I wake up with a headache and everything feels heavy. Is this what it's like to be dead?
"Is she awake?" I hear a male voice say.
"I think she's regaining consciousness," I hear a familiar voice say. Dr. Eaton?
"What the hell did she inject into her?"
"An altered version of the simulation,"
"Why? Is she…?" I hear the voice trail off. I thought Dr. Eaton told me to tell no one if I ever wanted to get out. I don't hear a reply though.
"They took him away," I hear the same voice whisper.
"Uriah?" Dr. Eaton asks.
"Yeah. I-I don't know how I'm going to get him out,"
"I'll see what I can do Zeke, it's never easy to get them out,"
"I know," I want to force my eyes open, I want to see what's going on. My eyes flutter open after a while of trying. I find both men have their eyes on me.
"Do you need help up?" asks Dr. Eaton. I nod my head gently. Why does everything hurt? I sit up on the bed, feeling worse than before. My eyes burn. My head hurts. I can barely move any part of me. Slowly, everything starts to come back to me. Jeanine trying to inject me with something and succeeding, me screaming, and everything else is a blur.
"Wow, she looks worse than I thought," says the g- Zeke. I study him with his dark brown skin and dark eyes.
"Do you have a brother?" I ask, he reminded me of a taller version of a boy I've seen. Perhaps it was his brother.
"How did you know?" he says, looking at Dr. Eaton.
"I didn't tell her. She could probably hear us talking while she was unconscious," Dr. Eaton replies.
"No, I saw someone. He looked just like you," I confess. Dr. Eaton nods and beckons Zeke to come out of the room with him.
"Excuse us," he says to me. Part of me wants to listen at the door, but I can't move. As the door shuts, I try to crane my neck to listen. I hear voices and try to focus in on them.
"She will do very well," I can hear Dr. Eaton say softly.
"But we don-" Zeke begins, a little louder.
"I can tell," Dr. Eaton says cutting him off. What were they talking about? They talk a little more, but too quietly for me to hear. As they walk closer to the door, I return to my position and look as normal as possible.
"What happened to me?" I say, not realizing how weak my voice became.
"Jeanine Matthews tried to put you to sleep along with two others. Peter Hayes and someone by the first name of Drew. We're still trying to track him down,"
"Why?" I ask.
"I don't know. But, she gave you a very small dose of poison in a simulation. I don't understand why she would want to kill you slowly. We need you to think Beatrice shortly Beatrice. We're going to be giving you three people. One of these people had to have supplied Jeanine with poison. They all work in the science department. Tell me if you've heard Jeanine talk about them or if you've seen them with Jeanine at all. He brings the first one in. He's scary looking with piercings all over his face. Part of his hair is shaved and he has tattoos running up along his arms.
"This is Eric. Have you seen him before?" I study his face. I've seen him before, not talking to Jeanine.
"I've seen him. Not with Jeanine, though" I say. He's pushed to one side. The next one brought in looks oddly familiar with his brown hair and green eyes.
"This is Caleb. Have you seen him before?" Caleb? I check his eyes and hair one more time. His eyes are the same, but just more tired. He works here? Why didn't he visit me! Was I deemed unstable?
"Caleb?" I whisper. This is an actual dream. Maybe I did die and go to heaven. But heaven isn't in a hospital, is it?
"I think she's on to something. Did he give her the poison?" asks Dr. Eaton
"No!" I say quickly.
"Take him out. Sorry for the inconvenience Dr. Wright," says Dr. Eaton. Wright? That's my mother's surname. Maybe he's adopted it?
"Wait!" I say and they lead him out. I want to get up but I can't move without hurting.
"We don't have all day," I hear Zeke murmur.
"Caleb it's me!" I say, but he shows no recognition, "Beatrice! Your sister"
"I'm sorry but I believe you have the wrong person. My sister Beatrice many died years ago,"
"No, she didn't! I'm Beatrice!" I yell frantically. Dr. Eaton walks by my side and tries to calm me. Caleb looks at Dr. Eaton in the eye, his face stoic.
"I did it," He admits without shame.
"What?" Asks Dr. Eaton, his head snapping up.
"I gave Jeanine the poison. I knew what she was going to do with it,"
"Why?" I ask looking at him.
