(no subject)
Title: Eternal Damnation
Chapter: 6 “Give me Nothing”
Author: KittyQuat
Series: Original
Themes: Yaoi, Science Fiction, Apocalyptic Setting, Adult Situations, Swearing, Violence
Rating: (This chapter) PG13, (Overall) R
Special Note: Thus far, I have told the story from Mickī's point of view but for this chapter and possible the next chapter I will be changing it up a little. I want to give some of my other characters a chance to speak their minds. Also there is stuff going on with these characters that Mickī isn't aware of so I need them to speak in order to fill in the gaps. It might be a nice change of pace anyway.
Today, I woke up.
Up until now life was wonderful. Filled with nothing, and yet, everything I needed was there. I used to feel warm and weightless; this cold heavy feeling makes me self conscious and agitated. I open my eyes for the first time and everything is so bright and fuzzy. I don’t know what to make of it. I hear sounds, dull and distant and suddenly they are almost completely clear. Voices of men talking. How do I know that? I’m not sure.
“Can you sit up?” one of the voices asks.
“Wha- me?” I ask.
“Yes” he confirms.
I sit up slowly, shakily.
“Good” he says. “Now listen. Your senses aren’t completely functional yet so you probably can’t see, but please remain calm. You might feel a little pain in a second because we are going to remove your nourishment supply.”
“My what?” I ask nervously. I receive no answer, only a feeling of something tugging on my left arm, then the sting as the object being pulled begins to rip through my skin. “Ah, what? Ow, no, stop.”
“Relax. Your skin was fused around the needle, but it’s over now” says the voice.
Sure enough the ripping has stopped. Nonetheless, it’s my first time experiencing pain and I’ve already decided that I want to return to my previous state, that nothing that took such good care of me.
There is pressure on the region that is still very tender. “Excuse me? Um… Can I please go back to sleep soon?”
“Sleep? But your life has just begun” Replies the voice with a small chuckle.
“That’s okay. I’m ready to go back to sleep.”
I hear more chuckling. I’m not trying to be funny.
“I’m going to tilt your head to the side.”
“Why?” I ask warily.
“To drain the fluid from your ears” He replies.
“Will it hurt?”
He chuckles again, “No.”
He places his hands on either side of my head and tilts it to the right. Something warm and wet dribbles out of my ear and down my neck. It sort of feels nice and I can hear even better. He tilts my head the other way, draining my other ear. I am about to sigh in relief when suddenly I get a strange discomforting feeling. It’s like spinning but I’m not moving, am I? What little I can see is shifting around me, colors and fuzzy shapes spinning around my head. I grab my skull and hold it still but the spinning continues. I close my eyes so that I don’t have to watch the fuzzy colors shifting around me. They’re making me increasingly uncomfortable. The shapes disappear but that doesn’t stop the spinning. But there’s nothing to spin now, why is there still spinning?
“Are you okay?”
“It’s spinning make it stop. It’s making me sick.”
“Open your eyes.”
I do so. Closing them hasn’t alleviated the spinning anyway. They might as well be open.
After a moment the man says “Subject’s eyes are tracking.”
“Tracking?”
“Rapid shifting from side to side. Your equilibrium was disturbed when we tilted your head and you became dizzy. Your brain thinks the area is rotating so your eyes are trying to track your surroundings. It’s temporary, don’t worry.”
I wait as the spinning gradually slows down but the discomfort lingers. It’s num yet painful. “I… Ugh!” In my stomach something is tightening abruptly. It makes my body lurch forward, my eyes squeeze shut, and my mouth opens wide. A second time my stomach tightens and my mouth is filled with the taste of a bitter, scalding substance. It came from somewhere inside me and is now spilling out of my mouth, splattering across the surface where I’m sitting and on my lap as well.
“Subject is experiencing motion sickness and vomiting. Go get some towels and some Meclizine” the voice demands of someone.
My body trembles with the force of this “vomiting” episode. Now my skin is clammy on top of this cold, agitated feeling I am already experiencing. The substance that should be inside me is now all over me, and it smells vile. This world I have just awoken to does not impress me in the slightest. It is cold and cruel. I have done nothing to it and yet it punishes me. If this is how my life is going to be from this point on then I don’t want any part of it. The nothing never caused me pain and suffering. I want it back. I want my nothing back.
