All around me there was darkness. It had been this way for some time now and even though I did not remember being brought here, I knew exactly where I was and who exactly placed me into this situation. Another man from the land of sand was grinning in the back of my mind, the same man who had drugged me senseless and placed me into this personal hell that he had designed just for me. An experiment of his own, no doubt kept from the government and only used for his own sick pleasure, something no one was going to stop him from doing since those often placed into any mental institutional were often forgotten; thus free reign to do with as the doctors pleased.
Shifting in place, I glanced around to see nothing but darkened walls, my shoulders knocking against the steal as I moved about. Both arms were strapped tightly around my person- A little something I should be used to by now, after all, this straight jackets hardly ever was taken off. Unstrapped so I could flail from time to time but beyond that, it was ordered to never be removed. I was a Class A maniac with the tendency to attack anyone near me and when no one was around, I would turn on myself and if you knew me the way I did, you'd attack me before I could get to you too.
"Let me out!" I hissed lowly, my body rocking around within the cabinet meant to keep the dead from rotting away before they could be examined properly. "Get me out of here, now!" I shouted. The tight quarters seeming to close in on me as time slowly passed. Amazing how the one thing I loved betrayed me each time I was put into this oblong box amongst the many others containing the dead. Darkness, how could you turn against the one who loved you most?
Silence ensued till I had stopped my struggling. I was not going to be freed on my own will, there was only one way out and that was if that fucker of a doctor would allow me some minor freedom and Akefia had never been in a generous enough of a mood to allow such a thing. Everything was so cramped, too quiet, dark, consuming. My own thoughts were burring me alive inside this chilly holding area. Just how long was I to remain in this box today?
"You little shit, get me out of here!" Violently I went back to squirming around. The metal smacking against my person but to little effect. "AKEFIA!" I shrieked at last then began to slam the back of my head against the platform underneath me. The impact making me feel a bit woozy though did not impair my vision of the black area around me. "I want out, I want out, I want out!" The same words kept repeating in the cramped area as I beat out along with the rhythm. My wild hair doing nothing to dull the impact of each crack to the polished steal behind my head.
Faint muttering from the darkness failed to drown out my thrashing. Something else was said that I did not catch and soon bright light consumed every inch of the black world that had once claimed me. "Hey, Akefia, I think he's going through shock." Steadily my surrounding came into view. A familiar fellow's shadow loomed over my bound framework, a cold frown on his pale lips before he turned to face the very man I had grown to despise. All the same my chest heaved rapidly and the air was warm in my lungs, a dramatic change which burned. I was out of that miserable hell.
"He's not going into shock- And you are suppose to call me; Doctor," The white haired Egyptian replied dryly. "Nurse," he added on to remind his partner who was in charge of things. "Give him a dose of Thiothixene. Thirty milligrams at that," the doctor ordered. His voice swam in my head a I tried to move on the table. Shame they did not unstrap me first to give me a fair heads start.
"Akefia, that really will put him into shock!" The short haired doctor shot his protegee a venomous glare. "Ugh... Doctor," he corrected. "We can't afford to lose him, after all, he's been such a good toy for us."
"I know that," Akefia cut in. "Just do as I told you to. It will help with his erratic breathing and calm his heart rate before we move on with the plan." The doctor half turned to grab a steal clipboard and started to jot down notes. "Soon would be nice, nurse," he added to jump start his partner's actions.
With a nod the longer haired of the two walked past my lying form to rummage through some glass containers just out of my sight. "Make it stop!" I hissed loudly before starting to thrash around on the table. The tight leather straps preventing me from falling off. "I-I love you," I could feel my mind starting to burn as the horrid song came to life within my skull. "You love me-" A sudden cackle of madness tore from my throat as my chest thrust up in vain to try and free myself while my hands clinched for a moment into fists then back out several times. That fucking song that had once played on repeat in my holding cell rupturing to the surface and devouring all my thoughts like that stupid dinosaur would do to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "I'll kill your fucking family!" I hissed along with the sickeningly catchy song no one else could hear but with my own twist on it.
