Deadly Sinner's Club

Lora Bowen

"Hello, is this Miss Lora Bowen?" The telephone operator asks. It's the hospital. With tears in my eyes and my heart in my throat, I choke out,

"Yes, this is her."

"Hi Lora, I am calling to update you on the status of patient A-14, your brother Ian Bowen." I struggle to breathe and the anxiety claims my nerves. Why haven't they said anything yet? Is he gone? He's probably gone... what will I do? I can't live without him... I can't. Life won't be worth it if he dies, he's all I have left.

"Miss Bowen, are you there?"

"Yes, sorry. So how is he? Is he okay?" My hands and legs are shaking so I sit down.

"On behalf of the Hospital of Concordia, I would like to extend our love and deepest sympathies." My heart snaps into pieces, my cheeks soak with tears and all I can taste is salt.

"I am very sorry to inform you that Mr. Bowen passed away eight minutes ago. You can come to collect whatever belongings he had-" I drop my phone and I don't care if it breaks, I don't care anymore. I'm done.

I remove my gloves and goggles and hang up my lab coat before heading to the chemical stores room. After scanning the various samples of chemicals, I reach for the sodium cyanide. My hands are still shaking and my vision is blurred, but I manage to grab the jar without making too much of a mess. I don't feel in control of anything I'm doing, it just kind of happens. I take the sample and leave the storage room, heading down the hall, past the lab and toward the janitorial closet. I feel nothing; all senses have shut down and it feels as if I'm floating away in a cloud of regret and loss and heartache and sorrow. It's too much.

Once I get into the closet, I sit down against the door. My knees rest against my chest and I weep for what feels like hours. My shaking hands wrestle the lid of the poison and it takes a long time, but eventually, I open it, spilling some powder as the lid gives in. I reach my hand in and raise it to my face, pulling it closer by the second, but then I hear voices. Not the kind of voices saying 'don't do it! It will get better! Please stop!'. No, these voices were sinister, scheming men.

"Will the next batch work?" I recognize that voice anywhere, any citizen would; it's Chancellor Huxley.

"We're getting so close, I know it. Only a few more days of testing and I'm sure the brainwashing effects will last." I also know Dr. Priestley's voice anywhere, he's my boss after all. Why would these two be talking at all and what product brainwashes people? I've been working at the lab for years and I've never heard of such a thing.

"I'll choose to believe you Lou, but don't disappoint me." By the sound of it, Chancellor Huxley is leaving. It's hard to believe that not my brother died on the same day I discovered that my own workplace is scheming against the masses. Maybe this world really is damned, maybe I'll be better off.

I try to stand up accidentally knocking over a mop which crashes to the floor. Dr. Priestley promptly rushes into the room, spotting the cyanide immediately. There isn't anywhere to hide, so I just wait for what is bound to come.

"I can explain..." I mutter.

"Lora what is going on?! You can't act like this... it isn't the answer. You're too valuable and too smart to be doing stupid things like this." He snatches the poison and steps closer to me. "I think I'm going to have to send you to the Deadly Sinners Club, Lora. You leave me no choice; I need you to get better and act with the diligence you were designed to have. This is unacceptable." He talks at me so quickly that it's hard to keep up. Is suicide just a diagnosis to him? What a monster.

"Dr. Priestley, I just spilled the cyanide, I'm sorry." Sniffling in between words, I wipe tears from my eyes, feeling my puffy cheeks.

"I don't want to hear it, Lora. You've been acting weird for a while and it just isn't right. Everyone is designed a certain way and they are expected to fulfill that destiny."

"But I-" He cuts me off.

"Just stop, Lora. I've assigned you to DSC039. It's right next to the Chancellor's Tower, the building that used to be an aquarium."

"I know where it is, Priestley." I march out the door and slam it behind me.

After picking up my things in the break room, I pass myself in the mirror. I don't look the same as I did when I walked in today, but I know a lot more now than I could've ever imagined. I need to stop these plans between Huxley and Priestley but I can't let them know that I know. This could endanger the lives of everyone in Concordia, or even the world.

"So that's how I got here. I still don't know what the whole brainwashing thing is about but I know it isn't good for any of us." The seven of us sit in a circle, telling stories about how we got here, as instructed by the Deadly Sinners Club officials. I don't know what they think this will accomplish but I don't really care; as long as I can get this night over with. We're in a dimly lit room, all of the walls are grey, pipes are exposed and there are double-sided mirrors on the walls. Everything is grimy and it seems like an afterthought.

Everyone stays quiet for a long time, I can't tell if they're thinking or in shock, but most of them don't seem too upset; the man beside me looks like he might be sick.

"Everything is starting to make sense." A woman across from me in a grey pantsuit announces, laughing.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"I think we're all going to learn a lot about each other and Concordia tonight..." She makes eye contact with the woman to my right and smiles. Perhaps they know each other?

"So... are you okay Lora? Like, with your brother and everything..." The shady man to my left asks. He has olive skin, dark hair with very sharp features. He looks to be in his mid-to-late twenties, but so does everyone else in the circle. Sinning is for the young, I suppose.

"Yeah... sorry for including that, I just thought it was kind of important to the story. I was going through a lot but I've been able to clear my mind a bit. It hurts, and it will for a while, but I have to get to the bottom of this brainwashing thing first..."

"Okay, well I'm glad you're feeling okay; I hope that after tonight you'll be more prepared for the Huxley complex." He looks very concerned but it's hard to tell if he's just thinking about his own future.

"So," I pause to gaze around the circle, making eye contact with every sinner, "Who's next?"