Death's Exception

Chapter Five

I cannot tell how large the room actaully is. The light that shines on my face is bright, but the walls seems to travel back in blackness forever. I sit on the metal chair without all of my weight so that I can start running if I have to.

I gasp as the door opens, and a scientist I have never seen before enters the room. I only see his face long enough to recognize a faceful of freckles, and a headful of curly blonde hair. He starts to strap me down to the chair, and attach wires to my body.

"What is going to happen?" He barely glances at me.

"We are just going to try certain experiments on you." He places his pointer and middle finger on either of my temples, and looks me in the eyes. "Do exactly as I say." I get lost in his blue eyes, my head throbbing where his fingers lay. I realize that a liquid is pouring into my wrist through a needle he had inserted. "Take a deep breath, and don't look away from my eyes." He presses. I do as he says, describing his spectacular blue eyes to myself. "Blink five times." He commands.

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Five

My eyes flutter open. I am in a large room decorated with large luxorious curtins draped in front of a glass wall. Standing around me are beautifully dressed people, with faces that I cannot describe. The women have flowing dresses, and the men posh suits. I look down at myself, and see a long gold dress that brushes the ground. A mirror is held in front of me, and I smile as I see that my hair is pulled back into a bun decorated with white pearls, and the scar on my face is virutally invisible. I look beautiful. A mystical feeling sweeps over me, and the mirror makes way for Titus, who is still in his scientist clothing, smiling goofily at a notebook he is holding.

"Hello," My voice is smooth, and graceful, the words dancing off of my lips.

"Ah, Rory. Have you realized how valuable you are, yet? This party, it was thrown for you, my darling." I look around, a great pleasure filling my lungs as I smile at my party.

"Starting to." He looks up from his notebook and steps closer to me, his eyes jumping with a boyish mischied. He buries his head back into his calculations. "Oh, will you ever put that book down, Titus?" I plead, my bottom lip protruding further than my top lip. His laugh is suddenly the loudest thing in the room, the voices silenced at the sound of it. "Anything." I smile up at him, and bite my lip.

"So, you will come and dance with me, then?" I spin around him, ending up in his arms. Melodious music starts wafting through the room, and I am staring into his brown eyes, and him into mine.

"Rory, I must say, none of this could happen if you hadn't decided to listen to Dr. Finley." I know what he is talking about. I know that I made a decision that gave me all of this, yet I cannot recall it.

"Ah, so what do you think would have happened, dear Titus?" I giggle, pulling myself closer into Titus' body.

"I think we would have been rejected by all creation." I stop, the music following, and the dancing people stop and stare. I look around, suddenly so shy of myself. Suddenly so cold, and sad. The thought of not having any of this. The beauty, the luxury, the normality- Titus. It haunts me. Titus starts to question my silence, when words come from my mouth that are not mine.

"Shall we experience that for ourselves?" The scene melts away, and I spin around panicing as it all leaves me. My people, my windows, my dancing, my clothing, my Titus, they all float away. Immediately I fold into my self, suddenly so much colder and shy. I am now in an alley laden with brown snow, and trash. I have a brown shoal that I wrap myself in, and a floppy hat that I pull over my ears. Dull colored socks and wornout boots cover my feet. My hair hangs around my face. It is dirty, and shabby, and barely the warm-chesnut brown that had been pulled into a bun. A terrible hunger wrenches my stomach, and a threatening cold swims through my head. I cough into my sleeve, and it is now sprinkled with blood. A little girl and her mother walk past me, and they scream and run away, the little girl crying for help. Somehow I am not surprised. I stare blankly at the wall ahead of me, awaiting something that I do not know.

"There she is!" I recognize the girls pure voice. I turn my eyes and see her father storming towards me with a broom. He beats me with it, and I scream with pain.

"Get out of here, beast!" I take a shaky breath, but I cannot stand. "Please, sir, I will not harm anyone. Please." He jabs me in the ribs with the other side of the broom, making me cough up more blood.

"Hey, come on. Leave her alone." Titus stands behind the father, his face drained of every joy I have ever seen on his face. His brown hair is no longer ruffled with boyish anticipation upon figuring out a calculus problem, or finding the solution to an uncurable disease. It is now slicked down with the pains of simply existing rather than living. He holds a bruised apple, and a dirty orange in the other. His eyes look vacant, but they still burn with a passion that distresses me. A passion to stay alive rather than to live. The father, angry at Titus' intrusion strikes him down with the broom, but leaves quickly after. With a sneer, Titus hands me the apple, and starts to peal open his orange.

"Titus?" He throws me a terrible look.

"What do you want?"

"I want to go back to my dance." His eyes soften, and look at me. Silently, he slides closer to me. Letting me bury my face into his ribcage. I suddenly feel so much warmer, and welcome.

"What are you willing to do?" I start to sob into his shirt, his hand traveling to the back of my head.

"Anything, Titus, anything."

I spring up from my slumber and find myself in the dark room again, in the stale chair, not in Titus' arms. I am suddenly very embarrassed at how infatuated I am by him, and start to lean back, thinking about those terrible dreams. The scientist with the freckles and blonde hair has been replaced my Dr. Finley, who stands over me.

"You have a choice." He whispers, "I know how to go about making you the richest girl in the world. But- believe me- I know my way around that as well." My face screws up with horror.

"How do you know that is what I dreamed?" A cruel smile takes on his lips.

"I don't. It is a serum that makes you dream your wildest dream, and most horrible nightmare. I had a feeling I would ease my way in there somehow."