"A little faster nurse or we're going to have to delay everything!" I closed my eyes as the others began to yell at one another. With a great big hug~ The vain under my right eye started to throb. Hug? Why the fucking hell would anyone want to hug me? I didn't even want to hug myself and yet I was forced to do so every day thanks to this horrid jacket! "Nurse!" Raised a voice over the annoying jingle followed by something sharp digging into the side of my neck.
Screaming I thrashed around even more then before. Had that damned dino found a way to take a bite of my neck for mocking his theme song? "Get him off! Get him off me!" Words left my mouth before I even had a chance to comprehend was I was saying. The stinging pain persisted though my wild movements started to get a bit more tame. "I hate you- I hate you both so much!" Common sense started to envelope me as I fell back onto the hard table and slowly peeled my eyelids apart to see the blurred figures standing around my person. Both looked unaffected by my hatred towards them and only one continued to write down Ra only knew what.
"Marik," the nurse leaned over my face and placed a cold pale hand on the side of my head like a mother would do to a sick child. "Can you hear me?" He questioned in a low almost calming tone. I didn't respond apart from the last jerk forward as that song started to die off and hide further into my subconscious. "Marik? Answer the question. Can you hear me?" At last I nodded slightly and turned my head off to one side almost nuzzling the cold hand on my face. It was strange to overheat so suddenly after being trapped in an ice box for who knew how long only to enjoy the cold again so soon. "Good boy. Now, can you tell me how many fingers I am holding?"
I gave another nod though this time it felt stiff and was at an angle. "There are..." I squinted my eyes to stare at his other hand that was now being held out in front of my face. "One, two, three- No wait, just two." A pleasant smile stretched out over the white canvas as the British male leaned back and pulled his hand out from under my head. "Malik, come back," I called out to the source of cold only for it to start to leave from my cheek.
"He always answers the same way no matter how many fingers I hold up," the strange voice sighed. "And then he calls by that name. Do you think he even remembers that he killed them all?" I turned my head enough to stare up at the vacant ceiling and attempted to wiggle my fingers but felt nothing. Way was everything in my home white? I used to remember there being shades or blue and purple, rich browns, golds, and red. Red that seemed to stain the walls like blood...
"No. His mind blocked that all out before the police had even arrived on the scene. His records state that he was clinging to the body of the second youngest child, rocking it in his arms as he stroked their hair." There was a shudder followed by the sound of paper being flipped. Such a pretty red the walls had been but I knew they had not always been red. I think they had once been a light tan color... Or maybe they were green?
Pressure lifted off my chest at last and a set of arms wrapped around me. "Come on Mariku, today is going to be a fun one." Lolling my head about on my shoulders I started to chuckle. The wall had been a tan color, not green, silly me. "That's right. Lots of fun." But why did I paint it red? There was nothing wrong with it the way it had been before...
"I'll be over in just a moment. Don't let him out of your site and should he try to escape, tranquilize him." I let my head hang back over my shoulder till I felt myself starting to fall. A sturdy object meeting with my rump and soon the nurse was in front of me as if appearing out of thin air. When did Bakura get here? Where had Malik ran off to? Why did he always leave me alone with these cruel bastards?
A hand grabbed at my wrist and placed it firmly down on one of the flat steal arms of the wheelchair and soon a thick brown strap and draped over it and pulled though a silver buckle then tightened. "Stupid prick- Come on Ishtar," the pale man grumbled after he had managed to secure my other arm down onto the armrest. He swirled around and grabbed onto the handle bars, pushing me out of the vacant door and into the brightly lit hall. Each rectangle light catching my fancy as they shined overhead.
