Unforeseen Circumstances

Chapter 11

When I finally regained consciousness, I was met with the familiar view of a dark and dingy room. At the sight of this all too familiar setting, I wondered whether or not I had dreamt the entirety of my time spent with Devon, Naomi and the others. As I tried to stand up and run from the room, like the last time, I felt rope rubbing against my wrists and ankles. I let out a huff of annoyance as I realised that the Myriad had taken all the necessary precautions this time around, in order to make sure that they didn't let me slip through their fingers again. Regardless of my current situation, I rocked the chair back and forth in the hopes it would loosen the ropes, or break the chair, which would allow me the opportunity to slip away, to at least delay their plans. However, my attempts at escaping were swiftly brought to a halt when a sinister chuckle sounded from behind me.

"You aren't going to worm your way out of our grasp Faith," Tristain's voice sounded from somewhere behind me, as the sound of his footsteps signalled that he was slowly making his way around the chair and into my line of sight.

"Well I thought it was at least worth a try," I replied in a sarcastic tone, still trying to fully convince myself that my time with Devon and the others was real and not just a figment of my imagination. No matter how much it confused me, I was not going to allow myself to ask Tristain for the truth because who knows what lies he would spout. One question, however, was how on earth did I know who Tristain was? Surely that meant that the time period I remember had happened?

"Enough small talk, we need to prepare you for the reverse." The man in front of me explained. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the fact that the Myriad were planning to do the reverse. How on earth did they know what to do? After all it was the Resistance's technology.

"How do you plan to do that when you don't have the tech to do so? Only the Resistance knows how to do it successfully," I responded, needing some form of explanation. Something seemed to click in Tristain's head as he took in what I had just said.

"Oh sweetie, what are you talking about?" Tristain asked, causing me to be even more confused than I was before.

"What are you on about?" I returned the question.

"You've only just woken up, and we intend to restore Rosie back to her normal body so that we can all get back to normal," Tristain explained. This shocked me, unbelievably so. The connections with the people who, I thought to be real, seemed so realistic.

"No, that can't be right, I woke up a month ago," I mumbled to myself as I tried to straighten out all of my thoughts in my head, "You're lying,"

"I know this is probably hard for you to take in, but what you think you remember is simply the work of your imagination. You've been here the entire time." Tristain tried to clarify things for me. Coming to the conclusion that he might be correct, I let the subject drop and decided to just focus on the situation I now found myself in. Seemingly happy with the fact I had decided to stop talking back to him, he pulled a chair up from the side of the room and sat in front of me, elbows resting on his knees.

"So, the reverse is happening tonight and you will be free of the dangers that this body brings with it." He stated.

Suddenly the door to my left slammed open and a somewhat familiar looking man walked into the room. I wracked my brain in the hopes that I could find a memory that would remind me as to where I knew this man from. As he spoke to Tristain about god knows what, everything clicked inside my mind. He was the man who I watched from the hatch in the ceiling the first time I escaped from the Myriad, if that was even real. His eyes moved away from Tristain and landed on me as a smirk became visible on his lips. He was a relatively good looking man, well-built, tattoos littered the skin which was visible, his hair, cropped short and black, but the most striking feature of his appearance was the scar that sliced down the left side of his face, narrowly missing his actual eye.

"Good, you're awake," His rough voice sounded throughout the room.

"And?" I asked, causing him to chuckle at my ability to back chat someone who literally held my life in their hands at this point.

"A feisty one aren't you?" He stated as he walked over to me and caressed the side of my face. At the feeling of his touch on my face, I squirmed in my chair, trying to get as far away from his touch as I possibly could.

"Don't touch me," I spat at the black haired man who had seemed to have taken a liking to me. Maybe he'd spare me!

"You are my prisoner. Do not, tell me what to do as it will end badly for you and you alone. Consider this your first and last warning," He informed me. This time I pushed myself against the back of the chair in order to escape the threatening stare he was giving me.

"Tristian, come with me, we need to finalise the plans for the reverse," The man now directed his attention to Tristain, who stood up from his chair.

"Sure thing Reid," Tristain responded to the black haired, tattooed man, who I assumed was Reid. The two men swiftly left the room as the door slammed behind them, leaving me tied to my chair with the single lightbulb that hung from the cement ceiling as the only source of light.

I hung my head, mulling over my current situation, trying to distinguish the lies that the Myriad were feeding me, from the truths. However much I wanted to believe that the encounter with Devon, and the time spent at the Resistance was real, the twisting and warping of information that Tristain had done was confusing me beyond words. I now struggled to tell lies and truths apart, leaving me all the more vulnerable and susceptible to the Myriad and what they could do with me.