A Petal of an Orchid (Part 5)

            When I awoke, my eyesight was foggy and I couldn’t even see a centimeter in front of me. I blinked a few times but the fuzziness of the world around me remained. I tried shaking my head, but when I tried, my movements were slowed, like I was in water. I froze, frightened, when I realized I WAS in water! In panic, I thrashed about, opening my mouth in the chaos to try to breath in air, and to my surprise – I did.

         I stopped for a moment, testing my breathing. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale…..Good god! I could breathe in this water. I swam around, breathing, until my head hit something that went thunk as my forehead found it. I swam back like an octopus recoiling from threat and blinked. I swam forward a bit until I hit it again; some sort of glass. I reached my hand out and my palm found the smooth surface of the glass. I swallowed down my rising anxiety. Was I in a glass tank? If so, how come?

           Suddenly, everything came back to me in a big rush; the war, the safe house, smoke everywhere, the officer…..and what he said before I blacked out. Did Mercedes really give me over to the dark army as a peace offering? I shook my head violently. No, that was impossible. Sure,  I was different; the only human in her perfect elf world…..but I loved her like my real mother, and so did she…..or did she?

           I wanted to hit myself! Of COURSE she did! Does. Good god, why am I talking like she’s dead? The war was fierce and horrid, of course, but I’m sure she’s alive. Of course she’s alive! At least, I hope so. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed by a sudden thought of Mercedes, lying face-down on the ground, her life’s blood leaking out from multiple wounds, flies swarming over her head. The thought was so horrid I screamed, like, really loud, and flailed my arms about. That was when I noticed the tubes.

           Attached to my arms and legs, protruding through my skin, were multiple tubes that hung from the top of the tank and disappeared through a hole in the ceiling. They were pumping something into my body, some sort of dark liquid like the purple blood I saw flowing out of my body that time Mercedes took me to the doctor for my shot.

          Right now, the tubes didn’t seem to be doing anything; just hanging limply to my body. I tried to pull them off but each tug sent a jolt of pain through my arm and body and I stopped after the first try. After awhile of floating, I heard a door creak open. I swam to the glass and peered outside. The glass I was in was in a small white room, a pale grey desk tucked into the corner. A bookshelf stood at the corner of the room, stacks of books littering the floor around it. Next to the glass that held me was some sort of machine that resembled a washing machine, with multiple buttons and levers.

          There was also a door next to the bookshelf, which had been the source of the creaking. A woman with pale skin, dark hair and equally dark eyes covered by a pair of small glasses stepped through the door, looking at me in the eye. She had on a pale blue shirt and a black miniskirt, mostly covered by the faded white lab coat she wore. On her legs were black socks that were mostly covered by her black, shiny boots. She stretched her thin lips into a smile when she saw I was awake.

          “Hello, can you hear me?” she asked, and I nodded. She stepped over a pile of books on the floor and soon she was standing just in front of the glass tank that held me. I swam back, frightened, and she smiled. “Hello there, dear. My name is Taylor Gelimer, and I assume you are Orchid, correct?” I rolled myself into a ball, but I gave just a squeak of “yes”. Taylor nodded and then said: “Don’t worry, this won’t hurt a bit.” She walked over to the washing-machine like contraption beside my glass tank which I christened in my mind ‘thingamajig’.

            She pulled a lever with a shiny blue handle and suddenly another pipe - light blue, not grey like the other pipes attached to me – sprang down from the ceiling and jabbed itself into my chest. My purple blood stained the water pink and I gave a shriek of pain, which was later replaced by a moan of relief as whatever this pipe was pumping into me, it felt good, like a painkiller.

            Taylor was fascinated by something that projected onto the screen of the thingamajig. “Incredible,” she breathed, awed by whatever the thingamajig was showing her. She tapped a few buttons on the thingamajig, and the picture on the screen changed, as so her expression. “Im….impossible,” she muttered under her breath. “This little girl…..is….incredible.” Okay, she is mad. After awhile, Taylor pulled the lever back to place and the blue pipe pulled itself out of my chest and slithered back up to the ceiling like a thick blue snake.

           For some reason, the hole in my chest healed miraculously fast. In one moment there was a hole, the next thing I knew, skin was growing over it and in a matter of seconds, it looked like there was never a hole to begin with. I swallowed hard and swam back to the glass wall and pressed my face into it. Taylor was focusing on something on the thingamajig, but I couldn’t see what. Suddenly, Taylor said: “Okay, my dear, this might hurt, but don’t you worry,” she looked at me and smiled a hint of wickedness hiding behind her smile. “After this, you’ll be perfect.”

          After those words, she pressed two red buttons and pulled a green lever. The pipes suddenly lit up and started pumping something into my body. Each pump was excruciating, and I screamed. Desperation made me blind to pain and I attempted to pull each pipe out of my skin. I pulled and tugged viciously until Taylor pushed a yellow button and suddenly I was paralyzed, all I could do was wince as each pump filled my body with the pale purple liquid they had pumping into my hands and legs.

