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#Post#: 282--------------------------------------------------
Street Side
By: MissM Date: April 15, 2013, 10:03 pm
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The student housing is a little farther from the school than the
teacher housing, but its also more green and luscious. There are
more trees, and more grass, and the streets are often split down
the middle with green islands. At night it tends to be dark, but
not so dark that you can't see your way home. There are a couple
of bus stops in the area, but the general feeling of the
neighborhood is very private, and it didn't often get very loud
on Friday nights, contrary to what most people think of when
they are told that a number of school-age kids live in one area
all together.
It is quiet and private, but it certainly doesn't feel
dangerous, even if its 2 in the morning and you are lost.
#Post#: 286--------------------------------------------------
Re: Street Side
By: Mascii Date: April 15, 2013, 11:26 pm
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Yukito Maki
HTML http://media.tumblr.com/f3acf5a3791ebbaf51e4e2069069b5e6/tumblr_inline_ml9nfxKHJ01qz4rgp.jpg
"Take good care of her, Yukito!" Reese called out, wrapping his
button-up shirt around Erin's shoulders, and wrapping his arm
around her, too. Yukito gave a nod, and watched them walk away
down the street before he turned to Zinnia.
"Ready to go?" He asked, his voice low and his hands in his
pockets again. He wasn't sure what to think of the evening, but
he knew he wanted to linger a bit more before going home, so
he'd had no problem when Reese asked if he would walk Zinnia
back to her house after dinner. They were both pretty quiet
people, but he didn't mind that so much...until they reached a
wall of silence, more tangible because they had just left their
talkative company. The street were dark, and the night had
become cooler, more like a true autumn night. In his hand, he
held the sunglasses he had worn earlier, but no longer needed in
the growing dark. Absentmindedly he toyed with them in his
hands. If only he was easier at small-talk like Reese was. He
had wished a million times that Reese's easy nature would in
some way filter down through his own disposition. But instead,
he was still stand-offish Yukito. Mr. Monosyllabic. It wasn't
something he could easily change.
He worried if, like Erin, she had become cold, so he turned to
her and tugged at the sleeve of his sweater jacket until it was
half-off, saying, "Do you want to borrow my jacket..? I'm too
warm." It was a lie - Yukito always ran cold - but the instant
he had offered, he felt awkward and embarrassed, and his face
flushed warm, the color on his cheeks visibly reddening even in
the streetlamps, making him feel hot. So it wasn't a complete
lie.
They walked on for a few more minutes quietly, a light breeze
playing with their hair in the wind. Other than their footsteps
and the sound of leaves shivering, all was quiet. It really
seemed like a dead town, long abandoned. It created a musical
stir in his chest, and the chatty evening had flustered him in a
weird way. He wanted to be honest, and he felt he would say a
lot of things he normally wouldn't have. "This kind of a night
makes me want to write... I kind of think silence is very
inspiring..." he shrugged, looking down at his shoes, "Or
something.."
#Post#: 289--------------------------------------------------
Re: Street Side
By: MissM Date: April 16, 2013, 12:07 am
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Zinnia Natter
"Take good care of her, Yukito!" Reese called out, wrapping his
button-up shirt around Erin's shoulders, and wrapping his arm
around her, too. Zinnia felt a pang of jealousy at the easy way
that Reese carried himself around everyone else, even with all
their emotions running through his head, and still managed to be
cheerful most of the time. They both watched Reese and Erin
until they rounded a corner and were lost to sight.
"Ready to go?" Yukito asked, his voice low and his hands hidden
in his pockets again.
"Yeah, I'm ready..." They both turned and walked for a while in
silence. She didn't mind, at first, but then the silence started
to get oppressive. She was also starting to shiver--in her rush
to be on time, not only had she been early but she also had
forgotten a jacket. Even her 3/4 sleeve shirt wasn't much
against the creeping chill of the nighttime this part of the
year.
She was just about to start rubbing her arms when Yukito turned
to her and offered her his jacket, tugging it half-off before
asking. "Do you want to borrow my jacket..? I'm too warm."
