Mind Or Matter

Chapter Nine

Ellie

Before I even opened my eyes, I could see bright lights in front of me. Below me was a sheet of that white paper doctors put on the beds to help stop spread their patients' germs.

I still cannot believe the fact that I could take this much pain. My head throbbed intensely, my knees felt dislocated, and my throat was dryer than sand.

All of the sudden, there was the sound of crackling electricity. I almost screamed from the amount of pain I was feeling. My skin prickled, tingling.

I sat up, a reflex from my back. I heard a man and a woman scream, the man on my left and the woman on my right.

"Is she conscious?" the woman said, and I immediately recognized her as Doctor Karis.

A cold had suddenly touched my upper chest. Still sitting up straight, I had to hold my breath in to stop me from shrieking.

"Rate's fine," the man added, "probably just a muscular reaction from the high voltage."

The hand came off my body, and I calmed down, realizing that the man was only checking my heartbeat.

As they talked, I started thinking to myself quickly. Should I lower my body back down? Or should I stay up?

Then, I noted to myself that spasms don't stay as spasms for minutes. I landed back down, careful to not be too quick or too slow. I couldn't let Doctor Karis know I was awake, or she'd do it again...

No, I thought, shaking my head until I remembered that I was supposed to still be asleep. Holding my breath, I hoped that the doctors wouldn't notice me.

But, once I cleared my head, I heard them talking just like they were before.

I thought about taking a small risk and opening my eyes just a sliver. No, it's too much of a risk... If they see me, they'll punish me bad...

Finally deciding I had to figure out where I was, I opened my eyes as tiny as I could. As soon as my eyelids lifted the teeniest amount, a flood of lights hit me.

I felt like I was seeing what you see when you rub your eyes too hard – a world of grey swirls like tornadoes.

Soon, my vision adjusted to the light and I wasn't too surprised to see almost nothing but a white tile ceiling.

Are they allowed to do this? I worried, closing my eyes again. Can they just almost kill me every day just to get some results?

Suddenly, I heard footsteps descending and a door open and shut. They're gone! I cheered inside. Now's my chance.

Sitting up, I swung my legs over the side and stood up. A silver machine was in front of me, making a strange whirring noise. It had five numbers on it – 31773.

All of the sudden, before I could even guess what the numbers meant, the door swung open. I froze, turning to face Doctor Karis and the man, who I knew as Rick. He was a specialist in the human body; he usually performed special "operations" - electric shock therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and their excuses for torturing patients.

"Well, well, well," Doctor Karis grinned, stepping forward a little, Rick standing behind her, "Sleeping Beauty finally woke up."

The two doctors reached out to me, and I let out a small yelp as they grabbed me with their cold hands.