Pod (On Hold For Now)

(Prologue)

At first Zen remembered everything.

When she was first placed in her pod, she refused to take any tests they wanted to give her and spat in their faces everytime they tried to give her meds. She wouldn't take any food or water they served her, just in case they tried to sneak it into her food. She even got caught trying to run away from the pod but they caught her before she even got a chance. After that everyone gave up trying to earn her trust.

Instead they forced her to sleep everynight by filling the air vents with fumes that made her fall alseep and gave her medicine while she was unconscious that made her forget. And the more she tried to fight them, the more she'd lose pieces of herself. She would try to remember, try to remember their faces and them as a family. To remember him. She would write down the things she could remember everyday to help her find a way to keep them close even if she forgot.

And at night she would try and think so hard, before she fell asleep to remember what she loved most about them which caused her head to ache in the morning. It didn't always work but Zen didn't give up not wanting to let them take everything from her.

But what Zen didn't know is was that Jane Hill, the corporation owner was watching her every move. And one day Jane showed up for the first time causing Zen to try and demand answers from her but she stopped the moment she looked in Jane"s eyes. They were so cold and calculating, and she make Zen feel terrified with just one look. As if Zen was an object to her and Jane could kill her at anytime without blinking. Zen remembered thinking that the other nurses at least had some humanity to them, but not Jane. She didn't even acknowledge Zen but instead took the papers and walked out with them without saying a word.

Zen would have tried to go after her when she left, if she wasn't frozen to her spot unsure of what to do next. She wished her family and he was here to keep her safe from these people but they didn't know where she was so she felt there was no use in trying to protest anymore.

From then on she stopped acting out and gave in to whatever they wanted, forgetting little details about herself more and more. She wanted to write again because forgetting scared her and she would have, if only she wasn't so terrified of seeing Jane again. And before she knew it forgetting became easier and easier until all she could remember was this constant ache in her chest of missing something important. They even stopped lulling her to sleep at night when she just accepted her medicine. Her pod even became her sanctuary where she would take tests and read inbetween waiting for the next person to come into her pod, and it was all had ever known.

But at the same time, she felt so lonely without a friend to talk to. She tried to talk to the nurses but it wasn't the same when she knew they were only there for their job and not to be her friends. So Zen was lonely, but she made herself feel content inside her pod. After all, the people around her just had to do their jobs.

But at night, her mind wondered to the people surrounding her and who they were. What they did outside of watching her and if they were as lonely as she was.

Sometimes the ache inside her chest was too much, too open, causing Zen to drift off and wonder if she had a life before. Or if the pod was the only thing she had ever known or would ever know. But then she would remember her pod and how lucky Jane was constantly saying she was when she came to the pod once a week. Jane would do her testing and tell Zen about the people who were terrified and dying in the outside world, about how lucky Zen was to be in her safe pod.

And Zen accepted that she had to stay in her pod but it didn't stop her from wondering if she had a family waiting for her out there.