What Was Missing

Twenty-Five: -Maddy-

Note: This is the moment in which Maddy learns the truth. But beware, any amount of truth can have its consequences...

...No. Not here again. The darkness...

I try to raise my head, but fail, exhaustion dulling my limbs and my body throbbing with the cold. A male voice emanates from my left, and I struggle to rise.

"Before this all starts, I want to... explain, just a bit. So you can understand. Before the procedure begins."

I'm in endless ebony again, and lying in the chilling black, I slowly turn my head to view the startling image of my father's face. I saw him in the elevator, and now, clear as day, his portrait shows on a scratched-up tablet, his voice roughly pushing through the speakers. My eyes hurt when I look at the glowing screen, but I don't have the strength to pull away. The man's image shuffles around awkwardly, and sort of grimaces at me.

"So... ...well, how's it been? I haven't seen you in forever."

...What?

...What the heck... is that supposed to mean...? He... He can see how it is. My voice barely comes out as a whisper. "Dad... I can't... I can't even remember..." I let my mouth go slack, the effort of talking too much to handle.

He smiles sadly, and tilts his head to the side. "Well, we can fix that, can't we?"

A sudden burst of pain shoots through my brain, and suddenly, like a curtain lifted from the backs of my eyes, all of my memories are back. School... Dinner. Dreams... Life... Happiness! Pain. Sorrow. All of this and more flashes through my head, and after a moment of unintelligible blubbering, laughing, and full-out shrieking cries, the realism fades away and his face shows in front of me once again.

"Madeline, my daughter, I'm sorry that your memories are going to be so brief..."

His sad smile is there again, that indescribable half-grin that I find unfamiliar. In the past, his smiles were genuine...

"...but I really do need a new body."

My eyes widen with a gasp, and I stare his image in the eyes.

"What?"

He looks at me, that frustratingly unreadable face, and continues almost silently.

"Well, that's what you were brought here for, Maddy! To be the new me!"

My father looks down for a moment, struggling with a cord on his messy wooden desk, and then plugs it into a small device. Another tablet, secured onto a lowering mechanism, slowly eases to a stop in front of my face. A mask pops out from behind, fitting itself to my head with a mechanical beep.

"After you see this, you'll... understand. I promise."

As the eyeless mask attaches to my face, I scream, and everything goes white.

I'm looking on at a castle's darkened corridor. It's like a security camera's footage, angled down from some corner close by, but the sensations surround me like I'm living in that day. A faint, musty odor accompanies the shadows and darkness in the lightless hallway, only brightened by a small, flickering candle. After a second, though, I hear a faint puff of air, and a chandelier lights before my eyes.

The camera angles down, refocusing, and in a plush, velvety chair sits my dad, adjusting his glasses with a crazed look on his face. He's looking down at a small desk, strewn with papers and small bits of paraphernalia. One of the objects, I notice with a start, is a much-younger picture of Mom. My father looks up, an odd grin on his face, and begins to speak towards the camera.