You Won't Feel A Thing

•Chapter 8•

Quinn

He carried on giving me a tour of the establishment. His hands and arms flung about in the air like limp noodles. My eyes scanned the rooms as we walked past them . One of them had a young child sitting in a chair getting her ears and eyes checked. "Like needles in my veins," I continued singing the next song, Painless by Fozzy. It felt like hours had passed before we reached our designation. I slid my ear buds into my pocket and paused my music. "Hello, everyone. I'd like to introduce another volunteer; this is Ms. Quinn Blake." I wouldn't technically consider myself a volunteer.

Two men and two women sat in the small compacted bright white walled room in the same old worn-out chairs similar to those in the lobby. They were dressed in black scrubs with name tags clipped to their chest pockets. "Ms. Blake, these are the others just like you that were chosen for this trial." One of the women, a brunette, scoffed. She fiddled about with the hem of her top. "We weren't chosen; we were forced to do this against our will." The doctor sighed, "Now, Gwen. You signed the form, did you not? Therefore, you chose to participate." The woman rolled her eyes and continued fiddling with her shirt while mumbling to herself. She looked like she had been forcibly drugged out of bed, her hair and clothes were disheveled.

"Now, since everyone is here, we can begin," he clasped his hands together and grinned. Everyone in the room groaned. Various nurses appeared out of nowhere carrying various trays of syringes. "Who wants to go first?" the doctor asked with glee. No one raised their hands, so I did. I just want to get this over with already. "Ah, Ms. Blake. Fantastic! Let's get you changed first." A nurse approached with a pair of red scrubs. I cocked my head, "How come mine are different than theirs?" I pointed at the others. The doctor smiled, "That's because you signed up for the special treatment." My brows knitted in confusion; I followed the nurse to a screen covered area to change. But I didn't sign anything at all, my mother did... I wanted to say that to the doctor out loud, but chose not to. I slipped out of my clothes and neatly folded them for the nurse to put them in a large clear bag. I made sure to remove my phone from my pants pocket, sliding it into the pocket of my scrubs.

I made my way back to the others and took a seat in one of the empty chairs. Another nurse walked over pushing a small buggy with a tray of various things on it. The others watched me closely . "Which arm would you prefer, Ms. Blake?" the nurse asked as she held up a syringe with a long needle connected to it. Will that even fit in my arm? I looked down at my left arm and flexed it. She smiled," Don't worry, it'll only be a little pinch. You'll hardly feel a thing." I slowly nodded, watching as she cleaned the spot with an alcohol wipe before stabbing the long needle deep into my skin. She pressed the syringe, releasing the bright red almost blood like liquid into my veins. She removed the needle, placing a cotton ball and piece of tape on the tiny bleeding hole in my arm.

The nurse gave me another smile and moved onto the next person. I slipped my phone from my pocket and played the next song in my playlist. I silently sang along to I'm Not Dead Yet by Ledger, "It hurts and it stings." The nurse stuck a needle in one of the men's arms. The doctor just stood there watching all of us with a twinkle of excitement in his eyes. What kind of creep smiles while watching people get jab and poked by needles. "The fuck! That hurt, what was that anyway," the blonde woman shrilled, furiously rubbing at her arm. The nursed apologized and moved to the next person. "My enemy is watching me bleed," I continued singing along with the song.

Once everyone had their first round of injections, we were told to relax and mingle amongst ourselves till it was time for the next round. I sat there in the corner of the room in my chair with my knees against my chest just staring out the window. I tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear, scrolling through my playlist. "What kind of special treatment do you think he was talking about for that girl over there." I could hear one of the women mumble a few feet from me. "I have absolutely no idea, bet you she slept with the doctor to get it though," I heard one of men laugh. I wouldn't touch that creepy dude with a six-foot pole. "Hey, weirdo." I removed one of my earbuds. "What's so special about you? You're just a mute weirdo that keeps her earbuds in all day."

I stared at the brunette for a few seconds before focusing back on my playlist. "Hey! You deaf too?" I fiddled with the earbud between my fingers and looked back over at her, "No I'm not. If you aren't happy being here, then just fucking leave. You got two feet, don't you? Start walking." Her eyes bugged out. I could hear the others near her silently laughing. I put my earbud back in and continued scrolling. It was close to 10am when the nurses returned. I looked up from my phone screen to see a different nurse walking towards me. Am I going to be the first in line each time? "Seems everyone did well with the first round, no side effects?" The doctor looked at each of us, examining us head to toe with his eyes.

"I want to go first this time!" the brunette screeched. The nurse stopped a few inches from me, turning towards the other woman. While she was getting the second injection the rest of had our vitals taken, then our ears and eyes checked. "Who's next?" the nurse asked. An auburn-haired man raised his hand, winking at the nurse. "That'd be me, baby." After him was the blonde woman then the brown-haired man. Once they all were finished, the nurse finally approached me. "Listening to anything good?" She asked me. I shrugged and looked back at the screen as she administered the injection. I could feel a slight burning at the injection sight but ignored it. She gave me another smile before walking off.

"Food will be brought out to you in 30mins, please relax and let us know if you feel any sudden changes with your body or feel ill at any time," the doctor gave us a quick nod of his head before leaving the room with the nurses. 30mins passed and like he said, food was brought to us. A nurse pushed a buggy with five foamed take-out boxes on the tray. He handed one to each of us including plastic silverware and a bottle of water. "Just throw it away when you are done, " he said then went back the way he came.

"You know if they can pay our loved ones off with thousands of bucks, they could at least afford to feed us 5-star quality meals," the auburn-haired man snorted as he scanned over his food. I opened the box and looked inside. A small piece of meatloaf, a scoop of macaroni, and a scoop of green beans with a small roll. This isn't that bad, reminds me something my mom used to cook. I unwrapped the silverware and dug in. The others took their time nibbling at their food. The brunette threw her entire box away in the trash and just sat there giving everyone disgusted looks. She's going to be hungry. The next round of food isn't for another three hours.

A couple minutes passed and everyone was as full as we could be. The women talked amongst each other about relationship issues, while the men boasted about their gym workout routine. I just sat there staring out the same window again. The injection spot burned more and more. I felt something scratching at the back of my skull. It's all in your head, Quinn. Just ignore it, you can do this. Just a couple more hours to go. I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck. I could do this. I just had to ignore it. "Gah! It itches so bad. Why won't it stop." I glanced over at the blonde woman scratching crazily at her arms. She rolled her head and shoulders, continuing to scratch at different parts of her body. The side effects are already starting.

A couple more minutes passed and the brown-haired man started pacing back and forth in the room. He kept mumbling about hearing voices in the walls. It was almost 12pm when the auburn-haired man started pulling at his hair and mumbling to himself. The nurses came and went countless times to check our vitals and our mental health. By 12:15pm everyone had calmed down. The women just stared at the walls, while the men just stared out into space. "Ms. Blake?" I looked over to see the doctor looking at me "Your mother is here to visit you. Would you like to see her before we start the next round of injections?" I slowly nodded my head and followed behind him. I glanced back at the group of people, hoping they'd be okay enough to make it through the next round.