She glanced up at him in time to catch the deep blush that
always showed up whenever he seemed to feel embarrassed or
awkward. It made her want to hug him until it went away, but she
knew that would probably just freak him out more, so all she did
was smile kindly. And then she involuntarily shivered when the
breeze picked up for a second, so she hurriedly accepted his
offer.
"Sure, thanks... I was starting to get a little cold." She
smiled.
They walked on for a few more minutes quietly, a light breeze
blowing their hair around. Then Yukito spoke up again.
"This kind of a night makes me want to write... I kind of think
silence is very inspiring..." he shrugged, looking down at his
shoes, "Or something.."
"What do you usually write? Poems, stories, or...?" Zinnia
trailed off, still getting used to the unfamiliar fabric wrapped
around her shoulders. It was a little bit big on her, which she
found odd, since Yukito seemed so small. But he also wore his
clothes slightly large, so that could account for it. But it was
a comfortable jacket, and she could see why he liked it.
#Post#: 290--------------------------------------------------
Re: Street Side
By: Mascii Date: April 16, 2013, 4:05 am
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Yukito Maki
"Do you want to borrow my jacket..? I'm too warm." He already
had it half-off, hoping that that would make her less likely to
turn him down for the sake of politeness. As soon as her eyes
lifted, he felt his face turn bright red, and he looked away,
holding the jacket out to her as they walked. As she took it, he
felt her hand brush his, and he noticed that her skin did feel
cold. He looked back up to see her putting it on.
"Sure, thanks... I was starting to get a little cold." She
smiled. Yukito turned to stare at the ground again, giving a
shrug. A few more minutes passed, and they crossed a sort of
cul-de-sack, all the houses dark and silent as graves for their
slumbering occupants. The wind picked up, tugging gently at
their hair and their clothing. The streetlamps above them buzzed
and strained at the late hour, leaving an orange glow all over.
"This kind of a night makes me want to write... I kind of think
silence is very inspiring..." he shrugged, his head bowed, "Or
something.."
"What do you usually write? Poems, stories, or...?" Zinnia
trailed off, and he finally looked up into her face, a smile
slowly growing across his lips as though he held a secret.
"Everything. But mostly poems, I guess." He looked upward at the
stars that peeked through the remnants of the day's overcast
sky, contemplative. "Back when I was first hospitalized with
Hal, I had suffered a severe brain aneurysm which took away my
ability to speak English. Even though I understood everyone
around me, I couldn't talk to anybody. However, I was able to
write. So I would scribble down my thoughts and hide them
underneath my bed." A sad smile came to his lips. "I'm still not
so good with talking to people, but the writing helps me calm
down."
Yukito fell into a reverie, then, thinking back to his early
days with Hal, and with the brown-haired woman. Everything from
his past had been blocked out, then. His first memories had been
of waking up to the two of them leaning over him, probing him
with questions, trying to find out who he was. He'd felt the
iciness of their stares, and he had never felt so alone. It
hadn't taken long for him to start acting out, attacking people
and trying to escape, causing any sort of trouble he possibly
could. Thinking back now, he felt he had no one else in the
world who had seen him quite so vulnerable as Dr. Ramsey had
seen him. And it seemed almost as if the man continually put
Yukito in those vulnerable places, trying to break down the wall
of things Yukito felt, but never said. Yukito believed there
were certain things that even Reese could not understand, even
if he probed with all his might. Some things were better left
unsaid, weren't they?
"Will your parents be worried about you getting home after
dark?" he asked suddenly, concern trickling into his voice with
the realization that he might have to explain why she'd been
kept out.
#Post#: 291--------------------------------------------------
Re: Street Side
By: MissM Date: April 16, 2013, 7:45 am
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Zinnia Natter
"What do you usually write? Poems, stories, or...?" Zinnia
trailed off, and he finally looked up at her, a smile spreading
across his face.
