Disclaimer: I don't own Detentionaire!
Title: Mnemophobia
Summary: They say the outcasts were the first to be taken down under the school.
Setting: pre-canon
...
The last thing Jenny remembers is Lee's birthday party, the thought that her home street felt incredibly empty that particular day, and a sudden pinching sensation on the back of her neck.
"Jenny? Jenny!" Deuce is whispering, shaking her arm with a desperation she's never felt before. It immediately got her heart rate going. "Jenny, come on."
Her head is full but empty all at once, like she stuck her head in an ice bucket earlier; the cold is gone but the numbness isn't. The floor is shaking beneath her, rumbling and creaky. A hint of green apple touches her nose and the back of her throat. Jenny forces herself to move, propping her upper body up with her forearms. "Deuce? What's up?" Darkness pressed in around them. "And why can't I see?"
Deuce's voice is thin and reedy. "We're in a truck, Jenny. Or- or a van. I don't know. We're in a car. We're in a car that's moving and we're in a box and Lou isn't waking up and-" He goes on, but Jenny's mind fixates on Lou isn't waking up.
Jenny slips out from beside Deuce, barely registering his panicked attempt to keep her next to him. Feeling around turns up a splinter in her index finger, a hole in the box they're in, and finally Lou, draped across his side in the corner, heart fluttering quietly. A sudden turn of the truck (or van or car, no need to split hairs now) and she's sprawling on him, feeling how cold and clammy his skin is. Whatever they were given, Lou obviously had gotten a bit too much of it.
Jenny buried a whimper in his jacket sleeve and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to pretend this is all one big mistake, or a nightmare as a result of too much birthday cake. Her throbbing finger says otherwise.
Eventually, the truck coasts to a stop. Deuce lets out a muffled yelp as his head hits the top of the box they're held in. There's heavy boots thudding all around; a crackly, gurgly thing that might be considered talking if it were under many blankets. There's a grunt and a heave and they're off the ground, carried out of part of their prison. Jenny shrieks at the suddenness of it, though not quite as loud as Deuce does.
"Huh?" Lou mumbles, groggy. Jenny slaps a hand across his mouth.
"Quiet," she pleads. "Just be quiet."
The box- and, in turn, the children- are dropped none-too-gently onto what can be assumed to be a cart. The hole on the bottom of the box tells them nothing- they naturally shadow it- but Jenny thinks it might be night out, judging by the cool breeze. They thud across a parking lot, up some stairs, and into a building. The door screeches as they open it, and the kidnappers make sure to take their time wiggling the box through, but at least the floors allow for smoother movements afterwards.
"Smell that?" Deuce whispers as he cautiously makes his way over. They're all tucked into one corner now. "That's gym-smell if I ever smelt it."
A school? Jenny shakes the thought away. Why would kidnappers take the kids they've stolen into a school? It's redundant. And probably dangerous if one wants to stay out of jail.
The gym smell fades away as they enter the halls, but is quickly replaced with the musty smell of old books. There was no doubting it; they were at a school. Somehow, that only scared Jenny more- that they were so confident with their capture that they could parade them around a place like school, which almost always had at least one person in it somewhere.
Lou reluctantly flipped onto his rear, bracing his back on the side of the box. None of their movements have garnered any reprimand; it's almost as if they're invisible. His eyes are perpetually wide beneath his glasses. "We're gonna die, aren't we?"
"We're not gonna die, Lou."
"Get serious, Jenny," Deuce cuts in, lip trembling. "They're gonna kill us. I wanna go home."
Jenny forced herself to remain steady. It didn't do her much good, eyes watering. She snorked back some running snot. "Quit being such babies, you two. If they wanted us..." She swallowed. "Whatever. They wouldn't go through this much trouble just to kill us. That'd be stupid."
They all fall silent when a keypad begins to make noise. A shinp! of a door opening. The floors have flattened out completely now, to the point they borderline on slippery, and still the silent people are careless with them, bumping them back and forth. Uncoordinated. Unrefined. Like prototype machines.
The cart finally comes to a halt, and the footsteps fade away. Jenny doesn't know why she does it, exactly- Deuce is the big guy on campus; Jenny's always been the shrimp- but she finds herself standing, legs wobbly, and putting a hand on each wall, effectively keeping the two boys behind her. Neither one complains. Lou grabs onto her jacket.
There's the sound of compressed air being released, and then the side opposite to them falls to the floor. Dark reptilian eyes peer into their cage.
"Don't fret now, children. I wouldn't dream of hurting you." Its voice is a desert in a drought. "You're just here for a little test. Your parents signed the permission slips, and there's really no need to be afraid. The worst thing that could happen is that you remember my face."
She can't place it. All she knows is that it's smirking.
The beast steps to the side, revealing a chair. There's cuffs on each arm. "Now... who wants to go first?" The eyes narrow. "I suspect it's you, little girl. We're so thankful for your courage."
Jenny's shaking now, moreso than before. Her cheeks feel wet.
That's the last thing she remembers. That, and the hand reaching toward her.
Jenny wakes up crying. She's not screaming, which is a bit surprising, given what she just dreamed, but it's for the best. She's always hated waking her mother up. Knocks her off her music game.
She slipped off the side of the bed, bare feet meeting the carpet with relish. It's nice to have that little bit of control. It only lasts the short distance to her office chair, but that's enough time to get her breathing a bit more under control. Jenny wiped her eyes on her pajama sleeve, hating herself for being so silly over something that might not have even happened and hating herself more for trying to delude herself into thinking it didn't.
This is the fifth time in a month she's had the same dream. The brainwashing is starting to wear off; she doesn't pick as much, she doesn't crave Splat as much, she hates the smell of green apple a little more each day. It's time to stop pretending it doesn't mean anything- the way things have been lately, everything means something.
Jenny picks up the phone and goes into her friends' list. It's an embarrassingly short list, a fact she steadfastly ignores as she hits call. She jumps when Tina answers. "Yellow?"
"Hey."
Tina's voice grew concerned. "You sound terrible."
Jenny managed a dry laugh, propping her elbow on her desk. Not to pick- just to cradle her chin. "Thanks. Why're you still up, anyway?"
"No reason. Just couldn't sleep. Why didn't you facetime me?"
"Short answer? I'm a crying mess and I don't want people to see me right now. Like. At all." She cleared her throat. "Long answer? I keep forgetting to add you to my list."
"What happened? Is this about the Serpent?" She's starting to get worked up again. That's Tina for you- she's always ready to fight for truth, justice, and other corny sentimental crap. "He's not been bothering you, has he?"
"If he was, you'd be the first to know, promise." It's not a comfortable reminder- Serpent- but it's better than other things she could mention right now. Jenny rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I've been having dreams. About what happened."
Tina knows the gist of it by now. "Which time?"
"The first time. I don't think- I mean, it was all brand new, y'know? The cleaner freaks didn't walk good and they didn't want to test brainwashing out in a place with so many variables so they just chucked some children in a crate and off they go. It was..." Jenny tries to find the right word to explain it. Terrifying just didn't seem good enough, and horrifying always seemed to be applied to murder scenes. "It was messed up."
"I'm sorry, Jenny."
She shrugged. "It's nice to know someone is."
Author's Note: Just finished re-watching the show, remembered why I enjoy Jenny so much, here we are. =) I don't remember if they said the outcasts were the actual first test subjects or not (maybe?), but I always figured it made sense. Their obvious and socially unacceptable compulsions would make studying the long-term effects of the brainwashing easy to do without getting close to them.
Also, that voice that first did the experiments... I'm not saying it was His Eminence, but it certainly wasn't human, so I guess I kind of am saying it was him.
-Mandaree1