Merge

3 - One

           When someone wakes up, they’re probably used to lying down, but when I wake up, I am fully upright and floating. The world is tinted blue and totally silent. I reached up and felt a…mask? An oxygen mask was powerfully suctioned to me face.

            Suddenly, there was sound. I could hear everything. The sound of rushing water, of heavy breathing. The sound of two heartbeats.

            I kicked my feet, finding that they couldn’t reach the floor. I looked down and saw that my legs were bare. I only wore a hospital gown that floated around the tops of my thighs.

            My skin…it was so pale…I reached down to feel it and saw my hands. I started. My eyes widened as I saw how flawless they were. There was not a single scar or blemish in my skin. My other hand traveled to my arm and ran up the smooth, hairless skin.

            In my periphery, a thin, white tentacle floated up, and I snatched it, my arm moving impossibly fast, even through the viscous liquid. I grabbed the tentacle and pulled it into my vision. I saw that it was…hair? I tugged, feeling a pull at my scalp.

            My once shoulder length brown hair was now thigh-length and white.

            Memories came rushing back. Dr. Reynolds smoking beside me, the cage holding me against my will. That man whose face I couldn’t see.

            What have they done to me?  My thoughts rushed around my head, and all I wanted was to get out and be free. I held my breath and reached up to the oxygen mask, tearing it away from my face. I felt myself being held back by something, and I looked to see wires running from my arms and legs.

            I jerked, ripping them away. A red light began to flash, and I heard the faint sound of a beacon.

            I ignored them, and I pushed off the wall and slammed my body against the glass with a strength and instinct I had never known. A crack formed on the glass. I did it again. More cracks. Again. The crack began to form a web. Again.

            Everything spilled forward.

            I hit the ground with the sound of tiny glass shards tinkling against the floor. I gasped for air as I stood up. I felt an unfamiliar weight tugging on my back. I turned and face the reflective glass of another tube behind me.

            I froze, the rest of the world suddenly melting away.

            My reflection – at least I thought it was mine – stared back at me with icy blue eyes.

            The same blue as the dragon’s, I thought idly.

            I stepped forward and reach out the reflection, our fingers meeting. My face was what I always imagined perfection being. All my features were flawless.

            Who am I?

            Then I noticed the wings, barely visible in the curved reflection.

            They stretched out behind me in a huge span, each wing easily longer than I was tall. They had black scales and blue membranes.

            I turned my head and saw my new features. I reached back and touched the black scales, the thin, soft membrane, my eyes widening in wonder. I looked down and saw a long, scaly tail, twitching of its own accord.

            What am I?

            Looking up, I saw a large, empty glass container.