"Everything. But mostly poems, I guess." He looked upward at the
stars, seeming contemplative. "Back when I was first
hospitalized with Hal, I had suffered a severe brain aneurysm
which took away my ability to speak English. Even though I
understood everyone around me, I couldn't talk to anybody.
However, I was able to write. So I would scribble down my
thoughts and hide them underneath my bed." A sad smile came to
his lips. "I'm still not so good with talking to people, but the
writing helps me calm down."
"I think you're plenty good at talking to people." Her comment
was quiet, barely a whisper, and the breeze seemed to snatch it
away.
Yukito then seemed to fall into deep thought, and Zinnia just
walked beside him, watching. There was something lonely about
the way he held himself when he thought nobody else was
watching, and it saddened her, because she knew how that felt.
It was no fun.
"Will your parents be worried about you getting home after
dark?" he asked suddenly, concern trickling into his voice
suddenly, like he was afraid her parents would blame him for
keeping her out so late. She almost laughed, and a wry smile
flitted across her face. But there was no easy way to answer his
question.
"No... my parents... well...." She looked at the ground, and
slowed down. This wasn't a topic she had wanted to come up, not
now. Not when she had been having such a happy evening, finally.
She sighed. She should tell Yukito... it was the least she could
do. And besides, she owed him some answers. He'd been talking
about himself all the way back.
"My parents....died... a long while back. I've been living on my
own." She looked up at the sky, trying to keep from crying. This
wasn't the ending she had wanted to the evening. "And... I'd
appreciate it if you could keep from telling the others." But
she couldn't look Yukito in the face. She knew how sensitive he
was to asking the wrong questions, and that had been the mother
of them all. And to ask him to not share... "Well, you can tell
Reese, if he asks. But... The others don't need to know yet."
#Post#: 292--------------------------------------------------
Re: Street Side
By: Mascii Date: April 16, 2013, 9:47 am
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Yukito Maki
He smiled sadly, thinking back on the drama he had created
yesterday, taking things out on people. The comments on how he
seemed so 'distant', and 'unapproachable'. "I'm still not so
good with talking to people, but the writing helps me calm
down."
She said something, then. But so quiet it was hard to hear her.
It sounded like, "I think you're plenty good at talking to
people." Yukito couldn't resist a little scoff, sounded more
weary than anything, and the two of them fell into a moment of
silence. Yukito wondered why it was that at certain times, with
certain people, an urge would begin to bubble and broil, deepen
within the chasms of his chest, urging him to tell everything,
to hold nothing back. To loosen that hold he had. It was like
his heart held corridor upon corridor of unsaid things. Some of
them he had lost the opportunity to say, and he felt that even
when he gave the impression of confessing his thoughts, to
others he was still shut off completely, and isolated. He wasn't
sure if he should hope that one day someone could navigate his
inner maze, or if he needed it to be destroyed entirely,
shredding his skin until he was barren and revealed for all his
insecurities to the world. Maybe such a day would never come.
Perhaps everyone walked around with an anvil in their chest
cavity, and he just didn't handle it as well as others. That was
the thought that kept him forcing a smile, kept his feet firmly
planted on the ground. Perhaps if he'd had parents for a little
longer, he wouldn't have been so astray, so moody, so
terrifying.
"Will your parents be worried about you getting home after
dark?" he asked suddenly, thinking about parents and being
brought back to the earth. He looked over at Zinnia to see an
almost pained smile twitching its way across her lips.
"No... my parents... well...." She looked at the ground, and
slowed down. Yukito followed suit, feeling as if he had crossed
a line he shouldn't have. Zinnia let out a sigh that sounded
familiar to him. "My parents....died... a long while back. I've
been living on my own."
Yukito felt his chest constrict at her words, his eyes falling
away from hers in shame. It hadn't seemed like a dangerous
question, but he berated himself silently. He should have known
better. "Oh...I'm....I'm sorry." I'm sorry they died. I'm sorry
I asked. I'm sorry I can't seem to hold a conversation without
making everyone uncomfortable.
