The Anchor

Blind followers

I had 12 hours left. 720 minutes. 43,200 seconds before my entire world would change. They told us it was progress. A step towards a brighter future. It was ironic considering "brighter" was a word that would only last another 12 hours. Then I would become like the others. Be forced to take a step back in the name of progress.

Sitting in my yard I tried to look out, see the mountains one last time. The
sun was already setting though. I heard the tell tale sound of my mother's chair. The squeak of a track that needed oil.
"Hello dear,"
"Hi mom," I replied, not ready to go inside. Not ready to leave the light. There were only 716 minutes left now. Then I'd go under and never come back. I would join the others in a simple life...or go crazy.

There were always stories of people who couldn't take it, were lost with their new world and had to be put away. It wasn't like the process could be undone. They were stuck and it drove them mad. I was sure that wouldn't happen to me. I didn't show any signs of going crazy. Of course there were ways of avoiding the process. But that treatment wasn't for people like me. That was for the ones that showed promise, that had finished college before the surgery, those that were deaf to anything other than The One. Or those who would become The One. I wasn't like them. I was slightly above average in everything I did, I followed everything I was asked, I had to, but sometimes I'd questioned what I'd be doing. Questions were bad. Questions weren't made for people like me. Questions were why we had the process, to protect ourselves from answers. Sure I was afraid, who wouldn't be.

It would make me normal. I would fit in and follow The One as I needed. I would follow as needed to survive. So I got up, I brushed myself off a breathed in the fading green grass one last time before stepping into the dark house. I had one more sleep before the only thing I'd see are dreams, but it was the only way. The only way to keep us safe they said.

I followed the track of my mom's chair up to my bed and tested out the feel of darkness. I've been in the room, in this state a thousand times before but now it was real. My life would soon forever mirror this darkness. I wanted to rip open my eyes and see something but the only thing would would see is more darkness. I needed to get used to it now though. I suffered through, in a mess of self-questioning, tossing and turning until I feel asleep.

—————

I woke up and put the wool over my eyes. I needed to get used to stumbling around everywhere, even through I have every week since I was 5. It was fine though, it was what everyone had to do. A car was waiting outside for me. Or at least something with an engine rumbling out front. I walked forward it was all I could do, following what noises I had learned to. We didn't even need walking sticks now days.

As the rumbling sounds of a car got louder, calloused hands gripped my shoulders and pulled me inside, before strapping me on. The car rumbled off leaving me to wonder where we were going.

——————

Soon enough the car stopped and the same hands pulled me into cooler air. There was smooth ground underfoot. For the first time in ages, I stumbled. Not because of the lack of sight, but because the pounding in my heart shook my very core. No one talked about the process, it was too common a thing for that. No one even knew who did the surgery. Apparently one girl in my class had actually gone crazy after, we never saw her again after her birthday. Mom had just dismissed it as a normal complication and with something so common eventually something was going to go wrong. That didn't stop me from stressing about it. I kept walking until I could taste the thick scent of hospitals. The already smooth surface transitioned into a smooth tile. At the same time, the air temperature dropped, along with the volume. Only me and whoever was escorting me's feet could be heard on the tile. The rest was silent. Not even a buzzing of an air conditioner. The taps of my shoes on the tile got quieter and quieter as the hallway I was in got smaller and smaller. Soon enough, I heard the click of a door opening and the shuffling of multiple feet. Even with a thick blindfold, I could make out a bright light. I froze up. Turning, I tried to run but before I could even take a step, the hands on my shoulders tightened around me. I pushed back, but was held in place. The arms pushed my forward as I thrashed and struggled. I wasn't ready for this! I thought helplessly. As I kept wiggling around, another pair of hands picked me up and set me on cold flat medical table. Without letting me move. They strapped down my body to the table. I couldn't worm myself out of this. The light above me was almost blinding, even with a thick blindfold. Someone ripped that off. The bright lights burned my eyes and I screamed. I kept screaming and trying to thrash, and the people just laughed.
"We sure got a crazy one,"
"Yea, lets just get this over with so I can have my lunch break. Gloved fingers pressed down on my eye lids and pried them apart. Only vaguely know what would happened next I kept screaming. Then another hand of gloved fingers reached into my eye socket. It felt like my eyes was going to pop out of its socket. The fingers crawling into my head. I wanted to vomit. If I hadn't stopped my screaming to keep from doing so, I probably would have. I felt pain drilling into my skull as the cold plastic tried to pop my eye like a zit. They fingers, twisted and pulled on my eye until I passed out.

I woke up screaming as the same thing happened to my other eye. The burning of the empty socket was nothing compared to the harsh twisted of my fragile vision. My consciousness fuzzed but I stayed awake until I heard and felt the ripping of my eye being torn from the socket. I felt blood pool up where my eyes had been, stinging and dripping down my face. I couldn't scream. I was too sick. An alcohol wipe stung my face and flooded my nose as it cleaned the red streaks off my face. Cold paper wrapped around my head, the softness almost foreign to me. I could faintly make out the sucking of blood being absorbed into the bandages. I could make out the door being shut over my own screams. And I thrashed around more on the tight bindings. There was nothing else I could do. I heard the pull of the restraints on their foundation. And kept thrashing.

After loud and painful struggling, I managed to snap the chest strap. From there. I wiggled around to free my hand. Flexing it, I stumbled around for latched to free myself. Desperately stretching to reach my legs, I managed to free myself and I stood up.

Groping around for a sign of how to escape I found the base of the light and fumbled around at a metal tray. It wobbled and I ran my fingers over a lump of what I assumed was a scalpel. I grabbed it but kept fumbling looking for something more. My palm sunk down on the round balls of moist flesh that was my eyes before dropping my hand and running with the scalpel. I ran right to the wall. Running my arms over it until I reached the door. I pulled it open, and it wouldn't budge, so then I pushed and freed myself. Running away I heard a distant siren and was so startled I tripped. I felt around on the ground and pulled at the bandages at my face, thinking maybe, maybe if they're off I might see. I ripped them off and felt blood pour down my face. I couldn't see. I reached up and felt the empty sockets, before throwing up right where I was. The liquid splashed onto my face and the smell assaulted my nose. Grabbing hopeless in my own vomit I tried to find the scalpel again. Feeling it's cold texture in the warm chunks, I grabbed tight before stumbling forward. The guards quick footsteps approached and I turned to them with my weak weapons. I slashed out at air, hoping to defend myself but failing. One tackled me to the ground and there's a prick in my arm as I'm injected with something and the world fuzzes away.

—————

I woke up strapped to another table, with hot lights I couldn't see. Someone moved above me and spoke quietly.
"Are we sure a lobotomy this close to the surgery won't be harmful?"
"She's obviously crazy, and what's the worst that can happen?"
They broke off into chuckles that were drowned off by my screams.