“Wh-?” I attempted to form a short question, but I couldn’t quite get the word out.
I looked down to watch the nurse remove the long shot needle from my vein.
“Shh…” She spoke quietly, placing the needle back on the tray to the side. “This will help you sleep. Rest up, Skye; you’ll need your strength.”
“Huh…?” I finally managed out a full word.
The nurse took a small, but surprisingly clean, cloth and wiped off the area where I had received my most recent shot. I tried to focus my eyes on her and her actions but my vision started to become blurry, especially in my right eye.
“N…N…” I mumbled quietly, my head beginning to feel lighter.
I heard the nurse move a few more objects around beside me, and then the sound of her footsteps moving away from me.
“Sweet dreams, Skye…”
_____
“Heart rate?”
“Low…”
“Blood pressure?”
“Stable, at least for now…”
I heard two very familiar voices speak near me as I began to regain consciousness.
I kept my eyes closed as I listened to the doctor’s voice speak up again beside me.
“She’s still unconscious. Check twenty-two’s condition, then.”
I heard both the nurse and doctors’ footsteps leave my side and walk towards a different area away from me. My ears picked up a sort of soft, crying sound along with the movement of a few, small objects.
“Heart rate?” The doctor’s voice echoed in a drill-like manor.
“High…” The nurse responded to him slowly and unsurely.
“Blood pressure and other signs?” The doctor prompted.
A few more objects were moved around before she could reply.
“She’s doing better.”
I felt my nose twitch, and then heard a silence in the room. I still kept my eyes shut, trying desperately to stay calm and relaxed.
“Give twenty-three something to help her wake up- she’s been out too long,” The doctor’s stern voice interrupted the quietness. Loud footsteps followed his statement, leading up to the sound of a door opening and shutting sharply.
A different kind of footsteps afterwards reproached my side. I could instantly recognize them as the nurse’s.
A small bang and a quick movement occurred by my right side, and I tried to keep my breaths down to a slow and quiet rate. A cold hand then touched my right upper arm, and I had to resist the strong urge to pull back. I felt a familiar sensation of a cold, long needle push itself into my skin.
I felt the nurse’s warm breaths above me. I also felt her slowly release the shot from my arm, along with the removal of her hand from my skin. She made another quiet bang-like noise beside me before her footsteps carried her away and towards the door. I listened intently as she opened and shut the door similarly to how the doctor had done before her.
A cold silence fell around me.
At least until the soft crying noises came back.
I cautiously began to open both my eyes, but didn’t get far before a stinging pain shot up to my whole right eye.
I made a small but sharp inhale as a result of the pain.
I gave myself a few seconds before trying to open my eyes slowly again. Just like before, the pain reoccurred in only my right eye.
I relaxed my eyelids again for a moment, and then decided to only open my left eye. I did so extremely slowly, blinking rapidly while squeezing my other eye closed tightly.
I took in my surroundings fairly quickly, struggling to keep just my left eye opened. The pain continued in my right eye, but it wasn’t nearly as intense as it would be with it opened.
I first noticed that the room itself was extremely bright and fairly large. I, myself, was sitting in a wide chair and lying down partially at about a one-hundred and ten degree angle. And sitting across from me at what seemed to be a long distance away was another person.
I swiftly brought my right hand up to cover my right eye, making viewing everything more comfortable. I sat myself up a little, and focused my vision across the room.
The crying sounds were coming from the only other person in the room, little girl that I had seen before. I looked her over quickly, seeing that she was tied down onto her chair by the only arm she had. She sat in a chair similar to mine, and her face and hair was covered in dried bloodstains.
She abruptly halted her cries when she noticed that I was awake.
She looked me over slowly before mumbling a silent word.
“Help…”
My mouth almost dropped and my only open eye widened. I tried to reply to her, but I couldn’t manage anything out. I looked down hurriedly and realized I wasn’t tied down like she was.
I looked back up at her and practically shot out of my chair.
I ran over to her, keeping my hand pressed down over my eye. I crouched down to her level once I got to her.
“Oh my God…” I whispered under my breath, reaching out with my free hand to touch her right shoulder. Under the tiny short sleeve of her yellow tee shirt was only a bandaged stump of an arm. Tears dwelled behind my eyes instantly, which made the pain worse again in my right eye.
“I just want to go home…” The little girl’s tiny voice whimpered out.
I snapped my full attention back up to her face. I looked her expression over with my impaired vision, focusing on the tears and blood dried all over her cheeks. I reached up and rubbed some of it away, forcing a small but comforting smile to her.
“You will…” I partially choked out, “I’ll get you home, I promise…”
The dark-skinned girl slowed her cries a moment and stared up at me. I opened my mouth to say something else to comfort her, but I honestly couldn’t think anything really comforting to say in this situation.
“W-what’s your name?” I finally decided to ask her.
“Jasmine,” She replied softly, “I’m eight.”
I blinked my opened eye a few times rapidly to keep the tears back again.
“You have such a pretty name, Jasmine.”
“What’s yours?” She quickly replied.
“Um,” I began to reply. I looked away from her a moment, then returned my gaze back before finishing.
“I’m Skye. I’m sixteen.”
“I like your name more,” She responded, slightly louder than before.
I flashed her a genuine smile, searching her face for something else to say. My smile slowly faded when I couldn’t think of anything, and I moved my view downwards. My eye refocused itself on the little girl’s empty space of an arm.
