Paroxysm Effect

by Reynolds, Ashleigh

  As she was moving her hand to her face to remove the nasal cannula something about it made her pause. Her skin was perfect, not a mark marring it anywhere. Gemi flipped it over to examine the palm; it too was in pristine condition. How long was she out?

  As if answering her silent question, the door pushed open and an unfamiliar older woman stepped inside. She was tall and lean with fire red hair that seemed wild despite being pulled back into a ponytail. Her unnaturally green eyes sparkled as they caught the light. She must have had a procedure to enhance their color. It had been a huge fad back when Gemi was still in middle school.

  “Well, good to see you’re finally awake! That flat line had me a little worried.” She smiled at her and walked confidently to her bedside.

  “Where am I?”

  “I imagine you will have a lot of questions. Do you mind if I give you a once over before you ask?”

  Gemi shook her head and relaxed back on the bed.

  The woman laid a chart on the bed and then reattached the heart monitor placing it back on her finger before checking the various liquids that were still attached to Gemi through an IV. The woman was fairly young, maybe mid-forties but was already showing signs of graying at her roots. She moved back towards Gemi and brought a penlight to her eyes, moving it in and out of view several times before putting it away satisfied.

  “Well then, everything is looking great. Can you tell me where you are?”

  “I was sort of hoping you could tell me.”

  “Interesting.” she grabbed the chart and wrote something down.

  “What is your name?” she asked.

  “What is yours?” Gemi retorted, a little harsher than she meant.

  The woman laughed and wrote something quickly. “It’s Doctor Hailstrom, but you can call me Jade.”

  “Where am I Doctor Hailstrom?”

  “It’s Jade. You are in our hospital wing. Now please, can you tell me your name?”

  “It’s Gemi. Where are the others I was with?”

  “Gemi, can you tell me your full name?”

  “Of course. It’s… Um…” Gemi ran a hand through her hair in frustration. It was on the tip of her tongue but her brain couldn’t find the words.

  Jade wrote something and patted Gemi on the hand. “It’s ok, everything will come back slowly. Can you tell me the last thing that you remember?”

  “We were making our way back to base and got stuck in a town that was taken over by the affected.”

  “Who is we?”

  “Jaxton, Doctor Askel, and myself.”

  “And then what happened?”

  “We were held up in a building trying to figure a way out and we were ambushed. The doctor was killed, I was attacked and then I was here.” Visions of the last few minutes of her life flashed through her head making the heart rate monitor beep erratically once again.

  “You are ok?” Jade asked.

  “I’m fine.”

  “Well I think that is good for now. You should get some rest and I will check on you tomorrow.” Jade moved to her IV and inserted a needle filled with liquid.

  “What is that?”

  “It will help you sleep.”

  Gemi’s body felt suddenly like it weighed a thousand pounds. She fought hard; there was no way she wanted to relive her death again.

  “Where… is everyone else?”

  “Resting. They will be up soon enough.”

  ***

  Gemi woke to the empty room once again. Without windows it was hard to tell whether it was day or the middle of the night. Her bladder ached with the need to urinate. Once again she disconnected herself from the machines monitoring her and gently removed the IV from her arm, stopping the bleeding with her shirt.

  The ground was freezing on her feet. Gemi sat half off the bed for a minute, her body stiff from being stationary for who knew how long.

  Suddenly the world shifted, the room changed from stark white to a warm inviting color with a TV and various photos of herself. She was back in her room in her apartment. She saw herself click on the TV and walk to the bathroom preparing for work.

  Gemi rubbed her eyes, her head still buzzing. When she opened them she was back in the hospital wing.

  She stared at herself in the mirror as she washed her hands. Something about her reflection seemed odd. Gemi examined her hand again searching the areas that should have a very distinct scar, but there was nothing. Her stomach also showed no signs of scaring. Something wasn’t right.

  Gemi stepped out of the bathroom, but instead of entering her hospital room she found herself in her office kitchen. Runa was preparing her salad in the same place she had been that morning. Gemi held her breath waiting for Runa to lose it and attack her, but instead she saw herself walk up and raise a knife to Runa’s esophagus. In one clean movement Runa’s throat was sliced open, spraying the counter top with hot slick blood.

  Gemi fell to the ground covering her mouth to suppress a scream. The room dimmed, tearing at the seams, ripping away the kitchen piece by piece until a new room had replaced it.

  “No, no, no,” she whispered under her breath.

  She sat in the middle of the damp dirty warehouse, the last place she had been before the hospital. Her little group stood huddled in the corner discussing how they were planning on escaping. Jaxton and the doctor didn’t notice her slip away and grab a gun from their gear bag. With two quick shots they both lay on the ground motionless.

  Gemi crawled towards them, ignoring the shadow of herself standing above her. Slowly they began to melt away, and she found that she was once again on the hard ground of the hospital.

  “What exactly are you doing down there?”

  Gemi jumped at the noise, turning to find Jade standing above her, eyebrows raised high.

  “I... I was somewhere else.”

  “And where was that? You haven’t left this room.”

  “I’m seeing things.”

  Her frown deepened. She reached down to help Gemi off the ground and back to her bed.