Something soft and warm presses to my chin, wiping away this disgusting substance. More soft, warm material falls into my lap doing the same down there. My eyes are stinging, and dripping another substance that belongs inside me. I think I’m melting. My eyes leak more of this fluid. I can’t think of any words to express how I feel but my voice seems to be doing a decent job of that without forming coherent sentences. Whimpers and sobs. Pathetic and heart-wrenching.
I reach out and try to touch one of them. I don’t know which one keeps speaking but I know there is more than one person here with him. I feel something and grab hold of it. It’s thin and smooth. Something one of them is wearing.
“Please. I just want to go back to sleep now. Please put me back to sleep.” The fabric in my hand is trying to retreat. I strangle it, determined to not let it slip out of my grasp. “No. Don’t leave, please. I’m begging you. I don’t want this. I don’t want any of this. I want my nothing back. Please, give it back! Give it back to me!” The fabric is swiftly ripped out of my hand, I’ve been denied. Why? What did I do wrong?
Someone grabs my jaw. “Open your mouth please” says a different person than was talking before.
“Why won’t any of you acknowle-ahck!” My frantic sobbing is interrupted by one of them putting something small and round in my mouth. It is bitter. They follow it with some water. I accidentally inhale and begin coughing.
“Hold his mouth shut! Make sure he swallows that!”
One of them grabs the top of my head with one hand and holds my jaw closed with the other. I’m still coughing as I try to spit out the excess water.
“Now now. Swallow that pill or I will have to get a needle and inject you with Meclizine. This way is much less painful.”
Really? I think as my lungs sting. More painful than this? Okay, I’ll swallow. I do so and then wait.
“Did you swallow it?”
I nod.
“Alright let him go.”
The hands disappear. Finally I can continue trying to clear my lungs.
“Take him to the showers, have him registered, and then take him to room 1109 so that he can go back to sleep for a while.”
I turn my attention toward the voice. I can go back to sleep soon? I’m filled with relief after hearing this. I can endure any amount of torture as long as I can return to my nothing once it is over. Several hands grab my arms and support my back as I am lifted up. My legs are weak but somehow they carry me. As I walk with these other people and their supportive hands, I notice that my vision is becoming clearer. I can make out more definitively the shapes of people and object around me. It’s a little more comforting being able to tell where I am and what’s happening here. I can tell we are walking down a hallway. That’s about it though.
“Here we are” says the man to my left. “The showers. You can get cleaned up in here and then we’ll take you to a room so you can rest.”
I walk forward as the hands attempt to guide me in the right direction. The floor changes suddenly; instead of being smooth and uncomfortably cold it’s not bumpy and wet. Still cold though. We walk a few feet further and then their hands disappear. I look around confusedly wrapping my arms around my waist. Where did they go? I hear a hiss and then cold water begins to rain down on me. I try to retreat but the hands return and push me back toward the frigid shower.
“No. It’s cold!”
“It takes a second to warm up is all. Now get back under there.”
I try to resist but in the end they win. I end up back under the water but at least it’s not cold any more. It’s still not very warm though. I sit down on the cold, hard floor as my legs won’t support me for much longer. I can’t live in this world, it’s terrible. It’s so imperfect. How can these people expect me to adapt to such a place?
They don’t let me rest for long. After a couple minutes the water shuts off and they lift me off of the floor. They dry me off quickly, inefficiently, and then place the towel over my shoulders before they herd me off someplace else. My vision continues to improve, I can tell we are walking down a long hallway. They guide me to the left and we enter another room. I can barely make out a strange device in the center of the room. I’m a little scared but the push me forward.
“have a seat here” one of them says.
“Wait, what are you going to do with me now?”
“You must be coded and registered with our database.”
“Coded?” I ask timidly.
“Yes. That means you receive a code which will be branded with a laser on the back of your ear.”
I inch away. “You’re going to burn my ear?”
“Relax. It’s just this once and it won’t hurt that much.”
I shake my head and try to pry myself out of their grip. “No. No more pain. I want to go back to sleep now.”
