Unwound

by Yolanda Olson

  not taken care of, and in a lot of cases pretty angry," he explained with a chuckle. "Does anything make you feel like that?"

  I took in genuine look of curiosity on his face, wondering how

  I could answer this.

  "Sometimes."

  Shrugging he turned his back to me and started to prepare his

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  meal. I heard the sounds of popping as he tossed some sort of

  animal meat into the pan he was using and soon the entire cabin

  was full of wondrous aromas. I wondered what it would feel like

  to eat, but I was always afraid that I would ruin myself on the

  inside. If I never felt hunger, then putting human food in my body was probably not a good idea. Leaning around the wall, I watched

  him take small bottles of various spices and add them to the meat

  as he would flip it every so often.

  "How do you know when it's ready?" I asked stepping closer.

  "Color, texture; depending on how well you want it cooked

  that is," he said turning the flames down on the stove. I watched him take a fork and spear the meat, putting it on a round white

  plate and walking over to a small table set up near the windows.

  "Sit with me Caelum."

  I did as I was asked and watched him eat as we sat in silence

  for a few moments. Edison would glance out the window a few

  times, almost as if he were expecting someone or something, and

  then go back to his meal.

  "I don't think we have much to worry about when it comes to

  your strength," he said conversationally, "I just think that maybe we should work on your sense of how to do things. I know you're

  strong; I saw it all over your body the night I undressed you and

  placed you back into your cot, I just wanted to see how strong

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  you could really be. Now that I know that we can move on. I want

  to work your thought process; how you evaluate situations. I want

  to understand how you view things so that I can better understand

  you and know how best to help you."

  I looked at him. I didn't know how to tell him that I still

  wasn't sure if the thoughts I was having were mine or borrowed.

  How would he be able to help me when I still couldn't tell the

  difference myself?

  "Edison, I don't know if you can help me like that."

  "We won't know for sure unless you let me try, right?" he asked glancing up at me for the first time since he sat down.

  I just looked out the window. No matter what I said to him he

  was bound and determined to help me. If only he knew what kind

  of monster I was up against, I don't think he'd be so quick to help.

  If London ever knew of him and what he was doing with me,

  she'd kill him for sure.

  "Edison --"

  "You can't change my mind Caelum. Please stop trying. I

  want to help you because I've come to care about you, but also for selfish reasons."

  Ah, so he does have an ulterior motive, I thought to myself.

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  But still, even knowing this I couldn't let what happened to Jared happen to him too.

  "She'll kill you if she finds out you've helped me," I blurted out.

  He stood up and grabbed his place and went back into food

  preparation area and put his dishes in the sink. He turned on the

  water and grabbed a sponge and began to clean them. After he

  had was finished, he placed them in a rack and came back to the

  table and put his hand on mine.

  "I'm not afraid of London," he said squeezing my hand

  reassuringly. "Someone who is as mentally damaged as she is --"

  "She's not mentally damaged, she's a genius!" I shouted

  tearing my hand away from his. "My mother is a creator of life from death! My mother loves me! My mother wants me to come

  home! I LOVE MY MOTHER!!!" I screamed at the top of my

  lungs.

  Suddenly I swayed on my feet and fell to the ground. Edison

  immediately came over and took me into his arms. He lifted me

  off the wooden floor and carried me into my room and placed me

  on my bed. I felt myself slipping in and out of rest as he used the sheets to tie my arms and legs to each bedpost. I felt like I was

  being splayed out for another one of London's horrible tortures

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  but I didn't have the energy to fight him. He sat next to me and

  looked deeply into my eyes.

  "I have to remove something from the inside of your brain,

  Caelum. You may not have noticed, but you were screaming at

  me in a half female voice. I assume it to be London's. Somehow

  she seemed to have manipulated her way into your brain and I

  need to go in and see what it is and remove it. I know that you've suffered at her hands, but please tell me you trust me enough to

  do this. I won't hurt you. You know I won't," he said in a pleading tone.

  My eyes rolled back and forth in my head not focusing clearly

  anymore. If what he said was true, how long had she'd done this?

  Is that how she knew it was Jared? Is that why Morrison went

  missing? What about Finnegan?

  "Caelum, please tell me its okay," Edison begged.

  "I ... can't see you."

  "I'm going to induce your resting phase. I'm going to make

  sure that you don't feel any pain, but Caelum, I need you to tell

  me you'll let me do this."

  I forced myself to shut my eyes. They were so erratic that I

  was beginning to feel that I might lose control if I left them open and tried to focus on anything.

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  "Caelum?"

  "I trust you. Help me Edison," I said my voice barely above a whisper.

