I spent the night writhing in pain. I had endured more than my share of pain in my life, but this was beyond anything I had ever experienced. The serum they had injected me with felt like a swarm a bees stinging from the inside a 1000 times a second. I felt as if I my blood vessels might burst from the pressure and my heart beat was so fast that it seemed like it was vibrating.
No one came to check on me. They abandoned me to whatever fate had in store for me. A few times, I went into seizure until my body recovered to a steady level of nearly tolerable pain. Still, no one came to my aid.
I guessed that it was a few hours later when I opened my eyes. I wasn't sure if I had passed out from the pain, or simply fallen asleep. It felt like my body had processed most of the serum, but I was exhausted beyond measure. My muscles were sore and I was dangerously dehydrated. Even my bones felt tired from the burning sensation they had endured for hours during the night.
"Hey, princess," a gruff voice sounded from somewhere to my left. I slowly rolled my head towards the sound. Pi was lying on a bed identical to mine 10 feet away. I was a little surprised to see him alive. An unmutated person wouldn't have survived the first few seconds of the brutal beating I had given him.
"This is quite the makeover you gave me." His voice was strained. He grabbed at his ribs as he let out a weak cough. He wasn't wrong. His face was a grotesque mass of pulverized meat. "I suppose this makes us even now." It was a statement, not a question. "And by the looks of you, I'd say I'm still going to come out on top. Tough break," he feigned sympathy. Before I could respond, the door to the lab opened, and the sadistic blonde doctor entered.
"You're both awake! Delightful!" She clapped her hands together, sounding entirely too pleased. "I'll see to you as soon as I finish up with Aria," she said, looking at Pi. She turned to me and walked over to my bed.
"How are you feeling today," she asked me in a bright, cheery voice that in no way fit the situation.
"Peachy," I replied sarcastically.
"Good!" she said, ignoring my sarcasm. "Because, your next round of treatment starts right now." She picked up a syringe filled with the same ugly, brownish liquid from the night before.
"Seriously?" I asked in disbelief. They never administered treatments less than a couple of weeks apart. A few hours seemed ludicrous.
"Seriously," she replied with a menacing smile. "The serum has to run through your system constantly, or it won't work."
"For how long?"
"Until you are compliant."
"So, this is torture?" I was beginning to feel that the serum might be nothing more than an instrument of pain.
"Essentially," she agreed with a disinterested shrug. She jabbed the needle into my vein without warning.
"Good luck, your highness," she said with a backwards wave, walking away to attend to Pi.
The serum took effect much more quickly this time. My veins began to burn almost instantly. Within minutes, I was delirious with pain. I thought I might have said words in between my screams, but it was hard to know for sure what they were. After about an hour or so, relief finally came when I blacked out.
I lost track of everything after that. I had no idea how many rounds of treatment I'd undergone, or how long it had been since I started them. I no longer knew where I was. They had moved me from the lab, but I had not been aware enough to pay attention to where they had moved me.
At some point, while I was in a semi-conscious state as a round of serum wore off, Pi'ilani's face floated above me. I had no idea if it was real or not, even as it spoke to me.
"I'm going to marry your girl in a few days," the disembodied face said. "And then she'll be all mine. It's a shame you'll miss the wedding."
I tried to hit the face, but I was too weak to lift my arm. The face chuckled victoriously and disappeared.
An infinite amount of time later, the figure of my mother appeared at the side of my bed. She floated in and out of my vision, and her features seemed contorted. It made me giggle weakly.
"I'm glad you find your situation amusing," she said dryly. More giggles.
"Are you ready to comply, now?" I giggled at her, again. "Yes, yes. Very insightful, dear." I must've inherited my sarcastic wit from her. "How about a test run, then? We'll take you off the serum, and if you prove to be cooperative, we won't put you back on it. How does that sound?" Giggles. "Excellent! I'll come back in an hour or so, so that you can recover."
Mother's features contorted even more as she stood up and floated from the room. None of her limbs seemed to move as she left. It elicited another delirious giggle from me.
As I lay there in the bed, I could feel my faculties return. The fog began to lift from my brain, my vision became increasingly focused, and my strength was growing.
After about an hour, I decided to test myself by sitting up. I was dizzy at first from lying prone for who knows how long. I managed to wait out the spins, and my equilibrium leveled out.
