Manipulator

by Thom Parsons

  "NICK!"

  "Do you see what you made me do?" Ethan said quietly into Eli's ear. The two of them watched as Nick squirmed in silent agony on the floor. Eli struggled hard against Ethan's arm, attempting to break free of his chokehold grasp, but the man was just too strong for him to fight.

  Tighter and tighter. Ethan's chokehold became more and more restrictive, causing Eli to gasp out desperately for breath. Seconds passed and his vision began to cloud over. Unconsciousness was imminent. This was the end.

  But uncharacteristically, Ethan released Eli from his grasp, pushing him roughly forwards towards where Nick slowly lay dying. "Kick me his weapon and his phone," Ethan ordered.

  Eli stumbled forwards, disorientated and barely cognitive. Still, he followed his captor's commands to the word. This man was the border between life and death, a line which he dared not to cross.

  Carefully, he kicked Nick's gun across the laminate flooring towards Ethan. Eli then quickly reached inside the dying man's jacket pocket, finding his phone and sliding it too across the floor. Ethan reached down and picked both items up, whilst keeping his own weapon trained in Eli's direction the entire time.

  “It’s time for me to leave,” Ethan Darkes said.

  But Eli wasn't listening. He was too busy trying to stop the blood from seeping out of Nick's chest. Too weak in himself to offer any form of help, Nick just lay there silently and purely focused on staying conscious.

  Ethan began to dial a well memorised number sequence into the keypad of Nick's phone with one hand, whilst fingering the trigger of the weapon with his other. He hit the dial key and raised the phone up to his ear as he slowly began walking backwards towards the nearest exit.

  “It’s Ethan,” he said professionally. “You can stop trying to kill me now, because I'm free. I think it’s time we met. I know that you've been tracking me. But I have news for you. I don't have that tracking device on me anymore, I placed it… elsewhere."

  Like on Owen Archer. He thought. When that bastard was beating me after we left the corrupted PRoGRaM world. Little did he realise that I was just moving the tracking device. It will stop Veridian from following me anyway…

  “I've seen how you do things Eli," Ethan said as he hung up the phone and tucked it away into the pocket on his jeans. He continued to walk backwards towards the exit whilst keeping his gun pointed at Eli who was crouched down over Nick's body, trying hard to stop the bleeding. "One day, you’re going to be very useful to me. Remember this. Remember how I spared you. Because I won’t forget it. We’ll meet again one day.”

  Nick, who was barely conscious, watched Ethan walk straight out the front door and into the darkness beyond. He turned his gaze weakly to Eli, who was crouched over him, trying to do everything in his power to stop the bleeding. But it was useless, and they both knew it.

  Slowly, the world around him turned to darkness.

  He clung onto one final thought.

  This is the end.

  Chapter Ninety Nine

  Date: December 14th 2035

  Location: Redford Avenue

  Everything that has happened over the last week has led to this point, right here, right now. It’s time to find out what’s really behind the red door at 45 Redford Avenue.

  Owen pushed the car to its limits and drove as fast as he possibly could towards Redford Avenue, to where he believed that his wife was. His head was filled with so many questions that it made concentrating on the road a much harder task than normal.

  Does she think I'm dead?

  Why has she never tried to find me?

  Then again… maybe I warned her not to.

  For her own safety? And for my own sanity…

  It didn't take Owen as long as he was expecting it to for him to get back into the city centre. Even with it being just after midnight, New York City never slept. Although for once at least, the traffic seemed to be on his side.

  Redford Avenue.

  How long had it really been since he had been back here outside of PRoGRaM? Owen had no idea which of his memories were even real anymore. But that was something that he could fix later.

  Right now, finding Annie was all that mattered.

  Owen spotted the house that he was looking for in the distance and drove right for it. As his car neared the pavement outside, he slammed his foot onto the brake, bringing his vehicle to a screeching halt right outside the house with the red door.

  45 Redford Avenue.

  Owen unclipped his seatbelt and almost jumped out of the vehicle in anticipation, leaving the lights on and the car door open behind him. He was too focused on the house in front of him to even care about the little things anymore. Somebody could steal that car for all he cared.

  This is it.

  His heart-rate picked up immensely, beating incredibly fast in his chest. His breathing became heavier and more erratic in anticipation of the end. Owen found himself speechless as he slowed himself down and apprehensively approached the red door, uncertain of what he was going to find on the other side.

  This is all I care about now.

  Nothing else matters. Nothing.

  “ANNIE!?” Owen called out as he banged his fist against the door as hard as he possibly could, trying to get the attention of anybody inside. He didn't care about how he looked to the random people that were watching him from the street.

  They didn't matter. Annie did.

  “ANNIE? ARE YOU IN THERE?” he called out again as his fist continued to hammer against the wooden red door. Yet, despite his best efforts nobody seemed to be answering. Instinctively, Owen changed tactics. He unclenched his fist and instead grabbed the door handle. He twisted it roughly, and amazingly he felt the lock click through his fingers. Nothing's that simple though… is it?

  Is Annie going to be here?