"You never let me out in the courtyard like you do with everyone else," I commented while looking up now at the nearly blinding artificial lights. "They get to see the real sun and on some occasion the moon and stars, don't they?" I murmured mostly to myself. "Why am I so different? Why is there no sun for me? No moon or stars nor heavens to see..." Rocking a little in place, I tried to move my arms with no avail. Seems I had forgotten they were strapped down. "I just want to see them like everyone else at times."
The man behind me sighed. "You really are a nut, you know that?" His words had a sting to them but I managed to nod all the same. "You are special, that is why you are not allowed to leave. This also means that you get special treatment unlike all your companions." ...My companions?
"You honestly believe that bull shit? I am not allowed outside let alone visitor rights! Fuck if I should ever be allowed to see anyone except you three jerk offs!" Bakura's quick walking pace halted for a second before picking back up again. Had I stuck a nerve? Please tell me I did.
"You're more emotional then you were when you first arrived," the white haired nurse commented as double doors parted and we were sucked into the other side. "You even seem to be missing someone." I tilted my head out of curiosity but felt my nose wrinkle from disdain for his ill gotten words all the same. "You do know that you have been sentenced here for life right? It was either that or the death penalty. You're lucky to still be alive."
A snort tore from my dry throat. "Lucky? You call this lucky! I would rather be dead then here with you shitheads! I just want to go home and be with my family but no! You fuckers locked me away and won't let me do what I want! I want-" I shrieked and tried to climb out of my wheeled chair again. "I want to go home and see Malik again! Why does he only stay for a moment? Why won't he take me home? Why?" Jerking at the restraints once more I then felt my shoulders cave in just before my face began to burn. "Why does he hate me like everyone else... Why won't you let me go home and see the fucking stars..." I just wanted to- I hate this place so much...
Words repeated in my head but strangely enough they belonged to myself. What in the seven hells was I saying? Was I really mad after all? Something cold pressed against my skin just under my eye and I gasped loudly nearly jumping out of my skin only to see Bakura lean back and examine his lily white thumb. His dark brown eyes narrowed to examine it and I watched him as he proceed to lick the pale digit then wipe it off onto his white pant leg.
"The doctor is going to be here any second now," Bakura stated lowly, his voice strangely soft sounding. "I suggest that you stay seated as I release you. You would not want to be tranquilized, now would you? It would ruin all our efforts and mean we would have to try again another time and I warn you now, he will not be so gentle the second time." I sat in place trying to figure out what was wrong with these people here. Well, mainly Akefia and Bakura since they were the only two I had ever seen that actually worked here. Why were they free to run about while I was deemed mentally ill?
Whistling come from behind the door and soon the white haired man was leaning down at eye level with me. A solo finger held up just before his lips in a silencing gesture before it joined it's twin and started to loosen the heavy leather straps. Within moments I was freed but remained sitting virtually still, or at least I thought I had been till I saw my right hand twitch in the side vision.
The doors split open and in stepped the quack with his clip board and pen, still somehow managing to jot down notes. Hell, I bet he was drawing pictures if anything. "Alright. It's time to get this show on the road," the tan devil mused while handing the items over to his partner. He then wondered off to one side to quickly wash his hands, back angled towards me. "I trust my assistant has kept you in the dark like a good little nurse?" I felt my soul drop down into my stomach. "Good," I instantly looked back up again once the sound of snapped rubber rose into the still air. He has out on gloves. Dear Ra, what kind of examine or medicine was I in for today?
A gloved hand dove into the depth of his clean white jacket only to resurface with an orange bottle that had no label but did contain a white lid. "It's still going to take a while for it to kick in," Bakura commented from off to the side but also took Akefia's place in scribbling down pictures or notes. Whatever it was they really used that damned thing for anyway.