I looked around at my surroundings. I couldn't readily identify the room I was in. It seemed like it should be familiar, but I certainly hadn't been in here for some time. It was fairly bare and industrial. There was a chair next to my bed for visitors and a few pieces of medical equipment set up around my bed. Otherwise, the room was empty, and the grey, concrete walls gave the place an extra depressing feel.
The door opened suddenly, and my mother stepped into the room.
"You're looking quite well, Aria, she said with surprise. "How do you feel?"
"Alright," I responded truthfully.
"Good. Can you walk?"
I stood up and tested my weight. My legs felt weak and wobbly from disuse. At that moment, I was glad for the constant seizures the treatment had caused me. Without them to activate my muscles while I was bedridden, I would not have been able to stand on my own.
"Impressive," my mother noted as she observed my efforts. "Let's try a quick walk," she said, eager to test my limits. As we stepped through the doorway, I realized where we were. It was the rat cage, where they conducted tests on the normal children they managed to kidnap or coerce into coming here. It was here that Róisín had come to start a new life, and most likely where they had brought her to die. Vivid images of Róisín's flaming red hair and emerald eyes flashed before me. That, coupled with the pervasive smell of decay in the room, almost caused me to throw up, but I kept my composure.
My mother observed me silently as we proceeded into the lab. Once she was satisfied that I was not in danger of collapsing, she gestured to the door leading out into the hallway.
"I think you are ready for a trip back to your quarters," she declared. "We need to pick you out a dress for the wedding tomorrow."
"Wedding?" My voice cracked.
"Of course, dear. Pi'ilani and Nima's wedding is tomorrow. You need to look presentable."
I froze. I hadn't hallucinated Pi's face, and the things it had told me, while I was only partially conscious. Suddenly, I felt as if I had run into a brick wall. In my delirium, I had completely forgotten that Nima was locked away. If she was to marry tomorrow, at least I knew she wasn't dead. However, I knew that whatever Pi would do to her afterwards would be much worse than death. I had to find her.
"Aria?" Mother questioned my sudden halt.
"Where is she?" I said through gritted teeth.
"Where is who, dear?"
"Where. Is. Nima." My blood pressure was increasing rapidly.
"Now Aria, you needn't worry yourself about her. She is fine. We need to pick you out an outfit for tomorrow. Keep moving, please." I stayed rooted to the spot. My mother's expression changed from sweet and encouraging, to one of admonition. "Aria, do you remember what I told you earlier? If you do not comply, we will resume your treatment."
I remembered alright. I also remembered that the doctor had told me when I started the treatments that if they reintroduced the serum into my system, it would almost certainly kill me. I didn't care. I stared my mother down defiantly.
"Where is she," I spat. My nostrils flared as I breathed heavily through my nose. I felt like a raging bull about to charge. Mother took a moment to look me up and down, calculating her next move. I was entirely prepared for her to summon some burly guards to haul me back to the rat cage for more treatments, and most likely my death.
"Fine," she said curtly. Her response took me completely by surprise, but she ignored the dumbfounded look on my face. "Follow me, please. I will take you to her."
This was wrong in the most terrifying way. My mother never lost, ever. There was no way she would just give up like this. Surely, there was someone waiting around a corner to inflict some horror upon me, or to capture me for more treatments. As we wound through the compound, I became more and more nervous. I broke into a cold sweat, and my heart fluttered erratically.
We reached a heavy steel door at the end of a dead end hallway. There was no door handle, only a number keypad mounted on the wall beside the door frame. Mother typed 6 digits into the keypad, and I heard the click of the lock mechanism disengaging. The door swung open a crack, and Mother pushed it open the rest of the way. I followed her into the dark room. It was damp and smelled of mold, but I couldn't see anything beyond the small circle of light spilling onto the concrete floor from the hallway.
"Lights!" Mother hollered abruptly, making me jump. Bright fluorescent lights flickered to life, illuminating the room. I had to shade my eyes until they adjusted to the sudden change in brightness. We were in a prison. Barred cells surrounded the exterior of the room. Each one was furnished with only an uncomfortable cot and a toilet. There were six in total, and they were all empty, except for two.
"Nima!" I cried, running up to her barred cell. "Are you alright? I'm going to get you out of here," I told her, looking around for some means of releasing her.
"I'm fine, Aria." She took my hand in hers with a reassuring squeeze. "You just take care of you." She gave me a warm smile that didn't reach her sad eyes. She did seem to be fine, more or less. Aside from looking a little pale and weakened from the lack of sun and exercise, she looked just as she had last time I saw her. Satisfied that she was not in any immediate danger, I glanced into the next cell to see who the other prisoner was.
