Dollhouse, "Veneer" Echo
Fandom: Dollhouse
Title: Veneer
Author: Paynesgrey
Character: Echo
Rating: PG
Word Count: 260
Prompt: "Control" at dollhouseflash
Genre: Introspection
Summary: Echo does not see the invisible tether that keeps her from being free.
Veneer
What she has felt for the past three days lingers on her skin and see-saws over her brain. The emotions amass together, and she smiles from the onslaught of euphoria. She’s really happy. She thinks that maybe it’s the highest point of her life. There’s so much to do - so much to hope for.
The Treatment will only make things better. She looks expectantly to her right, and the man assures her that the treatment will be quick, painless, and then she can go on her way. She settles on the reclining chair with hopeful elation. She closes her eyes, and in a blanketing brilliance the pendulum swings.
She relaxes and then lulls. An elusive rope drags out the colorful images. Her recent happiness becomes null. Experiences become moot. Her future desires turn obsolete.
Yet she still wakes with a smile. An immediate wash of balance flows over her, and her mind feels so new and empty; there’s nothing in the outside world she could possibly love or fear.
She rises from the bed and shallow memories linger; she knows her name, where she sleeps, what color her hair is, and what time fitness classes start. But there’s nothing else, and Echo seems content with it. She doesn’t know any other way to feel. She’s tethered here, and the veneer of absent memories is proof of a tourniquet she cannot see.
And if they have their way, she will never realize it. They will not allow her to feel human enough for her own desires to spring her free.
Title: Veneer
Author: Paynesgrey
Character: Echo
Rating: PG
Word Count: 260
Prompt: "Control" at dollhouseflash
Genre: Introspection
Summary: Echo does not see the invisible tether that keeps her from being free.
Veneer
What she has felt for the past three days lingers on her skin and see-saws over her brain. The emotions amass together, and she smiles from the onslaught of euphoria. She’s really happy. She thinks that maybe it’s the highest point of her life. There’s so much to do - so much to hope for.
The Treatment will only make things better. She looks expectantly to her right, and the man assures her that the treatment will be quick, painless, and then she can go on her way. She settles on the reclining chair with hopeful elation. She closes her eyes, and in a blanketing brilliance the pendulum swings.
She relaxes and then lulls. An elusive rope drags out the colorful images. Her recent happiness becomes null. Experiences become moot. Her future desires turn obsolete.
Yet she still wakes with a smile. An immediate wash of balance flows over her, and her mind feels so new and empty; there’s nothing in the outside world she could possibly love or fear.
She rises from the bed and shallow memories linger; she knows her name, where she sleeps, what color her hair is, and what time fitness classes start. But there’s nothing else, and Echo seems content with it. She doesn’t know any other way to feel. She’s tethered here, and the veneer of absent memories is proof of a tourniquet she cannot see.
And if they have their way, she will never realize it. They will not allow her to feel human enough for her own desires to spring her free.