"Not as long as it normally would if he had eaten anything but you skipped out on feeding him today, correct?" Skillfully he popped the top off and shook out a single capsule. I leaned closer to examine it but it fled from sight when he put the lid back on and dropped the contain back into his white coat pocket. The other must have nodded since the short haired man was now grinning broadly. "Come here," the doctor purred. "I have something for you." I remained seated to see what would happen only to regret the decision as the other gloved hand grabbed the hair on top of my head and forced me out of the chair and onto the freezing tiled floor. The long cloth around my legs the only thing keeping the icy feeling from shooting directly into my kneecaps but that did not matter as the mad doctor pulled harder onto my golden locks to force me to look up at him. "I'm going to let go and you are going to open your mouth like a good little patient, understand?"
I had not even received a chance to agree before he pushed down and released me. My stomach turning now from realizing he had been right in my absence of a meal and partly from the dread of what all this pill was potentially going to do to me. There was no hope or way out of this so I slowly unclenched my jaws and stuck out my tongue waiting for the disgusting taste that only pills seemed to have and whatever horrid side effects awaited in my future.
"Much better." Dry latex coated fingers curled under my chin and soon the small pill was brought into view again. I had never seen such a thing before. It was a transparent capsule with tiny white and blue spheres inside that had just enough room to roll a hair to one side as he popped it into my mouth and pushed my jaw up so I could not spit it out like I had done the first time he had ever attempted to force pills onto me. "Swallow," he commanded and I complied without a second thought.
My... How my will had felt utterly broken but defiance still wanted to control my actions. "Akefia," I swallowed in vain to attempt to removed the lingering taste of capsule coating that clung to my taste buds. "Are you familiar with-" I licked my lips this time and still the degrading taste lingered. "With the phrase To sin is a human business, to justify sins is a devilish business?" Violet eyes narrowed as the man standing before me recognized my quoting to be of an insult to his work. "I take it you associate yourself with the devil judging by the look on your face. Thus meaning you know that all your work here is is of a selfish value which in the end will have you being burned alive for your secret crimes," I whispered lowly before feeling a grin tug at the far corner of my lips. My amusement however did not last long as the gloved hand of the tan doctor cracked across my cheek and I fell over onto my side from the force behind it, unable to cushion the blow or protect my face from the hard floor either thanks to my arms being of no available use.
"You take things for granted, Ishtar." The bitter man stated as he pulled off one glove at a time. "And for that you won't get the pleasure of knowing what all is going to happen to you." I thought he was going to say more but a sharp kick to my stomach was received instead. The tip of his boot nailing one of the buckles keeping the strap tight around my person that also kept my arms bound around my hidden framework. I felt like a fish out of water, gasping for air and eye wide with pain. Another stinging blow joined the first and soon I was crumpled on the floor like a caterpillar beginning to metamorphosis but this little 'bug' was unable to breath.
Closing my eyes, I counted to three and then past that. "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family," I felt the words slip out of my lips and for the first time ever they were not maddening to me but saddening. Where was my family? Did they really no longer want me and that was why I was here or was this some form of punishment made by them to teach me a lesson that I was not getting? "With a great big hug and a kiss from me to you... Won't you say you love..." I felt my throat tighten. "Me too..."
Words above me were being exchanged and soon I was being pulled back up onto my knees. The lights in the room suddenly blinding like the ones in the hall. "Seems the nurse does not want to take notes for me, no matter, I will just have to write them all down after we finish with the experiment. You don't mind that, right." A rhetorical question. A warm feeling dropped into my stomach and ever so slowly started to seep out into my blood. Everything was growing warmer again. Gods, they need to fix the temperature controls in this place. "Ah," A newly exposed tan thumb pulled down gently one one of my lower eyelids to examine my pupils, at least I assumed that was what he was doing. "It's taking effect. Good."
"Don't." I stared up into the tan Egyptian's face and blinked once. "Don't-Don't..." Don't what? No matter what I said he was doing to do as he pleased anyway and no one was going to stop him and to top it all off, I had no idea what he had planned anyway. "Water."
