Freak of Nature

Prologue

"Do you feel like you could walk?"

She didn't answer. She didn't feel like anything at all. That's not true. She felt contained. Controlled. 

Reaching over he removed the sticky pads from the sides of her head. Automatically the machine went crazy beeping. The young man reached over and turned it off. With his help, she slid her legs to the side until they were hanging off the bed. Even her legs had the teal stripe. Yes, this had to be a dream. It was the only thing that made sense. She was dreaming and she would wake up wherever she came from. 

He looped one of his strong arms around her waist and lifted her up as if she weighed nothing. As soon as her feet hit the ground her knees buckled beneath her. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to bear the weight of her body. It was as if she was made of rubber. 

"It's okay, Kaitlyn. We'll try again later. I must have messed something up with the coding." He was saying calm words, but she could sense the frustration in them. 

"Coding?" What did that mean?

Gently he set her back on the bed and pulled the blankets up, covering her legs. His skin brushed hers and her body seemed to rev up for the lack of a better word. She liked the feeling. At least it was better than the calm nothingness. 

"I'll get to work on this." He grabbed the clipboard off the table and wrote a few notes before turning to leave. 

When the door shut behind him a sense of loss flooded her. She wanted to yell and tell him to come back. That she didn't want to be alone, but it was too late. He was already gone. 

A few moments later a couple of nurses came into the room. They averted their eyes as if they didn't want to look directly at her. With expert hands they quickly replaced the electrodes, placing them back on her head before turning the machine back on. 

"Poor girl," one of them said in a hushed tone. 

"Mary, it's none of our business. We don't get paid to think or feel sorry for anyone."

"Just look at her. She's a shell of a human. It's frightening. I swear this project has been keeping me up at night. It's just not right." 

What did that even mean? A shell of a human? Why wasn't she freaking out more? Something kept her from speaking to the nurses. Even though she had so many questions running through her mind. She wanted to sit back and observe, see if she could piece everything together on her own. 

"Dr. Harrington is going to go to hell for what he's done to this girl." 

The other woman shot the woman a warning look. "You hush your mouth. For all you know they have this room wired with cameras. You're going to lose your job and then where will you be? Broke that's where." 

Who was Dr. Harrington and why would he be going to hell? 

It was strange the way the women never talked directly to her. They spoke as if she wasn't even there. Once they were done with their straightening up they hurried out of the room. As if they couldn't get out of there quick enough.

Kaitlyn stared up at the ceiling. Kaitlyn. The name rolled around in her mind for a while, but it didn't seem right. Amnesia. She had amnesia and teal parts on her body. Lucas said something about coding. Coding was for computers. Why could she remember that but not where she was from? Did she have parents? Brothers or sisters? Did she care? Shouldn't she? Her mind was racing a mile a minute. 

Something was very wrong. 

A few hours later the door opened and in walked Lucas. He looked tired. His hair was sticking up all over and his clothes were rumbled, a coffee stain stood out on the white lab coat. 

Grabbing the clipboard off the wall, he walked closer and peered down at her. "Kaitlyn, it's me Lucas." 

She studied his face but didn't reply. Of course it was Lucas. He was the only one that actually talked to her. 

He sighed and banged the clipboard against his leg in frustration. "You don't remember me?"

"I remember." 

His handsome face lit up. "Oh, that's great news." 

It made her happy that he was happy, but she kept her face still. She wasn't sure why. It was almost as if she had no control over it. In her mind she wanted to smile, but her face wasn't cooperating. 

"I tweaked some things. Let's try this again." 

She tossed the blankets to the side and swung her legs over the mattress again. Her mind wanted her to stand up, but she just sat there waiting for his help. His fingers wrapped around her waist, she could feel the warmth of him through her nightgown. 98.6 temperature. Heart rate 72. 

The touch of his skin on hers felt good. He pulled her to her feet and she wobbled a bit as she got used to the weight of herself. Hesitantly, she took a step forward. It was a bit shaky at first. The weight felt unfamiliar.

"This is great!" Lucas grinned back at her. "You're doing great."

Once she felt like she had enough balance, she pulled away from him and walked across the room towards the door. Each step her balance improved and her confidence grew. Suddenly, she felt like she could run. Run forever and not stop. 

As if he could sense her thoughts. Lucas grabbed her by the arm and turned her back towards the bed. "I think that's enough for today. Harrington is going to be ecstatic. We can start progressing your programming now." 

"Programming?"

"Yes, yes. I've got so much to do. You really did great today Kaitlyn. This is the break we have been waiting for." He leaned down and kissed the top of her forehead in his excitement.

After making sure she was settled back into the bed Lucas took off in a hurry. 

Her fingertips rested on her forehead. She could still feel the lingering effects of his lips on her. It was a strange sensation. It was obvious by the way he ran off that he hadn't expected a reaction from her. 

Everything was starting to fall into place. Flinging the covers to the side, Kaitlyn ran her fingers down the teal line. It was made of a flexible thin plastic. What am I?

Her memory may have escaped her, but she knew for sure she wasn't normal. She wasn't like the people that came into her room. 

Why did she know things like body temperature or how many tiles were on the ceiling? Or how many seconds there were in a year? All kinds of useless facts were scrambling around in her brain.  If she sat back and closed her eyes, she could imagine all the internal parts that were keeping her alive. Mechanical parts.

The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She wasn't a human. They had turned her into a robot. That's why Lucas kept talking about programming and coding. That's why the nurses said Harrington was going to hell. He must have been the mastermind behind all of this. 

At the edge of her mind, she knew she should be terrified of that realization, but the fear didn't come. It felt as if she was watching everything from a distance. Like it was happening to someone else and not herself.