Dear Eddie (rewrite)

25

It's been four months since I watched my family die. Four months of waking up. Four months of remembering shit. I wake up and notice my clothes already folded for the day. I change into the clothes and walk out of my room and down the hallway to the research room.

I knock on the door and when it opens Dr. Brenner is standing there. He moves out of the way, giving me a quick smile before closing the door behind me.

"Good morning, fifteen," he said happily.

"Morning," I mumble, giving him a tight smile because if I'm honest, I hate it here. I walk over to the breakfast table. I don't normally eat in the morning because... I'm not hungry. But, today I woke up starving.

I sat down next to eleven as another lady set down a plate of food for me.

"Thank you," I give her a small smile as she walks away.

"So, how much have you remembered so far?" Eleven turns in her seat to face me.

I shrug. "Almost everything, I think," I inhale sharply. "Brenner says I'm ninety-seven percent restored."

"I'm proud of you," she smiles. "I know it's taken longer for you because, you know." Eleven pats her hand on my back.

I got a sinking feeling in my stomach, making me tense up before I could even take a bite of my food. The image of Eddie's body being torn apart plays through my head all day. "Oh, shit. Uh, thanks eleven," I smile quickly, snapping out of my thoughts. I know she means the best.

"When do you think your last day will be?" She asks, taking a bite of her scrambled eggs.

"He says Wednesday," I stare at my food, trying to make it seem appetizing.

"Oh, that's only two more days!" She gives me a warm smile before continuing to eat.

"Yeah," I mumble. "Uhm, I'm actually not really hungry right now," I smile, waving Eleven goodbye. I walk into the actual research part of the research room and watched as Dr. Brenner entered a small office that observes the tank. A woman handed me my really cute outfit, note the sarcasm, which looks like a bathing suit from the Thirties.

I smile at her and walk into the changing room. I quickly changed, taking deep breaths to calm my nerves.

I walk to the tank and up the short ladder, looking at some man to give me the signal.

I chewed the inside of my cheek and pick at the skin around my fingers until he gives me the thumbs up. Taking a deep breath, I face my back to the water, sitting on the edge of the tank. I glance back at the water before getting in. I let myself relax to the best of my abilities.

_____

Before walking into the rainbow room, I check my wrist for the tattoo. It's there. When I do walk in, I find Henry standing in the middle of the room.

"Good morning," I smiled at him.

"Good morning number fifteen!" He smiled back at me. It hurts me to see him, but I have to deal with it. After all, they're just memories. I can't interact with these memories though. It's like I'm watching through someone else's body.

He headed towards chess and I followed, sitting across from him.

_____

"Oh, don't try backing out now. Remember, they are the bad people. They want to hurt people like you and me. They will hurt us if we don't escape now," Henry said after a few moments of "playing chess".

"Fine," I huffed in regret.

Henry smiled, standing up. He offered his hand to me which I reluctantly took. He took me to the middle of the room. "Do it."