“Last warning, Magdalena.”
I hurried to the door and reached behind me for the doorknob, and my heart stopped.I swallowed deep.
It’s locked.
I was trapped. “I want my parents. I want to see my family. I just want to see my family.” Why couldn’t I stop saying those words? I couldn’t control my thoughts or emotions. I sucked in a breath, trying to calm myself, but my mind was pure chaos. Hitting the door with my back, I slid down it and sat, hugging my knees and rocking.Why was I here? Why? Daddy.
From the corner of my eye, I watched the doctor pick up his phone. The smoke had formed a cloud around him, accentuating the light. He looked like some Vermeer oil painting, but I hoped this was a nightmare. “Yes. Now,” he said into the phone.
A few minutes later, the door opened out, and I fell back. The men pulled me by my arms and forced me to stand, then dragged me out. “Where are we going?”
Their fingers dug into my arms with so much pressure I couldn’t help protesting, hissing, and wincing. “I just want to talk to my family,” I repeated as we rushed through the halls at a speed I could hardly keep up with. “Where are they?”
The place was like a rat maze. There was nothing to distinguish one hall, corner, or door from the next. Then finally at the end of the hall, elevator doors opened. They dragged me in, and after sticking a key into the board, they pressed a button. None of the buttons had numbers. The elevator plummeted, pulling a gasp from me. My stomach dropped with it, and we seemed to ride forever.How far down are we going?When it finally stopped, the force shook our bodies.
The doors opened, and it was only much darker down and colder down there, like a fridge. Trails of water streamed downthe walls of rock as if the room had been built under water. After a minute, I spotted a box made of the same rock as the walls in the middle of the room.
A pale, short, extremely overweight bald man, wearing round thin glasses in a white lab coat came from the right, with his hands behind him. He smiled at me with thin lips, looking like an alien. “Aww, Miss Michaelson. It has been a while. I missed you.” He lifted one arm toward me, welcoming me. “Come. This way. Just a few minutes, and it will be over.”
I had no idea whom he could be. A beeping was cracking my ear drums. I was nauseous, and everything told me to run back into the elevator. I tried to back away, but I only met the bodies of the two men holding me while I screamed.
“Now, now, Miss Michaelson, calm down. So much excitement. It’s almost as if you remember me.” He chuckled. “Do you? I would be so honored.”
“No. Get me out of here! Get me out of here!” I couldn’t help but shake my head and try to pull away, looking back at the elevator as the doors closed. The men didn’t loosen their grips and tugged me toward the alien.
I writhed so much I managed to turn them so we were all facing the elevator again. They forced me to the ground, then dragged me into the room the man had walked out of.
The room was as small as a closet, with only a hospital bed and cabinets. Within seconds, I was anchored to the bed with belts across my chest, waist, wrists, and ankles. The fat man’s face appeared a few inches above me, upside down, blocking the big surgery lamp that had been blinding me. He grinned as he clipped something over my head and attached it to my temples. His thumb and forefinger squeezed my nose until I had no choice but to breathe through my mouth.
“Bite down on that, dear. Trust me, it’s for your own good.” My tongue couldn’t help sweeping across the cloth that he’d shoved into my mouth. “In three, two, one.”
Lighting struck inside the room and a headache radiated through my head. After, my body violently quaked from how tense my muscles were. I ground my teeth so hard it hurt “One more time.”
No!
But he did anyway. It felt like they’d cooked my brain, and I was beyond exhausted. My mind went blank, no thoughts, no memories, no recognition of any object or place or sense of self. I struggled with the memories and wondered if I knew how to speak at all.My name is… My name… Maggie… Magdalena M-Micheal… son. Killian. Killian! Killian!
Who is that?
What’s happening to me?I screamed in my mind. The terror and panic had such a strong metallic taste. I wanted all of me back. Where were the other parts of me? Where had they gone? I could tell there were big chunks of my memory gone. Where was I? Who were these people?Daddy!I screamed so hard more tears fell from my eyes, and I whimpered, sobbing.Please don’t do it again. Please don’t!I guess, despite my silence, he could tell how hysterical I was.
He cupped my cheek, trying to soothe me while I worked to get all of myself, including my sanity, back into this body. “Shh, shh, shh. It’s over.”
Then I realized I was still quaking violently, hyperventilating so badly my chest hurt, whimpering, and my eyes, which felt so hot, were continuously shedding tears. What had he done to me? I felt so trapped, as fragile as glass, shattering so easy. Nothing, not even my identity felt solid. It was all polluted by doubt, numbness, and a gray cloud hiding my memories. Who was I? I had no idea. I couldn’t remember anymore. Splinters of me hadbeen melted, others were broken so small, they floated out of my reach into the air.
Piece by piece the thought formed slowly, gaining power with each word.My name is Magdalena Michaelson, daughter of Asher Julian and Astoria Michaelson, sister of Ashton and Ember Michaelson. I love Killian Oster. And they all loved me, and I loved them. That’s who I am. I am loved!Announcing it in my mind as loud as possible helped me feel better, but not complete.I kept repeating it like a mantra. They loved me. I know they love me still.
“It will be all right. You have nothing to fear.”
Seconds later, I was untied but couldn’t move at all, no matter how much I tried. They carried me by my arms and feet to the other room and placed me right next to that coffin-shaped chamber. The floor wet me with cold water, making shake even more, even my lips trembled. I tried to speak, but nothing I recognized as a word came out.
His icy-cold palms slid under my shoulders. The three of them lifted me from the ground by my arms and legs and immersed me in freezing water. The water was a shock to my body, waking it back into movement. It splashed as I fought them, but they covered the top, blanketing me in darkness. With the water rising, I punched and kicked at the lid, but it didn’t budge. The panic as the water covered my mouth and quickly approached my nose was horrific, stealing my ability to think. The water entered my nostrils, burning my nose and throat. Inside my head, I was screaming and begging for them to let me out, still fighting. Then a sense of serenity overtook me.
At least I was free. At least it wouldn’t hurt anymore.
Then I saw her, remembering.Oh, my God. What have I done?Mommy…
8. When Life Gave Us Lemonade
