Amnesia, Book 1: A Girl Lost In The Woods

<Dahlia> Prologue

Weir Corp. Special Projects Division, Tyrol, Austria

December 23, 2012 – 11.00

…then she could see again, but the pain of the searing white light made looking unbearable.

Nineteen was too young to die. Way too young…

“Just. Stop. Thinking. Just stop. Jeanette? You hear me? You’re all over the place. I can’t get a clear read!” Sanjay swallowed his anger and tried again. “Listen, just keep telling yourself that you’re going to be fine. Or—try focusing on your breath. That’s it! Let’s go again. Take a deep breath,” he said, drawing out the sentence long and slow, like a hypnotist beginning his induction.

His words only set her on edge. They sounded fake and clinical—she knew he didn’t care how she felt.

She did as she was told anyway, but knew it wouldn’t help. A deep breath of dry air filled her lungs. And then it didn’t. It felt so mechanical now.

She was right. It did absolutely nothing for her. She could be anything but calm right now, so she hoped that wouldn’t ruin her chances. Her pulse raced at double time, and off in the distance she could hear a little beep-beep that she knew in the back of her mind signified that fact. The thoughts she’d forced below the surface this morning, the thoughts that had kept her awake last night, rushed up for air again. She trembled, adrenalin and fear washing over her. What had they said? A sixty four percent chance she’d live through this? So her odds were still more than one in three that the scales would tip the other way.

She didn’t like those odds. She’d never given much thought to her own death. Now it faced her, like a dark mirror, boring straight into her soul with empty eyes.

What if she died? What was next? Was anything next?

A warped sneer on the face of the reflection seemed to confirm her fears, telling her all that she needed to know. The urge to scream overwhelmed her. But when she opened her mouth she found that she didn’t have a voice. Now the only thing that tamed her panic was the first wave of anesthetic mist she felt oozing into her system.

“Alright, this next part might… little bit…” his muffled words faded in and out as her head spun, “…going to need to you… take another breath.”

She’d never paid much attention to breathing before. Now she drank the air in, even though her chest felt too tight to move.

I love you! I love you! I love you Sis! she repeated over and over in her head like a mantra. She willed that thought to rise above the others—to keep her focused.

“And… out,” he echoed. Something hard and metallic slid up the length of her bare back. She tried to scream as the breath choked out of her body. She would’ve bolted to her feet if she hadn’t been strapped down… and… why was she strapped down?

She shivered, now from cold more than fear. She was freezing, not just where the metal touched her, but from the temperature in the room, which felt like it had dropped fifteen degrees. She vaguely registered the room start to shake around her as her metal cradle became soft like quicksand.

What was she looking at? Was she staring through glass?

“What’s the status?” a hollow voice crackled from above.

“Unreal… showing an interaction… we haven’t even begun Fusion,” Sanjay replied.

“Interesting,” the voice murmured. “Relax… Miss Nevermore… in good hands,” it rang with cold disdain, the sound of static distorting the syllables. It sounded like it came from the inside of a conch shell, and echoed everywhere, even beneath her. She couldn’t understand how a voice could do that. Shouldn’t he have to be in the room? And was she in a room? She couldn’t remember. She couldn’t tell. All she saw around her was white, like the deep insides of the sun, and nothing else. She couldn’t sense anybody around her, no feeling of proximity. She could only feel her body and the metal beneath her, which grew warmer now even as she trembled, until the whole room buzzed and tingled.