Fragments Gallery
Lost Journey: Interlude
"I understand!" I gasp as the white flash fades from my eyes, "Resolve. I was looking for his resolve."
The man frowns down at me then points to someone behind me. Once more I try to turn my head but I find that I can't turn far enough, I'm too restricted by the chair which I'm strapped to.
"You write that down. Add resolve to the list," He returns his attention to me, "That's very good. I wasn't thinking about resolve. I wanted you to see empathy but... resolve just might be a better answer."
He continues to stare at more for long moments, slowly his eyes grow unfocused.
"I think… yes I think that is enough for one day. We can continue this in the morning."
He turns his back and begins to walk out of my sight. On the edge of my vision he stops, he begins to speak quietly to someone else but I can still make out the words.
"Is the room prepared? Good. Move the subject to the room for the night. We can continue this in the morning."
There is a murmured response and then the man leaves my sight.
For a time after the man left I heard nothing and the lit area around my chair's pedestal remained empty. After a while I stopped paying attention to my surroundings and instead tried to remember where I was and how I got there. I was lost in my thoughts by the time they came back. With no warning at all some sort of bag was pulled over my head, obscuring my vision. The straps restraining me were loosened and I was pulled roughly to my feet. I felt a hand fall on each of my shoulders and then I pushed gently forwards.
I don't know how long I walked for just as I don't know exactly where I went. I tried to keep track of the turns we made but I quickly got lost. There was one thing I could tell. Wherever I was it was pretty big.
After a while we arrived at the room they had been talking about, at least I'm assuming we did. It was there that we stopped.
After a particular turn the hands that had been guiding me were removed and without warning the sack on my head was pulled off as well. I stood half blind in the sudden light looking blurrily around the room. And there was no one there besides me. It was as if my captors were just gone. I hadn’t heard them leave and neither had I heard a door close. I’d heard nothing. And they'd left me in a room with no visible doors, only blank white walls. Against one of the walls rested a bed, the sheets and frame were entirely black, and in another corner there was a black wood table with a black pitcher of water, black cup and a black tray of vegetables. The room was white, everything else was black. Except for the vegetables, they looked normal.
Idly I walked over, filled the cup with water and took a drink. The water was cold and pure. I picked up a few of the vegetables to snack on as I walked around the room, searching for a crack or a hinge, something, anything that would tell me where the door was. I found nothing. Eventually I gave up and lay down on the bed. It was there that I realized that I was exhausted, reliving those memories was tiring.
My last thoughts before I drifted off to sleep were of the memories they’d been forcing me to relive. This made me think, how could I be sure that any of my memories were real? These people, whoever they were, could implant memories as they wished. Maybe what they could make me think didn't stop there? Maybe everything that I thought I was had been implanted as well? That was troubling.