EDEN (Completed) (EDEN Series Book 1)

Chapter 10

I struggle to free myself from the clutches of the guards, but my weak arms are no match for their strength. A surplus of possibilities plague my mind, each outcome worse than the last. The doctor beside him looks as fraught as we all are. Why did Sydney have to leave tonight? I can't hear the voice. I'm weak. I'm powerless, but I can't give up, I can't.

"You're new here. So, I understand that you don't get the gravity of the situation you're in. But I can't go on letting you disrespect me like you have today. I think all of you need a reminder of who's in charge," Vince says, ominously.

He paces around Lucy's bed and unplugs one of the machines. I'm not sure what they do, but they have to be helping her stay alive. I squirm and twist even harder, but I can't overpower the three men holding me back. light be happening. Please, tell me I'm dreaming.

"Only you can save her, Alice. Come on, grab me by my neck again. Kill me if you can. Let's see how strong you really are!" Vince taunts.

The guards shove me into the glass, and the impact dazes me. The world swirls as I try to summon any ounce of strength. I feel nothing; I feel no power. Vince unplugs another machine, and the slowing beep of Lucy's heart monitor is the only thing I can focus on.

"Please... let her go, please. She's all I have left... take me instead," I cry.

"I can't hurt my new toy," he replies.

His new toy? I'm nobody's toy, and I never will be. He bends down to the plug connected to the heart monitor. Soon after he touches it, he pulls away and leaves it plugged in, smiling at me treacherously. I jiggle the door handle, only to find out it's locked. I can't take this. I jerk the lock to the point where I'm just trying to break it. I can tell it won't budge, so I divert my attention the glass. The window vibrates as I punch it with all the force I have. I hit it until I feel my knuckles start to bleed, but the pain isn't enough for me to succumb. I punch it over and over until I can feel my hands throbbing. The window screeches as I drop to my knees, dragging my bloody palms across the glass on the way down.

"...Sydney... Sydney will never let you get away with anything you're planning," I murmur.

He laughs my words off like he's been waiting for me to try to sway his corrupt mind. I know he wants me to beg, and I'll do it if it means Lucy will be okay. But, I thought Sydney had power over him. I've seen her put Vince in his place with my own eyes. Shouldn't he be shaking in his boots right now? He shoves the doctor towards me and nudges his head forward.

"The... Uh... P-patient-"

"Don't tell me you're getting cold feet. That'd be really unfortunate for you, Dr. Bolton," Vince interjects.

"N-no sir, I'm not. The patient went into cardiac arrest in the middle of the night. We did all we could, but we couldn't save her. She was pronounced dead at 3:05 am. We have informed the inmate, Eden, with the news of the tragedy."

Vince claps and nods, praising the doctor.

"This guy deserves an Oscar. Truly an inspiration to us all," he sneers.

"Vincent, that is quite enough!" Aroma roars.

Yeah, this ain't right, man!" Adds Decoy.

Vince looks down at Lucy, and then back at me. He snatches a pillow from behind her head and holds it toward me. The look on his face is purely sinister. I feel like I'm looking right at the devil himself.

"This isn't about right or wrong," Vince says, shaking his head. "I told her she would pay. I think I'm being more than generous by giving her a chance to stop me. If this girl dies, it's because you're weak, Alice."

He bursts into a cynical bellow of laughter. It feels like there's an eternity between each breath I take. He holds the pillow over Lucy's face, and all I can hear is the heart monitor increasing in speed.

Beep....

Beep....

The uproar from everyone around me is shadowed by me drifting, slowly, away from consciousness. I turn to them, in a blur, to see them all kicking and screaming, but the guards outnumber us, greatly. Time seems to stand still, and my vision spins as I force myself to my feet.

Beep...

The monitor is starting to slow. I have to do something, anything to save her. The voice eludes me once again. I slam my fist against the glass a few more times. It doesn't so much as crack from my frail strikes.

Beep...

"Show me, Alice, show me the strength of my new weapon!" Vince yells.

I... have no strength. I'm weak. I couldn't save my parents, and now, I can't even save the only person I have left. Lucy's body begins to shake, violently. Tears erupt from my eyes. I can't breathe...

"Please... Just, please... stop..."

The monitor lets out a loud, continuous beeping noise. Lucy stops moving, entirely. My world has been taken from me. I fall to the ground, defeated.

I feel numb...

I'm weak....

"I'm very disappointed in you, Alice. Take them away," Vince commands.

The guards pick me up, but my body has other plans. I start to kick and scream, but I'm stifled when I feel a strike to my side. It doesn't hurt, though, nothing hurts, now. My expression turns empty, and I've become a shell of my former self, like a mannequin with no soul, or a puppet with no master. Death and destruction fill my mind, but it isn't the voice, it's me.

They toss me back into my room and slam the door shut. I sprint to it and start banging my injured hands against it. I don't know why I'm doing this, hell, I don't know anything anymore. The water droplets seem louder than before. My head falls into the palms of my hands; this noise is driving me crazy.

"Shut up!" I scream.

I swipe and swing at the droplets as they fall to the ground.

I'll kill them.

I'll kill everyone.

The exhaustion renders me to my knees. I curl up in the corner and begin to cry. The pain feels like there's a knife stuck in my chest, the pain of knowing that this is all my fault. The lights begin to flicker, more prevalently than a normal electrical surge, and a sudden chill blankets my body.

"Alice..." I hear whispered.

"W-what...Who's there!?"

An arm reaches out of the blackness of the puddle under the leaky pipe. The flickering lights make it all the more terrifying. A hand places itself on the ground, and a dark figure pulls itself out of the water. It looks like me, except its skin is gray and dripping wet. Its eyes are completely black, and it's long, dark hair is accented by cobwebs and spiders. Have I completely lost my mind?

"Why do you shut me out, Alice?" It asks.

"I.. I don't know who you-"

"Oh, but you do know me," it replies.

"Are you the voice? Are you... me?" I question.

"I'm who you could be, who you should be. Eden, I believe is the name they have given us."

It circles me, scanning me from head to toe. Its aura of disapproval showers me. This is who I should be? I don't know who I should be. I don't know who I am right now.

"You disgust me, Alice," it whispers. "You're weak; I am strong. They're afraid of us. Why do you let them control us when we could kill them all? Let me guide us, let me make us powerful."

I want to be strong. My parents died because I'm weak. Lucy died because I'm weak. I need power; I need the power to end all of their lives. I have no other options anymore. It's time to stop shutting my gift out. It's time to stop running from who I am. I nod, and it puts its hand out towards me. Our palms meet, and in a flash of the flickering light, it disappears. I hear the voice again. It gives me strength. The voice and I are now one. It is me; I am it.

I am Eden.