“Jasmine,” I eventually spoke up again, “Did they do anything else to you?” I waited a few seconds, and when she didn’t reply I looked back up at her.
She slowly shook her head ‘no’.
“Does your… shoulder hurt?” I questioned. She took longer this time to respond, but still shook her head in response.
“Okay…” I stood myself back up from my crouching position, and attempted to open my right eye again slowly. I quickly released that it would hurt too much, and gave up after making a few mutters in pain.
I returned my hand to the wounded eye, and looked back down at Jasmine. I saw the belt tied tightly around her left wrist, and reached down to untie it instantaneously. I removed the hand over my right eye as I did so, and I had to squeeze my eye closed harder without it in order to prevent the pain.
I swiftly unbuckled the belt-like tie, and threw it aside, releasing the girl from its grip. I then placed my right hand back over my eye, and reached down my free hand in front of her. She looked up at me momentarily before grabbing it with her only hand, and I used it to help her stand up out of the chair. Once I got her onto her feet, I let go and looked around the room quickly for some type of weapon; it’s not like there wouldn’t be at least one lying around.
I quickly spied a small arrangement of knives on a well-lit countertop in the back corner of the room.
I used long strides to walk to the counter. I looked the area over and noticed that there were a series of cabinets hovering over the countertop, with bright lights installed underneath all of them to light the counter-area. The only other objects on the counter were empty jugs, various metal scrapers, and a few pencils thrown all over.
I looked up at the cabinet above my head. I reached up and swung it open, peering inside. The only things inside of it were more jugs; the only difference between these and the ones on the top of the counter was the fact that these were actually filled. None had labels.
I returned the cabinet to its original shut position, and looked down at the knives set in front of me. They were all lying in a line, organized from smallest to largest.
I grabbed the largest one, sitting all the way to the left.
I quickly spun myself back around to face Jasmine. I walked up to her with the knife already held tightly in my left hand.
“Come on, Jasmine,” I said softly, walking past her towards the door. I heard her quiet footsteps begin to follow closely behind me.
The exit door of the room had no window at all, so I had to press my ear up against it to hear if anyone was coming. Once I sensed no movement outside, I slowly reached down for the door handle. I twisted it slowly and pulled it towards me, clutching the knife carefully.
I cautiously poked my head out into the hall, and saw no one in sight.
I slowly slipped out of the room, Jasmine staying close behind me.
I looked around a little more quickly now, feeling rushed to figure out which way to go. We were in the cleaner hallway again, and every door seemed to look the same to me.
“That one leads out, I think…” Jasmine’s little voice piped up behind me. I looked over my shoulder at her to see that she was pointing at the door at the very end of the hall. I followed her gaze and immediately began walking towards it.
I approached the familiar white door slowly, remembering that this was the door I had tried to open last time, before getting recaptured. I looked it over momentarily, and then reached down with my hand containing the knife to half-way grasp the handle. I turned it slowly, holding my breath as I did so. I was surprised to find it wasn't locked.
I carefully pushed the door open in front of me, but only enough to peek in. The door made a creaking sound as it moved.
I looked inside quickly with my available eye, and instantly saw both the doctor and nurse standing around a desk on the far side of the room. They both turned to look straight at me in the slit of a doorway, and didn’t hesitate to immediately run towards me.
“Jasmine, run!” I commanded as I slammed the door shut again. I tried to hold the handle in place, but it was difficult to do with a full hand.
Jasmine screamed behind me, and turned to run back down the hall. I felt the nurse and doctor furiously twisting at the handle from the other side, and I couldn’t hold it for long. My hand slipped from the handle and I almost dropped my knife. I stumbled backwards a bit as the two captors burst through the door in front of me.
“Skye!” The nurse scolded. Both she and the doctor focused their full attention on me, reaching out to grab my arms.
The doctor got to me first, and practically threw me back against the wall. He pinned my left arm against it, and struggled to get the knife away from me. The nurse ran up to me next, assisting him. I had to remove the hand from my hurt eye in an attempt to push them away.
“Arh!” I yelled out, almost angrily, as I thrashed, kicked and tried to break free.
“Skye, stop!” The nurse shouted back at me.
The doctor finally managed to snatch the knife from my hand.
“You think you can just get away?” The doctor suddenly barked out at me. The nurse kept me pinned back against the wall, but he slowly began walking down the hall towards Jasmine.
“Don’t you touch her!” I screeched out, struggling under the nurse’s grip.
“Every time you try to escape, Skye…” He continued, approaching Jasmine, who was softly crying in the far corner of the hall.
He reached down and snappily grabbed her tiny hand. He turned back towards me, took the knife I had been holding, and pressed it up against the little girl’s petite pinky finger.
“She loses one of these,” He finally finished his statement. He gestured towards Jasmine and her fingers as he did so.
“No! Please,” I pleaded, not even trying to resist the nurse’s force any longer.
The doctor looked back down at the girl’s little finger, and already began to press the knife harder against it.
“Take mine! Take mine!” I yelled, catching his attention. He snapped his head back up at me, and released his grip on Jasmine’s hand.
"Please, just take mine instead..."
“Okay,” He stated, walking back towards me. He held the knife out in front of himself carefully. He slowly reapproached me before continuing.
“Cut one of yours off yourself, then.”