  “What things are you seeing?”

  “Places I have been, but things... they were different.”

  “How so?” Jade perched on her bed with chart in hand.

  Gemi sat quietly with her hands in her lap.

  “I can’t help you if you won’t talk to me,” Jade replied.

  “You said the others would be up soon. Can I see them?”

  “I did?”

  “Yes, last night.”

  “Well, I don’t think that a good idea yet.”

  “Who the hell are you to tell me anything?” Gemi jumped off the bed and moved towards the door. Jade didn’t move after her.

  Gemi stepped out into a dimly lit hall that was lined by closed doors. Laughter echoed through the halls pulling her gaze behind her. Two people walked towards her holding hands. Gemi flattened against the wall hoping to not be noticed. They were dressed in casual military uniform, the brown in the camouflage matching the plain brown t-shirt, the same that her group had worn.

  As they passed Gemi was able to catch a glimpse of their faces. It was Jaxton and her and they were happy. Gemi pushed off of the wall and moved to follow them, but they had disappeared into the shadows as quickly as they had come.

  “Do you want to explain what that was?” Jade was standing in the doorway, her arms folded across her chest.

  “I thought I saw someone.”

  “Who?” Jade’s eyebrow rose at her once more.

  “I’m not crazy.”

  “No one said you were.” Jade raised her hands in the air.

  “I saw myself ok? And the other times I saw places that I had been, my job, the abandoned warehouse where I supposedly died.” Gemi rested her back against the wall and closed her eyes. “These times though things were different, they weren’t how I remembered them. Then again who says I remembered anything the way it went down.”

  It was quiet. When Gemi opened her eyes Jade was staring at her, eyes warm and a
small smile on her face.

  “What, you’re not going to write that in my loony chart?”

  “No, I’m not. Come I think it’s time I showed you something.”

  Jade lead the way down the hall of the hospital wing. The dim lighting cast an eerie effect on the already distressed walls. Paint was peeling in multiple areas giving way to old patterned wallpaper underneath.

  The corridor was far too quiet. Jade didn’t speak to her as she led the way and there didn’t seem to be another soul occupying the various other rooms that lined the halls. Gemi was beginning to believe that she was the only one who made it out, despite what she was being told.

  Jade pushed open the double doors and stepped out into an open area that contained just one room and an elevator.

  “My office.” Jade pointed to the room. “You can come see me whenever.”

  Without hesitation she continued to the elevator and pushed the up button.

  “Are there no stairs up?”

  “Not from this floor.” Jade walked onto the elevator and pushed the number four.

  The sudden movement of the elevator made Gemi’s head swim. Her body had not quite gotten used to being in the upright position.

  With a jolt the elevator came to a stop and opened onto the fourth floor. The lights shone brighter there and for the first time since she had awoken she could hear the sounds of talking coming from someone other than Jade and herself.

  The hall was once again lined with doors, but this time most of them were propped open and from what she could see had a variety of people inside them. There was so much life. People hustled past them in the halls, each wearing the same uniform she had seen in her hallucination.

  A young woman approached them with a large smile on her face.

  “Doctor,” she said and then reached out and placed a hand on Gemi’s shoulder. “It’s nice to see you finally awake.” Before Gemi had a chance to reply the girl turned and continued from where they had come.

  “Who was that?” Gemi asked.

  “One of the residence.”

  “Ok, but she seemed to know me. Does she work in the hospital wing?”

  “No. Look we are here.” Jade stopped in front of one of the many doors that lined the hall, “Well go ahead.” Jade motioned towards the door and stepped out of the way.

  Gemi reached her hand for the knob, but hesitated her heart racing. Something didn’t feel right.

  “It’s just a door, it won’t bite you.” Jade said, her patience running out.

  With a deep breath Gemi pushed open the door and stepped inside.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Gemi stood inside a dorm type room. A full size bed sat in the center with two nightstands on either side. On one side of the room there was a long dresser with various knickknacks. The other wall was lined with bookshelves that were overflowing and spilling into stacks on the ground.

  Something seemed oddly familiar about the room. Gemi walked over to the dresser and gently drug her hand over the surface as she surveyed the items that adorn it. A dried flower sat next to an ocean shell and next to that was a jar of fancy looking beads of various colors. None of the items seemed to be of value or have any meaning to her.

  On the edge of the dresser was a frame that had been knocked onto its face. Gemi reached out and grabbed it meaning to set it upright, but the moment she did her heart dropped. There in the photo smiling back at her were her parents and in between them was a young Gemi smiling from ear to ear.

  Gemi staggered back to the bed and fell down on it with the photo in her hands.

  “What is this?” Gemi asked looking up to see Jade hovering in the doorway.

  “I thought it would be easier to explain here,” Jade said as she sat down next to Gemi. “Tell me again what the last thing you remember is?”

  “We already went over this.”

  “Humor me.”

  Gemi dropped her eyes back to the photo in her hands. “We were trying to make it back to base and were ambushed.”

  “And what do you remember before the chips malfunctioned?”

  “What kind of question is that? I remember everything, my life, my parents, their death.”

