Post by Oni!! Ate. Cakes. on Jul 15, 2008 5:28:45 GMT -5
“I don’t want this.” The frightened girl’s eyes were wide, filled to the brim with unshed tears. She huddled in the farthest corner of her cage. A dog crate actually. Medium-sized. “Please. I don’t want this!” The room was small and dank, barely any lighting due to the single swinging light bulb above her. She was all alone. “Please,” her voice broke. “Please. Don’t do this to me.”
Her body was bare and covered with old bruises and scars. She cradled one arm against her chest in pain, but refused to shed tears upon that fact. You could count every one of her ribs as they jutted against her frail, sickly pale skin. Well, if you could even see most of her skin, as she was covered in old filth probably not worth mentioning. Her hair was short, frazzled, and filthy, but it seemed to be a type of dark brown in color. Just like her eyes.
She was five-years-old.
Gripping her cage bars, she pressed her face against them to see the door. “I know you can hear me!” Her time was coming. Her time under the knife. Their time to experiment with her. To turn her into whatever they wanted. They told her so. That’s what this whole thing was for. “I won’t let you do this to me!” Tears trailed down her grimy, bruised cheeks. She tried to look defiant as she wiped her grubby hand under her nose.
The door opened with a slow groan and light immediately flooded the room. She couldn’t help but scream. “She’s been causing quite a raucous for a while now.” Two men walked into the room. Both of which were more preoccupied with the charts they held in their hands than the crying girl in the cage.
“It’s almost her time, right?” he asked.
The other finally glanced at her cage and nodded. “Yes. At six.”
“What time is it now?”
“About five-thirty.”
“Good,” he replied with a wicked grin. Walking over to her cage, he kneeled and peered inside. His grin faltered as one side of his mouth drooped into a concerned scowl. “Why is she so beaten up?”
The other peered at his charts, as if all of God’s answers were to appear there. “Um, it looks like she got into a scruff with the other inhabitants. They had to hold her in here as to not cause anymore trouble.”
“And she’s malnourished why?” he asked.
“She’s going under the knife anyway,” he replied, a bit of edge in his voice. “Why does it matter? Come on.” With a stiff turn, he left the room.
The other doctor sighed before standing. “I guess I can’t say I’m sorry.” He placed a hand on top of her cage. “This has to be done for the sake of the city.” Just as he turned away, she reached out and grabbed the tail of his white coat. “What? Let go. Now.”
With a set jaw, she peered up at him with a face full of grime and tears. Her eyes were wide, dry now of tears, but they glistened with the unheard fury she held deep inside. She couldn’t help but tighten her grip when he told her to let go. “You….” Her jaw hurt from how hard she was clenching it. “You people…” She could feel a knot beginning to form in her throat, choking her slowly. “You people make me sick…”
Surprisingly, he just chuckled at her struggle. “Silly thing. You just don’t know how good you have it.” He tugged his coat out of her grasp then left. His chuckling could be heard as he walked down the tiled floor just outside the door.
She was shell-shocked. His words were still slowly sinking in as it seemed her whole brain shut down. “How good I have it?” She began to tremble now from the fury. Her world was turning dark with a brilliant display of flashing white dots. “How good I have it?” She looked down at her body, saw her jutting ribs, her sunken stomach, and countless bruises and cuts.
How could they call this having it good? There was no way she could even begin to comprehend what they heck the guy was talking about.
It wouldn’t matter anyway. She knew this. Once the clock struck six, she’d be put under the knife and turn out God-only-knows. Her world turned a little less violent then. Realization stole that from her.
If only it wasn’t she who had to go. Why her? Why not her brother? Or her sister? “Doesn’t mom want me anymore? Daddy, don’t you still love me?” She knew why not her brother or sister. They were too old. Already ten. That was much too old for the operation to work. After all, it was an honor for a family to be chosen for this type of operation.
They say it made you a better person. It made you capable of doing many things. Made you smarter, healthier, more athletic. Prettier. They say it made you gorgeous to the beholder. She had seen it herself. Her aunt had the operation, and it made her seem like a goddess come to earth.
But she didn’t want it! She was five! Her aunt had it when she was five too, but she wanted it. She wanted the beauty.
It was expensive to get the operation on your own, so some families were randomly chosen to try different experiments on the surgery. Some experiments didn’t turn out well and the subject came out gorgeous, but dumb as a stump. Sometimes nasty things came out of it. Other times, people heard they did some illegal experiments on the subjects and they never saw them again.
Condolences to the grieving families, right? Wrong. The families were paid greatly to keep quiet. If they didn’t, even they would turn up missing.
This was the life of her city, her home, her life. What a life to live.
Six o’clock finally came around and more men came for her. She had spent the last of her minutes huddled in the corner of her cage reminiscing. What little there was for her to reminisce about. Five years wasn’t much. She remembered being happy with her family. Her mother, father, brother, and sister. Being at home. Safe. Happy. All that was done now. It was time to face reality.
“Come now little one.” One of them tried to coax her out of her cage. “Everything will be all right once you’re out of surgery.” They caught hold of her arm and dragged her out onto a metal trolley.
Another nodded. “That’s right. After this, everything will be just like a dream.”
“A dream?” She almost savored the idea as they strapped her down. Truth be told, she had nothing left in her to fight.
“That’s right. Just a dream.” They wheeled her down a sterile hallway. The temperature was cooler and almost sickly to inhale.
She closed her eyes, feeling groggy. It didn’t even bother her how cold she felt. “I want to dream.” Her mind felt aloft, detached from her body as they continued to wheel her away.
“Then dream, little one.” His voice seemed so far away. She thought she was dreaming already. “When you wake up, you’ll be special.”
