Subject 2763

Chapter 2

"First attempt at contact with Subject 2763 was a failure. As I neglected to consider the reaction that the metal restraints used to bind the host would have due to the temperature of the laboratory. The host as sustained multiple blisters and scars along the wrists and ankles due to the heat. I allowed the host to continue in a pained state in hopes that it would trigger the subject to make itself known to me. This was not the case. I have adjusted the restraints to suit the host's comfort, and make further communication easier."

*click*

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Leafy shifted as she regained consciousness. The table had been moved back down to its laying position. She whimpered as her body slowly woke up, the feeling in her wrists and ankles returning to her. They stung with blisters and burns. Her head still throbbed and her throat was sore from screaming. Leafy felt dazed, her face sticky with dried tears. Nothing made sense. She just wanted to go home.

The familiar taps of footsteps filled the room. Instinctively, Leafy's eyes shot to the lever at the side of the room, which Golfball was now approaching.

Panic filled Leafy's body as Golfball raised her leg to the lever, just as she had before.

"no- no nO NO NO NO PLEASE NO PLEASE DONT DO IT PLEASE-" Leafy cried out. Her hoarse sobs falling on deaf ears as Golfball slammed the lever down. Slowly the table began to tilt.

Leafy screamed for help as she tried to scramble backwards. She cried out as she slipped down the table, her restraints catching her by the wrists and ankles, digging directly into her blisters.

Her sobs died down into whimpers as she realized the cuffs were no longer scolding. Still it hurt quite a lot to be suspended by burned limbs. Her throat was incredibly raw from all the continued screaming and crying. A few more sobs escaped her before she was reduced to nothing more than a shaking mess.

Golfball approached her, once again removing the tape recorder from the table next to them.

"Previous mistakes regarding the host's containment seem to have lead to intense emotional destress. Yet even in moments when the host believed it was in danger, the subject refused to make itself known. I am now attempting communication with the host."

Golfball clicked the tape recorder off, before setting in on the table and clicking it back on again. She moved to stand in front of Leafy, who was looking down at her with sunken eyes.

"G...Golfball..." Leafy quietly whimpered, her voice far too broken to speak much louder.

"Leafy." Golfball acknowledged her, in no way showing any reaction to Leafy's pain.

"Why are you-" Leafy stopped to cough. Wincing as she hacked up spit and bile. Her throat burned as she choked.

"Why are you hurting me?"

"None of the pain you've endured so far has been intentional. A brief oversight on my part, really."

"An oversight?" Within Leafy's voice was a twinge of anger, but she was far to weak to put any real venom into her words.

"Mistakes happen. I'm sure you understand." Golfball shrugged it off. But suddenly began to keep a much closer eye on the leaf bound in front of her.

"I don't understand... why.. I'm here" Leafy struggled against the restraints, pushing with her feet against the table, but eventually falling back down to a slumped position with a hiss.

"Because you're bad, Leafy. You're here because you're a bad person."

"But I'm not bad... I'm good! I'm the most-"

"No. Leafy. You're not good. You're bad."
Golfball's voice was flat. Emotionless. Unmoving.

Meanwhile Leafy could only see red.

It wasn't right. She worked so hard to be nice. She was the nicest. That was all she was.

Leafy's fists shook as she clenched them tightly. The tighter she balled her fists, the less she was able to unclench them. Her previously blurring and spotty vision sharpened to that of a hawks eye. Golfball, previously blurred in a white outline, was now perfectly perceived. She had stumbled back, looking up at Leafy with a look of terror, yet leaning forward with intrigue.

Leafy's ears rang with a crack as she felt her joints stiffen. Her elbows and knees now straight as boards, causing her to slip uncomfortably far in her restraints. She gasped as her spine straightened to a perfect line. Any sound of panic being swallowed as her mouth forced itself shut. She couldn't move. She couldn't blink. She couldn't breathe.

As anger quickly replaced itself with panic, she felt her body once again go limp. Her jaw unclenched and she gasped for air. Her breathing was heavy and panicked as frantic eyes searched the room for any clue as to what happened to her.

Golfball was speechless. The thoroughly dumbfounded sphere looked up at her subject with horror and amazement. Leafy looked to her for answers. Tears shining in her giant, pleading eyes. She looked terrified. Golfball couldn't help but smile.

Picking herself up and using her left leg to dust herself off, Golfball walked to her tape recorder and clicked it off, ending the tape. She took a moment to breathe. Heavily exhaling out of her mouth with a newfound determination. After a few seconds past, Leafy's heaving, pained breathing still echoing through the room as if she were a deer that had been shot in the leg, Golfball clicked the recorder back on.

"Update on Subject 2763

First attempt at contacting the subject was a success"