Readjusting his glasses, Eugene squinted as his eyes adapted to the tremendous white that surrounded him. He looked to his feet in search for a shadow, and then at his clothes in case the creases casted any shadows too. Unable to locate any, even inside his clothing, he assumed that the area he was in was not real. Just as he came to this decision, he heard footsteps behind him and spun around.
"Eugene, welcome," Augustine greeted, holding her arms out.
Eugene stared at her over the rim of his glasses, "Where am I?" His voice was bitter with the memories of his time at Curdun Cay, what Augustine made him do for her. What he did to others. He was honestly surprised and flattered that none wanted his head on a steak.
"You're experiencing one of the most serious illusions that can be created, Sims. This -"
"Isn't real." Eugene interrupted, slowly stepping backwards.
Augustine folded her arms, "Correct. You always were quite the smart boy. But don't worry, I'm not going to make you fight with your powers. In fact, you can't even use them," she chuckled. With that, Augustine began to disappear into the white, leaving Eugene on his own.
Scared, Eugene attempted to throw his Video power into the whiteness, but he was unable to power up. He kept quiet, thinking about how long he might stay in this illusionary state.
As if on cue, the white turned into great colours, and then a familiar scene from his younger years. He was in his home, standing in the doorway of the lounge room. His mother was sipping from a coffee on the couch while reading the paper. The front page showed a picture of the Beast, and had information on the new Bio-terrorist outbreak. His mother looked angry, pursing her lips as her eyes flicked from left to right.
"This is such a horrible situation. How can this, this thing honestly just go out into a city and begin destroying things. Does it have no respect of the damage it caused?"
Eugene stood silently, looking on. "I mean, I just don't understand!" his mother continued, throwing the paper into her lap, "Do you have any idea what this means for the country, the world?"
Eugene shook his head. He was too young to fully understand the situation at hand. "Bio-terrorists are utter filth," said Eugene's mother, as he walked to the front door of the house. He pulled the door handle towards him and walked through, into the hallways of his middle school. He looked down at himself and noticed he was wearing his typical clothing from when he was roughly thirteen. 'Oh god, not hereā¦' Eugene thought to himself, pulling on his backpack strap and keeping his head down.
The other students in the hallways were much louder than he could remember, throwing insults at him from all directions. He could only understand a few, where some were calling him a nerd, and others were commenting on how he would be alone for the rest of his life and that he could never find friends. Eugene pulled on his sleeves, walking to the bleachers in the basketball courts where he would eat his lunch on while playing computer games.
There they were, the typical sports fanatics that sat at the bottom. They threw their lunch at him, splashed him with water, and hit him with sporting equipment. The lunch break felt like it went for hours, as Eugene kept crawling inside himself. He could feel the burning sensation in his chest, the one he got the day when his powers were activated, but tried to repress it. One of the boys noticed this.
"Look at him," the boy began, slapping the shoulder of one of his friends, "he thinks he can control it! He thinks it'll be okay, as long as he is in control." The other kids laughed at him, grabbing their things and leaving the bleachers.
Eugene checked his watch, which was stuck on twelve o'clock. "Makes sense," he mumbled, standing up and heading for the double doors at the end of the hall. He took the handle by his right hand and pulled it towards him, opening it up to his mother's car where he hopped in.
"Hey sweetie," she sang, putting her foot on the accelerator as they drove from school, "how was your day?"
Eugene shrugged, "Find, I guess. We had a math test." 'Odd, this must just be a memory.'
"Uh huh, and how do you think you went?"
"I think I did alright. I studied pretty hard so hopefully it means something. How was work?"
Eugene's mum threw her head back, "Oh, it was so stressful! All this Bio-terrorist stuff happening puts everyone into a frenzy, even though it doesn't affect us at all. I wish they would just go away and leave us in peace. How can they not realise the stress they put us through? How can they be so selfish?"
At that, Eugene's mom pulled over on a bridge, "Okay sweetie, don't be too long. Dinner will be ready when you get home."
Confused, Eugene slowly stepped out of the car and onto the footpath. There was a staircase to the end of the bridge, which he walked to and hopped down. Underneath the bridge was a shallow river where rainwater ran off the hill and to the river. As if it was instinct, Eugene walked to the river and took off his jacket and put it on the ground. He removed his glasses and placed them on top, before kneeling down and putting his head into the water.
Almost instantly, Eugene was back at school in one of the boy's bathrooms. He was being held on his back while the group of boys that used to bully him threw water on his face. Whenever he tried to catch his breath, they would pour more onto him from a bucket, drenching him from his head to his chest.
"Please," Eugene gurgled between splashes, "Stop!"
"Whatcha' going to do, Superman?" one of the boys scoffed, "Are you going to kill us? Oh wait, that's right! You can't do that yet!"
Eugene tried to wriggle away, reaching for the bucket before it could throw more water down his throat. Two boys grabbed his wrists and shoved them down as the water blinded him again.
The two hands turned into hard, cold metal as Eugene opened his eyes. In front of him stood a D.U.P. officer putting a pair of cuffs around his hands. He looked around frantically, seeing his mother standing on the porch of their house while he was being taken away. She had tears running down her face, but a small smile.
"It's for the best, sweetie. We can't have people like you running around with your powers. You'll end up killing everyone."
At that, Eugene was thrown into the back of the D.U.P. van.
And another chapter is down! I hope you all are enjoying this trip down 'distorted memory' lane. Thanks for reading and being with me throughout the creating and development of this story. Sorry that I haven't been updating too often, but I promise I am at no stage of ending the story or taking a break. Until next time!
