Cridex

Chapter Three

"What do you mean?" I chuckled, tucking a fly away strand of hair behind my ear. "My eyes have always been brown, mom." I tilted my head as her face grew paler as I spoke.

I stepped closer to her, "Like yours." She choked, grasping at her heart as she back away in fear, "That is what you always said, right?"

"No," She whispered lowly, "No! You are not mine! You could never be."

"What? Mom?" I furrowed my brows and tried to ignore the sting of her words, "Did something happen at work today?"

"Your eye, Ellery!" She shouted, "Your left eye is blue! Just like them! Just like the rest of the insurgents that plague our city!"

"Mom?" I tried to chuckle but it came out as more of a whimper, "What are you talking about. You are just tired- let's get you to sleep, alright?"

She scrambled away from my reach, and instead tossed a metal tray into the air, scattering her mechanical tools that helped her to build the device that was still whirring on the table below her. She picked up the tray, lifting it in front of her torso and pushed it out, shouting at me. "Stay back!" She cried, her face terrified, "Stay away!"

"What are you talking abo-." I gasped, as I looked in the reflection, and this time I was the one to clutch at my heart. "What is that?" I cried, and I felt tears begin to well. "What is that, mom?"

"I am not your mother!" She screamed roughly, her voice raw with fear, "I could never be a mother to you! You are a cyborg!" She spat out the word as though it had left a sour taste in her mouth.

I backed away, and turned to the door, only to see my reflection in the window, the left eye glaring out in a near perfect blue ring around my pupil, contrasting deeply with my normally brown eyes, my normally safe brown eyes. My breathing came in ragged breaths, but I could not look away. "It is a mistake! Mom you know me! You raised me! I am not a cyborg."

"Ellery," she spoke, softer this time, but did not lower the tray when I strained my neck to look over my shoulder. "What ever it is that you are, you are not the daughter that I raised."

"No," I shouted, "No! It can not be!"

"You must run," Her voice came out limp as she doubled over, as if giving me advice on how to escape certain death would pain her. "You must hide, before they find you."

I stood in place, pivoting on my heel to face her once more. "No, I can not leave you here." I spoke, a thread of loyalty weaving with my onsetting fear. "I can not leave."

"You will!" She shouted, throwing the metal tray at my head. It slammed behind me in a crash and I looked over to see it's warped and twisted figure. "Leave, or I will make you leave!"

"But, I-."

"No!" She screamed, picking up anything that she could find. She shouldered a paperweight, tossing it at me, and i dodged to the left, gasping.

"Mom, Stop it!"

"Leave!" She shouted, and smashed her jar of pencils, "You deceived me! I do not know how I never noticed. No where is safe with you! Leave!"

She gathered the glass shards from the broken pencil jar, and tossed them at my face, and this time, I was not fast enough. I felt the shards of glass graze my skin, and I cried out, stumbling back against the door and clutching at my face. I pulled my hand away, and blood stained my fingertips.

I leaned heavily against the door and cried. "Where will I go?" I cried limply, "I am not a cyborg, I am your daughter. It is a mistake. It must be some sort of mistake!"

I slammed my fist against the door in frustration and my mother flinched. "Mom, I am sorry, I am-."

The door gave way behind me and I fell back. I would have landed on my back if it had not been for the strong arms that caught me, turning me to face them. A familiar hooked nose, and dark matted hair greeted me, and he pressed his hands alongside my face. "She's bleeding!" He called over his shoulder, "It is worse than I had originally thought!"

"Leave!" My mother roared, resuming her onslaught of thrown objects. "All of you! All of you cyborgs!" She began panicking, backing away into a corner, but hissing all the same. "Leave!" She choked out.

"Her," The man spoke, and I struggled lightly against his tight hold in protest. "She is the one who hurt the prototype." He nudged his chin in her direction and I began shaking, trying to get away.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, "Why are you here?"

"For you," He grit out, "We are here for you, so please, stop struggling. You are safe now."

"W-we?" I looked about the small workshop, eyes wide. "Who is we?"

"In there." He jutted his chin out once more, "Others. Just like you. Welll," He furrowed his brow, I do not think that anyone could be just like you, but rather more-."

"What are they doing?" I cried out and struggled out of his reach, swaying on my feet as I staggered towards the blurry figured inside the room, having heard my mothers cries dwindle into whimpers, "What are they doing to my mother?"

"Mother?" One echoed as they turned around, but all i could focus on was her huddled body as she scrambled further into the corner.

When she caught sight of me, her cries grew even more frenzied. "L-leave." she whimpered out, "L-leave m-me. Y-you do not b-belong."

I gasped and staggered back, and the man came up once more, holding me to his chest. I looked up to see him nod, the corners of my vision darkening and tightening until it felt as though I was staring down the barrel of a gun. "Let's leave." He ordered grimly, jaw clenched. I looked over to see if I could identify any of the others in his group from the market today.

A girl, tall and lengthy with short, choppy, blonde hair turned on her heeled-boot. "We can't just leave her here." She leaned forward, keeping her face turned away from me as she examinded my terrified mother.

Mom spat in her face, and shrieked as the other figure pushed her up against the wall. "She saw our faces," he spoke in a deep baritone, and I felt the man behind me nod.

Panic crept up my spine, "What do you plan to do with her? With me?" I gasped for air once more, "What do you plan to do with me."

"Kill her," The man ordered, ignoring my question and ordering the people turned away from us. "As humanely as possible."

"What?" I shrieked out and began to sob as they closed in on her and her cries grew silent. Wailing, I struggled against my captor. "No! No!"

"Ellery, stop! She tried to hurt you, she saw our faces, knew who we were." The man whispered in my ear, trying to soothe me, "We had no choice." I struggled harder, and with an elbow to his gut, he doubled over. I ran backwards to stand in the doorframe, and watched as all three figures inside turned to face me.

All three figures had left eyes that were glowing a bright, florescent blue.