“Sorry little one. You have to wait just a few more minutes. Then you can sleep.”
“No! I don’t want to be burned! Why do you want to hurt me? What did I do wrong?!” I shout, but they continue to drag me toward the scary looking device. They force me to sit and then they strap me in and cuff my wrists and ankles to the chair. I can’t struggle now. The last free part of my body, my head, is finally restrained as well. They force me to sit back and then my head is trapped between two cold, hard plates. Another plate presses against my forehead and one more against my chin and under my jaw. I try to scream but it’s difficult to make any sounds with my teeth clenched together like this. My eyes become flooded again. I try one more time to beg them for my nothing back. They can’t understand and they don’t try. They don’t care that I’m crying, that I’m in pain, that I’m cold, confused, and scared. Do they just want to hurt me? Is that why they woke me up? Is that why they won’t let me have my wonderful nothing?
Another cold object clamps onto my left ear, lifting the end up and out to display its entire surface. There is a high pitched whine and then a sting on the back of my ear. It’s sharp and very painful. I scream louder and try to get away but I can’t move an inch of my body. It’s maddening. My heart is racing with my frustration and disparity. They lied. They said it wouldn’t hurt much but it’s excruciating. I want to die.
“Subject KS-MD0014407 has been marked and recorded in the database.”
It seems like this “branding” took forever and when it’s over something soft and wet presses to the back of my ear. When they finally unstrap me from this chair I’m ready to faint. My face feels hot and wet with my tears and sweat. My body is trembling. My ear goes between stinging and throbbing. One of them places something ice cold over it. An ice pack. This shocks me at first but it makes the pain disappear somehow. I reach up and hold the sagging, coldness firmly against my head.
I can make out vague facial features now as they lift me out of this horrible device. My legs refuse to work now; too shaky to even keep from buckling. They spare me no time to recover. Instead they grab hold underneath my arms and haul me away leaving my feet to drag along the floor.
“Relax. You can sleep now” One of them says.
I wish I could be happy but I can’t trust what he says. Not now. What if he’s lying? What if I have to put up with more torture? I guess this is my life now. Is it all like this? Is there no happiness?
They take me to one more room and set me down on something soft. A bed perhaps. One of them sets something cool and soft in my lap saying “Here are some clothes. They will keep you warm until tonight when we take you to meet your new master.”
“Master? I thought you were going to put me back to sleep now.”
“Yes. You can sleep now, but in a little while we will be taking you to your new, permanent home. You’ve been purchased by man who requested a young companion hybrid. Tonight we will be delivering you to his home.”
I don’t know what to say, so I don’t speak. I have no clue what they’re talking about. Master? Purchased? Companion Hybrid? Delivery? What am I? A mail order Dog?
“See you in a few hours” says one of the men. I hear a latching sound and assume that they have left the room. I take the clothes they’ve given me and after determining which piece is a shirt and which is pants, I put them on. I feel a little warmer already. Feeling around on the bed, I find the rim of the covers and pull them down. I crawl beneath them and roll around a bit wrapping the sheets more securely around my body. I sigh. Yes, this is right. This is the warmth I need. It’s perfect. I close my eye and try to get back in touch with the nothing that formerly surrounded me. In only a few minutes time I have already blocked out that cold cruel new world. I know they will wake me up again but I just need a warm quiet place where I can close my eyes and forget everything else. I can have my nothing anytime I need it. It will be okay.
I can see everything clearly when I open my eyes again. Something is shaking my arm. I see a man kneeling by the bed with his hand on my shoulder.
“How was your nap?”
“Good” I reply.
“Glad to hear it. It’s time to meet your new master, are you ready?”
I sit up and yawn. “No, I’m not. Let’s go” I say as push the sheets off and slide my legs over the edge of the bed. I won’t lie, I don’t want to meet the man who purchased me but I know they are going to take me away anyhow. There’s no point in fighting with them. They give me a pair of white slip on shoes and help me stand. I let them lead me back out into the halls. Eventually we end up outside the Laboratory though I don’t remember exactly how we got there. I look up at the building we have just come out of. It’s tall with very few window, the top looks like it might touch the clouds.
