Lies & Harmony Trilogy

Chapter One: The Hospital (Part 1)

“Miss Young, here is your medication for the hour,” a cheerful voice chimes. My head jerks up to see Ana looming over me with a metallic tray holding three small oval-shaped pills. It is aligned in a straight orderly manner. Two of them are pure white while the last one is a sickly shade of green.

     I squint at the green pill. That can't be green. They're always white so why are—

     I blink, and the colour instantly drains from the pill, and it's the same blank white that stares up at me like all the others. I meet the nurse's eyes, waiting for her to ask if my hallucinations are acting up again and to offer more pills, but she doesn't. That means that I've hidden my reaction well enough for her not to notice.

     “Thank you,” I tell her slowly. The words feel foreign on my tongue. I take all three pills and force them down one by one without water. The pill scratches at my throat with protest, but I ignore it.

     With the first pill, I can no longer hear the screams of the man that is being tortured or hear the drops of his blood hitting the floor. I can still see him, though. He is standing in front of my bed and while I can no longer hear his pleads, he is shaking and begging his captor to stop the pain. I cannot see his captor.

     I wonder if hearing no noise from him makes it worse. Hurriedly, I swallow the second pill.

     The pill goes down my throat. Simultaneously, the man goes away along with the pill. His blood stains on the ground disappears from sight, and I let out a sigh of relief.

     Two pills are enough to block out the images for an hour so I'm not exactly sure why I need a third pill today. But I've learned not to question this long ago. I only show a bit of hesitation before I take the last pill and stare at it. It's the same blank white like all the others, but if I concentrate hard enough then I can see the green writhing underneath like snakes—

     I shake the thought from my head and recall what Dr. Salazar had told me: what you imagine will come true. I don't want the snakes to come. Then I'll be sent back to The Pound. I don't want to go back there with the other screaming patients and the smell of that squalid place.

     No. Not when I already have my own sterile room with its square window that shows the blue sky outside. I do not want to go back when I already have everything here.

     Without any second thought, I press the pill to my mouth and feel it graze its way down. Nothing happens, and I assume this is one of the tester pills. It's not unlike them to use these, but I've never gotten one before. They don't test it on me, but I must be an exception now. I don't feel particularly proud to be tested upon even though it's been said to be a great honour.

     Ana, the nurse, notices my look of dismay and smiles down upon me. “Are you feeling all right today, Miss Young?”

     I don't like it when people call me Miss Young. It feels… odd. Dr. Salazar says this isn't because of my condition or my pills. He says this is the way I am, and I suppose that he's right. He’s always right.

     “Please don't call me that,” I say slowly, in fear that I will slur the words and it will come out incomprehensible. “Don't call me that.”

     Ana looks at me with a worried expression. “Sorry darlin',” she coos. “My mistake, Miss Seven.”

     Seven. That's a foreign name too. I don't ever remember being called Seven. In fact, sometimes I won't even remember my name if not for the mark that says '7' on my right collarbone. The Memory Pills did their job too well sometimes. I don't think I even want to relive those memories. All I know is that they are atrocious things that I do not wish to live through again.