Bloodline

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

Everything after that was confusing.

I was left in the empty room; no bed, no toilet, nothing. I didn't really have the strength to get up, the strength to do anything really, so I mostly just laid on the floor and watched the door, waiting for someone to walk through.

And eventually, they did.

They being the people in white robes. I recognized them from when I was young, when they surrounded me with their needles and biopsy tools, their white robes blocking out the rest of my view, their hands all over me, moving aside clothing until they got fed up and just ripped my clothes from my body.

Except when I was young, I'd fought them tooth and nail to get their hands off me, to get the needles away. It had taken dozens of people to come hold me down for their tests, restraints and muzzles, anything to keep me down so they could do their tests.

With whatever Four had injected me with, I was an angelic patient in their eyes. I didn't move, didn't fight them, just laid there as they poked and prodded, taking everything they needed, from blood to urine, until I was nothing more than a naked husk on the floor when they left.

Someone had left a pillow behind, though. I managed to drag myself across the floor until I could lay my head on the pillow. I sighed in relief, closing my eyes and letting sleep take hold of me. My sleep was a reprieve. There were no doctors, no scientists, no needles, nothing of terror in my sleep.

I dreamt of Keros instead. I dreamt of our dates together, of sitting on the picnic blanket and leaning into each other, sharing food. I dreamt of the moment we finally got to be together physically, of his hands all over my body, his lips all over me, him inside me. It was a wonderful sleep, just full of love and affection, and I just wanted to sleep forever.

But I woke up eventually. Someone had poked me in the hip to take a bone sample and it hurt so much, but I couldn't really react. I was too heavy, too drugged. They must have drugged me again because it felt like a new fresh sensation when I woke up. I wanted to tell them it hurt, to stop hurting me, but my lips wouldn't work and all that came out was a low pained moan. No one reacted to it, no one cared. They continued with their tests, then hurried out of the room, leaving me cold and naked in the room.

It was like that every day for... how many days had I been there? It felt like several.

Every day like clock work, the robed figures would come in, do their tests, then hurry out. It was just a blur of activity, interrupted only with peaceful sleep. When it came to eating, they'd throw a plate of meat on the floor by me and I'd eat mindlessly and go back to sleep. When it came to using the bathroom, I'd just go in a corner and come back to my place in the middle of the room with my pillow. It wasn't cold or hot, so I didn't really care about being naked at that point. Plus, everyone had already seen me naked, so it didn't matter.

Test after test, occasionally a meal if they remembered, and of course, the drug that made everything okay.

I called it the okay drug.

Because everything was okay.

Right? Everything had to be okay. They were doing their tests and I was behaving, so Keros was okay. Keros would be alright. He was probably in a nice room somewhere, getting three meals a day, probably not happy about being locked up, but he was okay. That was all that mattered. No one told me he was okay, but I dreamt he was okay, so he was okay.

That was how I convinced myself everything was okay.

Every day was the same thing. I'd wake up to someone poking me, I'd lay there while they did their tests, and then they'd leave and I'd go back to sleep and dream of Keros.