  I heard him run out of the room across the hall into his. I

  heard him throwing things around frantically and I heard him

  cursing as he tried to find whatever he was looking for. I heard

  his labored breathing as he came back into my room and drop a

  multitude of things onto the floor next to me.

  "I promise you won't feel a thing. I'll wake you when it's

  over," he said as he injected serum into my arm.

  I felt myself slipping away into a heavy resting phase.

  I felt his hands as they brushed my hair gently over and over.

  Before I slipped completely away for the time being, I felt

  Edison lean down and press his lips gently against mine.

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  Ten

  Edison told me it was three days later when I had first shown

  signs of still functioning. He had been worried that entire time

  that he had killed me. I knew right away when I had first opened

  my eyes again that something was very different about how my

  body worked now. There was no ticking in my head. None that I

  could hear anyway. Instead it seemed to be replaced by a steady,

  soft humming sound. Nothing like London's deluded humming

  but more like a power source of some kind. I tried to sit up with

  Edison's help. I put a hand to my head and looked around the

  room. Everything seemed to be clearer than ever before. I looked

  at him. His hair was not light brown as I had originally thought, it looked more like burned coals after a tiring days’ work. It looked so smooth and pristine that it made it hard for me to believe that hair like his could exist. I looked into his eyes and thought
of how well the two complimented each other, because now that I could

  see better than ever, I saw the light in his gray eyes. Almost as if one spark from them could set the night on fire. His boyish face

  looked like it held an infinite secret. One whisper from his lips

  looked like they could either save your life or destroy your soul.

  There was something very special about him. Edison may be

  young but the wisdom you could see in his eyes far exceeded his

  years. I felt lucky to have him as an ally. I also had some

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  questions for him

  ."What did you do to me?" I asked laying back down.

  "It's complicated," he replied with a smile. "But the easiest way to explain it is, I removed every wheel and cog of every type

  that I saw implanted in your brain and wired you instead. The

  brain runs on electricity to begin with so I knew that would be

  best. London can't get into your head ever again this way either."

  "But that meant you would have to have cut into my head," I said looking at him intently

  "Unfortunately, yes I did have to. The skin beneath your hair was dying anyway, so it was best that I did. I replaced it with

  what I brought home a few days ago. I have enough left to fix

  your hand too, but only one radical surgery at a time," he said chuckling. "I had to replace your entire scalp. You have new hair too. I didn't think the other hair would work since the rooted

  pieces were stuck in the rotted scalp." He got up from the bed and disappeared out of the room for a moment, returning with a small

  hand mirror which he placed on my stomach. Obviously he was

  giving me the option of looking, but not forcing me too.

  "I tried to stay as close to your original hair color as I could, but there's only so many animals to hunt in these woods," he said apologetically.

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  After a few moments of sitting in silence, he reached for the

  mirror, but I placed my hand on it. I knew I wanted to see but I

  wasn't sure that I would be able to handle another transformation.

  One thing was for sure though; I hadn't felt any pain like he

  promised. I pushed myself back up to a seated position and turned

  the mirror up to face me on my lap. I didn't look down at it yet,

  because there was one more thing I wanted to know from him.

  "Edison, as I was falling into rest, I felt your lips against mine," I said giving him a level stare.

  "I was caught up in the moment," he explained clearing his throat and avoiding my eyes. "You looked like a tortured prince ready to lay in rest forever and I wanted you to wake back up. I

  thought maybe a kiss would persuade you to do so. Not that I had

  any doubt that you wouldn't wake, it was just in case you decided

  to give up while you rested.

  "I looked at him for a moment, but he wouldn't meet my eyes.

  There was something more to that then he was telling me but I

  wasn't built to feel that type of emotion for anyone or anything, so unless he wanted to tell me, I would never know.

  I lifted the mirror and met my eyes. The stitching around my

  scalp was so minimal that if I didn't already have scars from

  London's previous excisions, they wouldn't be noticeable at all. I 129

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  inspected my hairline from one ear to the other, smiling at how

  neatly Edison had put my scalp on. A flash of light gold caught

  my attention and I pulled the mirror back far enough to see my

  new hair. It was such a soft shade of gold, that parts of it looked almost white. It wasn't too long, but long enough where the front

  sprung forward a little and the length reached just below my ears.

  I reached up a hand to it. It was so soft that it almost felt unreal.

  "Where did you get this from?" I asked softly pulling on one of the sprigs that was standing up in the front.

  "A gold fox. I was completely surprised to see one and I

  thought of how nicely it would set off your duo eye tone. Do you

  really like it?" he asked finally looking at me with a shy smile.

