Elites of Eden: Yarrow Not Rowan

Chapter 19

I wake up in a dimly lit room with sparkling lights above me. I smile, maybe I'm back in the crystal cavern, safe. I spend a long time there, half asleep in a hopeful gaze, until I finally force my eyes open, forcing myself to face reality. When my eyes open I'm facing my worst fear. I'm back at the Center. I'm not at the comfortable visiting quarters I'm familiar with though. Instead, I'm in a small dank room filled with white or steel contraptions.

"Hello Yarrow," A cold, slick voice says from the other side of the room. I turn my head to see my mom, no not my mom, I don't truly remember my mom but Ash told me enough stories that I know my mom loved me and protected me at all cost, surely this woman before me is not my mother.

"Mom?" I try to sit up but I'm strapped down. I try to hide the fact that that terrifies me. Elena is dangling my crystal necklace from her pale fingers.

"Looks like you've had a terrible few weeks," Her malicious voice hisses. How did I never realize how evil her voice sounded till now? "We didn't know what to think when you disappeared."

"I don't know what happened either." I'm lying my way through this whole thing. "I don't remember everything that happened. I snuck out of Oaks for a party, and...I don't know. Maybe I was drugged?"

She narrows her eyes at me, "Seems to be happening a lot lately."

"I'm sorry...Mother." I squirm when I call her that. Elena grins at me.

"Oh, Yarrow...you used to be so smart, so quick-witted. I believe I can take the credit for that...but I have to ask...have you looked in the mirror?"

At first I think such a comment is odd, she hand me a hand held mirror. I see my dirty, ash covered face that still has a bruise and a slit from when Brother Falcon attacked me. I see my wavy raven hair and angled jaw, my large lips and eyes...my eyes. Oh, what a bikking idiot! I see my dull first child eye...and my vibrant second child eye. I'm bikked. I lower the mirror as I take a deep breath. She knows everything and there is no way out of it.

"Yes," She says as she takes the mirror back. "You are not the smart girl I made."

"You didn't make me!" I buck up but the ropes that tie me down get tighter. Elena starts to laugh.

"Oh, on the contrary. I did make you, Rowan. It's simple science really. People want to conform, they just don't like to admit it." She goes on a whole rant about how we are all sheep and how selfless she is. It's disgusting.

"You can't do that to people!" I rage at her. "You can't take away who they are!"

"Oh, but I can. We will be a city of peace and tranquility and utter contentment as we wait for the world to heal. We won't be the unruly animals who got us into this mess in the first place. And now that I have dozens of new test subjects, it is only a matter of time before I open this is up to the rest of Eden."

"Test subjects?"

"All those other lovely second children Hawks love for you delivered to me! Such a pity he is gone now, he was so easy to control. But anyways, what a treat, what a boon! And like you, not a one of them had the implants. I think we will learn some very interesting things from this batch of test subjects. Especially the children. Their minds are so...malleable."

"No! No you can't! You couldn't. They're just children!" I beg. Elena seems to look up at the roof in thought, then shrugs.

"It makes no difference to me. Staff!" When she yells this several people in mint green scrubs walk in, and start to wheel the metal table. We walk, or rather roll, down corridor, after corridor, all stuffed with second children, young and old in cells. When I pass Rainbow I become a lunatic screaming her name, but she cannot hear me. We continue to pass my friends, at this point I've lost track of how many, but I don't see Ash...or Lachlan. Oh, earth where are they? I want to hope that somehow they made it out safe, but I shield myself from the hope. They're probably dead, I tell myself, that means they're the lucky ones.

Then in the blurred faces that numbly race past me, actually I race past them, I catch a flash of Lilac. My eyes focus on her lovely face for just a moment. I go so frantic and wild that they hold me down, fearing I might actually escape.

"Lark! Lark!" I scream. I try to speak to her as tears build up in my eyes. Oh, what are they going to do to her? I'm still not entirely sure what they are going to do to me, but I have my guesses. Are they going to do the same to Lark? Sweet, hopeful, caring, Lark. I can't let that happen. I won't let it happen. I won't let it happen to anyone. I have feelings for Lark that I can't quiet explain, and I can't bear the thought of her getting hurt. I can't bear any of them getting hurt because of me.

"What are you going to do to her?" I ask, forcefully gaining control of myself.

"Hmm," Elena hums. "What shall I do with her? I know she meant a lot to you, saved you from Oaks. Maybe I'll separate you, force you to hate one another. Or I could do the opposite. I could turn both of your independent, rebellious brains into my obedient little pets. And if you're good I might let you be with her again. You and your traitor bestie! Or is she more than that? I haven't gotten time to interrogate her yet, she just arrived, but trust me I will make sure she tells me everything."

"No! No, you can't!" I continue to beg and scream but we're already at our destination. I'm rolled into a stark white room. Elena's shoos the others away.

"I don't believe you remember your torture Rowan, do you?" I shake my head. This seems to excite her. "Well, then that means I get to do it all again. This time without drugs. I want you to get the full experience."

I force myself to clench my fists tightly and not protest. I've begged enough already, and she hasn't shown mercy yet. But from what little I remember of my torture, it was unbearably horrible. I clench my jaw tightly and wait for the pain. She starts to come to me with a wire. The wire is flexible at it's length but rigid and sharp at the tip. She brings it to my eye with torturous slowness. It get's closer, and closer to my eye. I take a deep breath. You can't fight this, Rowan. So don't. Don't make a fool of yourself.

"There you are!" She snaps, jerking her hand away from my eye as someone comes through the door. I feel an instinctual anger when I look at him. My stomach drops but I'm not sure why. "How unprofessional to be late for surgery."

"I've never missed one of this subject's surgeries," He says. "I wouldn't miss this one for the world."

"Get prepped quickly," Elena scoffs. "She's getting agitated, and I'd rather not have to sedate her. She needs to appreciate this experience fully-without anesthesia." 

His eyes flicker to me and he has this guilt, this withering insecurity to him when he looks at me. He could stop this. He could stop all of this from happening to everyone, yet he doesn't. I can tell he has a conscience. He knows what he's doing is wrong. Something inside me seems to be telling me what to say.

"You did this to me!" I shout, but I'm not sure why I'm shouting. How is he responsible for this? "Look me in the eye! How do you live with yourself? You wake up everyday knowing this is your fault. I pity you, truly. I don't know how you resist the urge to end your insufferable life everyday! It must be so bikking exhausting knowing you deserve every horrible thing this world-"

"Enough!" Elena finally snaps. "We get it, you hate him for being selfless-"

"Selfless? You're bikking insane! He's the most selfish person I've-" My sentence is stopped short when he takes a heavy surgical tray, cocks it back, and hits Elena over the head with it. She passes out and he steps nearer to me.

"Rowan? It is possible? Do you remember me? It's me, your father. Oh, Rowan, I'm so sorry."