Scene 9

When Thea went to school the next Monday, she felt better about her situation in some ways, and in others, she felt worse. It was good to know that her mom, at least, was on her side, but the fact that she was unable to help Thea made her wonder more than ever what the hell was going on.

Even Josh seemed to have more of an idea what was happening that she did, and this made things worse. The weekend had been strangely silent in the house, with Thea’s mom giving her looks and winks, but not speaking to her except to tell her when dinner was ready. Thea was glad to know that she had her mom’s moral support, so when Monday rolled around, and things were just as bad as ever, Thea was able to carry on in spite of it.
She survived Mrs. Baumgarten, somehow managing to stay under the radar, for the most part. That week was a difficult one academically, and several students couldn’t manage the lessons, so Mrs. B. spent most of her time ridiculing them instead of Thea.

Sara and her friends were still making their comments, and generally being pains in the ass, but Thea was starting to get used to it and it didn’t hurt quite as much.

She was amazed that she could survive it without friends around, but there were a couple of students who had been nice, and told her that they couldn’t stand Sara, to hang in there, and that it couldn’t last forever.

Thea managed to survive and even thrive in her environment, much to her own surprise. She had always excelled in school, so most of her teachers were nice to her.

Things were falling into a routine, and Thea was thankful for it. She wasn’t able to meet Josh at his house [when was it?] on that day, her mom came and picked her up from school for a doctor’s appointment Thea had known nothing about.

“What’s the deal, Mom? Why didn’t you tell me about this before?”

“I didn’t know about it until today. The people at your dad’s work are doing checkups for everybody, including the kids. Today was the only day they could do it, so we have to go. Why? Did you have plans?”

“No, I was just wondering. Dad’s work never did checkups like this before, though, did they?”

“Yes, actually, we’ve always done your checkups with one of the Company’s doctors.” This was news to Thea. She’d never realized that Dr. Bennett had worked for the Company. He worked out of his own office, and no one had ever mentioned it before. Thea remembered that Josh’s dad was a doctor, and wondered if he might be the one doing the exams.

When they got there, Thea’s dad was outside waiting for them. He kissed her mom, and ruffled Thea’s hair, which was something she didn’t remember him ever doing before. Thea had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, and suddenly wanted desperately to get out of there.

Her dad placed an arm around her and guided her into the building. They went into a foyer and Thea saw a smiling woman at a reception desk. They walked down a short hallway toward the woman, and as they walked through the open doorway, there was a quiet beep, and the woman looked up and greeted them.

“You must be Thea. Dan has told us so much about you. Take theses papers Mrs. Watson and fill them out. Dan, you know where Thea needs to go, so why don’t you show her, and I’ll give you your forms when you get back, okay?” Thea’s mom hesitated.

“Why can’t I go back with her? We’ve always been with her for checkups before.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Watson, but there is a lot of paper work to fill out this time. I think it would be better for every one if you sat down and started on it now. Is that going to be a problem, Mrs. Watson, or do you understand now?” Thea watched as her mom’s eyes registered fear, understanding, and then resignation. She turned and hugged Thea hard, and said, “I’ll be right here when you get back sweetheart. You just stay calm, and I’ll be waiting for you. Ok?”

Thea nodded and followed her father down a long, brightly lit corridor. She tried to ask her dad what was going on, but he just shook his head and refused to speak. When they reached the end of the hallway, they turned right and headed down another hallway. When they reached the third door, Thea’s dad stopped, opened the door, and ushered her in.

The smell of disinfectant assaulted her nose the moment she entered the room, and vague memories tickled the back of her mind. Needles and bars in a white room flashed, and then it was gone, but the cold sweat and half-remembered fear remained.

Thea turned to her dad and was shocked to see that he was gone. She started to leave to go find him, but a disembodied voice stopped her.

“Welcome, Dorothea. Please, go to the table, remove your clothes, and put on the gown you see at the foot of the table. I’ll be in when you’ve finished, just push the call button, okay?”

Thea entered the room and looked around. It looked like any other doctor’s office, but Thea had the distinct feeling she was being watched. She looked for a camera or two-way mirror, but there wasn’t a mirror, and if there was a camera, it invisible. She took a deep breath and started changing her clothes. She pulled the sheet over her and pulled her shirt off, being careful not to reveal any skin to whatever eyes could see. She had mastered changing clothes in public during camp the past four years. They were always changing clothes on busses, and it was a contest to see who could do it the fastest without dropping their cover. Thea had always won, so in a matter of a few seconds, she had changed clothes, covered herself with a sheet, and pressing the call button, which someone had safety pinned to the vinyl covering.

The doctor came in and smiled at her.

“Hello, Thea, I’m Doctor Morgan. It’s so nice to meet you. I hope it isn’t too cold in here for you?” She paused, but Thea couldn’t answer. Something about this doctor was familiar, and Thea was terrified. The doctor must have seen something in Thea’s face, because she froze for a second, and pressed a button on the wall.