  "Yes; thank you. And thank you for putting back together as

  you did. Thank you for removing the remnants of London from

  inside my mind and thank you for not letting me feel pain," I said smiling back at him.

  "You're welcome," he replied. "I'd like to fix your hand when you're up to it, then I'd like to go back to the factory. I think we could use some of the mannequins there to help work on your

  new thought process."

  "Let fix my hand now then, I don't feel tired anymore," I said as I pushed the blanket off of myself and set my feet onto the

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  floor.

  He nodded and led the way into the sitting room. I sat in the

  chair by the window again and waited for him to return. In his

  hands I saw a sewing needle, some thread, and a thin layer of

  whatever it was that he hunted yesterday that formed the scarlet

  pool.

  "It helps being the son of a seamstress," he said with a smile as he sat cross-legged on the floor in front of me. "Can you turn that lamp on please?"

  I did as I was asked and he took my hand in his. I watched

  him thread the needle and I watched him take the skin and place it on my hand. He moved his glasses on top of his head as he put

  the needle against my skin.

  "Would you like something to dull your hand so you don't feel any pain?" he asked, needle poised in the air. I shook my head.

  Nothing he was about to do would be anything I hadn't felt before

  in magnitudes.

  He smiled at me and pulled my hand close to his face before

  he made his first stitch. I watched as he skillfully gave me new

  skin with as minimal scarring as possible. Edison was very swift

  with his work and was finished in less than half an hour. London

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  and unstitching my hand over and over again just for her own sick

  pleasure. Instead he was very gentle and most of the time he spent glancing up at me as he would weave the thread in and out to

  make sure I wasn't in pain.

  "All done," he said finally admiring his work. He slid his glasses back down over his eyes and turned my hand from side to

  side to make sure that he was satisfied with what he had

  accomplished.

  I made a fist. I was used to doing things like this from the

  orders London would give me after she attached new pieces to me

  each time. The skin wasn't tight as it was on my face when I had

  done it and it wasn't stretched too loose in spots either.

  "Thank you," I said.

  "You're welcome. Now let's get some rest so we can head

  back in the morning," he said gathering the spare pieces of skin and thread. I glanced out the window and saw that snow was

  slowly staring to fall creating a fresh new white blanket, taking

  away the scarlet pool, which made me think of something I

  wanted to ask Edison.

  "What did you use for my hand and scalp?"

  "A wild boar. The skin of a boar or pig is the closest thing to the skin of a human. I wanted you to still look authentic so I knew 132

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  that's what I needed to hunt for,” he explained.

  As I sat there still looking out the window, I suddenly saw a

  flash of blue go by the last of the scarlet pool. I sat up and craned my neck to get a better look and saw the flas
h of blue disappear

  around the side of the cabin.

  "Is something wrong?" Edison asked?

  "No. I'm going to my room," I said. I decided I didn't want to alarm him when I still didn't know what was outside. "I will see you in the morning." I got up and headed out of the room and

  down the short hall.

  I closed the door securely behind me and waited until I heard

  him do the same. Once I was sure he was in his room, I grabbed

  one of the wooden dressers and shoved it against the door. If he

  came in and found me gone he would probably come looking for

  me and if the blue I saw was a danger, I didn't want any harm to

  come to him. He had been so good to me these past few months.

  I opened the window and prepared to go out when a face

  popped up and stared at me. I fell back in surprise and stared at

  what had to be the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It was

  female and the blue that I had caught flashes of was her beautiful light colored hair. She had big, olive green eyes and a little button nose. I couldn’t see the rest of her face because she kept it hidden 133

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  under the window sill. But just by looking at her I knew she was

  another one of London’s puppets.

  I got to my feet and backed away from the window a couple

  of steps. Cassara had been deadly enough in her own right by

  taking a piece of me with her I could only imagine what this one

  would be able to do. Keeping her large, unblinking eyes on me,

  she put her hands on the window sill and crawled into the room.

  I had to admit that I was disturbed by that. Why she hadn’t

  just climbed in was beyond me, but if she was attempting to

  intimidate me, it seemed to be working just fine. She rose to her

  feet and I saw that she was as small as Cassara was only she

  seemed to be wearing a sheer ruby colored scarf around her neck.

  Closing her eyes she took a deep breath and rolled her head from

  side to side. As soon as she opened her eyes she was in front of

  me causing me to almost cry out in shock. I wasn’t sure what

  London was doing to these new designs but they were faster than

  the eye when they wanted to be.

  Firmly, she gripped my hand in hers and forced them to her

  lips. I tried to pull away but her grip was like a vice and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get away from her so I let her use my

  fingers to trace her slender, soft lips. She stared up at me with her eyes still unblinking but now seemingly taking on emotion. The