What Memory Remains

Chapter 9

Alice breathed rhythmically and peacefully in her slumber, oblivious to the world around her. The only other sound was the hypnotic hum of the fluorescent lights out in the hallway. Zenapharr sat deathly still, holding the prized child in his arms. He had visited her when he silently walked the hallways of the facility when he heard her cries from her cell. 

She was having a nightmare, and quite a bad one at that. Using his keen sense of stealth, he was able to make his way into the cell and comfort the child. He remembered how strange it felt, that feeling people called "care" when he entered and she came rushing into his arms.

Her immediate embrace sent a flush through him, and he felt embarrassed yet also felt an inward smile because she trusted him to make her feel better. Without a word, he cradled her into his arms and sat back into the corner of her cell and held her until she calmed down. Without even thinking about it, he even sang to her, just as his mother had sung to him as a child. It baffled him why he was doing such a thing. It wasn't something he ever intended on doing and it perplexed him heavily, but something about this little girl made him act in ways he didn't understand.

Dr. Monroe asked him numerous questions regarding his new friend, fascinated by his actions. She said it was a major breakthrough, a sign that there was hope for his condition. He didn't think much of it, still having those impulses to kill as he always did and accompanied by the Voice that urged him on. Around her though, they did seem so distant they were almost a dream.

He'd spent the last two weeks spending much time with her, which usually were random occurrences. On his way back from his sessions he would run into her, or at night when he got out to roam the grounds. He always wondered how she seemed to time things that way, but he also understood her to have some great powers which she used to find him, too. Stranger was the fact that no one seemed to address the issue of him leaving his cell, despite telling Dr. Monroe outright about doing it. As sneaky as he was, he knew they had to be monitoring him somehow. Often he felt the eyes of people watching him whenever he decided to stretch his legs, yet no one ever confronted him.

It made sense, though. He had willingly given himself up, not killing anyone in the process. This was perhaps a show of gratitude, especially considering he had been there almost a month now and had not run away or gone on a killing spree. He was going to be a good boy...but for how long?

Now, more than ever, he didn't think he could leave, not with this child here. There was something about her that drove him mad trying to figure out what exactly about her fascinated him so much. Perhaps it was her innocence; perhaps it was her ability to speak with his Mother's spirit, or maybe something else. He had found out from speaking to her that the Voice that urged his killings was actually a part of his Mother's spirit...yet was tainted somehow. This he immediately attributed to the Injection. Somehow, she could hear her in ways that he couldn't. Her psychic powers and of clairvoyance, among other things, were nothing less than extraordinary.

The thing he thought was most likely the reason for liking her was that she simply accepted him for who he was. She could see the Darkness in him, could see that he had hurt others, yet still...she was not afraid of him. In fact, she was the first of any he'd met who didn't display any fear of him. But it was not that she thought she could overpower him, it was moreso that she didn't care. She just liked him for who he was, and never questioned him about it, never analyzed it, never tried to change him...there was something powerful in that.

"You could kill her, you know," the Voice spoke to him. "In her sleep...she wouldn't feel anything. It would be like she went to sleep and never..."

"Silence!" Zenapharr hissed to himself inwardly. "No harm shall come to her. Anyone, everyone...just not her. Why would you say such a thing , Mother? This is not you."