S.H.A.D.E. [{ Completed }]✔ (#Wattys2018)

Swatch 999

I wake up, turn over, see that I am still in the cramped little room, and sigh sorrowfully into my stained pillow case.

I'm all at once thrown back into the conundrum of my situation.

"Rise and shine."

"Could you possibly give me a moment with my own mind? Just one little moment."

"Talking out loud makes you look disturbed, but you can do it here now, I guess."

I sit up, but quickly realize I have no physical entity to direct my anger at. I punch my pillow instead, then get up and move towards the door.

"Interesting."

I'd like to ignore him, but the temptation is too great. "What?"

"Physical aggression. Usually a male trait. You do have slightly higher testosterone levels than most females, though."

I open the door and peer into the hallway, unsure of what to do. I'm hungry. I don't know when the last time I ate was. "So I'm manly?"

"No. Just prone to tantrums, apparently."

I roll my eyes, then have a thought. "Hey, can you see me right now?"

"Yes. I can see from your perspective by tapping into your ocular lobe and your ocular nerve, or I can access the S.H.A.D.E cameras in the building. Look up."

I look up, only taking a moment to spot the little camera hidden in the shadow of a corner.

I frown at it, tempted to give him the finger, but I don't want another testosterone rant or whatever, so I continue forward down the hall. "Maybe you can direct me? Take me to the nearest fridge. Or better yet, the nearest I-Hop."

"There'll be no junk food passing your lips from this point on. You will have a well-balanced diet that includes all food groups. Except no milk."

"Why no milk?"

"It's unnecessary."

"You know what else is unnecessary?" I say, strolling around the corner, doing my best to remember the way I had come with Gray the night before.

"What?" he sounds bored.

"This entire organization. You know, people trying to be heros, but really they're just as bad as their villains."

"Demons torture, murder, and possess people."

"How is that any different from you? You exert my body against my will even if I beg you to stop, murder my entire identity, and take control of my mind. You're just like the ones you are fighting. How pointless is that?"

He is silent.

And what's funny is that I almost make myself believe that I feel him thinking over what I say, that I can feel his guilt. But I am projecting what I want him to feel, to understand. If he is as bad as a Demon, then surely he doesn't have any empathy for me. He's threatened to kill me already so he could get someone more compliant.

I can't forget that. I can't let myself believe that he can be reasoned with.

I move through the halls in silence after that, trying to think abstractly so that Copper can't read what it is I'm thinking. I want to escape so bad. I want to find that little girl I dreamed about.

Yes, I think she's real. The feeling I had when I saw her, that was not a figment of a sleeping mind, it was something innate in me. I feel as though she is related to me somehow, a sister perhaps.

"... Ebony?"

"What?"

"Look I--"

I stop walking, fully listening to what he is about to say, because the tone of his voice is not so harsh as it always is.

"Yes...?"

"I don't like having to make you do things against your will. Back when you were escaping, I shouldn't have pushed you like that. But you have to listen to me. A lot hinges on your cooperation with my commands."

Commands. His choice of words send a flash of rage through me. What the hell kind of an apology was that? Do what I say, or I'll make you do it; how sincere is that?

I continue down the hall again. My response was in that rush of anger, I'm sure, because he leaves it at that.

Finally, I come to the front part of the building, the place that fronts as a bar. There's a neon flashing sign that says "Regan's" in bold font. It's the only bright thing in here, the rest is oak brown and blurred by a permanent layer of smoke that pervades around the place.

I want some fresh air.

"You shouldn't go outside. Your face needs to be hidden. No Demon can catch sight of it, because you will be relocated tonight to your own apartment, and we don't want anyone in that area knowing you're with us."

"That Demon back at the plant already seen it. What's the big deal?"

"I wiped the cameras and the tapes have been obtained and destroyed too."

I frown, surprised. "How?"

"A Swatch went and got it. Killed the Demons and Psychics resting there."

"Killed people? Psychic people?!"

"They aren't good people, Ebony."

I grind my teeth. Will he make me kill someone someday? No. No I will kill myself if it comes to that. I won't be made a murderer.

"Will I be apart of a Swatch?" I ask, hopping up on a bar stool.

"Yes, Swatch 999. You begin training soon."

"When?"

"A few hours."