Dark Angel (A 001 prequel story)

7 - Underground

The next time Rose was asked to try the sensor deprivation tank, Peter wasn't there.
As she immerged in the water, she tried to calm her panicking self by remembering that he wasn't too far. He was somewhere in the building.
Brenner had showed her a picture of a Soviet man, asking her to reach for him in her mind and locate him.
He looked as an ordinary man so after few minutes she was already forgetting.
She didn't like the idea of invading a stranger's privacy.

"Don't force it, Rose. Let your mind take its time to find him" Brenner spoke through her helmet.
Rose didn't want to find the stranger. She wished to get lost in her thoughts, to think of Peter.
What if she focused on him and find him? Would she read his thoughts? Would he know that she was reaching for him?
She tried, but there was nothing but darkness and silence.
Rose cursed herself, then tried to focus on her task, for not disappointing Brenner.
How could she find a stranger by simply seeing a picture?
The first time she had heard voices, without seeing who those voices belonged to. She thought they were just people talking few rooms away.
What if the stranger was out of the building? Maybe also out of Hawkins?
How could her mind travel so far?
In that case, would she be able to contact someone out there to tell that she was alive?
Would the sicars rush to find and kill her in the lab?

"Rose, are you alright?".
She almost said something rude aloud to shut Brenner up.
Throught the helmet she heard the annoying beep of the machine monitoring her vitals. The noise increased.
Rose focused on it and willed it to go back to its normal beeping.
She relaxed when she heard that it worked.
Then an image of the stranger man flashed in her mind.

"He's in a room" she said surprised.
"Can you give more details?".
Rose tried to see better through her mind "It seems a hotel bedroom".
"Very good. Look for more details. Walk around. Remember that he can't sense you. Your mind is there, but he can't see you".
Creepy, she said to herself.
What if she had caught him in the wrong moment, maybe in intimate activities with someone?
She felt disgusted. She prayed it was just her imagination.
The man was reading some papers.
She saw something colorful on the night bed and focused on them.
"Brochures" she murmured "American brochures. I think they are about Las Vegas".
"Excellent. I'd say it's enough for today. You can come back".

Rose was relieved, but didn't want to be back in the lab too soon.
She let her mind wander freely.
She was thrown into situations that were unrelated to each other, until she saw a child, tied to a chair, like she was in another nightmare where she faced a distorted version of esorcism.
But the people around the child were doctors.
The child was breathing heavily and struggled.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!" he shouted, making Rose wince in fear "I WILL KILL YOU, KILL YOU ALL!".
The rage, the tension was so much that Rose felt choking.

"Rose? What's going on?" Brenner's voice called loudly.
She gasped for air, realizing that she was drowning into the tank.
She had to shut her eyes at the strong light that came from abover her.
Strong arms pulled her out and she vomited the water that she had swallowed.
Everything around her was blurred.
What she heard clearly were the echoes of the child's words.
What did it mean?
What if it was her?
The image of her slaughtered family came back to haunt her.
What had she done to them?

Rose had passed out and when she woke up, she felt terribly exhausted.
Brenner was angry with himself and promised to keep her away from the tank for a while.
He tried hypnosis on her to help her move on that traumatic experience, and she pretended again that she was fine.
She could breath with relief only when she was left to be on her own.
She walked towards her room, when suddenly a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her towards a closet.
She was about to complain, when she crossed Peter's malicious eyes.
His index finger on his lips signaled to be quiet.
He stepped into the cupboard after her and closed the door.
Suddenly she felt how narrow that little room was.