  “But what specifically do you remember? What did you do the night before?”

  “This is ridiculous.” Gemi stood up and paced the room, clutching the photo to her chest. “I probably read those manuscripts and then went to bed. It’s kind of hard to remember those details when you spent so long trying not to get killed or kill others.”

  “What if I told you that you were here, in this room the night before?”

  “I would say you are bat shit crazy. Look whatever game you are playing at I am over it. I want you to take me to the others and I want to leave.” Gemi moved towards the door to put space between them. She had planned on bolting down the hallway away from the crazy lady that was holding her hostage, but then remembered that she had no idea how to get out of this place or where the others were being kept.

  “Look Gemi, what I am trying to say is this was your home. You were never chipped. You were part of an experiment to test what would happen if the chips were removed from civilians.”

  Gemi went cold. She felt as if the ground had suddenly opened and swallowed her.

  “Your brain, it’s just a little confused that’s why you keep having those visions. We were required to run this test one hundred times and gauge the outcomes. In the last few days you have lived one hundred lives and your brain is just trying to sort things back out.”

  “You’re insane!” Gemi screamed backing farther away and out into the hall. She had her hands out protectively in front of her, the right hand still clutching the picture frame.

  “Just listen to me –”

  “Get away from me! You are literally out of your mind! I want you to bring me to the others right now!”

  People had crowded around her and the room, drawn by the commotion that she was now making.

  “I know it’s a lot to take in.” Jade was now walking slowly towards her, palms facing Gemi in an act to show she meant no harm.

  “Is everything ok Doctor Hailstrom?” a male voice asked from behind Gemi.

  “It’s ok Traymour, I’m just trying to explain to Gemi what she’s been through.”

  The world went black when it came back into focus Gemi was standing in the middle of the forest alone. She could hear voices speaking off in the distance. Instinctively she moved towards the sounds looking for the source, but every step she took seemed to take her further and further away until the voices were just a background buzzing.

  The world flashed bright blinding her. Gemi brought her hands up to her face to block out some of the light, but it seemed to penetrate right through. Disoriented she stumbled forward not knowing what direction she was traveling. Her foot caught something large on the ground causing her to fall forward onto her hands and knees. Gemi turned towards the object squinting hard into the light. A face came into view cold and lifeless, the beautiful gray eyes staring blankly back at her.

  Gemi crawled towards the body lifting Jaxton’s head into her lap. With shaking hands she pushed his hair off of his cold forehead, tears building in her eyes.

  Out of the corner of her eye she could see a dark figure crawling towards them. Gemi cradled Jaxton closer to her as the figure approached. It straddled his body and sniffed at it like a dog. The figured stopped once it had reached his face, a long black tongue emerged from its mouth and slowly drug it across the skin of his jaw. At once it rotted away where it had touched, quickly turning to ash. Within seconds Jaxton’s body had disintegrated to nothing in Gemi’s arms, blowing away in a gentle breeze that built around them.

  Gemi tried to move, to scream, but was paralyzed. The figure turned its face to her and Gemi was met with black eyes that set in the reflection of her own face. She grabbed the slides of Gemi’s head in both of her hands brought it close to her mouth. A grotesque tongue dripping black saliva emerged from
a mouth framed with razor-sharp teeth. It penetrated its way into Gemi’s mouth forcing its way down her throat, choking her and cutting off her air. Gemi’s heart raced, her lungs burned from lack of air.

  All at once she was hit, as a hundred visions of herself came into view, flashing through her mind like a flipbook.

  One hundred mornings waking up in the same bed to flipping on the TV and heading into the bathroom to get ready for work. Some days she made it out the door, other’s ended in a violent blood bath before she had even gotten dressed. Many trips to work all varying in their level of violence. Almost every time she met Jaxton although not always in the same place, but always in downtown. Sometimes he saved her. Sometimes she killed him. One hundred lives flashed through her mind, always the same group of people, always the same start to the morning.

  It all came crashing in on her. She remembered everything that happened in those one hundred lives. Remembered the joy she felt while taking a life. How blood seemed to elicit an almost erotic response from her. And how she never quite felt right if she didn’t have a weapon in her hand.

  She swam through all of these memories feeling like they would suffocate her until she found something else buried in them. Under all the violence and agony she found pieces of herself. Little snippets that showed she had maintained some of herself during the testing.

  Little touches from Jaxton that lead to bigger and even more meaningful touches. Jokes with the doctor and Sann and the way they seemed to bond almost instantly. All of it was her brain trying to tell her something. Trying to slip bits of information in hoping that when she woke she would have some semblance of who she was.

  “Good girl,” the creature whispered in her ear.

  ***

  Gemi sat up gasping for air. Her heart rate raced on the monitor doing little to help calm her nerves. Acid bubbled up her throat threatening to spill over despite not being able to remember the last time she ate. Jade had been telling the truth about the testing. But something still didn’t seem right. It nagged at her from somewhere deep in her brain.

  Gemi swung her legs over the side of the bed and disconnected herself from the IV and heart monitor again. A large purple bruise had spread across the crease of her arm from the last time she had removed the needle, or perhaps from the many times it had needed to be inserted.