Part four
Then we went down to the mess hall to get some food, Neo and me arguing all the way down.
"If your driving is anything like your blading then you should get a bus pass, or better yet a good pair of sneakers." I said.
"And you need to use safety equipment on those things." He shot back.
"Like I said, the person i.e. you never actually gave me any, only the blades." I smacked him on the head, as we walked in the door of the mess hall. I stared at the bowl of goop in front of me and made a face, a drink would make this go down better. But I picked up my spork and started eating, I could get a drink later on, it tasted like snot. No one spoke, they just ate their delicious dinners, then once it was all gone, they moved off toward wherever they had to go. Tank stopped next to me, after everyone else had left.
"It wouldn't make it taste any better and where would taking a drink lead to?" He said. I glared up at him.
"What are you a mind reader?" I snapped. He chuckled.
"No, but I've been there and thought that taking a drink or a drug would make everything go down a little better. It doesn't, I gotta go back up, I think that you are on kitchen duty." He said. I stared around the mess hall, it looked like the place hadnt been cleaned up since the ship was made, I sighed this was going to take forever. An hour later the place look reasonable enough and for the first time since Tank had stopped me from taking the lithium, I realised that I had forgotten to think about poor me and what I was going to do about tomorrow. I walked out of the mess hall and went up to the core, at the end of the ladder Trinity was trying to show Neo how to weld and of course I had to open my big mouth.
"I wouldn't give that to him if I were you, he'll probably blow up the ship." I said. They turned at the sound of my voice.
"No I won't." Neo said indignantly.
"Matchsticks." Was all I said to him. He winced, he used to smoke and he always burned his fingers on his matches.
"This will be different." He said. After a while Trinity left him and I followed her, Morpheus seemed to be waiting for me.
"Ready to spar." It was a rhetorical question, but I nodded anyway, thinking back to the session I had with Neo the day before and hoping that I didn't repeat the performance. Trinity was about to plug us in when a buzzing noise came from down below, then a snap and Neo cursed, I grinned at the Trinity.
"Told ya." I said, as she pushed the spike home. Then I was in the dojo facing Morpheus, he didn't say anything just got into a fighting stance and waited for me to attack him. I didn't want to disappoint so I ran at him and launched a number of punches and slaps at him, but he was as good as Neo had been and shrugged of my attempts as if I was swatting him with a newspaper. His fist hit me in the stomach and I went down. He stopped and looked down at me.
"You're not moving fast enough." He said. I leapt to my feet.
"This is like fighting my father, except his punches actually hurt." I shot back. He paused and for the briefest of moment his eyes registered shock and question, then he just shrugged his shoulders, time to find out what I had meant later on. He came at me hitting me with a roundhouse I went down then he grabbed me around the waist, everything Tank had downloaded into my brain left me and I panicked, I struggled against his grasp, dad used to grab me in the same way when he.
"No!" My voice was barely audible, he didn't let me go. I jerked my elbow back into his stomach, but he didn't release me, I continued with my useless struggling.
"Let me go, dad!" I screamed, fear and loathing evident in my voice. He let me go and I moved to the opposite end of the room, hugging myself with my arms, a moment later I was back on the Neb, and as soon as Trinity pulled the spike out of my head, I ran toward the ladder got down it as fast as I could. Neo was still there, trying to fix the damage he'd done.
"Hey, want to help me?" He asked. I ignored him as I flew past on my way toward my room, once I was inside I curled myself up on my bed, facing the wall, pulling my knees to my chest.
Up in the core, Neo climbed up the ladder, a confused look on his face.
"What was that all about? What happened?" He asked. For a moment no one moved, then Morpheus moved toward him.
"We were sparring and I grabbed her, she struggled against me and for a moment I thought that she was just trying to free herself from me so she could try and get the upper hand." He paused, then spoke again.
"Then she screamed at me to let her go, I think that she thought I was her father, because she called me 'dad'." He said. But Neo hadn't heard the last of what Morpheus had said, he was already down the ladder and rushing toward his sisters room. He knocked on the door, and for a moment I thought that if I didn't answer him he'd go away, but then he opened the door and came in anyway. I wanted to tell him to fuck off and leave me alone, but another part me wanted him to stay. He shut the door and sat down on the edge of my bed. He sat in silence for a moment.
"What happened?" He asked. I knew he wasn't really referring to the sparring session, obviously Morpheus had told him what had happened.
