ᥴ᥅ꪖᦓꫝꫀᦔ ꪻꪮᧁꫀꪻꫝꫀ᥅ (ON HOLD)

• Prologue 1/3 •

  Aliyah                      October 1, 2013

"'Mass genocide is horrible!'

    "That's something I've heard a lot. But can genocide happen to just one specific person? Most people, if not, everyone would say no. Unfortunately, they haven't met me. Don't be confused. Think of it as... What's the word? Immortality! There we go! People think immortality is sooooooo cool, but they've never been immortal themselves. They've never been shot in the heart and walked around 5 minutes later as if nothing happened. They've never got their eye stabbed out and acted like it was just a freak accident. They've never been decapitated and had to sew their head back onto their neck!

    "But now I'm getting ahead of myself. Immortality comes with its perks I suppose. Every death and serious injury leaves a scar on my body. How many scars do I have? I stopped counting at 85. But all the scars make people leave me alone. It's rudely satisfying! Back then, a person in a white uniform or a young girl would ask if I'm okay or if I needed medical help. That felt good in a weird way.

    "How did I become immune to death? Let's separate my life into sections:

    "Normal Life.

    "Saying Goodbye.

    "The 'Lab.'

    "Day One.

    "The 'Gifts.'

    "The Revolt.

    "Alone.

    "Oh man, saying that out loud sounds like a lot! This probably made you even more confused. I don't blame you.

    "I know I said 'Lab' but it wasn't a professional lab. It was a guy's basement.

    "God, that doesn't sound any better.

    "But yeah. This guy was named Thomas Mayview. Mayview. What kind of a last name is that? Anyways, he was the boss of an all-girls orphanage. Mayview Manor, it was called. I remember being abandoned on the doorstep. It was September 30, 2006. I was six, my mom was twenty-one. I remember her ringing the doorbell, kissing me on the cheek, and running away as fast as she could. Then he opened the door.

    "There was no going back.

    "I remember Thomas leading me toward my room. The hallway was wide and dark. There were so many rooms on either side of the hallway.

    "At first the orphanage was nice. Most of the girls were kind, and the food was delicious. The employees who wore white uniforms were really cool! Then as the weeks went by, Thomas started to get more...violent. He gave me these clothes that looked like what a patient in a hospital wears. He usually called me by my actual name, Aaliyah, but he started to call me 'Twenty-Nine.' I was beyond confused as to why he would call me a number!

    "But eventually, he introduced me to his little workshop in the basement of Mayview Manor. I remember the nightstand that was fairly easy to move to the side. Behind the nightstand was a little trapdoor on the ground. Thomas unlocked it with a key and opened the door violently. He smiled when he pushed me down into the darkness awaiting me. I never went Upstairs again.

"The workshop wasn't little though, oh, no. The Basement was the size of two football fields, and there were little rooms scattered around. I sometimes saw girls sitting on the beds in those rooms. They always looked petrified and so tired.

    "Then there were these bigger rooms where there were dentist-like beds. Scratchy harnesses were attached to those beds to strap the girls down when they were on them.