“Darkness? That’s a weapon? Yes, I can see that. It strips you of some things, mostly sanity. The darkness is a force which makes you imagine horrible monsters. but what most think is an absence of their vision making them go nutty or paranoid, it generally is the lack of sound which makes the abyss harder. You suddenly realise two of your needed survival skills are lost. You then realise how weak your other senses are against an enemy you can’t see or hear. So you curl yourself into a ball and begin preying to what you are preying against which is an unseen and unheard deity. Doesn’t make sense, just feels like the right thing to do when you are lost…”
…
She woke up. It was the second, maybe third day. She had decided some time in the middle to stop the slow decline into insanity by counting the seconds and time to make herself cling to reality. She of course slept for four hours at a time, which was why she was sure it may be the third day. So looking at the calendar imprinted in her mind, she determined the date and possibly what her backyard looked like at that time. She drew the familiar to her like a warm blanket. When they had stripped her, they had obviously forgotten she was clutching a lighter. She had placed it under her leg to hide it from them when they had started inspecting her. When she fell asleep, she kept it in her hand.
Click click, grumble, grunt,”Kah, Kah, Rar,” the noise came from the left. She didn’t have strength to move or look up. She just preyed that if they killed her, they did it quickly. She didn’t feel hands, she felt air or gas lifting her. The sound of wind rushing past her, gave her the feeling of movement. There were mumbles of something all around her and she felt herself being prodded by cold slimy things from each direction. Suddenly she felt a force to turn around, not by a hand but by a push of normal air. It was like the air had gotten board and shifted slightly by taking her along with it. Suddenly she realised they had placed something in her, non-lighter holding hand and while it didn’t seem dangerous, the texture felt spongy and wet. She lifted it and sniffing it, realised it was a peeled banana. She ate it quickly, not savouring it with the hunger she had been sure would be the end of her. She was handed another and her stomach made a growling noise to give its appreciation. They kept handing them to her, until she finally had had enough. With her stomach filled, she tried to peer through the darkness, but failed to see them. She assumed they may not have light where ever they had come from. She hesitantly tried to talk with them, “Please let me go home? You let the kids go home, please let me? I can’t see and I am frightened.”
Click, click, “geramber shhhoe carah,” the noise sounded near her left ear and she turned, “Kar, kar hurishma,” that time to her right.
She contemplated if they were trying to communicate with her, or were they speaking with each other? She finally decided to use the lighter, thinking they may be afraid of light. She pushed the little spinner to light it and felt herself wincing from the sudden harsh light. She heard shocked almost gasping sounds around her and she spun trying to adjust her eyes to see what she could of them. She looked at a creature which appeared to have black unwrinkled skin, which appeared wet or shiny. Two massive black orbs appeared to be its eyes and it obviously did not have eyelids as it used a long non-ending limb to shy away from the light and opened a mouth, filled with millions of rows of sharp spikes and a snake like tongue poking its way between them. The lighter was knocked from her hand and she couldn’t hear which direction it had landed as the creatures were growling louder than before.
“Please let me go!” She wailed, hoping the sadness would commune what her words couldn’t. She sobbed at the hopelessness, thinking they might understand the emotion. She suddenly felt something thin and worm like entering her left ear, she wasn’t fast enough to pull it out and started screaming as she felt it moving inside her head. The scream abruptly cut off.
…
“Welcome back,” she heard a mans voice say. She opened her eyes and blinked at the single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. Using her eyes for the first time in days, she felt them struggling to adjust to the light. She fought off the pain from a looming headache by trying to see everything all at once. Looking at the dark bluish black walls which looked to be cement and were old, almost as if they belonged in an unused basement. The light appeared to be dangling by a long wire with no lampshade and had a yellowing to it, which suggested it was old as well. She was seated in a plastic outdoor chair and the table was a two seater metal outdoor one. She was wrapped in a hospital green gown and felt the covering as a joy. Across from her sat a man, in a similar suit to the one Fiona had worn and seemed to have a permanent grim face. She looked around for a door and seeing a broken handle with a barely discernible different texture to outline it.
“You aren’t a prisoner,” the man assured, as if reading her thoughts.
“Where am I?” She asked with a sigh.