  Or is this all a part of Ethan’s game?

  Another mind trick?

  Here we go…

  And with that one thought running through his head, Owen pushed open the door at 45 Redford Avenue.

  This is the end.

  Chapter One Hundred

  Date: December 15th 2035 (Present Day)

  Location: PRoGRaM

  “Do you know how I figured it out?” Owen asked as he and Victoria stared each other down. I'm inside PRoGRaM. I have been from the start. This interview was a lie from the very beginning…

  "You had me fooled for quite a while," he continued. "And then, not too long ago, I finally realised something. I realised that opening that red door on Redford Avenue was the last thing that I could remember before being right here in this very room.”

  Victoria said nothing. Instead, she just held her stare right into Owen's soul. Before long, she finally broke her gaze and began to nod, whilst slowly and gently clapping her hands. “Well done Owen.” Her actions were… oddly intimidating.

  “So, we’re really inside PRoGRaM?” he asked, trying to confirm his suspicions.

  “Not just PRoGraM," Victoria corrected as she took her glasses off and lay them down on the table. "This is actually PRoGRaM 2.0.”

  Phase Two. It's here. It's online. Owen realised. “What happened to me? The last thing I remember is pushing that red door open.”

  “I got to you just in time to contain the situation,” Victoria answered, rubbing one of her eyes with the base of her palm.

  "You personally?" Owen asked, wondering just who this woman in front of him was. She wasn't just here to interview him, that much was clear now. What are her intentions? What is she here for? Does she work for Veridian as well?

  "Yes," she responded. Owen didn't question her further on the matter. He had heard enough vague answers for one day. There were more pressing matters to attend to, and more important questions that needed answering.

  “What's happened to my team?” Owen asked, turning the interrogation around.

  “None of your concern,” Victoria answered, shaking her head from side to side slightly.

  “And Kate? And E
than?”

  “Again, none of your concern,” she said, still shaking her head.

  Owen sighed deeply and stopped pumping out the quick-fire questions. All he was doing was hitting a brick wall. Her guard was up, and there was no way around it. She was the one in control here. “How long have I been out?”

  Victoria picked her glasses up from the table and carefully put them back on. She looked at Owen, seemingly judging whether or not to answer his question.

  “It’s been two days since we took you," she said, stating the facts with little emotion or feeling in her voice. It was a shock to him to hear the facts come out of her mouth. Had he really been out for two days?

  "However," Victoria continued. "Your mind was, let's say, ill-prepared for our new PRoGRaM system. We've had to keep you unconscious for the last twenty four hours. It was purely for your own benefit, you understand? An attempt to heal your mind.”

  She wasn't even trying to hold back. After all, there was no reason to withhold information from him anymore. The game was over. If this really was the end, then Owen was determined to get some answers first.

  “Why death? And why Annie?” he asked out of curiosity.

  “Death is just one of the most undeniably memorable events in life. In your case Owen, we chose to implant a memory of death. If the loss of a loved one wouldn’t stick, then how could we ever possibly hope to achieve something more… interesting?”

  “In my case?” Owen asked, noticing Victoria's odd choice of words.

  “Well… you didn't think you were the only one, did you?”

  "There are more people out there with fake memories?!" Owen stated. Maybe there was some sort of solace to be found in the fact that it wasn't just him that these people had messed with.

  "Not necessarily fake memories," Victoria answered, speaking vaguely once again. "PRoGRaM 2.0 has a lot of new features. We tested all of these new additions out sparingly, on different people. But that's another story for another day."

  "So why Annie? And where is she?” Owen asked, pulling this woman's attention back to the most important question.

  Where is Annie Archer?

  “I assure you of one thing Owen," Victoria said. She leaded forwards and rested her elbows on the table. Finally, Owen felt like he was getting somewhere. Victoria was seemingly opening up to him and speaking honestly. "Annie is perfectly fine.”

  Relief quickly flooded through his body. Oddly enough, he genuinely believed her and the words that she was saying. As long as his wife was okay, Owen didn’t care about what happened to him.

  “So, PRoGRaM 2.0?” Owen asked, speaking casually now that the most important question was out of the way. Annie's okay. “What else is new? Apart from creating memories, that is?”

  Victoria studied him as she leaned back into her seat and pondered his question, attempting to figure out whether or not it was worth revealing these secrets to Owen. “We’re mapping you,” she finally said, deciding that it didn't matter what she told him. He's not going to remember any of this in a few minutes anyway.

  “Mapping?” Owen asked, having no idea what this term meant.

  “The pathways in your mind become active as you think about certain events and memories. With mapping, we can see exactly where in your brain those specific memories are. Then, we can take them all out with just one shot,” Victoria said as she pulled out a handgun and placed it on the table in between the two of them.

  The tension ramped up massively as both Owen and Victoria eyed up the gun. If her intentions hadn't been clear enough before, then they definitely were now. This was only going to end one way.

  “That’s why you've been interviewing me," he realised. "That's why you've asked me about everything. It was so that I’d go over it all in my head, and your people outside could put it all together. That’s why you had me explain what PRoGRaM is. You acted like you didn’t know anything at all, so that I’d tell you everything.”