Next we take a car ride, a long and uneventful car ride. After a half hour, we arrive at someone’s house. From the looks of it, a very well to do someone. The other houses on this street are nice as well but this house has certain something that makes it stand out. The exterior is duotone with of desert sand colored portions and others a rusty red color. The driveway is paved with stone slabs in smooth concrete and behind the fence around the front yard is a well manicured lawn with roses and hydrangeas around the outside. Yes this person had money, enough to buy a very nice house and hire someone to make it even nicer.
The men who brought me here help me out of the car and guide me up to the front door. One of them rings the door bell. This situation is so uncomfortable. When the front door opens there is tall, broad shouldered man standing in the doorway. I make eye contact with him, warily. He is handsome and well groomed. But is he a kind man?
“Ah you must be from the lab” he says to the men standing on either side of me.
“Yes Sir, Mr. Griswold. We are here to deliver your new companion hybrid.”
He glances down at me and smiles warmly. One of the men from the lab hands his a clipboard with a form.
“Please sign on the bottom line. We’re very sorry to hear about the passing of your former companion. We extend our sympathies.”
The man frowns as he signs the document. “Yes, I was devastated. He meant a lot to me. I regret that I wasn’t more careful about his safety. But please don’t fret; I won’t be letting this little one out of my sight.” He hands the clipboard back to one of the men who in turn hand him a file folder.
“Here are his registration papers, genetic data, and a copy of your warranty and receipt .”
“Thank you.”
I turn to see the men from the lab making their way back to the car. I look back up at the man in the door way. That’s it?
He guides me inside with one large hand on my back. “Come in. It’s a little late for dinner but I have a nice cheesecake that we can share for dessert.”
In the dining room he pulls a chair out for me and waits until I take a seat. “Tēquin” he says out of the blue.
“Huh?”
“Your name, Tēquin. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. It sounds fine I guess.”
“Good. Oh I’m Dio by the way. I’m your new master but it’s fine if you use my first name” he says as he takes a seat across from me.
I look down at the piece of cake on the plate in front of me. It looks delicious. He had it all prepared before I got here.
“Don’t be shy” he says to me. “Dig in. I want to know what you think.”
So I pick up my fork and cut a piece of the end. I taste it. It’s wonderful and I realize that I had never tasted food before. It was wonderful. I ate the second bite with more enthusiasm.
“How is it?”
“Wonderful!”
He smiles, “Glad to hear it. Your probably a little overwhelmed by all that’s happened today, but please don’t worry, I will be taking care of you from now on. I’ll make sure you’re warm, and safe. I’ll feed you and love you and all I want in return is your faithful companionship.”
My ears perk up, selecting the pleasing bits from his statement. It all sounds wonderful but I find the bits about warmth and safety to be especially appealing. I’m not too sure what love feels like though. All I know is that if this man will keep me warm and safe then living with him might be sort of like living with nothing. I smile at him, my tail wagging in delight. Yes, I will be faithful.
No more than a second later, our pleasant moment is ended abruptly by the loudest sound I’ve ever heard. I turn my head to see the whole window shatter and hurl thousands of glass shards in our direction. I flee the dining room and find myself ducking and covering my head behind the bookshelf.
I wait a moment. Then I hear footsteps on the glass shards. Trembling, I peek around the corner of the bookshelf. Dio is standing just beyond the expanse of floor covered in glass. He his staring at the broken window, an angry look on his face. I keep watching as he bends down to pick up an object from the floor; a rock. Someone threw a rock through the window? Their is something attached to it. He unwraps what looks like a gold band of some sort. He drops the rock and stares at the piece of jewelry, doing so seems to make him angrier. I suppose he should be upset, since someone broke his window but this look suggests that maybe there’s more to it than just broken glass.
He opens a drawer in the desk across the room and throws the gold object inside before slamming it closed again. It’s only then that he turns his attention back to me. His expression has softened almost magically.
“It’s safe.”
He says that but I’m not so sure. For a second I thought that living here would be a good substitute for my former state of unconsciousness, but my nothing would never throw glass at me. So once again, I’m scared and trembling, wishing I could just go back to sleep. I watch Dio move across the glass shards back into the dining room. He stares out the window with his hands on his hips and shakes his head.
