A month and a half had gone by, Michael still white-washing the effects of the pill, deluding the examiners into thinking the has wasn't feeling a reaction to the drug. The General grew furious, and after the fourth week, he was no where to be seen during most of the tests. Michael had wondered where he was, the first time he didn't see him enter the room behind the glass, but figured it out as soon as he walked back into his corridor.
He had returned from the test early, as he had planned it out, so his mind would still be working fast, and his nose picked up the lingering scent in the air. He recognized the musk at once. It was the General's sweaty aroma. He had searched Michael's room.
Michael had seen the search coming, and had made a hiding spot for his journals. He made it into the back of an old television, that he had found in the storage room. He carefully took it apart, and built a compartment in the back of it, making sure that the television still worked, just incase the General checked it to make sure. A useless television would be a dead giveaway. He kept the TV on a side-table, right beside his desk. He placed stack of movies that he didn't watch beside it, and hooked a dvd player up to it, for good measure. Sometimes the best hiding spots are in plain sight. Nobody expects that. Michael knew the General hadn't found the hiding place. When Michael was on the pill, he remembered the exact position that he left everything in, and could recognize the General's foreign fingerprints on the places he had searched. None were on his books.
The General was getting more and more suspicious of the results showing nothing at the testing. He started springing surprise visits on Michael to keep better tabs on what he was doing. Michael knew that the General suspected there was something wasn't right. He knew the man thought there was something Michael's his room that would expose and incriminate him for tampering with the test results. Michael loved watching the man scan the room, fruitlessly. He had always heard him coming and had time to hide his journals, or at least tuck them under his covers.
When the visits starting getting more unpredictable, Michael put a mirror on his room door, and another small one in the hall, conveniently placed so that he could see the General coming, whenever he would. The General kept trying to sneak up to Michael's room and look in, before saying anything. Michael found it humorous that he never noticed the mirrors. The man is good, but not as good as me.
Michael worried about him finding his writings. Part of him wanted to burn them, or flush them down the toilet, but he told himself that if the General hadn't found them yet, it was unlikely that he would. Michael worried more for Blanco's safety than anything else while he wasn't there. If the General knew how much Michael actually liked his pet rat, he was liable to take him away, or kill the poor creature, just out of spite and hatred for him ruining the testing. Michael had to admit the man was clever to assume something was wrong. He didn't know why the man seemed to hate him so much, he couldn't recall anything he personally had done to him.
When the General came, he would harass Michael with interrogations about the tests. He constantly threatened to kill him if he was lying about the effects, but Michael knew he wouldn't find out, so long as he didn't slip up and get caught writing his journals. He tried to tell Michael they were considering changing the whole formula of the pill, and getting another test subject, but Michael called his bluff. He knew he wouldn't have given Michael warning if it were true, so he figured it must just be a scare-tactic. Not to mention, they would have to start the animal trials all over again, and that would take a while. He couldn't imagine why, with the corruption in this place, that they even did animal trials in the first place. He had started to see that the General didn't really call the shots here, he was a whipping dog of people who had more invested, and he questioned whether they were aware of how the General was running things.
His brain was becoming even more responsive to the drug now, and his writings were piling up. Every time he took it he tried out a new part of his mind, and his control, and he wrote about it until exhaustion forced him to sleep.
After the third test, he stopped feeling sick the next day. Everything about the experiences started to become second nature to him. He was starting to be able to comprehend some of his writings, even when he wasn't on the pill. Practice makes perfect. He told himself, the first time something had clicked while he was sober. He hated the word sober. He didn't think it described it properly, and made him feel as if the drug was merely recreational. It was so much more to him.
He had drawn a new picture of his wife and daughter, and thrown the first ones into a drawer. He looked at them less often with every passing week. Sometimes he hated himself for it, but more often than not his mind was too consumed to think about it. Both on, and off the pill, he devoted his time to his writings. He thought that one day, if he could break-through some barrier, he could get himself to his plateau, without the pill. Then, he could finally escape this place. Then, he could do anything. His family would understand, if they knew what he was going through, he hoped.