"Nothing, I guess I'm just a little tired or something." I replied. He sighed, then I could feel his hand touching my back, I jerked away from him.
"Something must have happened, you nearly broke your neck trying to get down here. Tell me, I want to know." He murmured. I turned to face him, tears were streaming down my face.
"We were sparring and Morpheus grabbed me, dad.he didn't just hit me, he used to do other stuff as well and he'd grab me the same way." I gulped for breath as I cried harder.
"Fighting against him did no good, he's stronger than I am and he always got what he wanted in the end anyway." I whispered. I didn't want to look at his face, but when I did I could see the look in his eyes.
"Christ, what.how long?" He asked
"For a long time, he was doing it for a long time before you got me out of there the first time." I said. Anger flashed across his face, then it was replaced by sadness, he pulled me into his arms and I sobbed against his chest, for what seemed like forever.
"It's never going to happen again, not by him, not by anyone, I promise I will never let anyone hurt you again." He said. I didn't say anything to that, after a while when I had stopped crying, I looked up at him and for the first time in a long time I felt safe, he smiled down at me gently.
"Want to go back up?" He asked. I didn't really want to, what did the others thin of me now? But I knew that sooner or later I was going to have to face them, so I nodded. He took me by the hand and led me from the room, when we got up to the core, instead of the looks of derision or disgust that I was expecting, everyone was being nice.
"Are you alright?" Morpheus asked in a concerned voice.
"Yeah, sorry I ran off." I mumbled.
"Don't worry about it." He said, glancing at Neo, who stood next to me. Tank was looking at me, a questioning look in his eyes, I nodded my head and smiled, trying to make him understand that I was alright, I didn't feel like smiling though, I felt like my feelings were now on show for everyone to see. Neo put his arm around my shoulder and to my surprise I didn't flinch away.
"How about you and me go into the Matrix and do something fun?" He asked me. Morpheus didn't seem to agree to that, but Neo gave him a look, that clearly said 'we're going'. Morpheus eventually nodded his permission, Neo turned to me and I nodded that I would go with him. Morpheus plugged us in and off we went. I was wearing my old sneakers, black jeans, black t-shirt and corduroy jacket. Neo wore all black clothes including a pair of glasses.
"So what do you want to do?" He asked me. I shrugged my shoulders, I didn't think that going to the Talon for a drink was a good idea. What did non-drinkers do?
"How about that?" He said, pointing toward a carnival. I nodded, I don't think that I'd ever been to a carnival and I wondered what people did there, I didn't want to ask though, so I followed behind him. He bought some candy floss and we started eating it as we made our way around the fair, there were loads of rides and of course I wanted to go on the rollercoaster first, Neo didn't seem to keen on the idea, but I eventually talked him into it and we got on, front row. Almost as soon as we started moving he closed his eyes tightly.
"I thought that you were the One? You gonna let a little ride scare you?" I asked. He opened his eyes to glare at me.
"No I'm-" then the car started flying down a steep hill, to move into a big circle and he started screaming, a moment later I joined him. What's a rollercoaster without screaming? When it finally came to a stop we were both laughing.
"Told ya it'd be fun." I said. He just grinned at me.
"How about some more candyfloss?" He asked.
"Sure I'll go get it, be right back." I said and hurried off toward one of the many stands selling the stuff. As I made my way back with the two sticks of candyfloss, someone grabbed me from behind, I dropped the candyfloss and tried to break free from whoever it was, but he held my arm in an iron grip. Needless to say after all that had happened today, I freaked out.
"Come on honey, you know that I'm the one for you." The man said, as he pulled me closer. I jerked my arm again, but it did no good, he wrapped both of his arms around me and then he kissed me full on the lips.
"Let me go!" I screamed at him. He didn't hear me; or he chose not to listen, I don't know which. Neo must have heard me because all of a sudden he was beside me, he belted the man so hard that he went flying backwards to land on his back on the dirt. Neo turned to me, concern in his eyes.
"You ok?" He asked. I nodded, all of a sudden the fun we had been having seemed to evaporate
"I'm sorry, I should have gone with you to get it." He said, as we were heading back to the exit. I shrugged my shoulders, trying to show my indifference to what had just happened, he didn't say anything else after. But he could probably tell that it had scared me badly, because I was trembling, he slung his arm over my shoulder.
