Veridis Quo

Interlude 1

Beep

...

Beep

...

Beep

...

Be- can you shut uuuuup?

...

Thank you-

Beep!

SON OF A-

I groaned in discomfort, the noise, the noise! Every time the machine would announce its presence the headache would pulse in sync, they were conspiring against me! Aliens are real! Bush did... nothing.

Cracking open an eye, regret instantly slapped me with a fish. I had just awakened in an unfamiliar... bed, nice one too, though my ass was naked, that was less than nice. Anyhow, the state I was in was between too-tired-to-see and conscious-enough-to-move. But why should I? When the sheets were so smooth and warm, my chest rising against the covers, a numb sting in my left arm.

Pursing my lips, I racked my brain to decipher the meaning behind the strange sensation. It was like an invasion, of privacy, yet not truly a nonconsensual one. Even though my eyelids protected the cornea and beyond, the light wasn't soft enough for my drugged-

It was an IV. Dripping whatever painkillers or nutrients into my blood, scratch that. I'm not a doctor, thank god I'm not the Doctor.

I huffed through my nose, gathering the mental strength to force my eyes open. It worked and hurt like hell, less than I imagined. The color I conjured for the bed hit the mark; sterile white. My chest rose and fell, pushing the blanket every time. A lamp. It was the source of my momentary anguish, and there it goes. With my vision partially restored, I passed over the improvised walls; curtains on all sides, sealing me away from the rest of the medbay. And there to the right was Miya.

I blinked. Indeed, there was my birdie friendie. Sitting on a chair, her arms were crossed over her abdomen, her legs were spread and her head craning back. I then heard something, like a tweet. A moment later it happened again! Wow, did I hit my head that hard? On the third time I did the math; Miya was snoring, cutely too. I never knew she did, not that I would've had a way of knowing, it wasn't the kind of question you'd ask a...

Any form of positive outlook disintegrated like the man, the person in the suit. It was a rush, a tsunami of the previous events replaying before me like the flashing camera. The deal, the experiment, the Arrow, the crash, the animals, the videos, the EAS. My breath escaped me. I bit my lip, suppressing a noise I wouldn't have been proud of. Gliding my eyes over Miya, she remained asleep.

For the next... minutes, not too much happened, neither did time really pass, it felt as slow as primitive internet. The answers were in my hands, most. Now, it was my turn to work it out.

"Oh, who am I kidding..." I dryly chuckled, accidentally coughing a loud one. Damn, dry, need water.

I knew from the start. If there is one person I can't lie to, it's me. From the day I returned to my cradle world- pff that sounds ridiculous...! But it's true. I had a feeling, a hunch. I knew something was amiss, besides the obvious human wannabes. Pretenders! As intelligent as me. I always had it knitting at the back of my mind, the scarf malevolently wrapping around the brain, the itching growing stronger and stronger by the day.

Yet, I held on to hope. It was in my nature, alongside a few darker things. Perhaps, it was the Arrow that sealed the deal, or the doctor's blunder. Either way, I knew what had to be true. They were gone.

No sound left the room, only the machine monitoring the weak heart. Drops clouded my vision. I was no stranger to loss. I had attended a funeral or two; a later grandparent, a neighboring godmother, an aunt across the country. It hurt. But it wasn't the same. My grandfather was very old. The godmother was acquainted with my father's father. I didn't know the second to third aunt's name.