“Special?” she asked softly, half-asleep.
They all chuckled lightly. “That’s right, little one. You’re nothing but special.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note (Jisa): Not entirely sure where I was going with this. Not sure if I want to continue it or not. Chances are, I won't.
Her body was bare and covered with old bruises and scars. She cradled one arm against her chest in pain, but refused to shed tears upon that fact. You could count every one of her ribs as they jutted against her frail, sickly pale skin. Well, if you could even see most of her skin, as she was covered in old filth probably not worth mentioning. Her hair was short, frazzled, and filthy, but it seemed to be a type of dark brown in color. Just like her eyes.
She was five-years-old.
Gripping her cage bars, she pressed her face against them to see the door. “I know you can hear me!” Her time was coming. Her time under the knife. Their time to experiment with her. To turn her into whatever they wanted. They told her so. That’s what this whole thing was for. “I won’t let you do this to me!” Tears trailed down her grimy, bruised cheeks. She tried to look defiant as she wiped her grubby hand under her nose.
The door opened with a slow groan and light immediately flooded the room. She couldn’t help but scream. “She’s been causing quite a raucous for a while now.” Two men walked into the room. Both of which were more preoccupied with the charts they held in their hands than the crying girl in the cage.
“It’s almost her time, right?” he asked.
The other finally glanced at her cage and nodded. “Yes. At six.”
“What time is it now?”
“About five-thirty.”
“Good,” he replied with a wicked grin. Walking over to her cage, he kneeled and peered inside. His grin faltered as one side of his mouth drooped into a concerned scowl. “Why is she so beaten up?”
The other peered at his charts, as if all of God’s answers were to appear there. “Um, it looks like she got into a scruff with the other inhabitants. They had to hold her in here as to not cause anymore trouble.”
“And she’s malnourished why?” he asked.
“She’s going under the knife anyway,” he replied, a bit of edge in his voice. “Why does it matter? Come on.” With a stiff turn, he left the room.
The other doctor sighed before standing. “I guess I can’t say I’m sorry.” He placed a hand on top of her cage. “This has to be done for the sake of the city.” Just as he turned away, she reached out and grabbed the tail of his white coat. “What? Let go. Now.”
With a set jaw, she peered up at him with a face full of grime and tears. Her eyes were wide, dry now of tears, but they glistened with the unheard fury she held deep inside. She couldn’t help but tighten her grip when he told her to let go. “You….” Her jaw hurt from how hard she was clenching it. “You people…” She could feel a knot beginning to form in her throat, choking her slowly. “You people make me sick…”
Surprisingly, he just chuckled at her struggle. “Silly thing. You just don’t know how good you have it.” He tugged his coat out of her grasp then left. His chuckling could be heard as he walked down the tiled floor just outside the door.
She was shell-shocked. His words were still slowly sinking in as it seemed her whole brain shut down. “How good I have it?” She began to tremble now from the fury. Her world was turning dark with a brilliant display of flashing white dots. “How good I have it?” She looked down at her body, saw her jutting ribs, her sunken stomach, and countless bruises and cuts.
How could they call this having it good? There was no way she could even begin to comprehend what they heck the guy was talking about.
It wouldn’t matter anyway. She knew this. Once the clock struck six, she’d be put under the knife and turn out God-only-knows. Her world turned a little less violent then. Realization stole that from her.
If only it wasn’t she who had to go. Why her? Why not her brother? Or her sister? “Doesn’t mom want me anymore? Daddy, don’t you still love me?” She knew why not her brother or sister. They were too old. Already ten. That was much too old for the operation to work. After all, it was an honor for a family to be chosen for this type of operation.
They say it made you a better person. It made you capable of doing many things. Made you smarter, healthier, more athletic. Prettier. They say it made you gorgeous to the beholder. She had seen it herself. Her aunt had the operation, and it made her seem like a goddess come to earth.
But she didn’t want it! She was five! Her aunt had it when she was five too, but she wanted it. She wanted the beauty.
It was expensive to get the operation on your own, so some families were randomly chosen to try different experiments on the surgery. Some experiments didn’t turn out well and the subject came out gorgeous, but dumb as a stump. Sometimes nasty things came out of it. Other times, people heard they did some illegal experiments on the subjects and they never saw them again.
Condolences to the grieving families, right? Wrong. The families were paid greatly to keep quiet. If they didn’t, even they would turn up missing.
This was the life of her city, her home, her life. What a life to live.
Six o’clock finally came around and more men came for her. She had spent the last of her minutes huddled in the corner of her cage reminiscing. What little there was for her to reminisce about. Five years wasn’t much. She remembered being happy with her family. Her mother, father, brother, and sister. Being at home. Safe. Happy. All that was done now. It was time to face reality.
“Come now little one.” One of them tried to coax her out of her cage. “Everything will be all right once you’re out of surgery.” They caught hold of her arm and dragged her out onto a metal trolley.
Another nodded. “That’s right. After this, everything will be just like a dream.”
“A dream?” She almost savored the idea as they strapped her down. Truth be told, she had nothing left in her to fight.
“That’s right. Just a dream.” They wheeled her down a sterile hallway. The temperature was cooler and almost sickly to inhale.
She closed her eyes, feeling groggy. It didn’t even bother her how cold she felt. “I want to dream.” Her mind felt aloft, detached from her body as they continued to wheel her away.
“Then dream, little one.” His voice seemed so far away. She thought she was dreaming already. “When you wake up, you’ll be special.”
“Special?” she asked softly, half-asleep.
They all chuckled lightly. “That’s right, little one. You’re nothing but special.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's Note (Jisa): Not entirely sure where I was going with this. Not sure if I want to continue it or not. Chances are, I won't.
~
