Lewis is pretty sure that he has been in this prison cell for at least four days. Although, time is becoming irrelevant to him now, so he could have very well been in here for a lot longer or even a shorter period of time than Lewis is estimating. He can't tell what is day or night anymore, especially as there are no windows where he can look out and see the sky. Lewis' only real way of having any sort of resemblance to time is when his meals arrive through the slot in his prison cell's door. So far, Lewis has had twelve meals arrive, so he is assuming that at least three or four days have passed since he was first locked up in this room. That's what his logical side of his brain is trying to convince him, anyway.
On the more emotional side of his brain, it certainly feels like he has been trapped in here much longer than just a few days. Hell, sometimes Lewis even worries that he has already been here for years, though he is aware that is fairly unlikely. Lewis knows the consequences of staying in isolation for too long. Humans are social beings and are supposed to be around other people; it is not healthy to be completely isolated 24/7, especially in a small, dark, cramped room. Lewis starts to wonder if Doctor Denman is waiting until Lewis goes completely insane first before continuing with whatever experiments that she has planned. In Lewis' humble opinion, he doesn't think that method will produce the most accurate results. If they really wanted to see how merfolk function, surely the group of scientists would want a merperson with a brain that hasn't been broken yet? Then again, Lewis supposes that Denman and her team could already have another merperson trapped away somewhere else in this facility, or at least planning on finding another merperson somehow. He just really hopes that it isn't Cleo, Emma or Rikki. God, that would be awful.
Lewis sighs as he leans up against the wall whilst sitting on his bed, just wanting this nightmare to be over. The merman is genuinely afraid that if nothing changes within the next couple of weeks, he will actually lose his mind completely. There is no return from a broken mind. Although, Lewis supposes, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing. If this is going to be his new reality forever, maybe it would just be better to completely lose himself and become merely a shell of the guy who he is today. It would have to make these experiments and being treated as not even a human being at least a little more bearable, surely. If he has to be tortured for the rest of his life, Lewis would definitely rather not exactly be all there, so at least his mind can be at rest while his body continues to be poked and prodded by Doctor Denman.
However, as much as that would be ideal for Lewis, he knows that he needs to delay that for as long as possible. He couldn't do that to Cleo, even if he never sees her again. She wouldn't want Lewis to give up. Even in this extreme darkness with no way out, Cleo is a small spark of light and hope. He has to keep fighting for her, even if it's just for a little while longer, taking the one day at a time approach for as long as he can. The merman vaguely wonders what Cleo and the others could be doing right now. Would they be trying to find him? Would they be able to put all of the pieces together and figure out that Doctor Denman is the reason for Lewis' disappearance? What would they do then? Lewis doesn't want his friends to try and come after him. It's just too risky; there's no reason for the mermaids to end up in this prison as well. He hopes that his friends will have enough sense to see that. Then there is the issue of his family, who will never have any clue on what happened to the youngest McCartney. God, what would his mum and brothers be thinking right now? They would all be worried sick, he's sure. Lewis just wishes that he could find a way to let them all know that he's okay... even though that's not exactly true. Lewis sighs, staring straight ahead of him to the wall facing opposite him. How the hell has it only been four days? It feels way longer, but that's what boredom and isolation will do to you, Lewis supposes.
With nothing else to do, and sick of his own self pitying thoughts for comfort, Lewis lays down on the rotting mattress and attempts to at least get some sleep. The stench of the mattress is awful; it almost made Lewis throw up the first time he tried to lie down on it. He has somewhat become more used to the foul odour, purely because the mattress is at least slightly more comfy to sleep on rather than the floor. Lewis rolls into his side and uses his arm as a pillow. He closes his eyes and tries to calm his mind, which is proving not to be an easy task. Lewis' mind wanders back to Cleo and the others, once again feeling immensely grateful that they aren't here with him. It would kill Lewis to see his friends suffering the same fate. He's also very glad that Cleo and the others aren't here to see him in this state. Being trapped in this room as a result of Linda Denman makes Lewis feel incredibly stupid, useless, weak and pathetic. This is definitely the lowest point of Lewis' entire life. What a fool he was for ever thinking that Doctor Denman was a trustworthy and good scientist. If only Lewis could go back in time and yell at his younger self about how stupid he was for looking up to her.
Lewis tosses and turns on the mattress for a while, trying to get comfortable. However, it is proving to be an almost impossible task, considering that the mattress is almost as hard as a rock, with broken springs digging painfully into his back. Not to mention the god awful rotting smell of the mattress. Lewis swears that something or maybe even someone died on this piece of crap a long time ago.
Eventually, Lewis settles on lying on his back with his hand behind his head as a sort of makeshift pillow. Lewis sighs sadly to himself, knowing that it is still going to take him a while to get used to all of this. It may take longer to get used to this place over the time it will take for Lewis to descend into madness. He just hopes that Linda will want to start her tests soon so at least he can get some time out of this stupid, rotting room. Lewis closes his eyes once again and tries to clear his mind by completely focusing on taking deep calm breaths instead. Eventually, Lewis finds himself drifting off into a dreamless sleep.
