Destruction - The Oasis Project Book 2 (Complete)

Thirteen - Ira

I was in self-exile in the warm room again. Even Doctor A seemed to understand what was going on and didn't push me to go outside this time. Everything had made sense, from why they let me have more freedom than the other subjects in the lab, to why they were still nice to me in this compound. But it was hard to look at anyone and not think about how much my life was a twisted joke. I escaped this Oasis experiment, only to turn myself back in ten years later? If I believed in fate, I would have to believe that I was born to be a tortured monster. But I didn't believe in fate, and so that just meant that I had zero luck.

I spent a lot of my time in the overheated bath, staring at the fogged-up mirror at the faint scars on my body. Those men in Russia had used whips, knives, and guns whenever children like me stepped out of line. If they were really just transporting us to a lab, they took their sweet time. I was sure that there would have been worse things done to me had I not escaped when I did.

Holding my breath, I slid down to submerge my head under the hot water. Feeling the warmth that was almost too much to bear cocoon my body was the only way that I could feel like myself here and now, and not reliving what happened in Siberia. The warmth was freedom - a temporary home, hot blood spilling out of a bearded man's neck, the overpowered lights at a poker table. The cold was drowning in a dark lake and watching a boy's lifeless body roll into a hole dug deep in the snow.

A chain of knocks reverberated in the water through the bathtub. I forced my head out of the water, ready to hit whoever had broken in, but I heard knocks on the front door instead. The vibrations must have come from the wall that the bathroom and main room shared.

"Ira?" I heard muffled voices drifting inside. I wasn't interested in speaking to anyone, but I hauled my dripping self out of the tub, roughly dried myself and put on a bathrobe, in case someone wasn't polite enough to take the hint. My head spinning a little from getting up, I opened the bathroom door to figure out who was trying to talk to me.

"Ira?" The incessant knocks didn't stop. It was giving me a headache, and I was sure that there were multiple voices. I watched my hair drip onto the off-white carpet, making greyish circles on the floor. When I couldn't take the nuisance anymore, I opened the front door a crack.

"What?" I snapped to Keshav and Wu's faces. They looked shocked that I'd responded.

"Are you alright, Ira?" Keshav asked first. "We haven't seen you in days."

"Not now, Keshav." I tried to close the door on them but Wu forced it open, concern etched on his face.

"We are here as friends," Wu said in a confidently soft voice, his hair still in carefully styled tufts. "We want to help-" When I shook my head and used more strength on the door, he raised his voice. "One, pl-"

"Don't call me that." I let go of the door, which swung open as far as it could go. I didn't realize what was happening until I felt pain on my wrists, and noticed that Wu was trying to peel my left hand from his shoulder, and he was holding my fist away from his face. My knuckles were white and my teeth were clenched, and I let go of Wu as quickly as I could. I could see people gathering behind him, shocked to see what was going on. I took in gulps of air, disappointed in myself. "I'm sorry, Wu. I'm so sorry."

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Getting dressed and pacing around my room made me feel even worse. I'd acted exactly like what these people wanted, cold-blooded like what made them rank me One in the first place. I remembered being better with my temper, but that was before I wound up here and I'd had Stuart with me then. I wished he was with me now but I couldn't even calm myself down enough to imagine his presence.

I decided to go to properly apologize to Wu, but he wasn't at his usual place in the cafeteria and neither was anyone else. The compound was quiet except for the Chinese broadcaster on TV. Confused, I hurried my way back down the corridor and stopped in front of the grey door labelled "5".

"Wu, are you there?" I called out, knocking frantically. "It's Ira." Even after about five attempts, I got nothing, so I paced around, not knowing whose door to try next. I realized that Keshav had never told me his number, and he didn't seem to care about numbers in the slightest. Eventually, I tried Seven's door, hoping the Chinese girl would at least unsuspectingly open her door, but I couldn't even hear movement. I recalled seeing her staring at me when I nearly hit Wu earlier. "Shit!"

"They're still at training," a familiar voice startled me. I spun around, alarmed that I hadn't noticed anyone approaching in my buzzing anxious state. Celestia stood in the corridor, a lean stick that had finally gained some muscles from swimming. Her hair was still damp, and she looked at me with concern, but she was still not my friend from the island. "Is everything alright?"

"It's fine," I said, backing away from Seven's door. My hand was still poised to knock.

"What's going on, Cel?" Desmond's voice reached me before I could see him, strolling back with the other recruits. He wrapped an arm against Celestia's waist and glared at me from behind a veil of blonde hair.

"Nothing, Jaysen." Celestia leaned against him and they walked towards her room, number six.

"Excuse me?" Out of all the things I'd promised to restrain myself from today, this was not one of them. "Are you kidding?"

"What?" Celestia asked defensively, making my blood boil.

"That-" I pointed to her arm candy "-is Desmond. Remember he made you a drink and you woke up the next morning feeling sick, and you kept letting him make you drinks until you got scaly skin? Are you fucking kidding me, Celestia? You liked Jaysen. You both hated the people who did this to you, like him."

When I pointed to him, Desmond detached himself from Celestia and walked in between her and me. "Ira, stop with the bullshit."

"No." I laughed loudly. "I don't know what prank you're playing, but you don't even look like Jaysen, Desmond." Eyes wide, I walked a radius around Desmond towards Celestia. "Jaysen had two eye colours. He was blind. He was a smart guy and a good friend, and listen up, everyone - he died because of you, Celestia."

"Wh-" Celestia was just as shocked as the others who had come back from training.

"You, Desmond - you're just a pet, aren't you? Follow orders from your mother, who doesn't even like you-"

He swung at me. I was laughing when his palm met my cheek, and I jabbed two fingers hard into the base of his neck between his collarbones before he could attack me again. As I hit the soft spot, Desmond staggered away and coughed like the engine of an old car. I followed him as he leaned against the wall to get his breath back, and my fist followed a satisfying swing to his suntanned cheek.

"Stop!" Celestia called, and hands dragged me back. I broke free of the grasp and pinned Celestia to the floor, relieved to see her terrified face and not someone else's. Celestia's gills were wide open like her dark brown eyes. I hooked my fingers into one of them and clawed, making her scream with a volume that could shatter glass, even with my weight on her torso.

"You fucking idiot." I made sure to grin at Desmond as Celestia writhed. When someone came to break up the fight again, I didn't resist. My fingers were slick with fish slime and blood, and I sighed as Nine came to Celestia's aid. I bent my hand forwards to point at her as I panted. "I should have shot you that time. Multiple times."

"Ira, please," it was Wu again, the poor guy.

I turned around to face him and put on the best smile I could muster right this second. My lip bled, and I could taste the fresh blood on my teeth. "Sorry, Wu. I was only coming to apologize for what happened earlier. I'll try again in a few hours."