Chapter: 6 “Give me Nothing”
Author: KittyQuat
Series: Original
Themes: Yaoi, Science Fiction, Apocalyptic Setting, Adult Situations, Swearing, Violence
Rating: (This chapter) PG13, (Overall) R
Special Note: Thus far, I have told the story from Mickī's point of view but for this chapter and possible the next chapter I will be changing it up a little. I want to give some of my other characters a chance to speak their minds. Also there is stuff going on with these characters that Mickī isn't aware of so I need them to speak in order to fill in the gaps. It might be a nice change of pace anyway.
Today, I woke up.
Up until now life was wonderful. Filled with nothing, and yet, everything I needed was there. I used to feel warm and weightless; this cold heavy feeling makes me self conscious and agitated. I open my eyes for the first time and everything is so bright and fuzzy. I don’t know what to make of it. I hear sounds, dull and distant and suddenly they are almost completely clear. Voices of men talking. How do I know that? I’m not sure.
“Can you sit up?” one of the voices asks.
“Wha- me?” I ask.
“Yes” he confirms.
I sit up slowly, shakily.
“Good” he says. “Now listen. Your senses aren’t completely functional yet so you probably can’t see, but please remain calm. You might feel a little pain in a second because we are going to remove your nourishment supply.”
“My what?” I ask nervously. I receive no answer, only a feeling of something tugging on my left arm, then the sting as the object being pulled begins to rip through my skin. “Ah, what? Ow, no, stop.”
“Relax. Your skin was fused around the needle, but it’s over now” says the voice.
Sure enough the ripping has stopped. Nonetheless, it’s my first time experiencing pain and I’ve already decided that I want to return to my previous state, that nothing that took such good care of me.
There is pressure on the region that is still very tender. “Excuse me? Um… Can I please go back to sleep soon?”
“Sleep? But your life has just begun” Replies the voice with a small chuckle.
“That’s okay. I’m ready to go back to sleep.”
I hear more chuckling. I’m not trying to be funny.
“I’m going to tilt your head to the side.”
“Why?” I ask warily.
“To drain the fluid from your ears” He replies.
“Will it hurt?”
He chuckles again, “No.”
He places his hands on either side of my head and tilts it to the right. Something warm and wet dribbles out of my ear and down my neck. It sort of feels nice and I can hear even better. He tilts my head the other way, draining my other ear. I am about to sigh in relief when suddenly I get a strange discomforting feeling. It’s like spinning but I’m not moving, am I? What little I can see is shifting around me, colors and fuzzy shapes spinning around my head. I grab my skull and hold it still but the spinning continues. I close my eyes so that I don’t have to watch the fuzzy colors shifting around me. They’re making me increasingly uncomfortable. The shapes disappear but that doesn’t stop the spinning. But there’s nothing to spin now, why is there still spinning?
“Are you okay?”
“It’s spinning make it stop. It’s making me sick.”
“Open your eyes.”
I do so. Closing them hasn’t alleviated the spinning anyway. They might as well be open.
After a moment the man says “Subject’s eyes are tracking.”
“Tracking?”
“Rapid shifting from side to side. Your equilibrium was disturbed when we tilted your head and you became dizzy. Your brain thinks the area is rotating so your eyes are trying to track your surroundings. It’s temporary, don’t worry.”
I wait as the spinning gradually slows down but the discomfort lingers. It’s num yet painful. “I… Ugh!” In my stomach something is tightening abruptly. It makes my body lurch forward, my eyes squeeze shut, and my mouth opens wide. A second time my stomach tightens and my mouth is filled with the taste of a bitter, scalding substance. It came from somewhere inside me and is now spilling out of my mouth, splattering across the surface where I’m sitting and on my lap as well.
“Subject is experiencing motion sickness and vomiting. Go get some towels and some Meclizine” the voice demands of someone.
My body trembles with the force of this “vomiting” episode. Now my skin is clammy on top of this cold, agitated feeling I am already experiencing. The substance that should be inside me is now all over me, and it smells vile. This world I have just awoken to does not impress me in the slightest. It is cold and cruel. I have done nothing to it and yet it punishes me. If this is how my life is going to be from this point on then I don’t want any part of it. The nothing never caused me pain and suffering. I want it back. I want my nothing back.
