An Unintentional Evil

by Elsie Charlotte

  All of this was a bad idea.

  Now look at what happened.

  "This is bad." Harlow said to Hariette and Sirus, as if it hadn't already been bad enough.

  She had been monitoring Aurora for a month, but barely anything changed. That's what Harlow was afraid of.

  "I don't know what's going on." Hariette wasn't sure what she was looking at.

  There were a bunch of models of the human body and brain, and numbers all around them. This was Harlow's world, having numerical scales for the body's functions.

  She had all of Aurora's information for the past month.

  She had to explain it to them.

  Aurora has been unconscious for a month and she still hadn't told them why.

  "His mental capacity is too low." Harlow turned to them. "Normally, people our age function at one hundred percent, even with a little anxiety." She said. "With PTSD, maybe at ninety-seven percent, but being at ninety-six is the absolute minimum for our age group."

  The look on her face said that Aurora's numbers were much worse.

  "Aurora's mental psych is at eighty-percent. And as much as that doesn't sound bad, it's worse. Someone in their seventies with less neurons has better numbers than this." She couldn't believe what she saw.

  "You can't wake him up?" Sirus asked.

  She did not think that was a good idea. "The second I do that, Human Resources will be here. Rhea can see everything, but she can't take Aurora out of my custody until he's awake."

  That was the only way for Harlow to get these numbers. When she found out there was something wrong with Aurora, she begged him to change his settings on his tablet. She had to monitor him and make sure he was okay. And as bad as the numbers were at that time, it wasn't like this.

  "She'll keep him in a mental hospital." Harlow said to herself quietly. Even then, she wasn't sure if Aurora would get better.

  If it's been a month of no change, she was sure it would take as long as a year just to get him back to his normal base line, and that wasn't a hundred percent.

  "I can't risk him having a mental break." She looked at them again. "It's more likely it'll happen with these statistics."

  "How long is he going to be like this?"

  Hariette knew the answer wouldn't be good.

  Aurora's anxiety was worse than how it was this past month. The implant showed him his worst nightmares, and Aurora felt like he was living them. After that, Harlow wouldn't be surprised if he had a psychotic break. She couldn't wake him up, not until his numbers improve.

  "I don't know, but you can't hope for the best." Harlow turned everything off. "He needs mental help, therapy, and medicine to fix the hormone imbalances but right now it's just not safe to wake him."

  Harlow didn't know what to do.

  And as much as she wanted to protect Aurora, she wanted to bring Aurora to the right people for help.

  She couldn't handle this herself.

  Before she could leave the room, another woman had walked in. Her bright blond hair was tied up back to expose more of her face, her ice blue eyes not so friendly. Her uniform was a dark navy, and she had people beside her in the same uniform.

  "Rhea." Harlow was surprised to see her so soon.

  "Aurora needs to be in my custody," she said to her.

  "You're just going to keep him in my department anyway." Harlow didn't think she would see the Head of Human Resources so soon.

  "He needs to go to Psych-"

  "Waking him up would do harm, Rhea. I can't do that." Harlow wanted to be as composed as she could be, but the look in Rhea's eyes showed she would get Aurora one way or another.

  By then Rhea knew all three of them were keeping a secret. It's like they did this to him. "The hell did you do to him?-"

  "Rhea, please."

  "I've given Aurora three chances to get himself together, and every time he's failed. He even managed to mask his numbers so the alarms wouldn't go off. I told him I would get him help the second he got out of control." Rhea made herself clear.

  It was doing harm to not restrain Aurora. With what's been happening, he needs more help.

  Sirus didn't take kindly to Rhea's words. But she wasn't scared to see him step towards her.

  "Don't you dare make it seem like I'm the evil one." Rhea warned him. "All of you let him get away with his behavior and I'm tired of it." She knew something was wrong, she just couldn't figure out what.

  Regardless, she was taking over the situation. It was already bad enough.

  "You may be his doctor, Harlow, but he's no longer in your custody. The second he wakes up, he's mine." Rhea had nothing more to say.

  Now Human Resources was involved with the situation.

  And Rhea wasn't kidding.

  Harlow had waited another month before she attempted to wake Aurora up. His numbers had barely improved but it was a start. Rhea was present at the time, and she had brought Aurora's psychiatrist with her.

  "The System is putting Aurora on medical leave for a year." Harlow said to Hariette and Sirus as they watched from outside Aurora's room.

  He looked fine, confused, but fine. He talked to his psychiatrist just like he usually does. But they couldn't hear what they were talking about.

  "A year is the absolute minimum." Harlow turned to them both. "Medically, he's going to need more time. There's no way I can give clearance for him to go back to work."

  "He's not going to want to be out for a whole year if he's just going to come back." Hariette said.

  They all knew how Aurora was.

  "The System won't let him near the area and his codes won't work. Once he steps out of the hospital, his leave starts." Harlow thought Aurora might be in the hospital for another month. "I'd give him eighteen months, but even then..." She shook her head slowly.

  Aurora's numbers barely changed. She wasn't that hopeful. She was sure that if she would release him, something bad would happen. If he has another panic attack, it could be a complete disaster. Who knows what could ensue?

