The Adorned

by Elimelec Gonzalez-Roman

I stood motionless amidst the forest shadow, dancing with the push and pull of the wind…

  Gusts of wind rustled the leaves as bits of warm sunlight touched my skin from the shifting branches. I took a step and then stopped at the faint sound of water echoing its way across the forest. I took a whiff at the somewhat saline scent coursing its way with the breeze.

  Salt Water typed itself in my mind.

  I broke into a sprint. My bare feet crumbled the loose foliage, and dodged the many trees, with quick, agile movements. The sound got closer and closer, the ocean scent stronger and stronger.

  My anticipation hastened my pace with the clearing. I leapt over shrubs and came to a stop with my feet plowing into the smooth, orange sands of a beach.

  I gasped at the vista in front of me. The smoldering sun beamed over the horizon, falling behind the ocean. I smiled with the sun’s caressing warmth and strokes of cool wind brushing against my exhausted body.

  The tepid sand beneath my feet shuffled in between my toes and prickled like a massage. It all felt perfect, like some rendered masterpiece brought to life before my eyes.

  “You’re trespassing.” Someone said.

  A snap of twig caught me by surprise. I leapt back, tripped, and fell.

  A veiled person in a raven-black cloak stepped into the sunset and stood next to me. He took one glance at me, shook his head, and without a word turned away and continued his way down the slope. I examined his course to notice the ruins of a large broken archway.

  My adrenaline and my heartbeat raced. I rose and stared at him. My eyes couldn’t: wouldn’t shy away… another word sprung to mind: hypnotized.

  He stopped and faced me. His fake emerald eyes ogled and a glinting silver mask reflected my blurred face.

  “This place is a haven to those that seek forever.” His raspy and muffled voice sent a chill down my spine, “However, even seeking forever has its questions. And beyond that there,” he pointed at the archway only a couple of paces away from him, “Rests the answers to all your questions.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “But what does that mean… seeking forever?”

  “To enter the same stature of serine that one's brought to when you’re adrift in your dreams.”

  Something indescribable clicked in me. His words weren’t deciphered quick enough to understand my body’s reaction to accept his wisdom. I took a step towards him.

  “Take my hand Sam.” He outstretched his hand. “Together we’ll venture and see what forever has in store for us.”

  I took his hand.

  He turned away and we continued towards the archway. And I couldn’t figure out why my body was voluntarily following him without my inner me accepting my body’s motion… I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t budge: but I followed.

  Fear washed over me as we approached this ruined archway, decorated with layers of think dried brown algae, creepers hanging from the edge, and crème colored layers of chipping calcium deposits plastered in blotches.

  I felt an overweighing tug, the harrowing cleaves of a million sharp objects puncturing into body as soon as the shadow casted over me…

  As we stepped through…

  The scene shifted from that beautiful color filled masterpiece to some ominous shade of black and grey, nothingness disoriented by haze.

  I took a whiff. It smelled horrid. My nostrils flared at this bitter scent entering my lungs.

  Rotting, burning, the voice in my head told me.

  The mist subsided. I couldn’t see anything ahead of me besides the ceaseless water and cloud swathe.

  I took a step closer to the edge near the water and lurched over just to notice I had no reflection.

  A whimper startled me.

  I turned around and noticed a group of people chained together, backs arched, and kneeled. From the drape, an erect stranger stepped in with a long barreled automatic rifle slung over his shoulder.

  It’s him, the one that led me through the archway.

  “So,” the stranger’s hard voice echoed into the bronze sunset now stripping through the mist, “I’m aware you all know why you’re here.” His crooked nose and bushy eyebrows shadowed his dark beady eyes that reflected the mass of faces. “If you don’t, then by enlightening you would only bring greater pain.” He hesitated as his eyes caught sight of each of his victims. He bowed.

  Loud bells echoed and the ocean gurgle wafted the uncomforting silence besieging each blurred face. As he gazed at them, his eyes remain taut at the sight of the only face that wasn’t hidden behind a veil.

  A woman wept before him. Even my own eyes couldn’t bend weary from her wail.

  I saw the sympathy in his eyes. And his sympathy wrought my notion to run in and save her… I-I-y-you need-needed to-to s-s-save her… I-I-you-you must...

  He stared at me and shook his head. In that moment there I couldn’t budge, because the chains now shackled my own hands.

  “There’s a time and place for everything Sam, your small heroic feat is not the proper course of action.”

  He stared back at her. Her lush cheeks smeared with black eyeliner, and emerald eyes couldn’t begrudge any.

  He took a deep breath and straightened his posture. “May your souls come to rest in peace.”

  I felt this moisture build in my eyes like the morning essence of dew trickling off an outstretched leaf. The wind’s tug forced my tears to string down my cheeks.

  He positioned the gun and centered his sight. He gave one last glance at the woman and then at me, cocked the gun, and then embedded my sight with a spiraling crimson stain.

  I gasped awake with quivers...

  For a brief second I was unaware of my surroundings, as though suffering from amnesia. I opened my eyes to notice Mary, my AI monitor, flickering on with a light mechanical whir.

