Bought

Prosthetic

The house was a maze.  I could have sworn that the hallways and rooms shifted as we passed, twisting and contorting into an impossible map.  My hopes of escape began to dwindle as I realized the enormity of what I was up against.

Elkwood Peak, as Tyler had called my new prison, had state of the art security.  Each door and window leading outside needed an authorized ID.  S-Dogs, mechanical canines with tranquilizers built into their teeth, were stationed at every corner.  As if those weren't daunting enough I also spotted Cleaner Mice darting around corners and out of sight as we passed.  Sure, they didn't look like much now.  But they were packed full of enough chemicals to knock a full grown man out cold.

Funny enough, as Tyler described each security measure to me he didn't sound as if he were threatening me or warning me away.  In fact, he seemed almost as upset about them as I did.  That is, if I wasn't reading him wrong.

He bought you like a roll of toilet paper, Destiny, I reminded myself sharply.  He's the enemy.  Don't try to understand him.

"Come in here," Tyler announced, pushing open a particularly plain door and stepping into the room beyond.  I followed rather hesitantly.  As soon as I saw we had just walked into a rather large bedroom my stomach dropped to somewhere in my feet.

"And this is the room-"

I didn't wait for Tyler to say any more.  I had my limits, and I knew when it was time to commit.  I grabbed the first thing my hand closed on from the nearby desk (a stick as it turned out) and threw myself at Tyler.  It was hardly a fight.  He didn't even do anything to defend himself.  Within seconds he was sprawled on the floor face first, me perched on his back and holding the stick like a weapon for all it was worth.

"You're sick," I snarled.  "I'm not just something for you to use."

"What?  No!"  Tyler's voice sounded strangled as a planted my forearm on the back of his neck.  "Give me a chance!"

"Chances are up.  Should have thought of that before you bought me."

I fumbled for his arm and peeled off the ID Patch.  This was probably going to be the escape that killed me, but I wasn't going to be just a source of amusement for sickos.

"Let me explain!" Tyler begged.  His plea was cut off in a yelp as I prodded him sharply with the stick.

"What is there to explain?  I'm leaving."

"I'll help you leave!"  I poked him again with the stick, but it didn't dissuade him.  "Just let me explain myself.  You've got the wrong idea here."

I quickly weighed the pros and cons.  He was probably lying, but it was hard to tell.  He certainly sounded sincere.  The older ones would never let me go, but if inexperienced Tyler thought I actually wanted to kill him then he might agree to let me leave.  I didn't want to hurt him.  He hadn't done anything to me, yet.  And he had given me this golden opportunity to change my life.

"You have two minutes," I snarled as I stood up and backed away.  "Make a move towards me or the door and I'll gut you with this stick."

Tyler sat up, rubbing his neck and eyeing me warily.  "I'd rather you didn't.  That stick was a gift."

"Start talking."

He watched me for a moment more.  "I don't know what you thought I was planning to do, but I really don't want to hurt you.  I just had to tell my dad all the tough talk so he'd let me get you out of there.  They were going to kill you, you know."

"I know.  Better that than this."

That threw him for a loop.  He blinked a couple times.  It gave his sunken eyes a comical look. Somehow, he seemed to recompose himself. "I don't want you dead. I bought you to save your life."

"Buying people is sick."

"I get that you're really traumatized by the whole thing, but I'm trying to help you. I can prove it!"

"How?"

"My ace card." He reached to his right arm and fumbled with something up his sleeve.  His entire arm came off with a brisk tug.  Tyler waved it at me with his other hand.

I'll admit, I didn't handle this revelation very gracefully. In fact I passed out almost instantly.

When I came around again I was slumped on the floor in exactly the same place I had fallen. My shoulder throbbed where I had landed on it.

Tyler hovered anxiously nearby, clearly afraid to approach me. His right arm was missing.

I leaned over and threw up.

"I guess I deserved that," Tyler said, stepping away from the disgusting mess.  He pulled a blanket off of the bed and passed it to me.  "You might want to wipe your face with that."

I did so, eyeing him warily.  I'd never seen anybody like him before.  Not someone with a disability which was so blatantly obvious.

"You can detach your arm," I said.  Tyler laughed.

"No, that's a prosthetic."

"Can I see it?"

This was my test. Did he really want to help me escape? Did he trust me?

Tyler pulled the arm off of the bed and held it out to me. I took it rather cautiously.  The fake skin was supple, almost human except for the fact that it was cold.  I could see the straps which attached the arm to Tyler's shoulder.  I flinched violently as the fingers at the end of the hand wiggled.

"How do you do that?" I demanded.

"My dad forced me to get an electrical chip implanted in my brain.  It connects to the arm via bluetooth.  It gives me basic hand and arm motion."

"How long?"  Obviously he hadn't been missing his arm since he was born.  He wouldn't have passed the baseline exam for normalcy. He would have ended up a Product like me if he was lucky, or dead if he wasn't.

"An accident when I was six."  Tyler examined his real hand as if it interested him greatly.  "Dad was ashamed, of course.  But he was more ashamed of what would happen if people found out I was disfigured.  So the charade began."

"You've been using a fake arm that long?"

"A while, yeah.  The security around here isn't to stop anyone from getting out.  It's to stop people from coming in and seeing my dad's freak of a son."

I passed back the arm.  It was starting to make me uncomfortable anyway.  Tyler laid it back on the bed.

"So where do I fit into all this?" I asked.  Tyler shrugged and smiled.

"They were going to kill you because you weren't what they wanted.  I figured I'd save your life.  It was the least I could do."

He's lying, my sixth sense told me.  I knew that, but I couldn't tell why.  Or what he was lying about.  Tyler's smile became brittle and he sucked in a quick breath of air.  I instinctively leaned towards him as if to comfort him before pulling myself back.  This was the enemy.  I didn't want to feel sorry for him, cruddy dad or no.

"You better go," he warned.  "I was going to give you the room across from this one, but you can pick a different one if you want.  Whatever you're going to do, hurry.  The last thing I need is for my dad to find you looking like this."

I finally stood and left the room.  Something in me made me glance over my shoulder and through the open door one final time.  Tyler was fervently moping up my vomit.  I shook my head and opened the door of the room he had sent me to.  I don't know what possessed me to keep that room.  Looking back I should have chosen a different one.  Any different one.  Anything not to have brought upon us what I did.