One of the tests involves pumping the drug through my system. I thrash in the chair and try to free at least one of my hands from the restraints as Dr. Hendry comes at me with a syringe.
"No! I don't want it! I don't want to take it!" I manage to get my right hand about half way out of the restraint, but my fingers have turned purple and the pain is strong enough for me to be able to feel it. I scream as I continue to pull my hand through.
Two Wardens push Dr. Hendry out of the way and work to get my restraint back on. The adjust the other one as well, for a moment the blood is allowed to rush back into my fingers and then it is cut off again. I choke back on a sob and shake my head.
"What do you want from me?" I ask, my voice small.
Sheila smiles, a wicked crack of her lips across her face. "I want to understand you. I've never seen a Numb case like you, Elyse. You're different. I want to know why and I want to know how."
Dr. Hendry appears in front of me again and the syringe plunges into my arm. I make a point to catch Sheila's gaze and hold it as the drug is drained into my system. It doesn't take long for the dosage to kick in. I am aware of the metal of the chair digging into my arms, warm from my body but cold if I shift just a little bit. The sick feeling shows up minutes after the rest of it, my skin sweaty and my mouth dry.
Sheila has a clipboard of her own now and she jots down notes as I try to tamp down on the need to vomit up my breakfast. I think she is about to give another order when my body wins against my will. I buckle over in the chair and lose my breakfast all over my lap. The bile that comes up with it burns my throat and I cannot help the tears that fall after.
My stomach threatens to be sick again so I avert my eyes from the chunks sticking to my pants. I can feel them though, feel the warmth of the vomit seeping through the fabric and onto my skin.
A rag is tossed down onto my lap, as if that would help somehow, and another syringe disappears into my arm. My body shudders and I spit the mouthful of bile that comes up onto the floor by my feet.
"Give her another dose." Sheila's voice carries across the room to me, but it sounds like she is standing on the other side of a glass wall. When I look up, my vision is doubled and the lights of the room dance around her head.
It gets hard to focus on anything after that.
///
It feels like ages have come and gone by the time Sheila announces she is finished with me for the day. My body feels used and I am silent as the Wardens lift me from the chair. I do not even fight it when Dr. Hendry follows us to my room and pulls a syringe full of clear liquid from his pocket.
I welcome the emptiness that sleep brings me and the relief it gives me from the dread brewing in the back of my head. Sheila has more tests planned for tomorrow.
YOU ARE READING
NUMB
General FictionI have been Numb my entire life... Elyse has lived in the Compound, a facility that houses children deemed Numb, almost her entire life and it's been mostly uneventful. But lately something is starting to cause her peers to become unstable, violent...