Lewis is awoken with a start sometime later by a loud knocking on his door. He hurriedly sits up and jumps off the bed, almost tripping over his feet as he does so. Lewis hates the huge rush of excitement beginning to course through him at the first sign of anything happening over... Well, to be honest, Lewis doesn't know exactly how long. Having no outside light to help tell him how long he's been here or even how long he's been asleep is extremely disorientating.
Suddenly, the door of his cell opens, and bright light comes pouring in, immediately blinding Lewis, who has been well used to hardly any sort of light for over four days now. The sudden surge of blinding light feels like someone constantly stabbing him in the eyes. Lewis hisses loudly in pain, quickly covering his eyes and stumbles backwards, almost falling over in his haste.
"Careful. You wouldn't want to injure yourself on the first official day of our research study, would you, Subject A?" Denman's voice chimes up as Lewis begins to slowly lower his hands from his face, squinting into the light, still wincing a little bit from the horrible pain of the brightness of the light flooding into the room. For a moment, Lewis wonders if he has been in this room for so long that he is now slowly dying from the horrific stench of the place, and that the bright light pouring into the room is actually leading him towards the afterlife and away from the prison that Denman has trapped him in? Unfortunately, Lewis quickly dismissed that theory, knowing that it would be too good to be true.
"How long have I been in here?" Lewis asks groggily, watching as Doctor Denman steps into the room, carrying a laptop in her hands
"About four and a half days now, I'd say." Linda Denman replies. Lewis wishes that he could be shocked by the fact that he has been here that long, but he really isn't. He knows that his friends and family will be absolutely beside themselves with worry by now. Lewis wonders if Cleo, Emma, Rikki, Ash and Zane will ever figure out if Denman is the one behind his random disappearance. He is sure that they are smart enough to figure it out, but is it really a good thing if they do? Lewis would hate for any of them to put their lives in danger just to try and rescue Lewis. He could never ask something like that of them.
"Where are you going to take me?" Lewis queries, noticing two guards (different from the guards that initially shoved him into this room four days ago) standing behind Linda.
"To the gym." Linda states curtly. Lewis blinks in confusion, certain that he must have misheard her.
"What?" Lewis frowns, having no clue what Denman would want Lewis to do at the gym. Is there even a gym in this building? Where the hell even are they anyway? Are they still even on the Gold Coast?
"Well, we gotta perform the physical exertion tests somewhere, don't we? Don't worry, there's a gym in the building. I hope you weren't expecting me to let you just walk out into the public." Linda answers, laughing at Lewis' puzzled expression. She then motions for the two guards to come forward. Lewis instinctively takes a step back as the two men walk towards him and grab him by the arms so tightly that Lewis flinches in pain.
"Follow me, gentleman," Linda announces before exiting the room, the guards pulling Lewis along quickly after her. Lewis can barely keep himself on his feet as his two guards continue to basically drag him along, despite Lewis' grunts of protest. Once he gives up on struggling against their hold, Lewis tries to get a better scope of where they are. Again, there are no windows in this corridor, but at least there's more light. Lewis' eyes are still adjusting however, way too used to being in almost pitch blackness constantly, for multiple days. The four of them continue to turn around twists and corners, and Lewis begins to think that this place is some sort of maze with how many damn turns this place has. He also starts to notice that it feels particularly cool in this entire building, and the building's structure somewhat suggests to Lewis that they are underground. It's not necessarily a useful fact to help him escape in the future, but at least it's interesting enough to stimulate his mind a little bit.
"How come it took you four days to come and get me?" Lewis asks curiously, finally breaking intense silence between the group.
"I had a lot to set up beforehand; research project proposals, hypotheses, figure out how to order all of the experiments, working out what experiments I need to run, and so on. It's not a quick job, let me tell you that, Subject A." Linda responds, glancing over her shoulder towards Lewis for a second with a dry smile on her face.
"Why do you keep calling me that?" Lewis asks the marine biologist up ahead of him, although deep down he already knows the depressing answer.
"Because that's what you are, silly. Why would a creature like you have a human name?" Linda chuckles in amusement.
"Maybe because I am still human!" Lewis retaliates snappishly.
"Hmm, your fins and scales would suggest otherwise." Linda drawls without remorse.
"Well, you are way less human than I am, that's for sure." Lewis spits out in disgust. Linda stops in her tracks and spins around to face Lewis with an angry expression on her face, surprising Lewis a little bit. Throughout this whole ordeal, Linda, whilst she has been cold, threatening and menacing to Lewis, has never shown much anger or outrage. That is, until now. The two guards also pull Lewis to a sudden halt.
"Let me make this very clear, Subject A. Humanity has nothing to do about ethics, morals or any sort of decency. People need to stop pretending that it is. Instead, humanity is, in fact, a biological thing. I don't know when or how yet, but you, biologically, are no longer a human being. It's just scientific facts. I would've thought you would have known that already. Maybe being half fish has started to fry your brain after all. That's a shame, because you really would have made an impact on the scientific community one day, if things were different." Linda snaps back in retaliation, her tone icy, sending shivers down Lewis' spine.
"Now. Let's get going, shall we? There's a lot we need to get through today." Linda recomposes herself, plastering a fake smile on her face.