Syndicate of tribulation

Chapter 17

Amo's POV

If being smart was a crime, I would be doing time.

Yet it isn't a crime, and I'm in prison anyway, suffering and rotting as the world around me moves on, forgetting I ever existed in the first place.

"You're so special, we are so proud" my parents would tell me whenever I came back with the school report most parents dream of their child receiving. But as I was getting older the 'you're so special' turned into, 'keep it up' and that's when the panic set in. The pressure to maintain perfection soon made me explode. I linked love with praise and words of affirmation. I also deluded myself into thinking if I don't do something good I will not receive love from those who claim they love me. To me love was conditional.

Bes sat in front of me, clearly anxious as I clipped the wires onto his neck and placed a metal band full of wires around his head. I must do this right or else everyone will hate me.

The part of the brain that the chip was placed is a very fatal part. The surgery alone must've taken a steady hand and a prayer to complete successfully. Removing the chip was pointless so I decided that if I could send a decent voltage directly to the chip I could deactivate it long enough for me to send another pulse that will permanently shut it off.

The first pulse had to be weak and subtle. Like someone having a small concussion, it has to look like an accident. If it's too bold then I could accidentally take away his ability to walk and alert whatever monster put the chip in his head in the first place.

"Ok, this will hurt a little bit but whatever you do don't move an inch" I voiced to Bes as his eyes widened in panic. This probably brought back some haunting memories from him because my laptop monitoring his brain activity started flashing like crazy. So many different parts of his brain was stimulated by my statement. The fear, the pain, the hurt, the memories. "Bes you need to calm down, it's going to be alright. Should I bring back Tyro?", "don't be stupid" he quickly replied, his face turning to stone, "yeah, you're right what was I thinking". I forgot what kind of person Tyro was for a second.

I sent 1V to the chip, there was little to no reaction and so I upped it by 1. At 2V the monitor on my laptop started to see that the brain activity that was being transmitted stopped for a second. So, I sent 3V. It didn't stay off for long until I did 5V – that's when it turned off and didn't come back on. Seemingly, neither did Bes.

"Bes, wake up!" Dax shook him vigorously. King's face displayed her concern. Tyro came storming back in and saw his brother lying limp on the chair. "What happened?" he demanded to know. My voice caught in my throat and a wave of anxiety flooded my senses.

They hate me.

I messed up.

I messed up so bad. Again.

I felt a pair of arms wrap around my chest. What? Domo? Her embrace stopped my body from shaking and her soothing worse coaxed the unspoken words out of my throat. "I don't know what happened. I didn't send enough volts to kill him or to set off an emergency option in the chip. Maybe the volts hit something else as well.

A quiet grunt was heard. All our heads whipped to Bes. His eyes started opening but a look of emptiness filled them.

Before, when you looked into Bes' eyes you could tell there was another person in his head due to his obvious conflictions and unhidden tumultuous thoughts but now... there was no one at all. Like a vacant house waiting to be filled with memories and furniture. Like a vacant opportunity waiting to be captured. "Where am I?" he said. He didn't sound like him. He sounded quieter, more afraid, more empty. "What do you remember?" King asked him, crouching down to be at eye level with his frightened demeanour.

Tears welled up in his eyes as he started hyperventilating. Ouch, King's not that ugly. "I don't remember anything at all, not even my own name" he sobbed. Oh! That's why he was crying. King said something to him in a language I couldn't understand, and he responded in the same language.

"Your name is Besloe, but we call you Bes. This is your brother Tyro – who loves you very much. These are our friends and we were all out hiking and you fell and hurt yourself." King lied, flawlessly. "My head does hurt" Bes said whilst rubbing the part of his head where his chip was. I heard a beep on my watch and looked at the message from Stace: 'They are desperate'.