            “There you go, darling,” Taylor said, touching the glass. “Soon, you will be the most powerful commander under the black mage.” I froze. What? What did she say? She wanted me to become a commander under the infamous Black Magician? No way! Uh-uh! How foolish of them to think I would accept! I would stick to this life and I am not letting any changes come my way again.

        After awhile, my eyes opened again. The room was dark and empty, the small light bulb the only light source in the room. I didn’t even know I fell asleep! I swam to the glass and peered at the clock that hung from the ceiling; 1.35 a.m. It was midnight and that sort of explained why there was no one around. But to my luck, I was also afraid of the dark, and being in a dark room alone with white curtains billowing in the wind next to my glass tank sent shivers down my spine.

       Suddenly, I was aware that the door was slowly opening. I froze and abruptly shut my eyes and tried to look like I was still asleep. I heard the click as the person who opened the door turned on the lights and saw the light flicker on through my eyelids, but I was still too afraid to open them. I heard footsteps come my way and soon I could feel a presence outside the tank. Someone familiar, yet I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Orc?”

        After that single word, my eyes snapped open in shock. That was Lotus’s voice and her nickname for me! No one else called me that. My eyes flickered around the room until I saw her, standing directly in front of my tank, eyes wide in fright. Behind her was a dark warrior brandishing the longest trident I have ever seen. Lotus was wearing a black dress that brushed her knees. I never saw her wear that before. I was also vaguely aware that she had on hand cuffs, and was really pale and had lost a lot of weight. What did they do to my happy – go – lucky sister to make her this way?

      “Lotus?” I say, swimming to the glass and placing my hands on the smooth surface. “Is that you?” Lotus nodded, tears streaming from her eyes, happy to see me again. Her hair had grown quite long these two years, now they reached to her back. The last time I saw her she had cut it into this boyish style. I could feel tears forming in my eyes as well. It had been two years since I last saw my sister. I thought she was as good as dead but here she is, standing in front of me.

        Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and Taylor came in, dark bags under her eyes, a huge stack of files under her arm, a pen in the other. She nodded to the dark soldier and he nodded back, then left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. Taylor dumped the files onto the desk and collapsed at the chair. She beckoned Lotus over and she went timidly.

        “So darling, what do you think of this?” Taylor said, clicking a few buttons on the thingamajig. The screen lit up and Lotus leaned forward, squinting, reading whatever small print on the screen. After reading the whole thing, her eyes grew wide, looked up at me, then immediately stepped back from the thingamajig. Taylor smiled, bemused, and said: “So, I guess you can’t see your sister the same way, right?”

      Lotus just stared at me in horror and shook her head violently. I wanted to ask her what was wrong, what she saw on the screen that made her so afraid of me. Suddenly, something hit Lotus. She drew back like she had just been shot, and clutched her head like she just had the most violent headache. Before I could ask her what was wrong, darkness crawled like tentacles from where she stood. Taylor sprang up and pinned herself against the wall as many dark hands and tentacles rose from the ground. Lotus suddenly shrieked and the hands and tentacles bolted for Taylor. Taylor’s eyes widened and she sprang out of the way, just in time.

           As she hit the ground, Taylor pulled out a walkie-talkie from her coat pocket, pressed the button in the center and screamed into it: “Mayday, mayday! The test subject is still unstable! I repeat, the test subject is still unstable…..aaahhh!!” Taylor screamed as one of the hands wrapped itself around her foot and was tugging hard. The walkie-talkie flew out of her hands and she was pulled into the air.

         Lotus looked like she was in agony, clutching her head like it was about to explode in minutes. The door suddenly crashed open and multiple warriors and scientist looking people like Taylor poured into the room. A warrior shoved Lotus onto the ground and most of the hands and tentacles dissipated into dark smoke. A scientist fretted about the files and pens on the table until he drew out the same vial with the same red liquid that knocked me out. I hammered onto the glass, shrieking: “Stop!!” Of course, nobody listened. The scientist jabbed the needle hard into her back and her head hit the floor hard, out for the count.

          The rest of the dark hands and tentacles vanished into the air and Taylor dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Two warriors held each of Lotus’s arms and dragged her out of the room, the scientist following. The door slammed shut and I drew back from the glass, shivering. What did they do to Lotus to make her that way?

           Suddenly, I remembered Taylor’s words: The test subject is still unstable!! Test subject? They were doing tests on her? Was that why she looked so pale and unstable? I swallowed down the rising anxiety and the thought that maybe I would become a test subject as well…….unless I already am. Taylor picked herself off the floor and walked towards the corner where she dropped her glasses.

          “Sorry about that, Orchid dear,” she said, wearing her glasses that got slightly cracked. “Your sister is still a bit unstable. It will take her awhile to control her new dark powers.” She smiled sweetly at me, oblivious to my fear and anger towards her. “But don’t worry. After we’re done with you two, you’ll be…….perfect.” She clapped her hands together and looked me in the eyes, a hint of wickedness in her sweet face. “And we’re prepared to do – ” at that time, a scream – Lotus’s scream – filled the hallway outside and rang into my little room. “ – whatever it takes.”

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