"And... I'd appreciate it if you could keep from telling the
others." Yukito listened to her silently, his hands in his
pockets, his eyes on the ground. He had lost his parents, too.
But having little no memory of them had, in a way, made it
easier to accept. And he still had Hal, so it wasn't as if he
had been left completely on his own. He felt guilty for blaming
his personality flaws on his situation.
"Well, you can tell Reese, if he asks. But... The others don't
need to know yet."
"I won't talk to anyone else about it," he said quietly, his
voice dropping like a stone in a well, "It's not my place." He
stared at his shoes as they inched their way across the
pavement. If it were Reese, he would have picked up an easy
topic to change to, or had some comforting words to say. Erin
would have wrapped Zinnia in a hug, spouting her sympathies. He
felt that even Phoenix and Chevy would have conjointly found a
way to cheer her up a little more. But he, Yukito, could come up
with nothing except curious questions, which were the last thing
he should have said. But it seemed selfish to keep talking about
himself, and ignore what she had revealed. What else could he
talk about?
Certainly not the weather.
He let out a sigh, as if all his energy was being exhaled in one
singular movement. "I wish I could remember my parents. But at
least I have Hal. I couldn't imagine growing up on my own...I
think you must be stronger than me, Zinnia."
#Post#: 293--------------------------------------------------
Re: Street Side
By: MissM Date: April 16, 2013, 11:47 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Zinnia Natter
"I'm still not so good with talking to people, but the writing
helps me calm down."
She said something, then. "I think you're plenty good at talking
to people." But she said it so quietly that until he scoffed
just as quietly as she had spoken, she was unsure of if he had
heard. But then she let the silence envelope them.
"Will your parents be worried about you getting home after
dark?" he asked suddenly. She could feel him glance over at her
in time to catch the wry, almost painful smile that momentarily
occupied her face.
"No... my parents... well...." She looked at the ground, and
slowed down. Yukito followed suit, but she couldn't look at him
until after she had finished her statement. "My
parents....died... a long while back. I've been living on my
own." She glanced up and caught his eyes for mere seconds before
his fell away in seeming shame, which only made her feel worse
in return. She should have given a white lie instead-- No, they
won't worry about me, or They know I'm out with friends, they
won't worry. And for all she knew, they were in some heaven and
did know she was safe and were not worrying about her from
whatever world they ended up in. She wasn't religious, but if
she was, that's where they would be.
"Oh...I'm....I'm sorry." Yep, he was mad at himself again. She
didn't blame him, but still felt bad for causing it. Curse her
sudden urges to spill the truth at times like these...
"And... I'd appreciate it if you could keep from telling the
others. Well, you can tell Reese, if he asks. But... The others
don't need to know yet."
As if he would volunteer her personal information. And maybe
that was why she had told him, because she knew he would keep it
safe.
"I won't talk to anyone else about it," he said quietly, his
voice dropping, stone-like, "It's not my place." He stared at
his shoes as they inched their way across the pavement. Zinnia
felt terrible, for making him feel so awful about just asking a
question, but she knew there was nothing she could do, directly,
that would make him feel better.
"Thanks, Yukito. That... that means a lot to me." She smiled a
little bit--all the happiness she could muster. And she gave an
inward laugh--Here we are, two broken, tormented souls, trying
not to hurt each other by accident and only making it worse. The
irony...
He let out huge sigh, interrupting her thoughts. "I wish I could
remember my parents. But at least I have Hal. I couldn't imagine
growing up on my own...I think you must be stronger than me,
Zinnia."
Zinnia snorted quietly at that. "I don't mean to burst that
bubble, but I'm really not stronger than you... not really.
After my... enhancements... were finished, I was swept up by the
government in America. The last time I actually remember seeing
my parents... They had been in a car crash, just after my 11th
birthday, and we were supposed to go on picnic that day. They
were picking my sister and I up from school, or were supposed to
be. They never showed up. I remember...."