Akeifa started to grin and cupped my chin again with one hand. His skin mot as soft as Bakura's had been when he randomly had touched my face. "Thirsty? Well, you should have thought of that before trying to insult me." I licked my lips though said nothing. Why had I been so foolish? No... No, he was trying to trick me and make me his little puppet! His hand repositioned me head before he crouched down to look me directly in the eyes. "Today is the day I break you and reassemble you just the way I want you to be," his voice cooed as if impressed with himself.
Opening my mouth to protest, I soon found myself being knocked back onto my ass this time with the doctor sitting on my lap, legs spread apart and tie hanging down over my chest. His hands on my shoulders were the only thing supporting me enough to keep me from collapsing fully onto the floor. "What are you-" A dark skinned finger pressed against my lips to force me into silence.
"The drug running through your system now is a special blend of contradictory medications that I put together myself. It will raise your heart rate one minute and dramatically decrease it the next along with other various side effects. If you ever hope on getting out of here you will tell me everything that you are experiencing as it happens and not a moment later. Only I will be able to help you make it though this meaning you will be completely reliant on me. If you start to flat line, I can bring you back so not saying anything will only cause you more pain then necessary. are we perfectly clear?"
I swallowed as his finger moved. "Yes." His grin never left his face and soon he leaned closer and started to kiss the side of my neck that was not hidden by white fabric. "Ra... I-I can't," I gasped and he bite down on the little bit of exposed flesh. "breath!" I yelped from sudden shock and felt my body start to shiver uncontrollably.
"Keep telling me what you are experiencing," he ordered with a gruff growl before sucking on the area he had just sank his teeth into.
"Can't breath," I gasped again before falling onto my back and panting for air, the man above me letting go and looking up at the clock on the wall. "Heart beating-" I coughed while trying to free my arm in vain. "Too fast."
"Good... Good... I'll fix that soon but keep talking..."
Time mashed together into one blurred blob and soon I found myself waking up in the same wheelchair that I had been in earlier this morning and looked around frantically. "So fast, please," I screamed and thrusted up onto the the restraints only to drop back down into the hard seat. "Ra- No! I can't," My fingertips dug into the ends of the armrests as the scenery around me grew to be more recognizable and the shadow on the wall quite different from the one who had once been looming over me earlier and not trying to snake a hand down to unbuckle the strap between my legs. "Akefia?"
"No..." A different voice replied before stopped into front of my cell door. "I'm Bakura. Akefia's assistant, remember?" Looking up at the pale man now before me I shook my head no. Where had this guy come from? Where was Akefia? "Seems it was," the man held back a sigh and opened the door. "A success then. The doctor will be checking up on you in a few days. He thinks it will further help with your... dependence."
"A few days?" I questioned almost feeling abandoned but somewhere in the back of my skull was a shred of relief that I could not explain.
"Come on," the strange male nurse coaxed after nimbly undoing the strap and slipping a shoulder under one of my arms to help me up from the wheelchair and into my padded home. "It's time for your nap. I took the liberty of making your room nice for you." Blinking I turned to see the walls were just the way I had left them. Stitched together from after one of my attempted to chew through them in various places but still remotely white and vacant of anything. The floors as well were white and padded. Nothing had been changed at all. "You'll see. Get in."
Without much debate I stepped inside and took a seat in the further corner and looked back to the seemingly nice but weird nurse. "He will be back though, right?" The other nodded once while grabbing the side of the door and stepping out behind it.
"Of course he will but for now you need your rest. Enjoy your sleep." With that he slipped out completely and the door locked shut after him. Something else was said but I missed it and soon the lights were shut off above sending me into utter darkness.
Slowly I looked around into the black void and wanted to sigh till something new caught my attention. There up above was a strange green glow. No, not just one but several distinct start shaped glows in three different sizes. "S-stars?" I questioned and looked around at the various glowing items that had been tacked to the lights above. Had that man put those there in the blind spot of anyone wanting to snatch anyway any small joy I could have? No.. Well, maybe... I was not sure but for the first time in months, I finally got to see a small gimpse of the heavens and it was not leaving me totally alone in the cold dark...