clothes.”

“Thank you.” I smiled, but it slipped away as her hand left mine. The thought of her leaving was not a pleasant one, but I knew I would see her again. As she left, she glanced over her shoulder to me and I felt my smile return. My chest warmed when she looked at me.

Some people in uniforms came into the lab later, and gave me a selection of clothes like theirs - pants and shirts, all different colours and materials. They moved me to a different room where there was no pod, but a bed. I slept comfortably, and my mind drifted into other worlds for hours at a time. 

For the next few weeks, Trudy came to see me every day, and she would study what I could do and what I understood. Every day I took in more information, from the minds of orderlies and nurses, and soon I could recite books and plays by heart, never having read them. I gained the ability to create whole scenes in others’ minds, make them believe they were somewhere else entirely. I frightened them; I soothed them; I made them love me or hate me - all the while, they saw what I wanted them to see, and interacted with it as if it was truly there. I became friends with many of our colleagues.

Trudy started spending more time with me. She came to see me when we weren’t meant to work together, and just the sight of her would make me smile. I started to recognize her beauty on the outside as equal to her mind: her dark hair and eyes haunted my dreams, and sometimes I would wake with a need I couldn’t begin to understand, except that it was quenched by touch. Thoughts of her kept me awake at night - both of her kindness to me and her colleagues, and of the scent which had started coming into the room with her. It somehow always led to her sleek jawline.

Soon, it became that every Tuesday - not that the days mattered in these halls - she would visit me and we would talk about everything: friends, colleagues, what we wanted to see together - it was always together. I loved that she always phrased it that way. One of her coworkers, Dr Pierce, had been starting arguments with her lately.

“He treats others like they belong to him,” Trudy told me. “He’s the only person in the world I would ever describe as cruel - and you know me.”

“You try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.” I smiled, leaning forward. She stared at me for a long time, returning the expression in her soft brown eyes. When she looked at me like that, I felt warmth wrap around me. This time, though, she leaned forward. She pressed her lips against mine. My heart pulsed rapidly in my chest, and despite knowing it was the worst possible decision, we caved to our primal desires. It was right. I knew it was right, because I felt closer to her in those moments than I had even in the furthest depths of her mind. I knew it was right…

So, when she neglected to show during our scheduled meeting, I worried. Unable to leave the room without a key of my own, I had no choice but to rely on information provided to me by orderlies and nurses - all of whom knew nothing of her disappearance.

Two whole weeks I waited, until finally I was led to the pod room, where I saw someone else waiting for me. I frowned upon seeing him, for I knew him from Trudy’s mind: Doctor Theodore Pierce.

“I suppose you know who I am,” he greeted me coldly.

I nodded.“Doctor Oddilair told me about you.”

“Good.” Dr Pierce smiled, but something about it made me feel uneasy. I had learned about ethics and morals from Trudy in my time here, and how Dr Pierce often neglected them. She had told me about how Pierce had pushed his subjects too far, sometimes even hurting them. I watched Pierce carefully as he sauntered to the edge of the room, his arm gesturing toward the pod. A person stood in front there - a person I knew.

“Ned?” I addressed him, but the orderly’s eyes were glued to Pierce, whose sickly smile made my insides quake. “Why is he here?”

“What do you mean?” Pierce’s gaze didn’t move from my friend. “You and Gertrude often do experiments with others present, don’t you? Why is this so strange?”

My jaw set as I looked back at the poor man who had come for the experiment - likely against his will. After a short silence, I told Pierce curtly, “I won’t hurt him.”

He raised his brow, feigning surprise, and chuckled lightly enough to disarm me. “I would never ask you to hurt someone.”

I frowned, confusion taking over as I watched him carefully. This didn’t match what I had heard of him. He paced around Ned, his blue gaze always pulling at my own.

“Today is just a test - a normal test, just like any other day. I don’t know what Dr Oddilair has been telling you about me, but goodness, I’m not a monster. I’m just here to see what you can do, that’s all. Is that alright with you, MIST?”

I shifted my weight uncomfortably. Something felt off here. Was it the way he was speaking, or the fact that now, in person, he seemed … friendly? I swallowed my previous resentment, forcing it as I watched him.

“Yes,” I finally answered.