After the first month, the testing was upped to twice a week, and the more time Michael spent with the knowledge, the more he craved it. When he wasn't on the pill, he drove himself mad trying to remember and recall the feelings. He read everything he could to do with pharmaceuticals. If the effects of anything else eventually cause long term "damage", he hope the long term effects of the pill would be the knowledge, always being with him. He began to stray away from the Michael he once knew, but he didn't seem to be seeing it.
One morning Michael had gotten the idea to build himself a radio from some appliances he had taken apart. He was getting extremely smart while he wasn't on the pill, but it was never enough to him, and he didn't notice the changes happening to him. He was putting pieces together and wasn't paying attention to the mirror, when the General came in. He caught Michael building it and confiscated all the parts Michael had, and they took everything out of the storage room too. Michael nearly lost his television too. The General told Michael if he caught him doing anything like that again, he would take everything away, beat him, and have his family killed. Michael hated him more and more with each passing week.
Michael had gotten used to playing games of chess by himself. The key was to stay objective, and not pick a side to favour. If you started to favour one side, that side was sure to win, and the challenge was gone. Michael was playing a game when Jim came in with his lunch cart. Michael had grown fond of the times he got to spend with Jim.
Jim seemed to be envious Michael for the knowledge he was gaining, not an a malicious way, but in a curious one. He was inquisitive, and asked Michael as much as he could about his experiences, whenever Michael would open up. It wasn't as often as Jim would have liked, but Michael didn't want to take to risk of anybody knowing he was messing with the tests too much, for Jim's safety, as well as his own.
Michael decided today he would give Jim something more, though. He needed something from him, so it was only fair. He turned his chair from the desk and reset the chess pieces. "Jim, have time for a game?" Michael asked.
"I'd love to, but you know I don't have the time. The guards wait for me." Jim answered back.
"It won't take long, Jim. And if we don't finish, I'll leave it set up for tomorrow." Michael said, and Jim took a seat in the small chair beside his desk.
"Jim, if you had one thing you wished you could do, what would it be? Besides getting out of here." Michael asked, as he moved a pawn, and Jim followed.
"I don't know, that's a hard question to answer on the spot. I might need some time to think about that one. What do you mean? Like, anything? Like, magic?" Jim asked and Michael moved another piece.
"Anything at all." Michael answered. Jim looked at the board.
"I'd have to think about it... But maybe being able to tell the future, or read people's minds, or maybe fly, but if you mean realistic, I'm not sure, how about you? And why do you ask?" Jim seemed curious. He moved a chess piece.
"I just wanted to see what your answer would be." Michael looked at Jim as he made his move. "Are you sure you want to do that?"
"I'm never sure, especially playing against you." Jim said, and Michael moved a piece.
"Check-mate." Michael said, and paused. "Never make a move unless you're sure about it, Jim. That's something I learned back in the army. If you act without thinking, or too quickly, you'll get yourself killed, and even if you do win, somehow, you won't have learned anything. If you aren't certain, always take the time to think and decide carefully. Move then, only when the answer comes."
"That makes sense." Jim said.
"If you want to fly Jim, maybe you will one day. Maybe we both can. I'm going to need your help, though." Michael said, mysteriously.
"What kind of help do you mean?" Jim looked nervous.
"Just information, Jim. Any information... and the password to my wing." Michael said, knowing Jim wouldn't like that idea.
"Michael... I can't. They would kill me if they found me snooping, not to mention if you were caught out, they would know it was me who gave you the code."
"They wouldn't know it was you for sure, unless one of us admitted it, or you get caught red handed writing it down."
"How? How am I going to get the password?" Jim asked, desperately. Michael could tell he didn't want to be asked this.
"Just wait, Jim, and when the time comes, make your move." Michael knocked Jim's king piece over. "If there I've realized, there aren't many things in this life that are impossible."
Jim looked back at Michael for a minute. Michael didn't know if he would do it, but Jim caved.
Jim looked up at Michael and into his eyes. He knew why he wanted the code, and would need more of them.
"I'll do it, Michael, but then it's up to you to find anything else you need... And as my reward... When you figure out how you're going to go...You're taking me with you." Jim made him swear.
"I will." Michael promised.