Half Life

Harsh Reality

"Are you ready to start Daniel?"

Danny glowered across the table at Spectra. 

"Are you quite comfortable? Would you like anything?"

"I would so love to hurt you," he replied, clenching his hands into fists. 

"Well I'm afraid I don't see the use in that. And I certainly don't think that would help your family. Now, if there's nothing else, I think we're ready to begin!" 

She stood up and came to stand next to his reclined seat. The armed security around the room watched Danny warily as Spectra placed her clawed hands on either side of his head. 

"I want you to relax," she instructed, finger tips massaging his scalp. "Close your eyes and try to clear your mind."

Danny repressed a shudder at her touch, but did as he was told. Spectra's voice rang out in the silence of the room. 

"Good. Now I'm going to try to trigger some early memories of yours. You may feel some nausea when this is over, but that is quite normal."

Her claws dug suddenly into Danny's scalp. He yelped, eyes flying open. But the room was now distorted with other shapes and colors, like he was looking through a faint hologram. 

"Close your eyes. The images will become clearer."

Danny took a deep breath and obeyed. The room vanished, but the faint overlaying image did indeed come into more focus. 

It was a room. Everything looked big, oversized. Or maybe he was just small in this memory. Danny looked down at himself, noticing that his body was indeed that of a child. A faint noise sounded at the edges of his vision. Danny turned to face it.

He felt his heart freeze. It was a woman. A woman with a face so kind, so familiar, he couldn't believe he could have forgotten. His mother. His true mother. Danny wanted to speak to her, to reach out and touch her. But his memory self turned back to the picture he was coloring. 

"No, no!" he mumbled, agitatedly. 

"What is it Daniel? What are you seeing?"

Danny didn't answer, too focused on the memory he had forgotten. He had to see his mother again! He waited impatiently while his younger self finished the drawing, and pridefully stood to give it to his mother. She looked at him with those green and black eyes glowing with happiness. She spoke words that he couldn't understand. And yet he knew the meaning behind them all the same. 

Danny's eyes prickled with tears of longing as he looked at her. She had his eye shape, his small spray of freckles. How could he have ever forgotten? His mother leaned down to hug him. He could almost feel it.

The vision began to fade. Danny struggled for one last look at her face, needed one more unintelligible word from her. 

But she faded into the darkness behind his eyelids. 

Danny felt like a hole had been punched in his heart. He could have known her, could have lived his whole childhood with her. He could have more than these few memories of her face and voice. 

"What did you see Danny?" Spectra's voice interrupted, her claws retracting from his skin. 

Danny opened his eyes, returning to his reality that was pain and fear and sterile inspections. 

"Nothing that you think is important," he snarled. 

"Really dear. This attitude is quite counterproductive. What did you see?"

"I saw my mother. My real mother."

"Did you now? Well that's certainly a start. Anything else? What were you doing in the memory?" Spectra asked.

"I was drawing a picture. Nothing else happened." 

"Hmmm. I see we'll need to do this several more times. I'm sure we'll get to the root of the problem eventually. Let's take a short break and go again."

Danny leaned back into the chair, closing his eyes and trying to soothe his aching heart. He didn't know how much longer he could take this. These happy memories hurt too much compared to his harsh reality.