I laid in the bed confused and alone. I was told to go back and rest. That episode of me trying to leave was pointless. No one was sitting in the room with me and the door was closed. I didn’t know how long this will continue. Why no one bothered to look for me? Was I not important enough? Was I hidden well from the eyes of the world?
A man came in, he was clean shaven and olive tone skinned. He had hazel eyes, brown hair and wore a long lab coat. He was carrying a tray of food and said, “Food is here and it’s delicious!”
He seemed a little pompous, laid the tray on my lap and said, “Just fine dining. Tastes superb and made by our magnificent cooks.”
I said, “Hmm… thanks. But why are you so happy?”
He said in a low voice, “Not every day we have a guest.”
I said, “Well that’s a relief that you consider me a guest and not something else.”
He said, “My name is Nizar.”
I smiled and said, “Hi. Nice to meet you too.”
He said, “Oh don’t worry about Boris. He makes such a big deal of little things.”
I said, “Oh? He likes to use his gun too?”
He laughed and said, “You have to excuse him. He needs a little control.”
I said, “Just a little?”
He said, “He won’t bother you anymore. He is busy researching.”
I’m not sure if I felt relieved or more alone. I said, “So how long will I stay here? What will happen when I get better?”
He said, “Maybe your thoughts and memories will come back, and you will tell us.”
I said, “What if I never get them back? What if I am useless?”
He said, “I don’t think you are. But if that is the case, we have to use another method to retrieve the data.”
I said, “You would do that? Invade my mind again? Who will you bring with me this time?”
He said, “I don’t think it will be necessary to take over your mind in that manner. There is another way. It has a little higher success rate, but it’s all we got.”
I said, “If that didn’t work either, then what?”
He frowned and said, “I’m not sure I want to be alive to see that.”
He walked away through the door and closed it behind him. They are depending on me and grabbing to that little hope. So what? Machines will cease to work. We can survive without them. We will use old methods to help us continue on. I think.
I looked down on my food tray, grabbed it, and placed it on the table beside the bed. I didn’t feel like eating.
I stared at the ceiling for a long time. I kept trying to remember something. I just couldn’t. How do I get rid of Sara from my mind? Why was she there? What was this plan?
Too many questions, but the ceiling seemed more concrete than arbitrarily believing that my mind is a vault of data. I welcomed the silence and embraced it. Everything that has happened to me in the past two days was unbelievable. I shouldn’t have survived, but I did. I am mind controlled it seems and no one can access my head because of a high defence named Sara. Why her anyways? Why was her name Sara? Why she was me, but had subtle differences in physicality? She may not be what I think she should be. Am I giving her more credit than she deserves as the defender of my thoughts and memories?
I bowed my head down and looked past the glass panels. The others were chatting together and eating. Boris was sitting away from them and looking down at his screen. I wondered what he will learn from thousands of years of human history.
The bearded man stood up, looked at me, walked to the door and opened it. He said, “Don’t you like the dinner we brought for you?”
I said, “I’m not hungry.”
He walked closer and said, “The food is amazing. Try it.” He then smiled and continued, “I can be your company.” He sat on the chair and said, “My name is Bob.”
I said, “Nice to meet you.”
He said, “If you don’t eat, you won’t regain your strength. How will you get better?”
I said, “How did I get to the Red compound? Do you know?”
He said, “Boris didn’t tell you?”
I said, “Boris only asks me but barely answers when I ask him.”
He said, “Oh don’t mind him. He is never used to being asked. He only does the interrogation.”
I said, “Well good to know. So?”
He stared at me, hesitated and said, “He carried you over here.”
I said, “Excuse me? No one saw him?”
He said, “Oh many saw him, but he said you were dead and they had to do an autopsy on you using Red compound’s methods.”
I said, “Just like that? Sounds ridiculous and the Intelligence compound would never buy it.”
He said, “Who can question him? The Intelligence compound is using Red compound’s infantry to defend it. And there is you of course. Who knows what your real position is.”
I said, “Hmm, ok?”
He said, “And you know that Boris is the commanding chief and controls all the infantry. He tries to control you too, but that’s not working out very well.”
I said, “This is the most ridiculous story I ever heard.”
He said, “Well, not many people can say no to Boris.”
I said, “Yeah right! I don’t care how much power he has. I don’t have to answer him.”
He frowned and said, “You may not want to be on his bad side.”
I crossed my arms and said, “I don’t care!”
He said, “I know you were never required to associate with him, but I think it’s better if you complied for a little bit. He doesn’t mean any harm.”
I said, “What about the gun earlier?”
He said, “Something was triggered in his head and he saw things he didn’t want to see again.”
I said, “So he wears this invisible mask that hides his past, and kills off anyone that tries to unmask it?”
He said, “That sounds about right.”
I said, “When will this nightmare end! And all of you, especially Boris, when will you people stop your experiments on me?”
He chuckled and said, “They are not experiments. We just want to know the plan and let you be.”
I said, “Just let me be? Just like that? Why am I marked dangerous then? Why are people afraid of me?”
He said, “Oh Boris just put you in the system as that, so no one knows what he is really doing.”
I said, “Am I supposed to be thankful then?”
He said, “Why not? Always better than being dead, and you get personal protection from Boris.”
I said, “I give up. Let me eat.” I grabbed the tray, placed it on my lap and started eating. Bob smiled and said, “I have no idea how you survived. Maybe someone is watching over you.”
I said with my mouth half full, “Maybe.”
He said, “Why you never came to visit us before? We are barely in this lab. We are always downstairs on the main floor in security.”
I said, “I never went to the security area.”
He said, “What’s left to visit then in this compound?”
I said, “Training.”
He said, “Ah! You are an avid trainer and wanted to always learn new methods to improve yourself.”
I said, “Yep. It didn’t work for my advantage though. Look at my head.”
He said, “It will take time to heal. Just eat and rest.”
I said smiling, “I love company. I’m usually alone and I don’t converse much with others. Stay with me, or I can go to the other side and we can chat. Maybe we can all discover that it’s a bad dream!”
He chuckled and said, “Rest first. You can come join us anytime.”