Subject 116

14

Monica finally came out of the bathroom, she had clearly been crying, but tried her best to hide it. I wasn't going to point it out or anything, she was feeling a lot of things, so I had no say in it. She didn't say anything for a few minutes, and let herself calm down, being in a new space. Lydia just had to sit there, and pretend like she knew what was going on. It wasn't fair, how someone with such little headspace had to take on so many problems at once.

"Where's Hallie?" Monica asked once her silence was over.

"She left for therapy. I'm sure she'll be back soon, she's not going overtime." I explained. She let a breath go, and put her hands over her forehead. "Good. As long as she's safe. I'm guessing Peyton's still not back yet?"

I shook my head. She was disappointed, but not surprised. "If that little shit doesn't show up soon, I'm gonna have to yell at those doctors myself."

"About that, we actually figured out what happened to him." I don't know why I hadn't brought it up sooner, but she looked angry with me afterwards. "And you didn't think to tell me once I got out?"

"Well, I'm telling you now."

She inhaled sharply. "No, no... sorry. You didn't do anything. Go ahead, please tell me."

"They saw him go back into the bedroom when we snuck out that one night. They assigned him to submersion therapy, which was what I had before I was allowed to come in here."

She just looked even more confused than before. "Wait, wait, wait, hold on. He was the last one out, right? So they just saw him and nobody else?"

"My doctor told me that he was the only one they saw, I think they would have mentioned if there was another, if not taken them in already." she was having the exact reaction as I did.

"But that's bullshit! He couldn't take that kind of boredom and pressure! I'm not saying that to talk bad about him, but nobody could handle that! You did because... well... y'know."

"Don't worry, I'm not offended by it. But I was thinking the same thing. Anyone with a normal brain would eventually lose control of themselves, it's beyond my understanding of why they would think that this would help. It's just going to encourage disobedience." I had put some more thought into it, and I didn't understand why I wasn't the only one who had to have that kind of treatment. It wouldn't be healing, but damaging to the regular human brain. Mine was already far too damaged to be worried about, so this technique would work for me. Not for Peyton.

"That's what I'm saying! It seems like something that should only be able to work for someone who's not all there in the head. Anybody who lived a decent life up until now just couldn't handle it-" she cut herself off and stared down the hallway. I looked over my shoulder to where her eyes were locked.

Hallie's face was all screwed up, she was really, really upset about something. Both of her fists were clenched at her sides, and she choked over her words before she could say anything clearly. She was avoiding looking at Monica, I'm not sure why.

"Can I..." she swallowed, trying not to lose it. "Can I talk to you, Finn? Please?"

The desperation in her voice was unusual. I had seen Hallie upset before, but this was different. Almost like she was... scared. She was shaking, too. I only did that when I was cold.

I exchanged glances with Lydia, and she took this as her sign to stay with Monica. I didn't want to cast her aside, but at the same time, she didn't have to listen to what she was about to tell me.

I got to my feet and Hallie started walking in a rushed manner over to the bedroom. I quickly followed behind her, trying to keep up and figure out what could have caused this sudden burst of emotion. As soon as I was in the room with her, she shut the door and absolutely broke down.