Then we went down to the mess hall to get some food, Neo and me arguing all the way down.
"If your driving is anything like your blading then you should get a bus pass, or better yet a good pair of sneakers." I said.
"And you need to use safety equipment on those things." He shot back.
"Like I said, the person i.e. you never actually gave me any, only the blades." I smacked him on the head, as we walked in the door of the mess hall. I stared at the bowl of goop in front of me and made a face, a drink would make this go down better. But I picked up my spork and started eating, I could get a drink later on, it tasted like snot. No one spoke, they just ate their delicious dinners, then once it was all gone, they moved off toward wherever they had to go. Tank stopped next to me, after everyone else had left.
"It wouldn't make it taste any better and where would taking a drink lead to?" He said. I glared up at him.
"What are you a mind reader?" I snapped. He chuckled.
"No, but I've been there and thought that taking a drink or a drug would make everything go down a little better. It doesn't, I gotta go back up, I think that you are on kitchen duty." He said. I stared around the mess hall, it looked like the place hadnt been cleaned up since the ship was made, I sighed this was going to take forever. An hour later the place look reasonable enough and for the first time since Tank had stopped me from taking the lithium, I realised that I had forgotten to think about poor me and what I was going to do about tomorrow. I walked out of the mess hall and went up to the core, at the end of the ladder Trinity was trying to show Neo how to weld and of course I had to open my big mouth.
"I wouldn't give that to him if I were you, he'll probably blow up the ship." I said. They turned at the sound of my voice.
"No I won't." Neo said indignantly.
"Matchsticks." Was all I said to him. He winced, he used to smoke and he always burned his fingers on his matches.
"This will be different." He said. After a while Trinity left him and I followed her, Morpheus seemed to be waiting for me.
"Ready to spar." It was a rhetorical question, but I nodded anyway, thinking back to the session I had with Neo the day before and hoping that I didn't repeat the performance. Trinity was about to plug us in when a buzzing noise came from down below, then a snap and Neo cursed, I grinned at the Trinity.
"Told ya." I said, as she pushed the spike home. Then I was in the dojo facing Morpheus, he didn't say anything just got into a fighting stance and waited for me to attack him. I didn't want to disappoint so I ran at him and launched a number of punches and slaps at him, but he was as good as Neo had been and shrugged of my attempts as if I was swatting him with a newspaper. His fist hit me in the stomach and I went down. He stopped and looked down at me.
"You're not moving fast enough." He said. I leapt to my feet.
"This is like fighting my father, except his punches actually hurt." I shot back. He paused and for the briefest of moment his eyes registered shock and question, then he just shrugged his shoulders, time to find out what I had meant later on. He came at me hitting me with a roundhouse I went down then he grabbed me around the waist, everything Tank had downloaded into my brain left me and I panicked, I struggled against his grasp, dad used to grab me in the same way when he.
"No!" My voice was barely audible, he didn't let me go. I jerked my elbow back into his stomach, but he didn't release me, I continued with my useless struggling.
"Let me go, dad!" I screamed, fear and loathing evident in my voice. He let me go and I moved to the opposite end of the room, hugging myself with my arms, a moment later I was back on the Neb, and as soon as Trinity pulled the spike out of my head, I ran toward the ladder got down it as fast as I could. Neo was still there, trying to fix the damage he'd done.
"Hey, want to help me?" He asked. I ignored him as I flew past on my way toward my room, once I was inside I curled myself up on my bed, facing the wall, pulling my knees to my chest.
Up in the core, Neo climbed up the ladder, a confused look on his face.
"What was that all about? What happened?" He asked. For a moment no one moved, then Morpheus moved toward him.
"We were sparring and I grabbed her, she struggled against me and for a moment I thought that she was just trying to free herself from me so she could try and get the upper hand." He paused, then spoke again.
"Then she screamed at me to let her go, I think that she thought I was her father, because she called me 'dad'." He said. But Neo hadn't heard the last of what Morpheus had said, he was already down the ladder and rushing toward his sisters room. He knocked on the door, and for a moment I thought that if I didn't answer him he'd go away, but then he opened the door and came in anyway. I wanted to tell him to fuck off and leave me alone, but another part me wanted him to stay. He shut the door and sat down on the edge of my bed. He sat in silence for a moment.
"What happened?" He asked. I knew he wasn't really referring to the sparring session, obviously Morpheus had told him what had happened.
