EDEN

EDEN - Chapter 4

Simon opened his eyes. Laying on his back, he stared vacantly at the unfamiliar ceiling.

A grumble escaped his throat as he sat up, rubbing the corners of his tired eyes. When he combed his fingers through his hair, he wondered why it felt so much softer than usual. Putting his thin arms against his narrow chest, he quickly reminded himself that he wasn't the same person he was the day before.

One after another, the events of last night came back to him. He had hoped that it was all just a bad nightmare, but the more Simon remembered, the more he came to accept that it was all too real. The way he had collapsed off the sidewalk, woken up in a morgue, got tased by a stun gun, and woke up in a strange office all came flooding back.

Then there was Lexine.

As far as he was concerned, she was the reason he was laying in this bed and not his own. The change in his body wasn't her fault, but she was responsible for dragging him further into this mess. She had abducted his unconscious body, lied to his parents, put a knife through his hand, then enlisted him into a secret agency that he knew next to nothing about. Thanks to her resources and her connections to him, he had no chance at escaping any of this.

The possibility of reversing his condition was floated around, but he was starting to see her words as empty promises to make him cooperate. As much as he wanted to believe in a miracle, he had a sinking feeling—This was his life now, and he would have to get used to it.

Three strong knocks on his door pulled him out of his head. "Up and at 'em, kid."

The sound of her voice made Simon want to crawl right back into bed.

The digital alarm clock read a few minutes past 7AM, meaning he had gotten six hours of sleep at best. It wasn't much compared to the eight to ten hours he had been getting since graduating high school, but he wasn't tired. In fact, he felt like he was full of energy, fueling his desire to get out of this tiny room.

After a few more knocks—louder this time—he concluded that testing her patience was a bad idea. Still half-asleep, he shifted his legs off the edge of the bed and put his feet to the smooth floor. To his surprise, he was able to rise to his feet without issue, a drastic improvement from last night. With a few experimental steps forward, he confirmed that the weakness in his legs was basically gone, save for a bit of shakiness. 'One less problem to worry about,' he thought as he turned towards the door, watching his foot placement as he approached.

Once he placed his hand on the doorknob, he took a deep breath before opening the door to face his boss again. "Good morn—oof!"

"Morning." Simon couldn't even finish his greeting before Lexine shoved a bundle of laundry into his chest, recognizing it as the clothing he was wearing at the time of his 'death'; A white t-shirt, black pullover hoodie, blue jeans, and white boxers with red hearts, complete with his socks and shoes resting on top.

"Get dressed, wash up, do whatever you gotta do." Lexine put her index finger to his forehead, pushing him back into his room. "Make it quick though, we're already behind schedule," she added before closing the door in front of him. He didn't like the idea of being rushed, especially not with her waiting in the hall for him, but at least he had his own clothing to look forward to. Anything was better than his sweatsuit, which had become mildly soaked with actual sweat during the night.

Simon stripped himself of the clothes he had spent the night in and tossed them onto his bed. Curious to see what he looked like now, he peered down at his naked body, but very quickly snapped his head back up. It was bizarre to not recognize a single trait about himself, so much so it was making him queasy. Coming to terms with his new self was difficult enough, but seeing such a stark difference was pushing what he could handle.