“Good.” He nodded to Ned now as he stepped back. “Now, I want you to dissipate, and when you do, dig deep into Ned’s mind. Show him something from his childhood. Can you try that?”

I frowned. Something from his childhood? I had always had a sense of people when I dissipated, but Trudy had only recently been trying to help me access others’ memories. This was much further in the new program than I’d expected.

I took a breath and, meeting Ned’s gaze, I said, “Yes. Are you ready?”

He nodded and I disappeared, becoming one with the air around us. I travelled deep into Ned’s mind, feeling for his past. At first all I found were emotions, but soon they became clearer with pictures and sounds and the ghostly essence of touch. It was as if his childhood was mine. I saw his family, his school, the day he decided he wanted to go into medicine … the day he first met a powered person. The day he watched his girlfriend die.

Someone screamed. The world around me flashed white as I found myself in the pod room again, sitting back in my body and looking up at Ned, whose hands clutched his head as he dropped to his knees.

“Ned?” I felt my heart beating in my temples. “What happened?”

“That’s enough for today,” Dr Pierce announced. As I turned to face him, two security staff came from outside and grabbed my arms without a word. I tried to fight them, reaching for my friend, but the door closed between us, blocking Ned from view. They tossed me carelessly back into my room, closing and locking the door before I could turn to face them. What happened in there? Had he seen what I saw?

I sat down. The images were quickly vanishing from my mind like a bad dream, but I knew it must not be the same for Ned. I should never have listened to Dr Pierce. I should never have believed him. I was nothing but a child, and my ignorance had now hurt someone I cared about. I dropped my head into my hands, letting darkness cloud my vision as my shoulders began to shudder.

I sat like that for a long time. At some point the lights in my room turned off. I lay down and let myself drift off into a distant world, where nothing like what happened to Ned had ever happened at all.

***

I was woken by the wailing of a siren outside my door. I sat up straight and immediately caught sight of someone standing over me. My eyes shot wide open as they acclimated to the shadows - and I sighed sharply when I realised it was Trudy. Her white coat was gone, replaced by a dirty shirt and worn denim pants; her hair, normally sleek and soft, clumped in knots around her face.

“Don’t speak,” she hissed. “Just get up. We have to go. Now.”

“Go?” I repeated the word, frowning as I looked her over. “What do you mean, go? Outside?”

“Yes, outside.” She ushered me to my feet with one hand, while the other balanced her with a small black bag. “This place is a cesspool. I thought we were going to be helping people with you. I thought we were working toward a breakthrough in psychological treatments - but Ted just wanted to weaponize you the whole time.” She threw open the door, and I winced at the pulsating red light cutting through the darkness. I covered my ears against the alarm, and followed Trudy through back hallways marked Employees Only. “He wanted to brainwash you into becoming a soldier, sell our formula for profit. I fought him on it, and he tried to have me killed.” We burst through a pair of metal doors, and as they closed behind us the red lights and the screaming alarm receded. In spite of myself, I looked up to see the sea of lights above - the sky. Stars. It was night. I had only seen it in Trudy’s mind until now. 

I only realised I’d stopped when Trudy yanked me forward. “Come on!” she cried, bringing me back into the present. I followed her directions to get into the back seat, and lay down so no one would see me. From there, all I knew was the rhythm of her frantic driving, the bumps in the road, and the massive balls of gas swimming in space above, millions of miles away. Eventually her driving became more steady, the bumps became less frequent, and the rumbling of the vehicle lulled me into that far away dreamland, where Trudy and I could be anywhere at all, and the facility was a million miles away. I didn’t know how long I was asleep, but I woke to Trudy shaking my shoulder.

“MIST. Wake up. You have to see this.”

I groaned as I sat up, feeling some stiffness in my neck from laying in the back of a moving car. “What is it?”

“Just look.”

I raised my eyes to the windshield, where I saw we were moving down the side of a massive hill. My breath escaped me all at once at the view: sunlight touched the never-ending sea in a way that made it sparkle like cyan jewels. The long, black asphalt looked like a snake curving to avoid it, with the treetops on either side cutting across the horizon like an emerald border. All those nights in that facility. My dreams took me places like this all the time, yet I couldn’t think of a single time it had made me feel this way. It truly hit me now.

As my eyes met the impossible brilliance of the sun, I felt a sob in my throat.

“We’re free.”