Something soft and warm presses to my chin, wiping away this disgusting substance. More soft, warm material falls into my lap doing the same down there. My eyes are stinging, and dripping another substance that belongs inside me. I think I’m melting. My eyes leak more of this fluid. I can’t think of any words to express how I feel but my voice seems to be doing a decent job of that without forming coherent sentences. Whimpers and sobs. Pathetic and heart-wrenching.
I reach out and try to touch one of them. I don’t know which one keeps speaking but I know there is more than one person here with him. I feel something and grab hold of it. It’s thin and smooth. Something one of them is wearing.
“Please. I just want to go back to sleep now. Please put me back to sleep.” The fabric in my hand is trying to retreat. I strangle it, determined to not let it slip out of my grasp. “No. Don’t leave, please. I’m begging you. I don’t want this. I don’t want any of this. I want my nothing back. Please, give it back! Give it back to me!” The fabric is swiftly ripped out of my hand, I’ve been denied. Why? What did I do wrong?
Someone grabs my jaw. “Open your mouth please” says a different person than was talking before.
“Why won’t any of you acknowle-ahck!” My frantic sobbing is interrupted by one of them putting something small and round in my mouth. It is bitter. They follow it with some water. I accidentally inhale and begin coughing.
“Hold his mouth shut! Make sure he swallows that!”
One of them grabs the top of my head with one hand and holds my jaw closed with the other. I’m still coughing as I try to spit out the excess water.
“Now now. Swallow that pill or I will have to get a needle and inject you with Meclizine. This way is much less painful.”
Really? I think as my lungs sting. More painful than this? Okay, I’ll swallow. I do so and then wait.
“Did you swallow it?”
I nod.
“Alright let him go.”
The hands disappear. Finally I can continue trying to clear my lungs.
“Take him to the showers, have him registered, and then take him to room 1109 so that he can go back to sleep for a while.”
I turn my attention toward the voice. I can go back to sleep soon? I’m filled with relief after hearing this. I can endure any amount of torture as long as I can return to my nothing once it is over. Several hands grab my arms and support my back as I am lifted up. My legs are weak but somehow they carry me. As I walk with these other people and their supportive hands, I notice that my vision is becoming clearer. I can make out more definitively the shapes of people and object around me. It’s a little more comforting being able to tell where I am and what’s happening here. I can tell we are walking down a hallway. That’s about it though.
“Here we are” says the man to my left. “The showers. You can get cleaned up in here and then we’ll take you to a room so you can rest.”
I walk forward as the hands attempt to guide me in the right direction. The floor changes suddenly; instead of being smooth and uncomfortably cold it’s not bumpy and wet. Still cold though. We walk a few feet further and then their hands disappear. I look around confusedly wrapping my arms around my waist. Where did they go? I hear a hiss and then cold water begins to rain down on me. I try to retreat but the hands return and push me back toward the frigid shower.
“No. It’s cold!”
“It takes a second to warm up is all. Now get back under there.”
I try to resist but in the end they win. I end up back under the water but at least it’s not cold any more. It’s still not very warm though. I sit down on the cold, hard floor as my legs won’t support me for much longer. I can’t live in this world, it’s terrible. It’s so imperfect. How can these people expect me to adapt to such a place?
They don’t let me rest for long. After a couple minutes the water shuts off and they lift me off of the floor. They dry me off quickly, inefficiently, and then place the towel over my shoulders before they herd me off someplace else. My vision continues to improve, I can tell we are walking down a long hallway. They guide me to the left and we enter another room. I can barely make out a strange device in the center of the room. I’m a little scared but the push me forward.
“have a seat here” one of them says.
“Wait, what are you going to do with me now?”
“You must be coded and registered with our database.”
“Coded?” I ask timidly.
“Yes. That means you receive a code which will be branded with a laser on the back of your ear.”
I inch away. “You’re going to burn my ear?”
“Relax. It’s just this once and it won’t hurt that much.”
I shake my head and try to pry myself out of their grip. “No. No more pain. I want to go back to sleep now.”
“Sorry little one. You have to wait just a few more minutes. Then you can sleep.”
