>>5242191>Tie between 1 & 2.Pushing against your constraints again, you give the woman a glare, baring your teeth. You hope your eyes convey your utter hatred. Your voice drips in anger as you demand, “Let. Me. Out.”
Her eyes widen, betraying her otherwise cool demeanor. Your eyes mirror hers. Your senses sharpen, peering into the dark corners of the room, seeing them clearly. The traffic outside becomes much more audible. And the sterile smell of the place is almost assaulting. You see things beyond, lines of red at the entry ways into the building. Then it hits you. You can see these lines through the walls.
The woman grins as she walks up to you, standing beside you and looking down. Pale skin contrasted by black makeup, lipstick, leather jacket and jeans. Couldn’t be too much older than you, maybe mid thirties. She ignores your demand. “Do you realize what you just did?”
Your lack of breathing makes you want to breathe harder and… Anxious thoughts don’t make your blood pump at all. Your senses dull back to normal, the traffic outside a background murmur, the red lines vanish. It’s all replaced with an empty feeling inside your stomach. It felt like that time you thought you had some sort of parasite in your stomach, eating all your food. God you felt stupid at the buffet that day. No. This is worse. It started in your abdomen and slowly splays out, creeping up your spine and into your mouth.
“No.” You answer her, worried and frightened. “What happened?”
“This was going to happen. You had been chosen. The circumstances just weren’t ideal.”
You give her an incredulous look. “You mean me about to get beaten and raped?”
She gives you a level look. “They were going to do far worse than that.” Her face softens, but she doesn’t smile. “My name is Maxine. I would say I saved your life, but… By the time I got to you, you were cold.”
“So I’m dead?”
“Yes and no.” Now she smiles and you feel it’s a bit condescending. Or playful, you can’t tell.
“How the fuck am I still…” You blink, shrug, move around in the chair, “doing this shit then?”
