CHAPTER 1
He stared me down and I stared the doctor right back down, locked eye to eye. I was more terrified of him and he was more trying to focus on taking out my eye. Focusing on his face helped distract me from the pain of him carefully peeling out the eye and detaching the muscles.
The doctor himself I called Louis. I didn't know his actual name, but he seemed like a Louis. He had a soft face, round and almost fragile looking. Like one strong cough could shatter every bone. His hair was a pale green, the roots just starting to grow out in a rich black color. His eyes were the most catching feature on his face, though. They were this unearthly shade of black that seemed to encompass most of his eye, leaving only a touch of sclera peeking out at the far corners of his eyes. They contrasted sharply with the pale,
He stepped back to survey his work and take a few deep breaths, letting his hands steady. I'd managed to slowly bite through the leather gag and spit out the saliva-soaked strip. I laughed, catching his attention from himself. "You just going to leave my eye hanging on my face? That seems rude. Not at all like your usual good manners."
He scoffed. "Again?"
I shrugged as well as I could strapped down to a table. "Well, you should expect this by now. This is mainly your fault. You're the ones who sharpened my teeth."
He grumbled something under his breath, and I started laughing again. He turned to me angrily, clearly at his breaking point. "What now?"
"Well, I find it very funny that you're getting me presentable. You're finally getting rid of that lazy eye, which you've had every opportunity to fix in the past years. Doesn't make sense, my friend."
He rolled his eyes and once again sat down on his stool next to me, grabbing his blade again. "I can't wait to be rid of you."
I scoffed. "Ok, then. Whatever float's your boat."
He started again in my eye socket, and I tensed up from the pain, taking a sharp inhale as he began again, missing the leather strap. It seemed to last forever, but in reality, once he was done with the eye and moved onto my back, it was infInitely worse. Luckily, it also meant I didn't stay awake for long.
I rolled my eyes as the new assistant began carefully sewing up the wounds Louis had left open in his boredom. They were currently taking extra care to stitch up any of the cuts he'd made on my face. "This must really be a special occasion. They finally ready to sell me off?"
They stayed silent. This one I called Bunny. They had a tall, lithe body, almost ethereal looking. Their cheekbones pronounced and they a very shiny bald head. They were the kindest of most anyone I'd seen while here, possibly only because they didn't bother me, so I didn't bother them. It was a pretty healthy relationship if you ask me. Probably the healthiest one I'd had in the past who knows how many years.
After they were done with stitching, they grabbed a small metal tool with a wire running into a place I couldn't see. They pressed it into my eye socket, burning any of the open blood vessels. I let out a shaky breath at the intense pain coming from the burning, sizzling and a faint smell of charring flesh filled the air.
Bunny's silence and blank face was almost menacing in a way, the lack of emotion less numb than psychopathic. The blank face was kind of comforting, knowing they didn't take pleasure in it explicitly as Louis often did.
When Bunny had finally stopped, I was rolled into another room where Sparkles waited. A feeding tube was shoved down my nose and a very nutritious diet of slush started before Bunny left. I waved as best I could to her and she scoffed, almost looking down at me in pity.
"You look very cheery today. Might I ask why?"
She paid me no attention and started to get to work immediately. "Nice talk."
Sparkles was someone I'd only seen a few times before. She was a very sickly-looking old woman, almost inhuman looking at her advanced age. I couldn't tell you any decent estimation of age as all of her modifications muddled up her face, making her wrinkles more pronounced. Something about her was perpetually frowning in disapproval.
I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, trying to keep some sanity as I drifted in and out of consciousness and Sparkles began the process of modifying my body. I could feel her implanting certain things, making deep scar lines in my skin, and more things I didn't know how to describe. It lasted for what could be hours or even days with the amount of work they were doing and the amount of time I didn't know I was losing. The most painful part was on my face. Sparkles had gone over the deep scars and the large port wine stain with what seemed like endless work with a tattoo gun.
The entire time I kept focused on my breathing and kept my eyes closed. At some point, Sparkles had left, and Louis had come in. I'd initially thought that she had left me in here, but I could hear the light metallic sounds in the background that meant someone was working on something. Some implant or device to put in me and the only one skilled enough to do that, was Louis.
I'd gone unconscious before he could get to work on my body. Partially from pain, partially from pure exhaustion.
I woke up again to Bunny washing me off. The cool water that ran over my body felt like acid on the fresh modifications. My body involuntarily tried to squirm and shift, only resulting in more pain as the skin stretched and the fresh wounds shifted. The soap being gently rubbed across the sensitive skin was like fire, the slow massaging of Bunny's hands nearly intolerable. Just the pressure alone was enough to send violent shocks of pain running through my body.
The silence in the room was deafening, only my grunts and the soft creaking of leather cut through the thick nothingness. As Bunny moved through the works, by body got indefinitely.
They finally began wrapping up my wounds, done with the excruciating series of events. Bunny said something I couldn't quite make out as they stepped away. It was surprising. I'd never heard Bunny speak. They had a quiet almost raspy voice. It brought me out of what drowsiness was still clouding my mind. I kept quiet, hoping they would say more.
"Nothing I can say or do will prepare you for what is to come," they said. "You will either prevail, or you will fade into nothingness and I cannot tell you which."
That was it. That was all they said as they passed me to leave the room. I sat there in the dim room, the white walls drowning in the darkness. I don't know how long I sat, thinking over Bunny's words, but a nurse eventually came in, holding a small syringe. They placed it in my chest and pushed the plunger down, only realizing a few second of recognition before everything went dark again.