“No! I don’t want to be burned! Why do you want to hurt me? What did I do wrong?!” I shout, but they continue to drag me toward the scary looking device. They force me to sit and then they strap me in and cuff my wrists and ankles to the chair. I can’t struggle now. The last free part of my body, my head, is finally restrained as well. They force me to sit back and then my head is trapped between two cold, hard plates. Another plate presses against my forehead and one more against my chin and under my jaw. I try to scream but it’s difficult to make any sounds with my teeth clenched together like this. My eyes become flooded again. I try one more time to beg them for my nothing back. They can’t understand and they don’t try. They don’t care that I’m crying, that I’m in pain, that I’m cold, confused, and scared. Do they just want to hurt me? Is that why they woke me up? Is that why they won’t let me have my wonderful nothing?
Another cold object clamps onto my left ear, lifting the end up and out to display its entire surface. There is a high pitched whine and then a sting on the back of my ear. It’s sharp and very painful. I scream louder and try to get away but I can’t move an inch of my body. It’s maddening. My heart is racing with my frustration and disparity. They lied. They said it wouldn’t hurt much but it’s excruciating. I want to die.
“Subject KS-MD0014407 has been marked and recorded in the database.”
It seems like this “branding” took forever and when it’s over something soft and wet presses to the back of my ear. When they finally unstrap me from this chair I’m ready to faint. My face feels hot and wet with my tears and sweat. My body is trembling. My ear goes between stinging and throbbing. One of them places something ice cold over it. An ice pack. This shocks me at first but it makes the pain disappear somehow. I reach up and hold the sagging, coldness firmly against my head.
I can make out vague facial features now as they lift me out of this horrible device. My legs refuse to work now; too shaky to even keep from buckling. They spare me no time to recover. Instead they grab hold underneath my arms and haul me away leaving my feet to drag along the floor.
“Relax. You can sleep now” One of them says.
I wish I could be happy but I can’t trust what he says. Not now. What if he’s lying? What if I have to put up with more torture? I guess this is my life now. Is it all like this? Is there no happiness?
They take me to one more room and set me down on something soft. A bed perhaps. One of them sets something cool and soft in my lap saying “Here are some clothes. They will keep you warm until tonight when we take you to meet your new master.”
“Master? I thought you were going to put me back to sleep now.”
“Yes. You can sleep now, but in a little while we will be taking you to your new, permanent home. You’ve been purchased by man who requested a young companion hybrid. Tonight we will be delivering you to his home.”
I don’t know what to say, so I don’t speak. I have no clue what they’re talking about. Master? Purchased? Companion Hybrid? Delivery? What am I? A mail order Dog?
“See you in a few hours” says one of the men. I hear a latching sound and assume that they have left the room. I take the clothes they’ve given me and after determining which piece is a shirt and which is pants, I put them on. I feel a little warmer already. Feeling around on the bed, I find the rim of the covers and pull them down. I crawl beneath them and roll around a bit wrapping the sheets more securely around my body. I sigh. Yes, this is right. This is the warmth I need. It’s perfect. I close my eye and try to get back in touch with the nothing that formerly surrounded me. In only a few minutes time I have already blocked out that cold cruel new world. I know they will wake me up again but I just need a warm quiet place where I can close my eyes and forget everything else. I can have my nothing anytime I need it. It will be okay.
I can see everything clearly when I open my eyes again. Something is shaking my arm. I see a man kneeling by the bed with his hand on my shoulder.
“How was your nap?”
“Good” I reply.
“Glad to hear it. It’s time to meet your new master, are you ready?”
I sit up and yawn. “No, I’m not. Let’s go” I say as push the sheets off and slide my legs over the edge of the bed. I won’t lie, I don’t want to meet the man who purchased me but I know they are going to take me away anyhow. There’s no point in fighting with them. They give me a pair of white slip on shoes and help me stand. I let them lead me back out into the halls. Eventually we end up outside the Laboratory though I don’t remember exactly how we got there. I look up at the building we have just come out of. It’s tall with very few window, the top looks like it might touch the clouds.