She stopped speaking, a lump forming in her throat. She
swallowed it, and kept going. She owed Yukito at least a little
bit more about herself, because he was trying so hard to be
nice, and she knew it wasn't second nature to him. And once she
had started talking, she couldn't stop.
"I remember, I said so many bad things about them that day,
until I found out what had happened. I felt so terrible, I ran
into the ER where my mom was-- all she had was a broken arm--
and told her, even though she didn't know about my bad words, I
told her, "I'm sorry, momma, I'll never say anything bad about
you and dad ever again I promise, I promise, please don't be mad
at me, ok? I love you mamma, I love you". The ER docs made me
leave, because she still needed stitches, but when I saw her
later that day she gave me a hug and said that nothing I could
ever say about her would change the fact that she loved me. Dad
got out of the ER later that day, too, and I said the same thing
to him, and then he said it was ok, that he loved me, too...."
She trailed off, flashing back to that one day that she could
remember all too well.
"All my other memories of them are pretty crummy. I had a
terrible memory as a kid. And then... Well, government living
wasn't exactly the best. They don't take kindly to outbursts of
emotion."
She frowned, remembering all the times they were forced to drug
her with a gas mask because they were unable to grasp that she
had PTSD and a phobia of needles of any kind, and remembering
further the times when they still used a needle anyway. Her left
arm twitched with the ghost pain of needle-sticks, and she
lightly massaged it to return it to normal, lost in the past.
#Post#: 299--------------------------------------------------
Re: Street Side
By: Mascii Date: April 16, 2013, 8:05 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Yukito Maki
He let out huge sigh, wearied by thinking and wishing that the
breeze would just take his thoughts away entirely. Maybe being a
vegetable would be nicer than trying to figure life out. Just
lying in a bed, dead to the entire world, would be easier. "I
wish I could remember my parents. But at least I have Hal. I
couldn't imagine growing up on my own...I think you must be
stronger than me, Zinnia."
Zinnia snorted quietly at that. "I don't mean to burst that
bubble, but I'm really not stronger than you... not really.
After my... enhancements... were finished, I was swept up by the
government in America. The last time I actually remember seeing
my parents... They had been in a car crash, just after my 11th
birthday, and we were supposed to go on picnic that day. They
were picking my sister and I up from school, or were supposed to
be. They never showed up. I remember...."
Yukito glanced over at her. She's really have a hard time, isn't
she? He felt like he had just stepped into a landmine, and that
he needed to proceed very cautiously. Silently, he led them off
their path a little bit, toward a park that was just to the side
of the sidewalk they were on. The park was comprised of cheap
plastic slides and jungle gyms all painted in bright colors, and
there was a merry-go-round, and he wandered toward it while she
spoke. Wordlessly, Yukito gestured for her to sit on the
Merry-go-round, crouching in front of her for a moment to zip up
the front of the jacket she had thrown over her shoulders. Then,
standing up, he slowly started to turn the merry-go-round, a
thick creak escaping the base of the contraption as it began to
spin.
"I remember, I said so many bad things about them that day,
until I found out what had happened. I felt so terrible, I ran
into the ER where my mom was-- all she had was a broken arm--
and told her, even though she didn't know about my bad words, I
told her, "I'm sorry, momma, I'll never say anything bad about
you and dad ever again I promise, I promise, please don't be mad
at me, ok? I love you mamma, I love you". The ER docs made me
leave, because she still needed stitches, but when I saw her
later that day she gave me a hug and said that nothing I could
ever say about her would change the fact that she loved me. Dad
got out of the ER later that day, too, and I said the same thing
to him, and then he said it was ok, that he loved me, too...."
The merry-go-round had picked up a little speed, and it was just
them in the dark, her on the merry-go-round talking, and him
pushing it while listening to her silently.
"All my other memories of them are pretty crummy. I had a
terrible memory as a kid. And then... Well, government living
wasn't exactly the best. They don't take kindly to outbursts of
emotion." His hands still turning the merry-go-round, careful
not to brush her as she passed him, Yukito nodded in
understanding.