  "He looks fine." Sirus would prefer if Harlow would let him go.

  But he chose to ignore the real issue. It's been a while of Aurora being mentally unstable.

  "The tinniest trigger could set him off." She warned him. "We have no idea what his mental state is...Rhea was right to get his psychiatrist involved."

  They waited and saw his psychiatrist get up to leave the room. It's been an hour of them talking. She got what she needed out of Aurora to assess his mental function. She couldn't reveal what they talked about, but she could tell them what she thought clinically.

  She came out quietly, and she didn't look too happy. She held her tablet in her hands, and took a breath.

  She didn't have good news.

  "Twelve months is the bare minimum." She said, agreeing with Harlow. "He may be fine physically, but mentally he is not well enough to deal with work." She said and it was a warning.

  She knew Aurora very well, so her concern was deep.

  "He's...he primarily dealt with anxiety, but with the way he answered my questions today, there's a depressive component to it now. If there was a way for him to quit his job, that's my recommendation." She said.

  "That's not going to happen, Phoebe." Harlow said.

  "He has pending criminal charges. If Iris were to let him go, Justice would get involved." Sirus explained. No one can forget that Aurora has his job for life on the condition that his charges aren't put through.

  "I don't trust Aurora." Phoebe admitted but she didn't feel ashamed. "Everything he told me...I don't think he'll try to improve. He's not suicidal, but he...doesn't care." She chose her words carefully. "He said he'd rather be put under again. 'It's quieter'." She repeated.

  Sirus knew what that meant more than anyone. Now and again, he's heard Aurora say that.

  All Aurora's wanted was a break, just time to get himself together and start from scratch and he hasn't been able to. It was quieter in his sleep when he wasn't anxious. It was quie
ter at home. It was quieter when Aurora didn't have to deal with the world on his shoulders.

  Sirus turned away and left.

  He had nothing else to say and he couldn't listen to what they were saying about Aurora.

  He hadn't even talked to Aurora when he woke up.

  He couldn't deal with it.

  Chapter Four

  Aurora could barely manage to get out of bed. He was finally cleared to go home but nothing changed. He barely spoke, he barely ate. He was still pale.

  He could barely sleep. Night after night it was just one nightmare after another. Then he couldn't sleep. When he could, he'd be out for more than twelve hours at a time.

  This was more than depression.

  Nothing was going to help.

  Sirus was tired of going home and seeing Aurora like that. He was tired of waking up in the middle of the night because Aurora was crying. He was tired of seeing a full plate of food because Aurora didn't want to eat.

  It's been three months and nothing changed.

  It took another month just for Aurora to start moving around the house more. He ate smaller portions, but he barely said anything. He didn't ask about work, or how things were going, or how people were. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He didn't want to do anything.

  He was just so tired that it was killing him.

  He mostly laid in bed and cried to himself. When he wasn't crying, he was sleeping, that's when he wasn't having a nightmare. He barely noticed when Sirus was home, he didn't talk much or try to get out of bed. He would stare at the wall, cry to himself, then go to sleep just to do it again the next day.

  "You have to eat." Sirus had placed a plate of food in front of him but Aurora didn't touch it. He looked at it, and instead he felt nauseous.

  He went pale, his heart beginning to race and it caused him pain. "I'm not hungry." He said quietly.

  He hadn't eaten much since yesterday morning and Sirus didn't think that was okay. "Aurora-"

  That was all it took for Aurora to become overwhelmed. "Please, leave me alone." He kept his eyes away, but he was on the brink of tears.

  He hadn't slept and he was so tired. He was mentally exhausted. He couldn't even handle the idea of Sirus wanting him to eat, it made him anxious.

  He couldn't do it.

  "Please," Aurora didn't want to cry in front of him but his tears fell anyway. He hoped he wouldn't have to beg Sirus to leave him alone. "Go away."

  Sirus wouldn't leave him.

  And that's what made Aurora cry more. His anxiety got the best of him again. His depression will soon follow. He just wanted to sleep.

  Another day of failure.

  Sirus couldn't get him out of bed. Sirus couldn't get him to eat. Aurora didn't want to do anything.

  That's how the days went sometimes and it was a struggle. Other days, Aurora wouldn't talk. He wouldn't cry. He'd sigh quietly and turn over in bed because going through the motions didn't sound interesting.

  Sirus was done. He hated what was happening and he was over it.

  He was promised that Aurora would get better if he took his medications and went to therapy.

  It didn't help.

  Then Aurora stopped trying to take care of himself, no medications, and he skipped therapy because he wanted to stay in bed.

  Someone had to fix this mess, and Sirus was going to force them.

  "Harlow, we have a problem." A woman walked up to the Head of Health and Medicine, and she was panicking. "It's been brought to my attention that a Lieutenant is here and he's looking for you."

  A high ranking soldier was looking for her? Who could that be...

  It took her a second, but she remembered that Sirus worked for the Department of Defense. And if a secretary was addressing him as such that only means he's in uniform and he's armed.

  Her hands gripped her secretary's shoulders. "How much security could I get in one room?" She asked quickly. "And not the robots, I need actual defenses." She said.