“Now you just sit here and relax, Thea, I’ll go get Dr. Borne and his nurse, and they will finish your exam.” Dr. Morgan left, and Thea heard a click. She went and checked the door. Locked. Thea had never liked being closed up in a room alone, and she began feeling as though she couldn’t breathe. Her heart rate went up, and her peripheral vision blacked out. She started seeing spots, and realized that she’d forgotten to breathe. She took several deep breaths, and tried to calm down. She kept hearing her mom and Josh saying “Stay calm, Stay calm.” She took more deep breaths, and concentrated on relaxing. After she started calming down, the lights flickered and went out. There wasn’t a window in the room, and it was pitch black with only a small ribbon of light from the hallway.

Thea saw the light from the hallway, and knew that for some reason, these people were trying to freak her out. Somehow knowing made her calmer instead of scaring her, although she wasn’t sure how that was possible, but she continued to calm down, and felt peaceful.

She closed her eyes and imagined that Josh was with her. She could see his eyes in her mind, and that mischievous grin, and she could swear she saw his lips move and heard his voice whisper in her head, “Good Job, show the bastards they can’t control you!”

She laughed out loud, and felt confidence come from nowhere and envelop her.

The lights flickered on again, and in walked a man and woman, whom she assumed was Dr. Borne and his nurse. Her nametag said ‘Suzie’ and Thea thought she looked more like a Helga the Horrible than a Suzie.

Dr. Borne had a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, and Thea felt a chill as he reached his hand out to shake hers.

“I’m Dr. Borne, Thea, how often do you make the lights flicker at home?”

“What are you talking about? I’ve never made anything flicker.”

“No? Then why are you here?”

“Because they told me every one in the Company is having checkups, including the kids. And what’s the deal with you people, anyway? You lock me in here, turn the lights off, hoping I’ll freak out or something, and then when I don’t, you accuse me of making the lights go out, what, with telekinesis? Do you think I’m a complete moron? Get a new shtick Doc. I’ve got no time for this bullshit!” Thea couldn’t believe she’d just said that, and she could have sworn she heard a whispered laugh in the back of her brain. She looked at the doctor’s blank expression and laughed out loud. That seemed to break him out of his shocked state, and he pursed his lips in annoyance. Then he pasted another fake smile on, and began the physical. He felt her neck and armpits, listened to her heart and lungs, and did all the other normal stuff, then he cleared his throat and walked out.

‘Suzie’ stayed behind and said, “Follow me.” Thea wrapped the sheet around her waist, and started to grab her clothes, “Leave them.” Jeez, she even sounded like Helga the Horrible. She led Thea down several more hallways, and stopped at a door labeled ‘laboratory’. Thea knew that meant blood work, which wasn’t’ her favorite thing since it involved needles, but she figured it must be close to being over. She felt like she’d passed [or failed] some sosrt of test, and was finally moving on to the next phase. Her nerves were still strangely calm, and although she didn’t know how, she was grateful.

Suzie pointed her to another table, and she sat down, waiting to see what would happen next. When Suzie opened a drawer and took out vials for blood, and a butterfly needle to stick her with, she felt a little nauseous. Suzie looked at her and grinned.

“Not scared of a little needle, are we?” She smirked, and Thea felt the blood leave her head. She took a few deep breaths and closed her eyes. She saw Josh in her mind’s eye, nodding encouragement, and she drew strength from him somehow.

“Not at all. Just don’t miss.” Thea imagined kicking the smirk off Suzie’s face, and smiled. Suzie gave her a strange look, and got down to business. She wrapped the tourniquet around her arm, poked around with her finger forever, trying to find a vein, and finally stuck the needle in Thea’s arm. She didn’t miss the vein, and Thea was relieved, but a little disappointed. She was half looking forward to kicking somebody.

Suzie took three vials of blood, then took out a syringe filled with a clear liquid, and attached it to the needle in Thea’s arm. Before Thea could say anything, she had pushed the med into her vein, and removed the needle.

“What was that?”

“Something to help you relax. And to help change your attitude.” Suzie got right up in Thea’s face, and Thea could smell her putrid breath. “I guess that will teach you, won’t it? Little bitch.”

Thea’s eyes began to close against her will, and she fought to regain consciousness. She tried to get up from the table, but fell face first onto the floor. Harsh laughter rang as if through a tunnel, as Thea struggled against the medicine’s effects. Her body was sluggish, and seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, then she felt her bladder let go, and warm wetness spread between her legs. Josh! Help me!! Her mind screamed out for the only friend she had. She felt like she was falling, and then she felt herself being dragged by her hair into the next room, and flung upon a gurney. Her eyes were still open, but she was completely paralyzed. She saw Suzie again, sneering as she grabbed Thea’s hair and lifted her head, showing her her own body, now naked on the table.