She frowned, and silence fell on them like a cloud, deepening
the night past their conscious memories. "And why didn't you
ever see them again?" he asked quietly. She had mentioned being
'swept up', but it seemed like there was more to the story, a
big gap between her parents being bruised, but alright, and her
never seeing them again. It made Yukito think back on his own
Enhancements, and the first surgeries. Those days were hazy and
unclear, drugged and desperate. He had been more like an animal
then than he would care to admit now, but even still...didn't
his past have some effect on his current self? Was the 'Yukito'
of today created, like a machine, on the day he woke up from his
aneurysm with his brain wiped? Why couldn't he have a last
memory, at least, of his parents? What had they really been
like? Had they been encouraging, or strict? Had they collected
art or kept a messy house?
He had no way of knowing any of these things. It had all been
buried deep inside his brain. Perhaps it had even vanished from
there, as well. He had no way of knowing.
#Post#: 301--------------------------------------------------
Re: Street Side
By: MissM Date: April 16, 2013, 8:44 pm
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Zinnia snorted quietly at that. "I don't mean to burst that
bubble, but I'm really not stronger than you... not really.
After my... enhancements... were finished, I was swept up by the
government in America. The last time I actually remember seeing
my parents... They had been in a car crash, just after my 11th
birthday, and we were supposed to go on picnic that day. They
were picking my sister and I up from school, or were supposed to
be. They never showed up. I remember...."
He had been watching her as she spoke, and finally started
leading her towards a park just adjacent to their path. There
were cheap plastic slides and jungle gyms in bright colors, but
he wandered towards the merry-go-round as she was speaking. He
gestured for her to sit, and she did, catching her breath for a
second. Unexpectedly, he zipped up his jacket on her, so it
wouldn't fall off, and then slowly started turning the
merry-go-round. It creaked a couple times at first from disuse.
Then she continued speaking. It was like she couldn't stop.
"I remember, I said so many bad things about them that day,
until I found out what had happened. I felt so terrible, I ran
into the ER where my mom was-- all she had was a broken arm--
and told her, even though she didn't know about my bad words, I
told her, "I'm sorry, momma, I'll never say anything bad about
you and dad ever again I promise, I promise, please don't be mad
at me, ok? I love you mamma, I love you". The ER docs made me
leave, because she still needed stitches, but when I saw her
later that day she gave me a hug and said that nothing I could
ever say about her would change the fact that she loved me. Dad
got out of the ER later that day, too, and I said the same thing
to him, and then he said it was ok, that he loved me, too...."
The merry-go-round had picked up a little speed, but it was just
them in the dark, and she finally finished speaking. Or at least
for the time being.
"All my other memories of them are pretty crummy. I had a
terrible memory as a kid. And then... Well, government living
wasn't exactly the best. They don't take kindly to outbursts of
emotion." His hands were still turning the merry-go-round, and
he was very careful not to brush her as she passed him. He
nodded at her last.
A short silence descended. Surprisingly, she felt better than
before, like she had lifted a huge weight off her chest. But her
left arm still had ghost needles poking it, so she frowned and
massaged it, remembering the worst happenings.
"And why didn't you ever see them again?" he asked quietly. But
it didn't feel like it was a question, but rather like opening a
door that she could choose to go through or not, but it was up
to her. She took a deep breath and answered.
"Because.... we hadn't even left the hospital, when they claimed
they needed to do one last X-ray or... some test, whatever it
was, on my dad and mom, to make sure they really were OK. So
they went into their hospital rooms. I thought it was odd that
they had separate rooms. In retrospect, I should probably have
said something. But I had no way of knowing...." She shook her
head. "Anyway... They were kept overnight, which even I knew was
wrong. The doctors hadn't said anything about finding anything
that they needed to fix, and in fact, whenever I asked, they
said there hadn't been anything wrong. I had written down their
hospital rooms, fortunately. So I went to check on my mom and
dad. They would know what was going on... There was nobody in my
dad's room, but the window was wide open. I didn't say anything,
just turned around and went to my mom's room. When I walked
in..." Here she paused, letting herself go one full rotation
before beginning again.
