Caught Red Handed

Chapter Twenty-Eight, The True Reality

Tom's Perspective

My head filled with flashes of images and memories, reliving a past that I felt completely disconnected from. Something in my brain snapped, and my panic set in. I shot up in the unfamiliar place that I had been laying, wincing in pain at my muscles burning from not being used. I looked around and wondered why everything was completely dark, attempting to look at my hands. I could feel them, but not see them. I attempted to speak, only for my ears to hear nothing. It was as if I had lost both my sight and hearing at the same time, which was hard to believe. I paused my movements when a hand gently rubbed mine, and I was guided into laying back down. The hand felt familiar, but I was much too stressed to bother recognizing it.

I attempted to relax as the hand comfortingly rubbed my thumb with its own, making me feel at ease. Another similar feeling hand gently stroked my cheek, moving up my face slowly to my right ear. I tensed as a finger trailed over some sort of technology that was attached to it, not knowing what it could be at all. As the fingers adjusted what seemed like a dial or button of some kind, I heard a high-pitched humming from the technology. I could vaguely hear some sort of voice, or a hum of one. I couldn't quite make out any of the words. The hand continued adjusting the small piece of technology before I could hear the voice clearly enough that I could hear English. "Can you hear me? Hello? Does it need to be tuned?" The voice repeated with the same low hum behind it.

"Yeah- I-I can hear you- it sounds weird-." I responded unsurely, feeling the fingers slowly turn the dial before stopping. "Is this better Thomas?" A familiar voice asked, and I fell silent. Fear crept under my skin and filled my head, keeping a terrible hold on me. So many bad things could be going on right now. "Tom? Can you hear me?" He repeated and I nodded slowly. "Is it better now?" He asked and I nodded once more. "I can hear you better." I said quietly and felt his hand pull away from my ear. He moved on to my still deaf ear and pressed the button in what I assumed by now was a better version of a hearing aid, slowly turning the dial around the button until I could hear clear and even noises from both sides. "Is that good for now? You can hear me speak in both ears?" He asked and I sighed.

"Yes Tord, I can." I responded slightly annoyed and flinched my only source of stability left my tense hand. Now I couldn't feel anybody at all. "Good. I'll help you put on your goggles as well, hold very still." He instructed, and I kept my head as still as possible. I was afraid, but more afraid of what would happen if I didn't listen to him. "Please open your eyes Thomas, even though you can't see." He requested and I slowly opened my eyes. Sure enough, my eyes were working just as much as my ears could on their own. Not at all. I felt a strange frame gently press down against my face, tensing more when something lightly pushed on my eyes. I felt both of Tord's hands firmly grasp the sides of my head to keep me still as what I could only describe as getting needles forced into my skull.

I screamed out in pain and tried with every fiber of my being to get it off, but Tord forced me to push through until a familiar thick liquid trickled out from under my new "goggles" or whatever they are. The pain began to subside as what I assumed was my pain medication from my IV was, because I felt incredibly tired and calm all of the sudden. I attempted to blink, but didn't feel the same sensation of blinking like I did before. Instead, I couldn't even feel my eyes anymore. My eyelids and everything felt numb, lost to whatever had ruthlessly torn up my voids. I felt Tord press a button of some kind on the side of my new "goggles", and my vision was restored to me. It was even better than my original vision. I stared at Tord who was bent over me, making direct eye contact if you could call it that.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't find a less destructive solution, but there's no need to worry about nerve damaging or infections of some kind. Just hold still for a moment longer." He told me and reached over to the nightstand beside me. "Yeah fuck no- I'm not holding still again-." I said angrily and virtually glared at the Commie. Tord snickered and gently lifted one side of my goggles, pouring in a liquid of some kind into my sockets. Seeming as I was afraid of my life and couldn't really do anything right now, I allowed it. I felt a bit of a sting at first, before it subsided. "It's a very mild acidic disinfectant for situations like these. Here, I'll help you drain it out." Tord said and helped me to sit up before leaning over a bowl, watching as the now blood-colored liquid slid out of my eye. He repeated this for my other eye before carefully securing the visor on my head.