The Fall of the Society

Chapter 28: Confusion

Lights flashed through her eyelids as she could feel herself being dragged along a corridor, pressure under each of her arms, her feet sliding harshly on the floor. Her muscles refused to respond and when she opened her eyes all she felt was pain at the light shining into them while all she saw was a blurry mess of colors. Trying hard, she was unable to keep a solid thought in her still swimming head, no idea who she was or what she had been doing before ending up in this state. A sudden churning in her stomach caused her to get sick once more, and an impact with the floor informed her that whoever was dragging her did not want it on them.

Something plastic was placed over her mouth and nose, and a sudden force pushed air down into her lungs. As quickly as it had happened, the device was gone, and she began singing and laughing once more. The thought of feeling sick had vanished from her mind, and she wondered why she was being drug along in such a fashion, but at the same time she was happy for the ride. "Oh! We should dance!" she cried happily, only being able to make out the blurry lines around the men. "Dance with me!" she shouted at them, but they did not react.

As though she had not just been rejected by the men, she began singing again. Her songs were cheerful and full of life and she could not help but bob her head and sway her feet back and forth. She tried to snap her fingers, but her coordination was far from normal and she was unable to make it work properly, she continued as if she was making noise. She could hear the men mumbling something to each other, but she had no idea what they were saying, or if they were even speaking the same language. Looking up at the two all she could see was fuzzy black and could make out no distinguishing lines.

"Do I know you?" she asked as they continued muttering and dragging her along the corridor. "Where are we going?" Rose continued in a sing song tone. Light after light passed above her head in a blur, and she was unable to tell how long they were dragging her as she drifted in and out of focus. She heard a door open and then close behind them, then felt herself get slammed violently onto a large hard chair. Pressure was asserted onto her ankles by the black moving figures before the moved to her wrist and applied similar force. The two then moved back to the door and exited through it, all the while Rose was trying to watch them, calling out to them. "Come back!" she screamed. "I don't want to be alone!" Rose cried, tears streaming down her now extremely dirty face. Her stomach began to churn again as she screamed, but she managed to hold it down. Proper feeling was rapidly returning to her limbs and she could now feel pain in her wrist and ankles, as well as her knees and elbows.

Her vision was slowly clearing, allowing her to see her surroundings in more detail. The walls of the room were white and there was a large pane of thick glass on the wall beside the door, reflecting the light painfully into her eyes. Squinting she continued to scan the room around her, trying to make out the details all around the room. There appeared to be a large black and crooked line running around the inside of the room, but something was off about the pattern as it appeared to be moving slightly. Since her vision was still blurry, she wrote it off as being caused by the lighting and the lasting effect of whatever it was that she had inhaled to make her feel so terrible. At least at this point her head was not spinning as badly and she was thankful for that, even though she still felt as though she may need to vomit.

"Welcome back Rose," came a mysterious voice. "We have missed you." The voice crackled through a speaker that sounded like it was under her chair. "My apologies if you are not comfortable at the moment, but you have forced us to take extra measures to ensure you stay put." The voice sounded familiar, but she could not place it. Her head was beginning to feel less fuzzy, but the fuzz was being replaced by a very intense headache. The pain was spreading all over her body as the toxin was finishing running its horrible course.

What had she been doing, she thought to herself in confusion? Where was she, what was this place? Thoughts had begun to pour into her head, like a dam giving way to a massive tidal wave. They crashed through her mind, making it quite impossible for her to focus on any single thought. Tears welled up in her eyes even more heavily now, as emotion and pain flowed all through her. She began sobbing uncontrollably but could not figure out why, as if she had no control over herself. Fighting with all her will, she could not overcome the feeling that was coursing through her, not allowing her to regain control.

Her body began to heat up, and her eyes blazed with power. A hissing sound came from above her as a breeze blew on her from the ceiling, causing her head to spin once more and her eye lids to grow heavy, her vision growing mistier. She was thankful for one thing, as whatever was blowing from the ceiling entered her lungs, the pain that was radiating all over her body began to fade and the rush of thoughts in her mind dissipated. A serene feeling began to creep all over her, and she was growing increasingly sleepy.

There was a crackling sound coming from beneath her, "Now, now. Unbelievably dreadful things will happen if you draw upon your powers. Something you will never forgive yourself if you do."

What was this voice talking about, she thought wearily? Powers? She felt so weak, there was no way she could have any powers. Her body felt so comfortable that even if she could move, she would not have wanted too. The voice continued to talk to her, but she did not listen. She simply closed her eyes and turned her head away from the bright lights above her. Surprisingly, sleep evaded her. She wanted nothing more than to sleep, to drift away from the lights and the crackling voice. Trying to move she once more realized that her hands and ankles were restrained, and this broke through her silent comfort and began to frustrate her. "Release me so I can sleep!" she yelled, pulling on her restraints which cut into her appendages slightly, drawing a faint line of blood. "I just want to sleep!"

"There will be time for that soon," the mysterious voice echoed hauntingly. "Once we know we will have your cooperation we will be able to move you to more comfortable accommodations." There was a pause before the voice continued. "If you help us with our research, we will not have to reattach you to the machine we used previously."

Rose tried to turn her head far enough to bury her eyes in the seat she was latched upon, "Leave me alone! I have no idea what you are talking about!" Tears of frustration began to well up in her eyes as she began to try and fight her bindings once more. "Let me out of here! I just want to sleep!" A blaze started to burn behind her eyelids, and she felt the breeze blow on her from above again, causing her to relax. Her mind drifted again, and she could not remember what she had been yelling about and she smiled slightly.

A group of people opened the door and unlatched the bindings on her hands and feet. She felt a warm, wet cloth running pleasantly across her forehead. Then she felt people handling her wrist and ankles, bandaging the cut that had been caused by her bindings. The remaining bits of pain that had remained drifted away. Opening her eyes slightly, she saw someone dressed in all black, wearing a dark mask that hid their face. Rose did not care that she could not identify this person, as far as she was concerned, they were an angel. The people moved around her and lifted her off the hard chair and placed her on a soft rolling bed. Warmth crawled all over her body as a warm heavy blanket was placed upon her, her happiness soared. She heard a new person enter the room and sit something on a shelf by the window, followed by the soft playing of classical music.

The figure that had wiped off her face approached her once more and lifted her head, pouring a warm delicious liquid into her mouth. Everything felt right in her world at that moment. Her stomach felt full, the taste in her mouth was amazing and smooth. The comfort of the bed and blanket and the softness of the music was lulling her off to sleep. Her last thought was how happy she was as a breeze blew onto her face and she fell asleep.