"Some people just deserve to disappear," he says, facelessly.
"He's lying!" I cry.
"No. Check footage at exactly 4:07 a.m. on Wednesday. Check the deleted files in folder #4567. The password is 6xt24d9jgdc0" he says looking at Dr. Eaton. I'm slightly impressed with his memory. Then again, he's always been good with stuff like that.
"Hold him until we check. Turn him over to the main security for now with Jeanine Matthews and Peter Hayes," Dr. Eaton directs.
"Why did you do that? Bring him back! Bring him back!" I scream.
"I'm sorry but we can't let you see him right now," Dr. Eaton says.
"Why?!" I say like a child. This is going to get me nowhere.
"I have something to ask you, Beatrice," says looking at me.
"What?" I ask.
"I was wondering if you could go through the simulation every other day. I want to monitor your progress," he says, "please," he adds.
"Will I get to see Caleb again?" I ask.
"I will give you five minutes to talk to him," he says.
"I want half an hour or no deal," I demand.
"Twenty minutes, no more. Or you won't get to see him," he says. I think about for a while, biting my lip gently.
"Ok," I agree. My head starts to feel less heavy and I'm feeling better.
"Really? Ok! Zeke, have Caleb put in a separate room and we can let her talk to him," Dr. Eaton demands.
"But we aren't supposed to allow any visitors or-" Dr. Eaton cuts him off.
"We also aren't supposed to allow in-office relationships," he says staring at Zeke whose face turns red.
"Fine," he mumbles. I'm taken to a room.
"Wait here. If anything happens that you don't like, scream," he says. Does he not believe that Caleb's my brother? Well, I am in a ward. Maybe he does believe I'm crazy. I see Caleb enter with Zeke behind him. His handcuffs hold his hands behind his back and he looks almost evil.
"Caleb?" I say barely above a whisper as Zeke helps him sit down.
"What the hell do you want now, Beatrice?" he asks, annoyed.
"Caleb, do you remember me?" I whisper, scared of his answer.
"Of course I remember you! All I've heard these past years are Beatrice, Beatrice, Beatrice! You split our family apart! What do you think happened when mom saw them take you away because of dad? They broke apart! If you had never been born then my life would have been perfect! I always got the best grades and I was valedictorian. Mom and dad were just too busy! Dad has just...changed and mom is still selfless but it was like my life was torn apart! You were just sitting in this, this, daycare for adults!" he spits out. I laugh humorlessly. He's still the same Caleb.
"It's been fourteen years Caleb and all you want to talk about is how you've been neglected? You have friends. You get to see mom and dad. You can go outside. You don't get experimented on! Did you think killing me would've made you feel better about your situation?" I hold back any tears I want to let out. Caleb stays silent, ashamed maybe?
"Actually, I think if you killed me I would've been free and happy," I say with a bittersweetness. If death meant freedom, then I might just accept it.
"I don't want you to die, Caleb," I say. My eyes flit to Zeke who was conveniently in the corner of the room.
"Zeke, if I lift the charges on Jeanine, will Caleb live?" I ask. His jumps out of his daydream, surprised at being acknowledged. He thinks over it for a while.
"Yeah, I guess. Yup, that would work. But they'll get something for trespassing. The hospital may be able to override your decision if they think you're mentally unable to make the decision by yourself. Not recommended though since she did try to kill you," he says.
"I'm lifting the charges," I say. Caleb looks at me with slight surprise but he masks it with a stoic face.
"Are you sure?" asks Zeke.
"Yes," I say. He pulls out a walkie-talkie and speaks into it.
"Four, she's lifting the charges," he says, shock evident in his voice. Dr. Eaton walks into the room, looking at me.
"Are you lifting the charges," he asks. I nod.
"Why do you have to be so damn selfless," I can hear Dr. Eaton mutter under his breath. I see Caleb smirk at Zeke as his handcuffs are taken off.
"I'll just get back to my job here," Caleb announces.
"No you're not," Dr. Eaton deadpans.
"You are not the boss of my section," Caleb sasses back.
"Perhaps you've forgotten that my father owns the hospital and I have power over many sections, yours being one of them. I'm above your boss so, you are fired," he explains as Caleb stands there, shocked.
