Desires of Men ~SEQUEL TO THE LIFE I LIVE~

A Lullaby To Awaken The Dead

*Four Days Later*

"How do you plan to get her to cooperate so easily?" The man asked, seated across from Doctor Mundy. The older man, read steadily from Summer's test results, sipping casually from his coffee mug.

"Nurse Koda, have you ever heard of the Retracting Experience Theory?" Koda frowned, searching through his head.

"I've heard of it, yes. The details have escaped me."

"Many studies have been conducted in regards to its validity. With the results as positive as they are," He stated, taking another sip of his drink, "it would be rational to believe that it is, indeed, correct."

"What are the implications of the theory?" Kodak asked, admiring his superior's ability to think as rationally as possible. The man was never fazed by anything, it seemed.

"An old colleague of mine, a Doctor Matsumura, presented the theory that if a patient were to be placed into a situation identical to one they had experienced for long periods of time at a previous time, they would be influenced to feel as they did when they first experienced the event."

"So...the brain is tricked into the same mindset as the first time it had experienced an event? The brain will retract itself into old experiences and feelings."

"Precisely." Throughout their entire conversation, he hadn't looked at Koda once.

"That is your strategy with the subject?" Doctor Mundy nodded his head.

"If Subject 711-A549 feels as she did over a decade ago, her brain will slowly return to the malleable state it had been when she was first subjected to her treatment. We only have to condition her towards such an outcome first."

"What would you like us to do next then?"

~~~

The old memories slowly started to resurface, rearing their ugly heads at every hour of the day. Dreams, daydreams, frightening flashbacks, snippets of conversation at random points of the day, the ever-present dullness of experienced pain...

Her porcelain-white room, more like a prison cell than anything homely, was as cold as a freezer. Her teeth chattered lightly, the only noise besides her body shifting under the thin blankets, looking in vain for a warm place in the bed.

Summer squeezed her eyes tight, gripping her arms with her hands and holding on tightly, as if they would fly away at the slightest provocation. She flinched at the tiny, familiar sound of the intercom being activated.

"Subject 711-A549, stand up and proceed towards the door." A minute whimper escaped her lips, but it was inaudible to the microphones she knew were secretly placed in the walls.

Doing as she was told, she stood, the blankets falling back onto the bed and away from her skin. Instantly, the full chill of the room sent goosebumps up and down her extremities, and she wrapped her arms around herself once more. When she breathed, clouds of white puffed out in front of her.

Her feet padded gently towards the metal door, her side lacking a handle to open it. She waited there, wondering what the awful medical staff had in store for her. It took several seconds for the male nurse- Chinen was his name- to open it and walk inside. In his hands, a pair of regular metal handcuffs gleamed menacingly.

Summer sighed, holding out her hands in front of her. With an appreciative nod, Chinen locked the restraints around her wrists. He pushed her gently out the door, leading into the hallway outside.

The empty stretch seemed longer than it actually was, the time marked only by Summer's and Chinen's footsteps. Once, a female doctor rushed past them in the other direction, too much in a hurry to even offer the nurse a greeting. Intrigued, Summer lowered her head, hiding her eyes so she could observe him without notice.