Refracted

- - 25 - -

I woke up in a completely different place than where I remembered. The last images I could see in my mind were the VISORs closing in on us and injecting some sort of sedation as I realised that Rachel had betrayed us. My heart still longed for her but everywhere else burned with a fiery rage and I wanted her blood.

My head was pounding as if something was drilling into the side of my skull. I must have been reacting badly to the sedation. There was an IV drip hooked onto my arm and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get it out of me. They were in control.

Slowly, I raised my head and then I moved to a sitting position on my medical bench to look around. I was alone in this room and it was so, so bright. My eyes couldn't focus properly on anything, they just got blurred. Yet I could make out the grimy whitewashed walls and the grey-tiled floor. The walls were high and I would never be able to reach the roof, even if I stood on the bench. Otherwise, the room appeared to be empty.

I felt like a caged animal as they watched me.

A flap at the bottom of the door lifted up and a tray of food was pushed though: a test. The meal seemed to consist of a roll of bread and cheese with a bottle of water. Hesitantly, I walked over to the tray, unsteady of my feet. At one point, I had to lean on the wall, drawing in heavy, ragged breaths just to stay conscious. I couldn't bear it. I was too weak. But I hated them more.

I bent down and lifted up the tray, carrying it into the centre of the room. Staring into the mirrors (which I knew to be really one-way glass from experience) on all four walls, I flung the tray over to a mirror with all my might and watched it's satisfying crunch as it made a defiant mess. Triumphant, I spat on the floor in glory.

As expected, the cold sedation flooded through my IV like a cold faucet had been turned on.

I collapsed onto the bench.