The Essence of Water

OLD VERSION Chapter 32

****THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER, THERE IS ONE MORE AFTER THIS****

The bright lights and white walls are almost too much to bear. Voices, threats, and screams echo across my ears through the memories of my mind. Images flash before me of dark days and cold's grasp. Where everything was lost and broken, every scar on my body seems to burn at once with the memory of their origin. I haven't taken five steps before I'm shaking so bad that I can barely stand. I lean against one wall as my body and mind force me to recollect every scratch, bruise, and scar I ever received.

Aiden.

I push back against the onslaught that is my own mind.

Aiden.

Aiden.

Aiden.Aiden.AidenAidenAiden....his smell fills my nose and I recall our time together in the cabin; the scent of him, the smell of wood and pine. Safe haven. Aiden kissing my scars. Kissing my lips. My heart stills. My mind quiets. I take shaky breaths and I stand straight. I run my hand along my arm, feel the disfigurements. I will not fear their origin. Instead I will relish in what they have brought me.

The facility is a maze. With little to no discernment between hallways and turns I am soon lost and every sound I hear I jump, expecting a Handler or soldier to pop around a corner. I curse myself for not using the water to my advantage earlier. I could have moved silently through these halls and found Aiden before jumping head first into this maze. I hear a door shut up ahead. I grab the nearest door and push it open. I press my back to it and listen and footsteps pass a recede down the hall.

I let out a breath and look around. I'm in someone's living quarters. There is a bed which has been hastily made and clothes in a black hamper. I push he closet door aside and find myself face to face with crisp black suits. This room belongs to a Handler. I go back to the door and open it a crack, the hallway is clear. I go to the next door and open it, it's another room. This one belongs to a woman and a doctor no less. There are two white coats hanging in the closet. I grab one from off the hanger and pull it on. I hope people won't look too close, people tend to see what they expect to see and I hope that holds true in this place. I run my hand through my hair and look at myself in her mirror. It would be better if I had a pound of makeup concealing my face, but this will have to do.

I slip back into the hallway and follow voices whenever I hear them. Finally I start coming across a more active area. A few times there are guards escorting a prisoner somewhere. I look into their faces and I see a mixture of raw human instinct. It's the truest form of fight or flight. They are not blindfolded, they are simply scared and hurt and sometimes I see a spark of true fury. I want to reach out to them, help them. But I remember I am here for a man. I must find him first, what comes after, I do not know.

I turn down an empty hallway when someone calls out to me from the other end. He is a doctor, in a white coat like mine, I continue forward, towards him. I decide it's better than fleeing and looking guilty. "Excuse me-" He stops, I don't. I push him back into the room he's just come from and lock the door behind me. He backs against the nearest wall, eyes wide, face pale. "Oh my God." He says and I grab his collar pull him forward and slam him back against the wall. It's the same doctor that oversaw my experiments when I was here. The same face, the same voice, the same smell. "Oh my God."

"God is the least of your problems right now old man." I slam him against the wall again. I've never known such burning fury in the pit of my stomach.

"How...?" Any second now I expect him to pee his pants.

"Doesn't matter how, you're going to help me or so help me I'll put you in the hospital where you'll eat out of a tube for the rest of your life."

"Help you do what?" He's shaking all over.