Just an Echo in the Darkness

~Chapter Twenty Two~

(Carson's Pov for at least a little bit. It's a bit different for me, so sorry if I mess this up. )

Carson looked far into the distant crowd. Everyone seemed to be doing the same thing as him, looking away from the scene. Carson tried to stay strong, but needles were always his weakness. That and plus if he accidently ran into his long lost dad and wouldn't recognize him. Those were his fears. Needles and family issues. Just great.

He turned his head, and met eyes with Brielle. The girl he had had a crush on since 5th grade, secretly. But ever since he had started to meet Harper, he was torn between the two.

Brielle's eyes had the same pain he had in his, Hudson was his best friend along with Bryce and the rest of the crew. This is what happened to him. He was most likely dead, or had lost all his memories.

Again, everything is fine. Life is great.

Carson tried to face the stage again, but caught sight of another needle and the second person laying on the bed. Tydus smiled, handing Sydney who was looking all over the place, confused off to a guard.

The next person was yanked by another soldier onto the machine After he was strapped down, the machine started to operate. It moved a wired headset onto the young boy's head. Carson wanted to stop it. The boy was younger than him. He couldn't imagine this happening to him.

He turned his head, yanking it around to face the other way. Needles again. They put a needle into the boy's arm, and suddenly he screamed.

Ugh, Sydney didn't act this way. She probably thought it was just a game show she was starring in before it happened. Now she didn't even know she was arach spoiled brat, maybe something good will come out of this. Sydney may actually be nice because she doesn't know who she is.

The poor boy suddenly stopped screaming. The silence was terrible to listen to. They unstrapped him, he sat up.

"Who am I?" Carson heard him ask, but the guards didn't answer. They just carried him off stage screaming.

This time, Carson looked away again but towards Harper's jade green eyes, that wouldn't ever get less pretty to look into. Her eyes were glistening with tiers. Carson leaned towards her, the moment he tried to comfort her she fell into his arms. Her eyes weren't just glistening anymore, they were full of floods.

Carson held on tight, trying not to focus on the other eight people who had the same thing happen to them. Some screamed, some silence, but every single one of them came back to reality with no memories of who they are, where they came from, and who we are. They all had absolutely no sense of life anymore.

Harper's face was completely red, after all eight people were done crying.

Carson didn't know what to do. He was still hugging and holding onto Harper, should he let go now? He didn't know. Another thing he had always had a fear of and trouble with girls. He never had a father figure to help him learn what to do when they started crying. It was always scary when girls broke down crying.

But he didn't even know who his father was.

All he had as a family was his mom. He loved his mom so much, but every now and then he wished he had a dad. He wanted the birthday cards, the baseball lessons, someone to play soccer with him. His mom had to learn how to do it all, and make sure she could work and take care of Carson.

Carson's and his mom's life had never been easy. When his dad left when he was two, he took pretty much all their money. They had nothing, so they had to make a living with everything they had.

He still held onto Harper, even after a long time. Eventually the crowd started to disperse, and so did Harper and Carson. They let go of each other, Carson cleared his throat.

Ambria and Brielle were talking in the corner, both of them looked like they were crying for at least a little bit. Harper went over to Sky, who was standing there awkwardly by Greylan.

Sky seemed to glare at Harper and mumbled something under her breath to Harper. Harper wiped away her tears, and smiled at whatever Sky said. She started a conversation with Greylan, and Carson slowly started to walk that way too.

Brielle and Ambria joined them too. Harper made a joke and they all muffled their cries into tiny sad laughs.

Carson eventually joined them once the guards went back to pushing them into their work stations for the day. Most of the day was already gone, but they still were pushed. If anything, they were working us harder.

The master must be in town so they were wanting to prove that they were good. Tydus, the person in charge around here.

The name still sent shivers down Carson's back. He just erased people's memories with a smile, he was glad this was happening to them. That was the scariest part. He smiled when someone was shot. He laughed when they didn't listen.

Just so he had a reason to put a bullet through anyone as long as they weren't working hard enough, or said one unkind thing about him.

A intercom suddenly buzzed. Tydus's voice came through a speaker that seemed to bounce off of the walls.

They all jumped once they heard his voice so loud, "Just as a reminder, tomorrow are medical checks for everyone. Be prepared."

-.-. .- .-. ... --- -.

(Ambria pov again)

"What medical checks?" Ambria asked Jax.

"They haven't done one in a while but its a thing where you wait in a line for a couple hours and you go into the medical center when it's your turn and they give you a bunch of shots and vaccines and tries to make sure no sickness goes around, and so then we all have our best selves to work for 12 hours a day without a break and only rice for food in the morning and evening. No wonder we wouldn't get sick very often."

"Needles?" Carson poked his head into the conversation. Was that worry in his voice?

"Yeah. Why?" Jax asked.

"Uhh, no reason." He turned around and started to work again.

"Your buddy there seems to be scared of needles," Jax smiled.

"You learn something new everyday," Ambria replied. 

Hi again. Bye again. Have a great day!