"When I walked in there were three men in suits standing by the
window, and they were laughing, like something was funny. I
asked where my mom was. They told me I must have the wrong room,
but that they'd help me find the right one. They walked me out,
and hustled me into the stairwell, where my sister was being
shepherded by one of the nurses who had been in the ER. That's
the last thing I remember before waking up in a strange room, in
a hospital bed. That was the first time I had ever been truly
terrified. I got up, and tried to leave the room. As soon as I
touched the door, it seemed like, alarms went off everywhere.
"That was when I was told I was going to be changed, because
there was something wrong with my arm. There was nothing wrong
with my arm. I had just been to the doctors for my yearly
checkup." She was getting angry at the memory, and bitter. "But
I couldn't do anything. I spent the next several years under
anaesthesia or sleeping, trying to heal. I couldn't use my right
arm for at least a year and a half. Then they started working on
my eye."
She stopped. She couldn't talk about that. That was the scariest
part of her life to date. Eventually, though, she swallowed the
lump and continued. "It was scary, when they did that. I behaved
when they were working on my eye--I wanted to keep my life more
than my figure at that point. I still didn't know where my
parents or sister were, but I wasn't ever conscious long enough
to ask and get a valid answer, or an answer that I trusted.
"After a while, they finished working on me, and let me heal.
They started running tests, then, on how my eye and arm worked.
They'd connected the wires through my brain mostly right. But
not quite. It took them three more tries, which was about 3 more
months. I was 16 or so when they finally finished. But they
still kept me in their lab, and were apparently going to... to
'train' me." She spat the word out with disgust. "Like I was an
animal. One of the doctors, though, let slip that my mother and
father were in critical condition, but that Dr. Svenson, the
'chief' doctor, wasn't going to bother trying to save them. I
freaked out, and they drugged me. The next time I woke up...
They wouldn't let me wake fully up for another week. The same
doctor as before let slip my sister was dead, then. And I knew
better than to act up immediately. I pretended I hadn't heard,
and they let me up to go to the bathroom.
"Then.... then I left. I snapped. Went into a rage. My
'enhancement' went crazy--It worked much better than the doctors
had thought, and I managed to get one who I knew had worked on
my mother, both the ones who had worked on my father. I tried
for Dr. Schvartzkint--he worked on my sister. I didn't get him,
because he had ducked for cover at the start, and was long gone.
I saw another doctor coming down the hall, and shot at him, but
one of the aides had recovered from the shock of me getting
violent and tried to stop me, jarring my aim and making me miss.
I turned and ran at that point, not knowing which way was out
but knowing if I kept moving I would find it.
"After the first few halls that were full of screams and terror,
everything was eerily silent. I didn't know what was going on,
but I knew if I stopped moving I would die. So I found the exit
and ran. Dr. Svenson had been coming from the other wing of....
the lab, or whatever the hell it was... he tried to get me with
a morphine shot, but missed my veins so I got out and away from
the building before I collapsed. When I woke up.... I was in the
governments care."
She finally stopped talking. She felt a little light-headed, but
definitely better than before. But also more bitter, more sad,
more angry. But it was a change.
#Post#: 307--------------------------------------------------
Re: Street Side
By: Mascii Date: April 17, 2013, 11:02 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Yukito Maki
It was strange, watching Zinnia speak so long about her past.
During the dinner out, she had spoken, it was true. But it had
been mostly to select people that she had known, and it was
mostly questions about others, not really about herself. He
wasn't sure what he was supposed to do or say, so he merely
listened, and the more he listened, the more and more urgently
she seemed to speak.
"And why didn't you ever see them again?" he asked quietly. It
was the first thing that he had said for quite awhile, and his
own voice sounded strange to him on the night air.
