Me & Her

Me

I'm covered in blood.

That's the first thing I know when I wake up.

My clothes and skin are slick with it, coated in a drying crimson dress.

As I reach up to touch my hair, I find red incrusted in each strand.

The second thing I know is that I have a knife wound. It isn't too deep – at least I don't think so – but it runs the length of my side, cutting across my rib line.

The moment I notice is the moment the pain starts. A dull throbbing that pierces every sane part of me until I want to scream.

Instantly, I clap a hand to my mouth. I'm crouched in the street, I can't scream. What happened? Oh god, what did she do? What did I do?

The streetlights shine as spotlights upon the tarmac, missing me by centimetres. Careful not to jar my side, I climb into a standing position. And I remember. I remember going to the hospital – the facility. It's all coming back too fast. I remember the Janus Foundation, I remember... Bile wrenches up my throat, forces me to crunch back into a crouch. They did that to me. They took those samples, took parts of me. Fluid. Brain fluid, spinal fluid. Did I agree to that?

'Of course we didn't, you idiot'. I jump.

'What did you do to Doctor Steele?' I ask, even though I can guess.

'Put him in a chemically induced coma'. The voice in my head jars me; it is as if she'd speaking aloud and her tone is a hammer.

'Good'. My answer shocks me, but my anger doesn't. He helped them do that to me. He watched as I was strapped down and poked and prodded like some science experiment. He watched; he did nothing. I know now.

The Janus Foundation put me in a coma.

As I access our other memories, a frown creases my face.

'What's the Gemini Project?' Even though we're the same person and I can't see her, I know she's shrugging.

'No idea'.

'What have you done?' I ask, feeling sick again. All this time. Everything she's kept from me.

'I did this for us,' she tries, but I'm not in the mood right now.

'You kept the truth from me. I still don't know what's happened. You killed that Nurse, you... Oh my god, you were going to kill Dr. Light'. My hands start to shake, while my knees buckle. She was going to kill him.

'He's one of them. One of the Foundation,' she says.

'But...'. He can't be. He's different. He understands me, more than anyone I've known.

'Really? Anyone?'

'Shut up. It's your fault they put me in a coma in the first place,' I cry. It must be anyway. Neither of us can remember what exactly happened, but I know it's her fault. Like everything else.

'Please, for once in our life, will you get off your High Horse and listen to me? This may be hard for you to believe, but I'm telling the truth here. You're in danger if I keep you in the dark. Please'. Although I can't remember much, I have a feeling she's never said please to me. Or begged me to do anything.

'Why should I believe anything you say? I can't trust you, not after everything you've done,' I snap, hugging my goose-bumps.

'What have I done?' My mind hovers tentatively.

'You... You're trying to ruin my life, the way you already ruined my last one. You killed that Nurse'.

That very Nurse appears in my mind's eye, dressed head to toe in those vibrant scrubs. She's gripping our wrist, reaching for a firearm. She... She raises the gun. She's going to put a bullet, two bullets, in our legs. But we're already moving, desperately trying to stay in control. She thrashes at our shins, while we kick her in the stomach and snake from one side to the other in attempt to remain untainted. Hopefully, we'll knock her out. Unconsciousness is all we want.