I almost didn't recognize the person sitting in front of me as my father. His condition was a stark contrast to Nima's. He looked frail, gaunt, and malnourished. His eyes were out of focus as he lay on his cot, staring up at the ceiling. He didn't look at me or acknowledge my presence as I stood at the bars of his cell. I was suddenly overcome with rage. I turned to face my mother as the heat rose in my cheeks.
"Release them." I ordered.
"Now, Aria, dear-"
"No! You let them go, or so help me!"
"You'll what?" Mother chuckled. "You are weak and alone, child. There's nothing you can do." She turned away from me to Nima, dismissing me completely.
"Nima, dear, I have brought you a wedding present," she said in her sickly sweet voice. She gestured to me, and I cocked my head in confusion. "I know that you are very much in love with my daughter. So, on the eve of your wedding, I wanted to give you one last chance to see her. Through her own decisions, she has chosen to die tonight, and so she shall. They say that closure makes it easier to move on. Tonight, I will help you gain closure by allowing you to watch the light leave her eyes as she perishes. Then, tomorrow you will be married, and we can all move on from this absurd nonsense."
Mother waved to someone who had been standing unnoticed in the shadows behind the steel door. Blondie the Sadist stepped into the light. In her hands, she held a red velvet pillow bearing a syringe filled with the ugly brown liquid I recognized as the serum they had used for my treatments. I would have laughed at the dramatic flair that the pillow added, if not for the unsettling knowledge that I was about to die.
I was still too weak to run, and there was nowhere for me to go anyway. My mother walked up to Doctor Sadist and took the syringe from the pillow melodramatically. My body grew warm and began to tingle as I was filled with the primal fear that only comes when one's death is imminent. I was absolutely terrified. I didn't want to die, but I was powerless to stop it. I knew my mother would easily overpower me in my current state if I tried to fight, and it would only delay the inevitable.
I exhaled resolutely through my nose. If I was going to die, I was going to do it with as much dignity as I could muster. I would not go down a coward. Mother walked up to me slowly. She held out the hand that wasn't holding the syringe, and I placed my arm in it gently, with the inside of my elbow facing up.
All of my senses were heightened by the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I admired the sway of my mother's long, red skirt. I tuned into the sound Nima's breathing on the other side of the room. I caught a faint scent of her sweet aroma and it flooded my brain with precious memories: the first time I saw her, teaching her to play tennis, our first kiss on the rooftop, holding her in her bed as she recovered from treatment, her brilliant smile, her soft, warm skin, making love under the stars. I gathered my memories of her in my mind and clung to them like a life preserver, using them to keep me standing tall as Mother lined the needle up with my vein.
"No!" Nima screamed from her cell. "Please, no..." she begged through her choking sobs. I refused to look at her for fear that it would shatter my resolve. I stuck my chin out defiantly as my mother eased the needle through my skin and into the bright blue vein. Everything seemed surreal as I watched her squeeze the plunger and inject the serum into my system. It was as if I was watching an actor die in a movie about my life.
Once the syringe was empty, mother removed it from my arm and placed it back on its silly, velvet pillow. She turned to face me again, waiting for something to happen. I looked her square in the eye, refusing to flinch or make a sound despite the fact that pain was beginning to erupt all over my body.
The pain was indescribable as it grew and grew. I still showed no outward sign of weakness.My mother's lip quivered in an enraged sneer at my final act of defiance. Finally, the pain become unbearable and I collapsed on the floor. I watched my mother's black heels as she retreated from the room, not even bothering to see my demise through to its conclusion.
"Ariaaa!" I heard Nima scream. My senses were fading quickly. The pain dulled and disappeared altogether as my body slowly gave out. I thought I heard the distant screech of an alarm, but I couldn't understand why. Maybe it was just a part of dying. Was that shouting? It sounded like too many voices for the three people who remained in the room. It felt like someone was shoving cotton balls in my ears as my hearing became muddled. A large mass appeared on the floor in front of me, a person maybe? It was hard to think, or to care. My vision blurred at the edges and shrank until all I could see was light. I felt my heartbeat slow and weaken to almost nothing.
The image of Nima's beautiful face swam before me, my final parting gift before I departed from the world. It brought a weak smile to my lips. I felt an overwhelming sense of calm and contentment as my muscles relaxed. At last, my heartbeat stopped altogether, my vision faded to nothingness, and I was dead.