  “Exactly," she responded. "You did good as well. Now we know exactly where every single one of your important memories are located. Once we’re done with you, you wont remember a thing. You won’t remember this. You won’t remember PRoGRaM. You won’t remember Marcus, Alex or Ethan. You won’t even remember Nick, Kate or Eli. You’ll just be Owen Archer… And I haven’t even decided what fake memories I’m going to put into your head in place of all those missing ones yet.”

  As she spoke, her tone gradually grew more and more sinister. This is it. Owen thought as he listened to her speech. This is the end.

  “I?" Owen asked, noticing that she was beginning to really show signs of authority. "You’re in charge? You’re… the boss?”

  “The one and only,” she answered enthusiastically, finally leaving her shell behind.

  “So… you’re the boss," Owen said with a hint of confusion, noticing that the entire situation felt a little anti-climactic. He had finally met the person pulling all the strings. Yet, this was never how he had imagined it to be. Victoria? She's really the one in control? She's the boss from Veridian that we never met? She's the one who told Ethan, Alex and Marcus to wipe my memories and to use me as a guinea pig and trial me with a memory implant?

  "Exactly."

  “But… why not just kill me?" Owen begged her, as his eyes flickered between Victoria and the weapon that sat on the table between them.

  “That's because I didn’t want you killed,” Victoria replied slowly.

  “Then why are you messing with me?" Owen spat back at her. "Just let me die.”

  He curled his arms up on the table and pushed his head down into them, trying to block out Victoria and the rest of this fake world. Patiently, he waited for the end. He waited for the gunshot that would wipe everything. Almost a minute passed in silence as neither party spoke.

  Eventually, Victoria broke the tension.

  "Look at me," she said to him with more emotion in her voice than she would've liked him to hear. It didn't matter anyway, because he didn't even notice. He was too busy staring down at the table and wallowing in his final thoughts.

  "I have nothing left to say," Owen said. His voice came through muffled as he pressed his face down into his arms resting on the metal table.

  "It really works," Victoria said, muttering the words under her breath. Her voice was barely a whisper, but the room around them was so quiet that Owen heard her anyway.

  "What are you talking about?" he asked quietly as he raised his head off the table to look at her.

  "I have one final question for you," Victoria asked. She was finally ready to bring this entire situation to a close. Carefully, she flicked the notepad that was on the table to its final page and pulled out a small photo. She pushed it across the table towards where Owen was slumped.

  "Owen," she said seriously, staring deeply into his eyes. "Who is this?"

  Owen sat upright once again and picked up the photo from the table, holding it out in front of him so that he could see it properly. His expression changed slowly as he eyed up the photo. "That's my wife," he said awkwardly as he stared at the crystal clear picture in his hand. He raised his eyes above the photo and looked back at Victoria, confused as to why she would ask him such an odd question. "That's Annie," he said to her.

  "No," Victoria said, speaking softly. With one single word, she managed to shatter Owen's perceptions. He moved his lips to reply back to her, but nothing came out of his mouth.

  "No, it isn't," she said again, reinforcing her statement as she saw that Owen was unable to reply.

  Don't believe her Owen. He said to himself. It's another one of Veridian's mind games.

  "There was one last trial we ran on you," Victoria admitted, bringing something entirely new to the conversation. "We used PRoGRaM to change your entire perception of Annie Archer. You think that this is her in the picture?"

  Owen nodded to her, still unable to summon the words to reply. That's why all of the photo's of Annie in my apartment were gone. I didn't smash the place up after
all…

  "You're wrong," Victoria told him forcefully. "Of all the different things that we did to you, I thought that this one would be the one that failed. But I was wrong. It worked… and it worked well."

  Owen threw the photo of the woman that wasn't Annie down onto the table, immediately noticing that Victoria now had her hand resting on top of the weapon that sat between them. He quickly looked up at her and suddenly something inside him clicked.

  A tear began to run down Victoria's face as she spoke emotionally. "Owen, you don't even recognise your own wife anymore… even when she's been sat in front of you, this entire time."

  This is the end.

  “Goodbye, Owen,” Annie Archer said before raising the weapon and pulling the trigger.

  Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

  Author’s Note / Special Thanks

  Well… how about that?

  I’ll start on a more serious note. I’d like to say thanks for buying and reading this book. I seriously hope you’ve enjoyed this story. It’s been an epic journey in writing. I don't write full time, it’s just a hobby. That’s probably why it’s been well over four years in the making. Four years!! So for now, I’m going to sit back and enjoy the fact that it’s finished. Self-published authors like me with small time books sink or swim purely based on reviews. If you've made it this far, I'd love it for you to leave me a review on this book's Amazon page.

  Also, I’ll tell you another thing for sure. A sequel is looking possible, but don’t get expecting it anytime soon! (Lets call it two years?)

  Thanks to everyone who read all the different edits of the novel along the way. A big shout out to the following people. You all contributed in some way to the final book, whether through editing it or just plain reading the different versions along the way.

  Georgina Harper