“One of our underground facilities. We are hoping that whatever they implanted you with will be interfered with due to the earths natural rocks in the igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic crust hold magnetic properties due to minerals such as magnetite and hematite.”
“I don’t think that’s going to stop them, the implant was living and is possibly still inside me,” She corrected, remembering the worm thing.
“That’s really interesting. You are the first adult taken to them, so we will need to ask you a lot of questions. The kids didn’t understand and couldn’t describe details,” he explained.
“Do you have a hospital? I need them to remove the worm from my head!” She barked at him.
“It’s okay, we’ll get you a scan soon. Can you just tell me everything you remember?” The man asked patiently.
“No, first worm then I will tell you!” She ordered stubbornly.
He sighed and got to his feet, he opened the door and spoke rapidly to someone outside. They grumbled something back and in the next few moments they wheeled a gurney in and took her through long rocky tunnels to a white sterile room which had a hospital feel. A woman in scrubs quickly told her, “I am injecting contrast dye, to see any abnormalities. When did you last eat? We scanned your stomach and found it had been emptied, before you came back. But you had a higher than average glucose scan?”
“Bananas,” She remembered.
“Okay, you should be fine, just lie flat on your back and do not move. You need to hold your breath for around thirty seconds while it starts. Let me know if that will be an issue. Will you need restraints?”
“No, I understand.”
“Alright I’m going to put you in the scanner, remember to remain still and I will be through there, just shout if you become panicked.”
She waited for the scan to start and as the table slid into position, she kept repeating to herself to stay still. A ring inside the donut rotated rapidly around her head and she heard slight buzzing, clicking, and whirring noises. She felt like it was taking hours, but the woman assured her after a twenty seconds she could breath again and eventually told her that it had only been two minutes. Breathing a sigh of relief as her table moved back out of the donut structure and she spluttered as a metallic taste suddenly entered her mouth.
The woman came in and handed her a drink of water and helped her sit up, “Don’t worry, just the contrast dye flushing itself out. Listen, we should have the scans ready in a few minutes, did you want to walk or be wheeled into the doctors room? I think Mr Stein is waiting for you in there already.”
“I can walk,” she said stubbornly as she wobbly got to her feet and the woman seeing her unsteady gait quickly put her arm under her shoulder and steered her towards the door and down the corridor to a small office, where Mr Stein, the man she had met previously sat with another man who was tall, grey haired and wearing spectacles.
She seated herself in the seat opposite them and was handed a glass of juice from the woman, “I’m going to get you a sandwich as you can eat now.”
“Thank you,” she replied.
“It will only take a few minutes. How are you feeling? Any pain or unfamiliar feelings?” The doctor asked inquisitively.
“A worm is in my brain, I think that is a pretty unfamiliar feeling,” She rolled her eyes sarcastically, instantly feeling bad as the doctor looked hurt, “I’m sorry, I’m both hungry and scared. I need to rest, but can’t while I worry.”
The woman came into the room and put down a plate with two sandwiches and another glass of orange juice. She ate the sandwiches and after the second swallow remembered her manners and gulped as she said thanks to the woman. She closed her eyes remembering in a flashback about the similarity with the bananas and felt herself reliving the memory. Closing her eyes she suddenly screamed, remembering the darkness. Opening her eyes the doctor handed her two pills and the orange juice, “slight sedative. Will help you calm down.”
She quickly took the pills and felt the effects immediately. She wondered that if it was a slight sedative, what would stronger ones do. She felt as if she was stoned. The time passed quickly as the woman, holding three sets of x-rays pinned them up on the glass lights for the doctor to look at. The doctor blocked her view from seeing them, but her worry began to make the sedatives wear off slightly as she heard him utter, “oh no.” He stepped to the side and she saw a x-ray of her brain with back marks covering the frontal lobe. The second and third x-ray showed the marks were moving.
She stood unsteadily on her feet and walked towards the x-rays. The doctor said slowly looking at her and placing a hand lightly on her shoulder, “It’s going to be alright. While I don’t think we have the surgical needs to remove them, we can try find out how to repel them.”
She looked at him with a bleak gaze and before they could stop her, she bashed her head quickly against the glass, and finding the strength to repeat the motion.
TBC