“You see that? Dozens of people are coming in here to watch the procedure, and here you are, naked as the day you were born, for all the world to see. That’s what you get for being disrespectful to Dr. Borne. No one talks to the good doctor that way and gets by with it. No one!”

Thea felt another needle enter her arm, an IV this time, she guessed since the pain stayed. Then she felt cold liquid enter her vein, and she hoped it would knock her unconscious.

“Oh, don’t worry, you’re going to be wide awake for a while yet. The doctor’s not due in for at least another fifteen minutes, and I’m no anesthesiologist, so you’re just going to have to lie there and wait. I hope they terminate you. You obviously aren’t a proper specimen, with that smartass attitude of yours. I don’t think they can beat that out of you. But if they can, I think I’ll volunteer to watch. I—“

“Susan, what are you doing?”

“Oh, Dr. Borne. I didn’t hear you come in. She uh, got physical with me, sir, I was afraid she would escape, so I gave her some [fill in].”

“You did what? You can’t give a Mod that kind of medicine right before a procedure! What the devil were you thinking?”

“I, I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t know…” Thea heard sniffles, and wondered if Suzie was faking tears. Fire her! Thea heard the doctor clear his throat, and then the sounds of muffled voices and footsteps. The door closed, and Thea was alone. She felt herself begin to fall deeper into unconsciousness. You have to fight the medicine, Thea, the doc was right, if you don’t fight it, you might not be able to wake up. Thea heard a noise outside, and then rapid footsteps approaching the bed. She tried to stay awake, but she was losing her hold on reality. She began to see colors behind her eyes, and thought she saw a winding path ahead of her. She noticed that she seemed to be able to walk, so she followed the road.

Are you sure you want to go there? What if you can’t get back? Thea looked up and saw Josh, How did you get here?

I’ve been with you the whole time, Thea. I’m sorry I wasn’t more help. I didn’t know the nurse was a friggin psycho. Sometimes, if you stand up to them, they’ll leave you alone for a while. We need more time, so I was trying to buy us some. I fucked it up. I’m sorry. You have to fight the medicine though, Thea. I really think we should go the other way, back toward the procedure room. If you get too far away, you might not make it back. Thea didn’t think she wanted to go back. She felt unafraid and peaceful, kind of floaty, and she liked it. The path began to change, there was a river on one side, with fields of trees, beautiful flowers, and she could even smell them in the breeze that ruffled her hair.

Look at it! It’s so pretty here, who cares if I ever go back. Home sucks anyway. I don’t have any friends left, my parents have lost their minds. Maybe it would be better for everyone if I just stayed here.

So you would give up, then? Stay here, where nothing is real, and just give up. Wow, I guess I had you pegged all wrong. Josh turned around, shaking his head, and began to walk back.

I can’t believe you’d let that bitch nurse win. Don’t you still want to kick her in the face? Come to think of it, she kind of did want some revenge. She took another look down the path and noticed that the colors were fading in and out, and the breeze had disappeared. She started feeling cold, and was having some trouble catching her breath.

Josh, wait! I can’t breathe, what’s happening to me?

I don’t know. Oh shit, they’re doing the procedure anyway! Thea, if you don’t wake up, you’ll die. Josh took her hand, but his fingers slipped through hers, and she realized that none of this was real. The colors began to fade to black, and Thea started running back the direction she had come.

The ground beneath her feet felt like sand, and then like mud, sucking her under, making it impossible for her to go on. She struggled to continue, but felt her limbs beginning to grow heavy again. The next thing she knew, she felt like she was in water, and sinking to the bottom of the ocean. It grew colder, and she couldn’t breathe at all. She held her breath as long as she could, then gave up, and inhaled the water.

Except there wasn’t any water. And she wasn’t sinking anymore. Now she was floating, and when she looked down, she saw her body, and six or seven people standing around her. One had a needle that was sticking out of her abdomen, and he was yelling something about a harvest. Another doctor was injecting something into one arm, while another was on the other side, injecting something else into the other one. Another person was watching the monitors, and Thea noticed with mild curiosity that all of the lines were flat. There was one person who was holding a bag over her mouth and squeezing, although Thea wasn’t sure why she bothered since she was pretty sure she was dead.

The person with the needle in her abdomen took it out and left the room. The two who were injecting stuff into her arms finished whatever they were doing, and backed away from the table. Thea noticed that there was still another person with those paddle things like on the movies, and Thea knew they were going to try to restart her heart.

She watched as they shocked her once, twice, then three times. On the third time, Thea felt something strange in the back of her head. It felt like someone was pulling the back of her hair, and she realized she was being pulled down, back into her body. She looked up and saw the faintest image of Josh. It waved, winked, then faded to black as Thea lost consciousness.