The next day, I'm in a room and the recordings are about to start playing on some screen the tech kid made.
I tried to not look too stiff as the old man slid the recording into the machine.
Soon, Vesperas room popped up with me lying on the table where the camera was angled at, already strapped down. I could see all the needles and small cups on the cart and refrained from cringing.
The thought of all of them stabbing my skin over and over again made me itch to rub my arm but I didn't move. I can't show any weakness.
"Shall we begin now?" Vesperas voice cackled through the speakers as she snapped on her gloves.
She told me what she was going to do and then picked up the first syringe.
"Couldn't you have just drank a small cup of limbium?" The teal eyes boy asked but he didn't look at me, which I'm thankful for. I don't think I can look anyone in the eyes right now.
"Vespera prefers needles." I saw everyone in the room shudder.
Now that they mentioned it, how did they even know I was allergic to limbium?
She inserted the needle in my arm. I watched as my eyes closed and my body began to shut down. The whole minute, Vespera watched me with observing eyes and a neutral face, nodding and writing notes down on her paper.
On and on she went, needle after needle. I answered all the useless questions they had because they could easily get them if they read the files they found with these tapes.
We watched plenty of videos, some I didn't even know I was being recorded for, until everyone seemed equally freaked out.
"Alright Ms. Foster, we just need for you to confirm a couple of things before we all leave. On your files, there's some things that weren't recorded so just nod if they did it and shake your head if not."
I yawned, nodding along.
"Good. There's a section on here titled "punishments." It has a list so you can just confirm and we can talk about them later. Number one, kept in a coffin for three and a half hours."
"It was just three hours, I counted. I can also tell you that everything on that list is true and you don't need to read them off to me." I avoided eye contact with everyone as I stood but didn't make it too obvious. "Are we all done here?"
Mr. Forkle nodded for the guards to escort me to my room. The guards stood outside the door after checking me and the room, which was unmatchable to my old bedroom. the walls and bed were white, which might make it sound boring but it just added to the light effect on the room. The other color in there was gray, which was strangely comforting and unsettling at the same time since it was the color of my old room.
There was a gray carpet, desk, chair, lamp, and nightstand, you get the point. The bathroom was just as grand, with a marble counter and an unnecessarily big bathtub. The closet had already been filled to the brim with dresses I would never wear and a few plain tunics.
I sighed as I lay on the bed, almost falling asleep immediately from how comfortable it was when someone knocked on the door.
"Come in," I mumbled into the fluffy pillow I couldn't take my head out of.
The door opened and I heard a snort. "Comfortable?"
"I was until you came in," I muttered.
"Ouch." he didn't say anything else so I looked up to see if he was still there. He was.
"What are you doing here? Don't you have some other parent to disappoint?" I said, hoping this would make him leave. Gisela always talked about him when she got a chance. Sometimes in a good way, most of the time in a someone-call-for-help-and-alert-everyone-there-is-a-psychopath-over-here way.
"Wow, someone's feeling snappy today. But no, I just wanted to come up here to check on you, you know make sure you're not running away or planning all our deaths." Hmmm. So he doesn't buy the "poor girl was kidnapped and tortured all her life" thing. Too bad, could have been fun to mess with him a bit.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Keefe snorted. "You may have fooled everyone else with your little innocent charade, but they weren't the ones who talked to you in your cell days ago. They didn't see how committed you are to the Neverseen. I tried to get you to come to the right side, but you don't even care that what they're doing is wrong, do you? You're just as bad as them. Tell me, have you ever killed someone for them? Tortured for them? Stolen for them?" His voice was fierce, like it was meant to hurt but I didn't even blink. He doesn't know enough about me to hurt me.
"You know, it's funny. You were meant for the Neverseen yet here you are, working for the Black Swan. does it keep you up at night, wondering how your mother feels about you? How she only sees you as a science experiment? How she'll never see you as her son, only her creation? Or maybe It's more on how your dad feels about you-" I'm cut off by him storming up to my bed, where I sit up to meet him face to face.
"You don't know anything about that."
"I know more than you would think."
He seems to be having a mental fight with himself on whether or not it would be worth it to fight me right now. His goody-two-shoes side must have won because he looks away from me and backs away slightly.
"I don't want to be your enemy. We're more alike than you would think, but hurt my friends and I won't stop until I get you back."
"Too bad, your friends seem like so much fun to mess with. The one with teal eyes seems especially interesting. I could do some real damage with her." I'm trying to get on his nerves. I'm not sure why, but that little spark in his eye when he gets annoyed is so easy to light.
"Why don't you feel anything? You just threatened to hurt a girl your age, and you don't even feel bad about it. Is this what they did to you? Made you into a monster? Or were you always like this? Hurting people for fun, just because you can. I know you enjoy making me scared of you because that's the only thing you know how to do. You'll never stop and think for a second about what it's doing to everyone around you as long as you get your way."
No. Hes wrong. I'm not like that.
He went on.
"And how dare you bring up my parents? You don't even know who your real parents are. No wonder they gave up on you when you were born, they could probably see what a monster you were from the start."
No.
No.
No.
He's wrong. He doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm not a monster. I'm not a monster. I'm not a monster.
I repeated these words in my head to try and soothe the black rage tugging at my rib cage, but the word monster made me lose control even more for some reason.
I attempt to get a grip, shutting my eyes tightly, drowning out Keefe's words. It's all too much. I need to get back into control. This isn't me. Why am I so angry? Why can't I manage it?
Before I know it, my eyes are open and watching Keefe Sencen wither on the ground in pain.
Did I do that?
"Keefe? Where did you go?" A voice called from somewhere in the house. I cursed under my breath and jumped down from the comfortable bed.
"Stop." I hiss at him, but he doesn't seem to hear me.
"Look I'm sorry, just get up before they see you," I whisper harshly into his ear. He mumbles nonsense, seemingly completely out of it.
"Keefe? Keefe, you need to get up right now." I can start to hear footsteps along the hall leading up to my door.
If they see him like this, all of this will go away. Back to the small cell and no showers. Back to no escaping. I need to think of something, and quick.
I look around for something to hide him in and my gaze falls to under the bed. Hastily, I drag him by his feet under the bed, only having time to tuck his legs under and jump on the bed myself before someone peeks into the room.
I'm not sure who it was because I was pretending to be asleep, but whoever it was stepped into the room.
They walked around for a second. I prayed to anything and everything above that Keefe wouldn't wake up and make this look very, very wrong.
The person stood so close to the bed, I could hear their breath, but after a minute they walked out of the room, softly shutting the door behind them. I let out the biggest sigh of relief anyone has ever breathed out.
That was too close.
Heyyyyyy. So it's definitely been a minute (aka half a year) since I have written but schools drowning me rn. I'll see when I can update after all my SOLs and final exams are over but for now, I'll be taking a pause on my stories until all of that is over. (Also I might change this part completely or delete it so lmk if you like it or not) bye lovessssss <33333