Disclaimer: Due to unfortunate circumstances, I do not own the Matrix. And I do not own Switch, the Nebuchadnezzar, or any other characters in this fic familiar to the movie.
All italic verses at the beginning of the chapters are different verses/choruses from my friend Chloe Carpenter's songs on fictionpress.com If you enjoyed them, she would most appreciate your reviews on her songs! The song in this chapter is Vs. 1 from 'Help Me'
Summary: Switch's silent cry for help in a world where she is already far out of her league.
A/N: This is definitely a different writing style than my usual type, so please be nice. I have usually tried to stay away from anything present-tense, but it just kind of came out this way in certain parts. Forgive me if someone else has already done this! Four more chapters after this one.
The air I breathe is tainted by
The way I choose to live.
I cannot hide, I can't deny,
I'm not oblivious.
The voices talk back in my head,
Nightmares engulf me as I lie in my bed.
She can't see his eyes behind those dark circular shades. It unnerves her. She can see herself in their reflection, two complete images of her; white hair stark against the dimness of the room, lit only by a single bulb dangling precariously above them.
His brown face is expressionless, his mouth the only movement of his entire body. Speaking to her – what was he saying? She lived in an imaginary world. The Matrix. What was the Matrix? She has been searching for an answer for so long, it is hard to believe that here he is – Morpheus, the legend – telling her the truth.
Can she accept the truth?
To leave behind all she ever knew – not that that was much. A broken family long since gone, broken relationships, everything crumbling around her and falling through her fingers like dust, unable to be stopped. Living on a hacker's chat line every day of her life, as little human contact as needs be.
His voice stops. He is looking at her. Her pale eyes are mirrored in his covered ones. A smile, razor-thin, curls the corners of his lips. She looks down – his arm is outstretched, something in his hand. Two small, oval-shaped tablets lie in his open palm. One red, one blue. She looks up at him, confused.
"Your last chance to turn back, your final choice to go forward. Take the blue pill, and all this never happened. Take the red pill…I show you what you have been looking for."
Her hand reaches out hesitantly, wavering, her mind racing. Choices, decisions, which is the right one? Is there a right choice?
That smile again, the one that could cut glass. Later she will silently name it his Cheshire smile.
She feels the smooth skin of the red capsule in her hand for only a moment. Then she swallows.
In another room, cramped with high-tech equipment, blue and green lights glowing from racks of monitors, her journey begins, and she can never go back.