"You're lucky your sister is so fond of you. I wouldn't have let you get away," I can hear Zeke mutter loudly. Dr. Eaton paces around, his face looks shocked and almost annoyed. Definitely angry.
"Why?" he suddenly asks, directly looking at me.
"Why what?" I ask.
"Why would you do that? Do you know that Jeanine will continue working here? I don't have the power to fire her,"
"You father will fire her. I'm pretty sure he has enough morals to do that," he lets out a dry, humorless chuckle.
"Yeah, sure," he says sarcastically.
"But-"
"Let's just get you onto the simulator. Remember the deal?" he says, cutting me off. I nod and I get up. I should've realized that my legs were asleep so instead of moving forward, I just wobble and cling to the wheelchair to stay balanced. I probably looked like a complete idiot but I decline the help Zeke and Dr. Eaton try to give me and wait until my legs feel normal again for a second before taking the first step forward. Nothing happens so I continue walking. We walk down a different hallway, it looks more unused and weird. Zeke follows behind us carefully, almost as if he expects someone to catch us.
"Four, are we allowed to be here?" Zeke asks.
"No, but we won't get caught," he says. Where are we going?
After a lot of walking, we finally reach a door. Dr. Eaton shuffles through his key before pulling out one that looked pretty worn out. He pushed it into the door and turned. It clicked much like my door and swung open. He ushered us in and closed the door, locking it behind him. The room looks mostly unused but cleaner than I expected it to be. The walls are painted are white and on one side of the room, there is a computer with many wires plugged in and wires sticking out. Right in the middle, there's a hospital recliner. I see Dr. Eaton open a box and take out a syringe. He adjusts the recliner so that it slightly reclines.
"Lay down," he says. I comply while studying the syringe.
"What's in the syringe?" I ask.
"It's made of a chemical that does something to your brain to adjust your dreams to your fears. We have developed technology to see the person in action inside the simulation. It will make you feel very drowsy and at approximately 60 seconds, put you to sleep," he explains.
"Oh," I say.
"But I have programmed this with someone else's fears to see how you react," he says. He pushes my hair back and inserts the needle into my neck. He was right about the slight drowsiness. I find myself blinking more to attempt to stay awake but I eventually feel myself fall into sleep.
~SIMULATION~
I find myself inside a room with small slits in the wall there is a door. I try the door, but it's locked. The openings bring in light but the room looks extremely unorthodox and then I see it. A few small spiders crawl through the opening. I'm not afraid of spiders but I used to be afraid of them when I was smaller. The amount of spiders in the room seems to triple. I feel something crawling up my leg so I swat it off and stomp my feet, killing multiple spiders. There has to be a way out, this isn't real. Stomping my feet as a walk, I try to pull and shove the door all I can. Spiders crawl on my arms and up my legs. This still isn't real. An idea pops into my mind and I try sliding the door, I let out a small sigh of relief as run out the door and into the sunlight.
~END SIMULATION~
I gasp, sitting up, waking up from the simulation.
"Woah," Zeke mutters, "that was quick," Dr. Eaton was staring at the screen as if trying to figure it out. I find myself still slightly shaking and it's almost as if the spiders are still crawling on me. Why does he even want to make me participate in these simulations?
"Why?" I ask.
"What?" asks Dr. Eaton looking at me.
"Why do you want to conduct all these tests?" I ask. Maybe he's a crazy scientist?
"It's just important," he says after a while.
"Do you think I'm just to dumb to understand?" I challenge.
"No,"
"Then why?"
"I thought I wouldn't a have a problem with you asking so many questions,"
"It must be because you're so approachable," I say flatly, "you know. Like a bed of nails." He stares at me, and I don't look away. He isn't a dog but the same rules apply. Looking away is submissive. Looking him in the eye is a challenge. It's my choice.
"Careful, Beatrice," he says. I'm not sure if it's meant to be taken as condescending, but it feels like it. I bite back my response. Letting him glare before looking back at the computer.
A/N: Probably a good stopping point, right? How does everyone like the story so far? Also, has anyone checked out Webtoon? Any recommendations for stuff to read on their? Small announcement, my old shared account will not be active anymore. Anyways, have a nice day! I hope to update soon-ish. I promise that all story updates from now on will be 1000+ words.
-L