--Vocal recording 66405--Cell 84--
21:46pm
[click]
[pause 11s]
"Last time... I left off... I was about to talk about Eight. His "story". Is that right?"
[pause 3s, voices]
"OK... Well, yeah, I remember... I was seeing his... room for the first time. It... I always remember how strongly it smelt of cigarrette smoke. And all the sounds from the rest of the building... were cut off when you closed the door, so it was always quiet."
[pause 23.5s]
"There were... books. Photos. A... a sort of... tiny wood-burning stove in one corner. I remember that the ceiling of the room sloped on one side, because it was just beneath the roof. I..."
[pause 15s]
"Anyway..."
[pause 17.5s]
"Eight... told me... about how he'd come to be with the D.E.M. For no real reason, but just... he wanted to tell me, I suppose. It was the same with Twelve, earlier on."
[pause 12.5s]
"He... Eight was... is, I mean is... 19. He was born in Ireland. His parents... oh, what is it now?"
[pause 24s, voices]
"No. At that point, on that day, he only told me about how he'd ended up with the D.E.M. This first part, I found out... he told me about it... later. Days later."
[pause 9.5s]
"Anyway, so... Eight. He was born in Ireland, just a few years after the Manuductive got fully into power. His father... well, Eight lived with his father and his sister. She was four years old when... well, Eight's mother had died just after his sister was born. Eight... it was him who looked after her. Their father..."
[pause 19.5s]
"I said before... that the Mapmen can get away with anything. But really, that's true of all Manuductive agents. Eight's father was... a member of the Manuductive Civil Police. It was... He..."
[pause 27s]
"Eight's father was... he used to... hit Eight. Beat him so badly. So much. Eight told me... that his father drank a lot, and sometimes... he used to... stab Eight. Not enough to kill him, but..."
[pause 38s]
"And... Eight's father... he used to... Eight's little sister... Eight couldn't always protect her. Their father used to... hit her... and did... other things..."
[Pause 28.5s]
"Then... one day... she died. He killed her by accident. Well, probably not totally by accident. And... because he was with the M.C.P... he was never... punished or trialled for it. He got away with it."
[pause 11.5s]
"But... I suppose he didn't, really. A few weeks after his father killed her, Eight... well..."
[pause 33s]
"I suppose Eight just felt so guilty that he hadn't been able to protect her... and he hated his father so much..."
[pause 17s]
"That's what kind of... of life Eight had. He... he..."
[pause 490s]
[click]
***
[click]
[pause 29.5s]
[singing, too quiet to be discerned 16.5s]
[pause 4s]
"It's strange... I've... since a few days ago... I don't know why I haven't mentioned this before... I've... been ill. Well... not even that. I feel fine, I've just been sick a few times over the last few days. Weird..."
[pause 16.5s]
"Aren't you going to say something? Usually one of you would..."
[pause 6s, voices]
"Oh. You don't know? Fair enough."
[pause 21.5s]
"So... after Eight had... yeah, well... He left Ireland... he had to, he would have been caught by Mapmen... and came to London. This was when he was about 15. And... still being hunted by Manuductive forces, he... began to make friends. Other people... like him, who were on the run. There are more people like that than the Manuductive lets on."
[pause 13.5s]
"But... they were all hunted, and... they kept getting caught, no-one can run from the Mapmen for a long time... and Eight... he was always... the only one to escape, or one of the only ones. He saw... friends... people he loved... die. all of them, eventually. And when he ws about 17, he heard about the D.E.M. He tracked them down, and... eventually found them, and..."
[pause 30.5s, voices]
"I know I said that. The D.E.M. doesn't really have any leaders, but Eight... I suppose he'd survived that long, they just... along with Two, he was... the one they listened to. The one they all... looked to, I guess. Most of the D.E.M weren't a lot older than Eight. Quite a few were younger than him." [laughter]
"I remember there was this one girl, whose number I never learned... she just about worshipped him."
[pause 10.5s]
"That's it. That's Eight's "story."
[pause 17s]
"I remember... after he'd finished telling me about that... he looked at me and said -exact words-
"What we're doing here... It's all for the people killed by the Manuductive. "Security, Stability, Society." do you realise how many people have died because the bastards want to uphold that motto? That's why I told Twelve to kill you, you know. It was nothing personal. You were too new to the D.E.M. to be able to do any fighting, so it was a choice between Twelve killing you quickly, or being tortured to death in Eden 28. But... for what it's worth, I'm glad she didn't kill you."
[pause 17.5s]
"I remember thinking... for some reason... that all made sense to me."
[pause 21s]
"Then... he smiled without smiling, and held out his hand. Talking seemed to have made him feel better. He said, "Anyway, we were never properly introduced. You know my name. Eight. I trust you remember yours?"
[pause 16.5s]
"I... actually smiled at him them. It felt weird to smile."
[pause 15s]
"I reached out... shook his hand and said, "Of course I remember. My name is Three."
[pause 29s, voices]
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Hey guys! Well, that's Eight. What did u think? I'll hav the next chapter up soon. I try 2 alternate between calm, thoughtful chapters and tense, baddie-driven chaptrs, just 2 keep u (and me) on ur toes. Xpect Alecto 2 make a reappearance in the next chaptr!
I no longer hav any idea how many chaptrs there's gonna be. Just so u know :-)
Keep commenting guys... I luv ur feedback. Thanx 2 new fans (20 fans now!), oh, and Rebeca I SUPPOSE I can 4give u 4 being away so long... actually, I'm jst as bad, I'll go read ur new uploads now!
