ROOM 211

PART TWENTY SIX

30.

Nine months previous ...

Two young children are acting up within a dining room adjoining a spacious kitchen.

'Jack, leave your sister be' scolds mum.

Dad arrives into the kitchen, ready to grab something quick before heading off, despite appearing more than a little scruffy. He briefly kisses his wife on the lips, taking a slice of toast she had only just buttered and is ready to move on.

'What no proper breakfast, again?'

'No time ... just couldn't get myself up out of bed, now I have myself running late.'

'I have coffee poured; you can at least get some of that down into you.'

'Alright, I guess I can hold on for a couple of minutes' he says having a look at his watch.

He reaches for his mug, grips it and no sooner having lifted it, the mug falls and smashes upon impact with the ground. Everyone reacts and looks to see what has happened. Jack, being a little older than his sister, is worried, frightened even.

A hand is still cupped and in such a position a little in front of him. There is a little twitching in the fingers too. Both parents look one another in the eyes for a moment. His grip hadn't completely closed when he took the mug, nor did he have the strength, in the moment at least, to hold onto the beverage.

'Go ...' she tells him. 'I've got it.'

'I ... I ...'

'It's alright. Will you be able to drive?'

'Yeah, I'll take my time getting to the office.'

Dad turns to the kids about to offer his goodbyes; he takes a step towards them and sees how worried Jack still looks. In this moment his gut is hit with a pang of pain as well as one of sorrow and he hates how this feels so he shares another glance with his wife then makes a move to leave. They both know something is not quite right and have felt this for a little while. Still, it has yet to be discussed.

This is only one sign of many signs that steadily worsen over the coming months, and it comes to a point where he has had himself tested. It is difficult to keep any of this quiet and at home the mood worsens. His family are there for him of course but he feels so helpless.

Soon there comes a point where a visitor comes to his office, an appointment had been made and they are coming to him, rather than him going to them. It is an early morning appointment, and it might have been best if they had come to his home but with his family being at home he preferred if his office were to host the appointment, so his office it is. A man and a woman have something they believe to be very important to discuss.

She has gold rimmed glasses, has her hair tied up in a bun and has a clip board with her. He ... well he may just take an active part in what is about to be proposed. What it is they have to discuss is reluctantly agreed to and an importance of keeping things secretive is stressed and keeping quiet is also reluctantly agreed to.

***

Some time ago ...

Long before memory loss came to visit nine separate people who all so happen to wake in separate places within the large town of Castletown, there stood a lady in front of a large mirror. She stands and stares at her reflection for a moment then with a large silver pair of scissors begins to cut her own hair.

Shoulder length it was and tight it became. Another staring moment and as she does stand, her reflection begins to alter to a point as if her hair had not been cut at all but it has been cut and it lays in clumps on the bathroom floor.

'You are not leaving me here' speaks the reflected image.

'I can do what I like, and you have absolutely no say' and this is said tauntingly.

It is as if the reflected image is of what once was and this new hair cut version is something new, something different, and a conversation can occur between the present standing in front of the mirror and the past with a past version becoming trapped to the point that when she decides to leave the bathroom then the reflection of what once was, will be left behind and indeed trapped within the mirror.

But there is no magical mirror. There is no trapping in any mirror anywhere. Who she was and who she had always been has been put to the back of her own mind. She has had to deal with a lot within her life and has always felt strong enough to deal with whatever has come her way. Of late, such a thing has become debatable; such a thing has become split to the point she can no longer agree with herself.

Everything she is, everything she was, placed together is losing out on a battle, has lost out on a battle. A new stronger side has become dominant and has stepped forward. This new dominant side is so strong it has imprisoned all that she was.

All that was is not completely gone; everything can still be seen but no longer has control. This new side is now in command and is so different she cares about absolutely nothing and nothing that existed before matters in any way to the point she doesn't ever try to assume the previous life. She simply, or possibly not so simply, gathers together as much of everything she can from anywhere she can, including from those close to who she once was.

And with all she does manage to gather, money, clothing, and the likes, she vacates her life completely and moves on to the point where she soon becomes a missing person. Her family and friends have reported her missing and they want her back. She is not missing at all, just subdued, vacant, and elsewhere.

She has trapped her former self and has moved on, having no discussion of any kind with anyone previously in her life. She starts anew, she becomes more aggressive, more sadistic not that she ever had previously been sadistic or aggressive to begin with, and she becomes so determined that she may never be found again but found she has been to the point her former self can at least come forward a little and have the smallest of influences,

She has been found out, discovered as someone who is missing. Low on funds, low on energy, she collapses and has been taken in by two people. Recovery from collapse is one thing; recovery from what she has become is another. It is put to her that things can improved; she can get her old life back if she so wants. Her trapped self manages to break free long enough to agree to a specialized treatment.

A part of a group is what she will become and for the immediate future, nothing will be said to anyone. Her family and friends will not be informed that she has been found alive, her friends and family will not be told that she is well or as well as can be, not at this point and possibly never, depending on how things go. A new kind of beginning starts here.

The people who have taken her in? One is male and the other is female, a lady with gold rimmed glasses and hair tied up in a bun. These two people have their motives, exactly what those motives are begin with them and perhaps another test subject yet to be brought in, and soon it will grow. It is growing to a point that a group is indeed being put together and the group does indeed gather and there is a location to gather within too.

Two people have now been brought to said location, to a room in particular, a large rectangular room which so happens to house eight singular beds.