Silence.
It was all she had heard when she awoke. Yet, the silence was painful, as if someone had their hands on her throat and was forcing her under the ocean's surface. In this state, however, she couldn't pry those imaginary hands off of her and spill out the water that was filling her lungs. The silence was killing her, like millions of tiny prick needles sticking themselves into her heart and almost distracting her from the hands on her neck.
She used to love silence. Those single moments, those rare occasions, when her father wasn't yelling and her mother wasn't sobbing. She could run her hands through her brother's hair and whisper hushed things of comfort. Silence then had been hopeful and was a guarantee of peace.
Why... was silence now her enemy?
"Your brain waves are telling me you're awake, open your eyes."
The voice cut through the silence like a blade, forcing a flinch as her only response. Her lips parted, and the imaginary water spilled down her mouth.
"Lyra?"
Her eyelids were heavy, but her eyes opened eventually and rested on the man in the room. He was leaning back in a chair besides her hospital-like bed, and checking his watch. He let out a low whistle, sitting up.
"You sure recovered quick, didn't you?" the man mused.
Lyra hadn't noticed that her bed had been reclined upwards until now, but she gave the slight impression of someone already sitting. As she thought that, her other senses kicked in. People were talking outside the door to her room, there was a rotting taste in her mouth of almost spoiled milk, the place smelled dreadfully of strong medicine, and there was an IV in her left wrist. "W-what... W-... What happened?"
The man sighed and stared at anywhere but the girl. "We brought you back... As in, to life. We brought you back from the dead. Sorta."
"Wait-wait-wait-wait-wait," Lyra spluttered. "W-wait... What do you... mean?"
"You were dead for a couple of hours," the man explained. "You were involuntarily put into a program, and we apologize for that. That aside, this program is still just mindless experiments as far as we know. However, our goal was to bring back someone who had already died... Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, we did it..."
Lyra's hands were shaking, bottom lip quivering. "You're- You're joking... You have got to be kidding me... Are you saying I died? And then came back? What do you think this is!? A freaking zombie movie?!"
"Lyra, try to understand-" the man attempts but it's no use. Lyra isn't in control of the words flowing out of her mouth.
"Where are they!? My brother and my mother!? What happened?! Why am I here and what do you mean I died!? There's no way! I could never die! What on earth could have possible killed me?! Not just that, but how can you bring someone back?! That's not the way the world works, you moron! YOU CAN'T BRING BACK THE DEAD."
"Please..." the man tried. "You only need to understand..."
"Understand?!" Lyra screeched. "GIVE ME MY MOTHER AND BROTHER! WHERE ARE THEY!?"
"They think you're dead," the man deadpanned and then looked shocked at his own words. As he saw Lyra freeze, he desperately tried to say something. "I-I... I know what you're gonna say. There's nothing we can do though. You're dangerous."
"Dangerous...?" Lyra whispered, worry falling into her eyes.
The man lets out a slow breath in relief. "We reanimated a brain, and p-please do take this into account, but.... Your brain has been showing some unnatural activity, you can develop..."
"A brain tumor...?" Lyra guessed solemnly.
The man shook his head. "N-no... It's affecting your... Well, more like your thoughts... Things like emotions and physical actions... It's not so much harmful to you, but to those around you. You see, you could develop empathy and obsessions and dementia and delusions..."
Lyra's a smart girl.
"You could hurt the people you hold dear," the man goes on.
She knows that this means... she's not going to be the same anymore. Not ever.
"We're going to have to take you in," the man states. "We will have to change your appearance and get you under treatment... But you won't be a burden, I'll assure of that."
Lyra can't see Toby or their mother again. If she hurts them, then she'd be just like her father... Right?
"It's not that bad... The Haven, it- it's not that bad..."
Mother had never run out of a room so fast, or shut a door for that matter, but she was out. She was sitting on the marble floor of the hallway, outside what used to be Slender's containment room. He had escaped, ripping apart so many of her coworkers... and all she had done was lock the door.
She'd shut the door on their screams, surrounding herself with painful silence. Said silence couldn't prevent her from reminiscing about things she hardly thought about anymore.
Was that her original reason for joining The Haven? Was that really it? To save her brother...? Had those warnings of concerning brain activity finally caught up with her?
No... No. Mother was fine, everything was fine. She couldn't afford to think about what crazed actions her dysfunctional brain had caused. Too many others things were already lost.
Maybe... even herself. Maybe even the real Lyra was lost... Somewhere.