The Menace

The Chamber and the Escapee

The oxygen mask. Other than the excruciating pain all over my body, the oxygen mask that was on my face was the only thing that didn't burn, sting, or shock. And like with Spencer, it wasn't oxygen flowing through it. The light above my head hurt my eyes even when they were closed. I was strapped to a gurney. The belts were so tight that my circulation had been cut off in my arms and legs. I felt those stone cold cuffs again. The ones that shock. I felt the electricity shooting through my arms, spread out through my chest and torso, and then throughout my entire body. "Three-fifty." a distorted voice said. Three-fifty? I thought. What the hell does that mean? And then I got the reality of that number when I got shocked again. This shock felt so much worse than the last ones. "Any higher than that could kill her." another distorted voice said.

"It didn't kill Spencer..."

"Spencer is a male. Nocturno is a female. They have different gifts and strengths."

"And hers? They're more powerful than most. And Spencer is included in that vast majority."

I heard a strange clicking sound. The shock dial... I thought again. There were three clicks. I counted in my head the estimated number. 350, 375, 400, 425. "Four twenty-five? Are you insane?!" a third distorted voice said. And then came the shock, causing me to scream and cry in pain. That wasn't even the beginning.

----

  As my hearing slowly came back, I made out the muffled words, "She's opening her eyes. She's opening her eyes!" I opened my eyes a bit more to look around, which made them hurt even more. I tried to move my head but I didn't achieve much. I began to uncontrollably shake an whimper as the pain grew worse and worse. Other than the shocking, I don't even remember everything the caused the pain. I just remember the pain itself.
  The next thing I know, a doctor put his hands over my face to keep my head still while another doctor positioned the light in another direction. That was a relief for my eyes but I still hurt everywhere. The first thing I noticed was that this doctor had blue rubber gloves over his hands and then a blue mask over his mouth. I didn't understand why he needed it. It's not like I had a contagious disease. The other doctors were females. Somehow hearing their voices was soothing. I don't know why. I began to slow down my breathing. I felt my heart-rate slow down as well. I guess the doctors knew these things were happening as the male one was announcing all of it. Before I knew it, I got that cooling sensation rushing through my body again. The pain began subsiding rapidly. Quicker than it's ever subsided before. Quicker than I've ever imagined.

I closed my eyes and savored this amazing feeling. The pain was finally gone. I thought it was gonna last for eternity. I opened my eyes again when I felt one of the doctors take the "oxygen" mask off of my face. The rest of the doctors took the straps off of me and I could feel my arms and legs again. I sat up and moved my arms around a bit. I tried to bend my legs but they hurt whenever I tried to move them in any way. I gazed at all of the doctors with their masks and their robes. I didn't dare attempt speaking. One of the female doctors broke the silence with "How are you feeling, Nocturno?" I looked right into her pale, blue eyes
  "Fantastic..." I sarcastically replied, still trembling. I felt entirely altered. My brain was fuzzy and I felt like my legs were going to give out and that I nearly would fall right on my face.

  I decided to try standing anyway. I turned my whole body around, leaving my feet hanging down. I slowly pushed myself down. I put my bare right foot on the floor and flinched at how cold it was, making me jerk my foot back. I took a deep breath and just stepped down on both of my feet. Like I said, the floor was really cold. My legs were shaking and I nearly fell to my knees. My breathing slowly became more and more ragged. Not because of the cold floor or the air-conditioned room. My memory of Spencer being strapped to a gurney being shocked and tortured right in front of me made me angry. Not just angry. A lot of emotions began rushing through my body at once. Anger, sadness, fear. I wanted to strangle every single one of the doctors. But most of all, the warden. Seeing her in my head– her emotionless face. Hearing her emotionless voice. I wanted to kill her. And trust that I wouldn't ever regret it.