Sick

The scrubs I was given were scratchy and dull. Like the rest of my life. Scratchy and dull. Although, recently it’s been more painful and dull. Like a numb buzzing circulating my body. That’s how I  had described it to the EMTs. After that, I had been poked and prodded like an animal. By now I should’ve been used to that. Should’ve. 

The woman who walked in was tall. Her entrance shifted my gaze. My scratchy gaze. I wasn’t getting over the discomfort I was in anytime soon. They were going to have to deal with that fact. They could choke for all  I cared. They did save me, but what they had done to me so far shoved that thought right out of my messy mind. 

“Miss Green? May I ask you a few questions?”

I nodded in response. My throat was still raw from the screaming I had done earlier. My eyes hurt too. That was the sun’s fault. Well, it was my captor’s fault. 

The papers shuffling in the woman sitting across from me made me flinch. Paper still hurt my ears. After all of the tests performed on me, it wasn’t surprising. Papers meant pain. It was basically a natural response at this point. Papers meant pain. Pain meant more stabbing, more needles, more drugs, more strange liquids that felt like fire when injected into my veins. It had been two years, I shouldn’t be surprised by this reaction by now. 

“Miss Green, my name is Jane Williams. I’m an expert in mental health and I work on cases like these. I promise you are in good hands. The other people in this room are just scientists and police officers. They aren’t going to interact with you at all,” she explained while making direct eye contact with me. That was new. I hadn’t been looked at with such kindness in a while. Normally it was disappointment or fear. 

“May I call you Poppy, Miss Green?”

“Yes,” my throat cracked out. It hurt. It felt like salt being poured down my throat. Hot salt. Talking was hard after not doing it for a year. 

“Wonderful. I know this is very difficult for you, Poppy, but I need you to tell me what happened. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes. Should I start at the beginning?”

“That would be best. I’m going to take a few notes but for the main part, you’ll be recorded. Is that okay?”

I nodded again. The less talking, the better. I could tell I’d be doing a lot. I thought back to the beginning. It was cold. 

“I remember walking home from school. I was 13. I was living with my dad in a small apartment on Wardalls Grove. It was a few blocks from the hospital. I remember feeling weird that day. The door was unlocked, which it never is. My dad is almost never at home. He’s either at work or at the bar.”

“Why was that, Poppy?”

“My mom died when she was pregnant with me. People say he changed when he lost her. In pictures of them, they look so happy. She bled out on the street after a drive-by. They never caught the guy who did it and it broke my dad.”

My throat caught on the last word. It was hard talking about my dad after what he did. I never wanted to. I never did. He was dead to me. 

“Can you continue on, Poppy?”. Her eyes were kind. They made me feel safe, even though I was vulnerable. Hell, my lip was still bleeding. 

I nodded. I could do this.

“My dad was talking with a bunch of men in black when I walked in. They had ropes and one of them had a hood. The kind you see in movies when people get kidnapped. I should’ve been smarter.”

“Honey, there was nothing you could do. You were a child. You still are. It’s not your fault.”

Her words made me sob. I couldn’t help it. I hadn’t cried in a year and seven months. They charted it. When I cried the voltage was higher. The doses were higher, too. 

It took a few minutes of breathing and Jane rubbing my back for mew to calm down. Once I had stopped crying and my breathing was back to normal, she offered me water. I gladly took it. It felt nice.

Then, I continued. 

“My dad kept apologizing as soon as I stepped in. I was so confused. Then they told me that my dad had sold me to them. It was horrible to hear. My heart was beating out of control and being crushed all at the same time. I remember feeling paralyzed. I knew I had to move, but I couldn’t. The sheer rush of betrayal was too much. My father was crying. It was pathetic. Then they grabbed me. They were abrasive. They tied me up and shoved my head in the hood. The last thing I remember was feeling a pinch in my thigh. I can only assume they drugged me so I wouldn’t know where I was being taken.”

“What happened next?” 

“I woke up strapped to a table. I wasn’t wearing anything besides a bra and underwear. It was so cold.”

“Did they ever sexually harass you while you were there?”

“No. It was strictly science and pain.”

“Was there anyone else there? Any other girls?”

“There had been. There were lots of bloodstains. I also knew because they made me watch the videos of the previous girls getting shot or exploding. It was gruesome. They always talked with axiomatic tones, but because of the videos, I knew they had been wrong so it was a vain attempt.”

“What did they do to them?”

“What they did to me. I just survived. They had different names for different girls. They called me Project  Devil. The other girls had only lasted a few weeks at most. I lasted two years.”

“How did you last as long as you did?”

“I have no idea. I just did. It’s always a risk with illegal human experimentation.”

That got a little chuckle from around the room. 

“Can you tell us more about what they did to you?”

I shook a bit as I thought of some of the things. I’m sure some of the things I was going to describe would give even the toughest person nightmares.

“They started by doing tests. They drew blood. They got DNA samples. Then after a week of that, they started injecting things into me. They would strap me down and put a mouthguard in my mouth so I didn’t break any of my teeth. They did rounds of the injections. They started with a red, then a black, then green, and then blue. They always hurt. They would set me up to an IV and then inject me in every main vein manually.”

“How often did they do that?”

“Every day for a year and five months. After they were done with them they starter torturing me. They said it would  bring out the advancements they made on me faster.”

“What do you mean advancements?’

“They gave me superpowers. They enhanced me to be better than I naturally was.”

“How did they torture you?”

“The basics. They would cut off my fingers. They always grew back, but it was still painful. They set me on fire, which didn’t do anything since they included pyrokinetic into my list of advancements. They would drown me. They put me in dry ice. They hung me upside down. They starved me the whole time. The longest I went without eating was six months. They would rip my tongue out. They ripped my ribs and eyes out. They shot me, stabbed me, cut me, removed my organs, and broke my jaw. I died every day, but I would always wake up. The worst one was when they skinned me alive. It took me two days to recover.”

“What are your other advancements?”

“You’re surprisingly calm for what I just told you.”

“I’ve heard worse.”

Voices murmured in agreement around the room. I wasn’t shocked considering the sick world we live in. 

“Necromancy, shapeshifting, invisibility, advanced healing, illusion, pyrokinesis, psychokinesis, telepathy, and elemental manipulation are the ones I know of. They never told me anything. I found out those from the torture.”

After the words came out of my mouth, everyone started yelling. Their movement was so fast. My mind couldn’t keep up. Hands were grabbing me and dragging me out of the room. Jane was screaming at them to stop. I was crying. 

They dragged me to a room where they shoved me into a straight jacket. They put a muzzle on me. They threw me into a room. I couldn’t stop sobbing. The noises that were coming out of me were barely human. I could hear them reverberating off of the walls. 

                                                       ********

A few hours later, Jane walked into the room. Her eyes were puffy and red like she had been crying. She rushed over to me and pulled me into a hug. She then wiped my tears away, and starter raking her fingers through my hair. Her voice shook as she told me it was going to be okay. 

“I’m going to get you out of here. I won’t let them keep you here. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Poppy. You don’t deserve this.”

I could feel tears rolling down the back of my neck. Her tears. Mine started back up again once I realized they were for me. She cared. She really cared. She wanted to save me. 

They came back in and dragged her out. The whole time she promised she would protect me. 

         ********

    Two Years Later

The sun felt amazing on my scarred skin. The flowers around the garden and pond smelled like home. My heart was happy. I had been here for six weeks and I already felt better. The koi fish in the little pond next to the big pond swam happily around. 

Jane called my name from the house. I ran to her with my sundress flowing behind me in the gentle breeze. I smiled wide as all my troubles flew away, and at that moment I was thankful. 

I was happy.