The Copy: Project 863

Nightmares

(Ben's POV)

Falling. Falling. Falling. Fallingfallingfallingfallingfallingfallingfalling. A frozen lake. It won't stop m- Cold. Freezing. Water. So cold. I'm so cold. Swim, back up. Someone might hear me. I pound on the ice. Someone is above me.  Help! Please! I would  scream  but I can't loose  air. They walk away. NO! PLEASE! I need help! Nonononononononononononononononononono. Please! I can't breathe! I can't breathe! Ican'tbreatheIcan'tbreathe! The water. Why is it red? It stings, it hurts. I need to scream. I'm getting into deeper water. Is this even water? My head. It hurts. Everything hurts. Can anyone hear me? Please! That's it, I can't do this anymore. I'm done.

I expected to wake up but instead, found myself in the halls of Syntec.

What? Why am I here? An ear splitting scream cut through the air. My breath quickened. Relax, it's probably just a patient, not someone you know. I know all those patients. It's my fault they're here. My fault they're in pain. Maybe I can find them, maybe I can give them something. Was Syntec always this cold? I shivered. I found a room, and entered. Jordan. Jordan? 

"Jordan are you okay?" She didn't say anything. "Jordan. Please answer me. Are. You. Okay." She turned around, glaring at me. 

"Why?" She said. 

"What?" I answered. 

"Why do you keep listening to him?" She explained. 

"I'm sorry. I wouldn't do the trials if I had the choice.I-" 

"Bullshit." She cut me off. "You do have the choice." 

"Jordan, you know what this 'choice' is." I tried to defend myself,"It's do the trials or become a pati-"

"Oh call them what he wants you to. Lab rat. That's all they are to you people."She accused,"Something to test on. Something to get rid of." 

"Jordan, I don't want to be doing this."I said gently,"I need the money for her." She stopped, then walked to the door. 

"Being a 'patient' pays more." She said as she left.

What did I just do?

With a jolt I woke up covered in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. I curled into a ball, my head in my hands as a tear rolled down my cheek stopping at the mask that kept me here. 

"I'm sorry Jordan," I whispered," I'm trying to do better, I swear."

Are you lying? No. But it's becoming harder as the days go on.

I looked out the barred window, the only one in this godforsaken room. 

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(Olivia's POV)

I'm back at the studio, how did I get here? I need to warn them about Matt. I need to tell them I'm alive. I ran in to the building. The building was deserted except for Matt who was just sitting in Megadesk, spacing out. 

"Matt?" I said. I didn't think he would respond, at least not in the way he did, was he under Nelson's control at the moment? He blinked a couple of times and looked at me, relief and confusion fell across his features.

"Olivia?!" He said excitedly as he got up quickly and wrapped me in a hug. "You're okay! What happened? I can't really remember anything, where even are we? Why do you look like a phantom?"

I explained that Nelson had control of his body and that my guess was we were talking in some limbo. I told him how I was taken captive by Syntec and became a phantom. He seemed shook. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"Are you?" He retorted. 

"As okay as I can be." I sighed. 

"Did they hurt you?" He pried.

"Well..." I was unsure of how to answer. Did being injected count? Did being shoved into a room without food or water for a week or so count? Does not eating count? Does hurt emotionally count? "I do look like this."

"How much does it hurt?' He asked innocently, so much more than you can imagine, I thought. 

"Oh, you know, it- it's not, terrible?" I tried to convince him. He arched an eyebrow at me. "Ugh, fine I can't even lie about it."

"I don't expect you to." He answered. 

Just then, earth started to shake. Soon large cracks formed in the floor. One was splitting and was about to open under Matt, when I pushed him away. I felt the floor fall away from me.

"Olivia!" Matt cried.

I was falling, falling, falling-

I woke with a start. Dammit, still here. I looked around the empty room. It was cold, I was cold. I was tired. What time is it? I only had a small window in the corner of the room. From it I could see the night sky. Definitely not a normal time to be awake. I decided I would try to roam the halls, maybe I would find something, I just needed to get out of there.

I found, surprisingly, that the door was unlocked. For a company that was supposedly "dead," the building was fully fledged out. The flooring was cold white tile, matching the walls, also white with the exception of occasional stripes of red, blue, and an orangey-yellow. It was somehow worse with nobody awake. The halls seemed to echo my every step. I heard heavy breathing from somewhere in the building. Probably a test subject. The thought chilled me.

I soon realized that my steps weren't the only noise. I stopped walking. The sound of footsteps was still sounding.  Who would be awake? My question was soon answered when a familiar messy haired phantom walked around the corner, seeming to almost have a heart attack when he saw me.

"Sorry." I mumbled. I wasn't awake enough to make a full apology. 

"No need to apologize," he consoled,"I should be watching where I'm going. Why are you even awake?"

"Nightmares."

Of course. I should've expected that, I should've warned her.

"How about you?" I asked.

"Oh, um. Same." He stuttered. He seemed pretty shaken. Must have been a bad one.

It was.

"I'm sorry-" I started.

"It's not your fault," He said, It's his. He finished in his head. We stood there for awhile, not knowing quite what to say.

"does- does it ever get better?" I asked. 

He sighed. "I, don't know." He said. "But I wouldn't bet on it." I nodded. I didn't think so. 

He had started to walk away when we heard something, or rather, someone. 

Time for phase 2.