Since waking up in the hospital, the world had seemed like a strangulating trap. The suffocation percolated every aspect of my life. It forced me to stay in the house, stuck in my marred knowledge of my past, present, and future. And so I seemed destined to be until the day I died or discovered how every piece of my history fell into place.
I wished I could demand my brother answer the millions of questions fighting for attention in my mind. But I drew a blank every time I thought I had gathered the courage. Behind that innocent smirk of his, in truth, he held the key to my cage. He simply dangled it above me, only allowing me to get as close as he wanted me to. Perhaps a ludicrous thought, but without any clue as to what exactly happened to me, the ridiculous posed itself plausible.
After grabbing a snack from the fridge, (pudding, I think, but I couldn't see), I flopped down on the couch.
"Captain!" I called, throwing an arm over my face dramatically. The pitter-patter of his paws came along. I pat him on the head, popped open the chocolate pudding, and ate it without a spoon.
Snap!
The sharp noise interrupted my train of thought. I straightened and listened closer.
Snap! Squeak!
Captain huffed at the source of the sound. I shushed him, trying to focus.
Snap! Snap!
The crackles accompanied an animalistic squeak. Closing the gap between Captain and me, I used him for sight. He continued huffing, his focus fixated on underneath the couch.
Now that I could see as Captain saw, I nearly yelped. A small rat skittered from under the couch and escaped between my feet. A childish scream ensued instinctively. Captain went after it, stranding me in the dark and almost knocking me over, barking at the rodent.
I shuddered, shaking out my hands. "Captain?" I stalked through the dark, chasing after sounds.
After finding his fur, sight returned. The rat backed against the wall, cornered under the computer desk. Its weighted body moved up and down with shaking breath. Topped with a red lens, a cylindrical camera emerged from its scuffed black fur. Brown goggles hung strapped across its face, and a metal skeletal spine ran along its backside, reaching the tail's tip.
"What in the world..."
A wire poked out from under the camera. As the rat's face came closer to it, the rodent met another shock, resulting in the snap! The rat squeaked in response. I frowned, the smallest portion of me pitying the creature. The rat looked half mechanical, unlike the biological mutants, Ashton had described to me. I crossed out the idea it could be a remmutant.
Sucking up my nerves, I held my hand out to the rat.
It looked at my fingers very reluctantly. I didn't exactly trust it either. As the rat scampered up on my palm, I let go of Captain, only needing to see through one pair of eyes.
With the rat in hand, I realized I couldn't see back behind the rat while using my powers. I frowned and moved to touch Captain again. Shutting one eye, I found myself only looking from Captain's view.
I perked up at the new development.
1. When touching two things, my eyes each take one perspective.
"Hey, that's neat." I wondered if I'd be doing this for the rest of my life: talking to animals while waiting for Ashton to get home.
Taking my pinky, I tucked the wire back under the camera. I noticed an imprint in the metal plating. BL-32. The rat tilted its head at me, scanning me over. I watched it, wondering what it could be thinking.
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Sight Seers by P.S. Singleton (Sample Chapters)
Science FictionTrust comes difficult when everyone you know is lying. With amnesia and blindness, determination forces Alison Caddel to search for the incident that landed her here. She's not entirely alone. She has her charming brother and a gift: the ability to...