Next we take a car ride, a long and uneventful car ride. After a half hour, we arrive at someone’s house. From the looks of it, a very well to do someone. The other houses on this street are nice as well but this house has certain something that makes it stand out. The exterior is duotone with of desert sand colored portions and others a rusty red color. The driveway is paved with stone slabs in smooth concrete and behind the fence around the front yard is a well manicured lawn with roses and hydrangeas around the outside. Yes this person had money, enough to buy a very nice house and hire someone to make it even nicer.
The men who brought me here help me out of the car and guide me up to the front door. One of them rings the door bell. This situation is so uncomfortable. When the front door opens there is tall, broad shouldered man standing in the doorway. I make eye contact with him, warily. He is handsome and well groomed. But is he a kind man?
“Ah you must be from the lab” he says to the men standing on either side of me.
“Yes Sir, Mr. Griswold. We are here to deliver your new companion hybrid.”
He glances down at me and smiles warmly. One of the men from the lab hands his a clipboard with a form.
“Please sign on the bottom line. We’re very sorry to hear about the passing of your former companion. We extend our sympathies.”
The man frowns as he signs the document. “Yes, I was devastated. He meant a lot to me. I regret that I wasn’t more careful about his safety. But please don’t fret; I won’t be letting this little one out of my sight.” He hands the clipboard back to one of the men who in turn hand him a file folder.
“Here are his registration papers, genetic data, and a copy of your warranty and receipt .”
“Thank you.”
I turn to see the men from the lab making their way back to the car. I look back up at the man in the door way. That’s it?
He guides me inside with one large hand on my back. “Come in. It’s a little late for dinner but I have a nice cheesecake that we can share for dessert.”
In the dining room he pulls a chair out for me and waits until I take a seat. “Tēquin” he says out of the blue.
“Huh?”
“Your name, Tēquin. What do you think?”
“I don’t know. It sounds fine I guess.”
“Good. Oh I’m Dio by the way. I’m your new master but it’s fine if you use my first name” he says as he takes a seat across from me.
I look down at the piece of cake on the plate in front of me. It looks delicious. He had it all prepared before I got here.
“Don’t be shy” he says to me. “Dig in. I want to know what you think.”
So I pick up my fork and cut a piece of the end. I taste it. It’s wonderful and I realize that I had never tasted food before. It was wonderful. I ate the second bite with more enthusiasm.
“How is it?”
“Wonderful!”
He smiles, “Glad to hear it. Your probably a little overwhelmed by all that’s happened today, but please don’t worry, I will be taking care of you from now on. I’ll make sure you’re warm, and safe. I’ll feed you and love you and all I want in return is your faithful companionship.”
My ears perk up, selecting the pleasing bits from his statement. It all sounds wonderful but I find the bits about warmth and safety to be especially appealing. I’m not too sure what love feels like though. All I know is that if this man will keep me warm and safe then living with him might be sort of like living with nothing. I smile at him, my tail wagging in delight. Yes, I will be faithful.
No more than a second later, our pleasant moment is ended abruptly by the loudest sound I’ve ever heard. I turn my head to see the whole window shatter and hurl thousands of glass shards in our direction. I flee the dining room and find myself ducking and covering my head behind the bookshelf.
I wait a moment. Then I hear footsteps on the glass shards. Trembling, I peek around the corner of the bookshelf. Dio is standing just beyond the expanse of floor covered in glass. He his staring at the broken window, an angry look on his face. I keep watching as he bends down to pick up an object from the floor; a rock. Someone threw a rock through the window? Their is something attached to it. He unwraps what looks like a gold band of some sort. He drops the rock and stares at the piece of jewelry, doing so seems to make him angrier. I suppose he should be upset, since someone broke his window but this look suggests that maybe there’s more to it than just broken glass.
He opens a drawer in the desk across the room and throws the gold object inside before slamming it closed again. It’s only then that he turns his attention back to me. His expression has softened almost magically.
“It’s safe.”
He says that but I’m not so sure. For a second I thought that living here would be a good substitute for my former state of unconsciousness, but my nothing would never throw glass at me. So once again, I’m scared and trembling, wishing I could just go back to sleep. I watch Dio move across the glass shards back into the dining room. He stares out the window with his hands on his hips and shakes his head.