[B]"Because.... we hadn't even left the hospital, when they
claimed they needed to do one last X-ray or... some test,
whatever it was, on my dad and mom, to make sure they really
were OK. So they went into their hospital rooms. I thought it
was odd that they had separate rooms. In retrospect, I should
probably have said something. But I had no way of
knowing...."[/B] She shook her head. "Anyway... They were kept
overnight, which even I knew was wrong. The doctors hadn't said
anything about finding anything that they needed to fix, and in
fact, whenever I asked, they said there hadn't been anything
wrong. I had written down their hospital rooms, fortunately. So
I went to check on my mom and dad. They would know what was
going on... There was nobody in my dad's room, but the window
was wide open. I didn't say anything, just turned around and
went to my mom's room. When I walked in..." Here she paused,
letting herself go one full rotation before beginning again.
Yukito watched Zinnia's face as she passed closest to him. Her
expression made him wonder if she had had the chance to cry over
what had happened.
She continued with her story, telling him openly about the
things she had seen and noticed, the odd things that didn't make
sense even to her eleven-year old self. She told him how she had
found her father's room empty, and strange doctors in her
mother's room. How she had been taken in, surgeries forced upon
her, and anesthesia became a normal part of her diet. She also
mentioned how her Enhancement had been her arm and her eye, and
Yukito became curious. He had never noticed anything odd about
her physically before, and now, in the dark as the
merry-go-round was too fast for him to look, he couldn't tell
now, either. She just seemed like a young woman with a very long
story.
"Then.... then I left. I snapped. Went into a rage. My
'Enhancement' went crazy--It worked much better than the doctors
had thought, and I managed to get one who I knew had worked on
my mother, both the ones who had worked on my father. I tried
for Dr. Schvartzkint--he worked on my sister. I didn't get him,
because he had ducked for cover at the start, and was long gone.
I saw another doctor coming down the hall, and shot at him, but
one of the aides had recovered from the shock of me getting
violent and tried to stop me, jarring my aim and making me miss.
I turned and ran at that point, not knowing which way was out
but knowing if I kept moving I would find it. After the first
few halls that were full of screams and terror, everything was
eerily silent. I didn't know what was going on, but I knew if I
stopped moving I would die. So I found the exit and ran. Dr.
Svenson had been coming from the other wing of.... the lab, or
whatever the hell it was... he tried to get me with a morphine
shot, but missed my veins so I got out and away from the
building before I collapsed. When I woke up.... I was in the
governments care."
Yukito arched an eyebrow at that, the tone of surprise filtering
into his voice. “Government care?”
There was absolutely no way the doctors that had worked on
Zinnia and her family had been working legally. Unless there had
been some horrible story behind her parents, and they had made
that decision of consent without telling their daughters, the
hospital had snatched up a perfectly healthy family and drugged
and disfigured them, and then murdered them one by one, until
Zinnia was all that remained. It was injustice. How did Zinnia
deal with the inescapable loneliness she must have felt every
single day since then? What could he possible say to comfort
her? Why didn't you just tell Reese all of this? I don't even
know what to say.. Yukito bent his knees slightly, watching the
long, spider-like grips on the merry-go-round, then managed to
jump up onto it while it was still spinning. He sat down, two or
three spots over from Zinnia, and stared out as the world spun
around them. It was like they were both moving in one direction,
while everything else went another.
“You've been through a lot...high school seems really petty and
meaningless right now.” It was the best he could come up with to
say. He knew 'I'm sorry' meant nothing, and pity was
aggravating. To joke about it would be cruel, and to ignore even
crueler. But he couldn't say he understood what she had been
through, or promise that things would look better. Nothing would
bring her family back, and nothing would give her those years of
her life back to her - that, at least, he understood. “No wonder
you hate your Enhancement.”
Slowly, Yukito leaned backwards, the merry-go-round beginning to
slow, since he was on it, instead of pushing it. There was a
loud, undeniable clang as the metal bars which hid his wings
most of the time made contact with the metal of the plaything.
He spread his arms out over his head, one foot braced up against
the handle-bar.
“What are you going to do now?”
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