"Nothing, I guess I'm just a little tired or something." I replied. He sighed, then I could feel his hand touching my back, I jerked away from him.
"Something must have happened, you nearly broke your neck trying to get down here. Tell me, I want to know." He murmured. I turned to face him, tears were streaming down my face.
"We were sparring and Morpheus grabbed me, dad.he didn't just hit me, he used to do other stuff as well and he'd grab me the same way." I gulped for breath as I cried harder.
"Fighting against him did no good, he's stronger than I am and he always got what he wanted in the end anyway." I whispered. I didn't want to look at his face, but when I did I could see the look in his eyes.
"Christ, what.how long?" He asked
"For a long time, he was doing it for a long time before you got me out of there the first time." I said. Anger flashed across his face, then it was replaced by sadness, he pulled me into his arms and I sobbed against his chest, for what seemed like forever.
"It's never going to happen again, not by him, not by anyone, I promise I will never let anyone hurt you again." He said. I didn't say anything to that, after a while when I had stopped crying, I looked up at him and for the first time in a long time I felt safe, he smiled down at me gently.
"Want to go back up?" He asked. I didn't really want to, what did the others thin of me now? But I knew that sooner or later I was going to have to face them, so I nodded. He took me by the hand and led me from the room, when we got up to the core, instead of the looks of derision or disgust that I was expecting, everyone was being nice.
"Are you alright?" Morpheus asked in a concerned voice.
"Yeah, sorry I ran off." I mumbled.
"Don't worry about it." He said, glancing at Neo, who stood next to me. Tank was looking at me, a questioning look in his eyes, I nodded my head and smiled, trying to make him understand that I was alright, I didn't feel like smiling though, I felt like my feelings were now on show for everyone to see. Neo put his arm around my shoulder and to my surprise I didn't flinch away.
"How about you and me go into the Matrix and do something fun?" He asked me. Morpheus didn't seem to agree to that, but Neo gave him a look, that clearly said 'we're going'. Morpheus eventually nodded his permission, Neo turned to me and I nodded that I would go with him. Morpheus plugged us in and off we went. I was wearing my old sneakers, black jeans, black t-shirt and corduroy jacket. Neo wore all black clothes including a pair of glasses.
"So what do you want to do?" He asked me. I shrugged my shoulders, I didn't think that going to the Talon for a drink was a good idea. What did non-drinkers do?
"How about that?" He said, pointing toward a carnival. I nodded, I don't think that I'd ever been to a carnival and I wondered what people did there, I didn't want to ask though, so I followed behind him. He bought some candy floss and we started eating it as we made our way around the fair, there were loads of rides and of course I wanted to go on the rollercoaster first, Neo didn't seem to keen on the idea, but I eventually talked him into it and we got on, front row. Almost as soon as we started moving he closed his eyes tightly.
"I thought that you were the One? You gonna let a little ride scare you?" I asked. He opened his eyes to glare at me.
"No I'm-" then the car started flying down a steep hill, to move into a big circle and he started screaming, a moment later I joined him. What's a rollercoaster without screaming? When it finally came to a stop we were both laughing.
"Told ya it'd be fun." I said. He just grinned at me.
"How about some more candyfloss?" He asked.
"Sure I'll go get it, be right back." I said and hurried off toward one of the many stands selling the stuff. As I made my way back with the two sticks of candyfloss, someone grabbed me from behind, I dropped the candyfloss and tried to break free from whoever it was, but he held my arm in an iron grip. Needless to say after all that had happened today, I freaked out.
"Come on honey, you know that I'm the one for you." The man said, as he pulled me closer. I jerked my arm again, but it did no good, he wrapped both of his arms around me and then he kissed me full on the lips.
"Let me go!" I screamed at him. He didn't hear me; or he chose not to listen, I don't know which. Neo must have heard me because all of a sudden he was beside me, he belted the man so hard that he went flying backwards to land on his back on the dirt. Neo turned to me, concern in his eyes.
"You ok?" He asked. I nodded, all of a sudden the fun we had been having seemed to evaporate
"I'm sorry, I should have gone with you to get it." He said, as we were heading back to the exit. I shrugged my shoulders, trying to show my indifference to what had just happened, he didn't say anything else after. But he could probably tell that it had scared me badly, because I was trembling, he slung his arm over my shoulder.