  "Probably a couple officials but I don't know-"

  "Please call them to my room." She rushed off in a different direction.

  She knew she would have to talk to Sirus but she needed protection. She didn't believe his aggression was as real as she's been warned, but he's looking for her, and she got chills going up her spine like a killer was following her.

  She made her preparations but only had a minute to do so because Sirus was not slow. He had looked in multiple places, and when people started disappearing, he knew that Harlow was moving somewhere.

  He wasn't alone either. It was like him to bring multiple people with him.

  And when he does that, it only means it's serious. It means that he's angry, and he wants someone to do their job.

  "Sirus-" she wanted to warn him.

  She wanted him to stay back, not because she was scared of him but because she knew he had a temper and there's no use reasoning with him when he's mad. He needed to calm down so she could explain things to him.

  But that's not how it happened.

  He walked right up to her, trying so hard not to grab his weapons that were strapped on him. The others that were in the room had their weapons pointed at Sirus but he barely even blinked at the threat as he glared down at Harlow.

  "Sirus, I know you're upset." And she didn't add to that because she wasn't sure how he would feel.

  She knows that Aurora and Sirus are inseparable. She knows that Sirus would do anything to make sure Aurora comes out of every situation unscathed. Right now, Sirus had to find a solution to the problem.

  Aurora wasn't in his right mind.

  "He's not going to get better over night." She said cautiously. "That's why he hasn't been cleared yet. But he is improving."

  "Improving?" Sirus didn't care what the numbers looked like. "He's in bed all day and doesn't eat. He's not taking care of himself. He's still having nightmares even with those shitty medications you and that other woman gave him."

  There was little improvement.

  "Fix him." Sirus wasn't going to ask again. And when it looked like Harlow was going to use big words just to confuse Sirus, he pulled a weapon out on her.

  He wasn't going to tell her again.

  Someone needs to do something.

  Harlow wasn't frightened, though she did have a panicked stare at the weapon that was pointed to her forehead. She knew what Sirus was asking of her, and she was doing her best along with Phoebe to help, but there's only so much that can happen. "He needs time." She was sure he needed a lot of it. Sirus didn't like that.

  He didn't think of moving away from her, and the fire in his eyes got worse.

  Someone needed to do something because everything else wasn't working.

  Harlow knew the look in Sirus' eyes.

  She's dealt with hundreds of family members that were angry about a loved one in critical condition. She knows what it's like, and she knows how to help. The anger in Sirus' eyes, that wasn't all of it.

  He was scared.

  And he wanted someone to do something because everything he's tried hasn't worked.

  She knew what he was dealing with it, and she knew how to help. "As friendly advice, I'd convince him to go somewhere else. He's not cleared to work for months, it's practically a vacation."

  Sirus narrowed his eyes.

  Aurora has over a year. He's not allowed to work. The other department heads are handling a tremendous amount of work because Aurora is gone. He can't worry about that. He has months to do whatever he wants.

  Sirus would be a terrible person if he let Aurora stay in bed for the year.

  "Find something to distract him and make him happy."

  Changes aren't going to happen over night but it's been four months.

  Sirus was tired of it.

  So he was going to take Harlow's advice.

  He quickly came up with another idea and this time he would force it to work.

  He stepped away from her slowly, no longer looking as threatening
as he was a second ago, and he put away his weapon. The tension was solved.

  Sirus' anger was gone, but she saw a sadness in him, something that felt unusual for her to see. It was hurting to know that Aurora was depressed and not getting better.

  Harlow thought Sirus was miserable. She felt bad for him. It's not easy not being able to help someone that needs it. "I can take the implant out for you, Sirus." She offered again quietly.

  She had been told no a few times before, and she figured that Sirus might be persistent, but this time he didn't answer to her comment.

  He was still fine. Nothing has happened to him yet.

  He didn't say anything as he left the room.

  Aurora was sleeping on the couch which is different from him sleeping in bed. He tried to move around but didn't get very far. The fatigue was hurting. He couldn't stay up long. Somewhere deep inside, he knew what was happening, why he was like this, but he couldn't find the will to want to be better.

  He's faced death hundreds of times because of the implant. After going through that, he figured it wasn't worth it if he was going to feel like that again.

  Aurora had difficulty remembering things the way it actually happened now.

  That day he fell from the sky, he saw more people killed. He knows Sirus isn't dead, but from what the implant showed him, no one survived. Aurora couldn't help but feel alone now just because he still thinks his fake memories were real.

  It was easier to stay in bed.

  There were days he got to sleep, and he would sleep for more than half the day, then there were days where he couldn't even get an hour of sleep.

  Today, if he so much as sat down anywhere he'd fall asleep within five minutes. He couldn't even make it to the front door without feeling an overwhelming sense of fatigue. He was on the couch today because he did try to move but didn't get very far.

  Sirus didn't think that was progress, because Aurora only thought of eating, but left the fruit on the table. He couldn't even touch it.

  Aurora was passed out on the couch, and he looked like earlier, tired. His white hair was a mess around him, his face pale and his body thin. He hasn't been eating much so he was beginning to look frail. He was to tired that the thought of eating was taking too much energy. It was easier to sleep.