  The vision that played in my head, I wasn’t even too sure what to classify that as, but it felt so real. Every time I blinked I could see that crimson stain insert itself where the black behind my eyelids should be. I massaged my temples to relieve my aching head that thawed like a sore thumb.

  I turned to the monitor dazzling me with its bright screen. Though the monitor is classified as Mary, and has a woman’s name and a woman’s vocals, I usually classify the AI as an: It. Sometimes it feels like a real person, but other times, it’s like some monotonous, bland, representation of what a woman’s voice is supposed to sound like.

  I rubbed my eyes. “G-Good morning Mary.” I said and straightened my back against the bed’s banister. “Hey Mary, while I slept last night there was… something, like some kind of vision playing in my head.”

  The monitor positioned itself closer to me. “What d-did you s-see Sam, tell me about it.”

  The monitor had Loading… on the bottom right. A touch pad and keyboard came down from the bottom frame, and a toothpick-sized camera’s aperture increased in diameter.

  I grounded my teeth and shut my eyes. I searched through the vast emptiness, attempting to scavenge what I witnessed, “I saw… I saw people, l-like me, but… they looked a bit different, Mary, they were…” I hesitated for a second, trying my best to come up with the proper word.

  “Older.” She said.

  On the pale monitor a list of letters typed themselves on the screen saying:

  An Aging caused by time and weathering that sheets and carves the body with traits and wisdom.

  I pressed my finger against the cool monitor glass. “Yeah,” I muttered.

  Vocabulary wasn’t my strongest feat. Occasionally Mary gave me long lists of words to classify and match with their corresponding definitions, and then Mary would go and explain what each of them meant, and even go and show their coherent, synonyms, and antonyms, blah, blah… unpleasing garbage. I preferred the vocabulary game that made it less stressful and a bit more enjoyable. But I couldn’t always get what I want.

  After a brief moment of silence, Mary’s screen turned pale.

  “Sam, what else did you see?�
�� Mary asked.

  “A lady that wept, and four other men next to her, knelt… they were panicking, and a man, with-with a weapon,” I paused; just thinking about this vision made my hands tremble, my heartbeat thump harder. “Mary?” My voice cracked.

  “What kind of weapon Sam?” The monitor buzzed and displayed a picture of a baseball bat.

  “No.” I went down to a touch pad and pressed the NEXT button; a picture of a sterling knife appeared. “No.” I pressed the button again, picture of a handgun. “No.” I tapped NEXT again. A long sleek black long-barreled automatic caught my attention, “Yes, yes, t-that’s it!” I said.

  “That’s called an Automatic Rifle.” Mary explained. “And what did this man do with the gun?”

  “I just remember a loud noise, and-and then r-red, red everywhere.” I bit my lip.

  After the picture disappeared from the screen, a “Send >>>” icon appeared on the top right, briefly it was replaced with Loading….

  “Mary, w-what does that vision mean? I’ve never seen anything like this before, and to have one now?”

  I tried to reason. But I couldn’t do it. The strain of just closing my eyes and trying to look back at it was painful enough. The pain felt like a needle punctured into the back of my skull and froze anyway in deciphering it. I couldn’t think beyond a certain boundary before aching. And it aggravated me.

  Mary whirred. “Visions that occur during sleep are categorized by two words: Dreams, and Nightmares.” The loading screen disappeared and two words typed themselves on the monitor:

  Dream: a series of pleasant and joyful made up thoughts, images, or emotions occurring during sleep.

  Nightmare: A discerning aptitude of hateful interactions that conjure fearful thoughts of peril and chaos, usually awakens the sleeping host.

  “So I had a nightmare?” I said.

  It still didn’t have me convinced, how I could have a nightmare about something so random and so real, too real: it had to be something else.

  “Yes,” Mary said, “But let’s let it rest, those two words are for a more advance class that’ll be further explained in due time. For now, we’ve got something more important to discuss. And this is not another lecture. Can you guess what today is Sam?” Mary asked, her voice less robotic and monotonous, expressing a dry joy.

  I tried to think, but again, nothing but empty lines of perpetual darkness smeared with crimson and grey haunted the void in the back of my eyelids.

  “I don’t know Mary, what?”

  I smiled. All that hysteria that I felt slipped away into some anxious sense of excitement.

  The computer whirred and clicked. “H-Happy Birthday Sam, you’re thirteen years old today, c-congratulations!” Mary said.

  My eyes opened wide. It’s already been a year… how could it be that time slipped past my conscious… but time, what is time? That word just sprung from my mind. I glanced back at Mary.

  “Thanks Mary!” I said.

  “Guess what else is new today?”

  “What?”

  I felt a bit more excited than usual, in my past birthdays a cupcake with one candle was set on my desk; next to the cupcake a simple Happy Birthday card with corny writing.

  I took a quick peek over to my desk, and through the room’s dimness I saw no cupcake or card.

  “Today is your last day, and you’ll finally experience the real world we’ve talked about for so long.”

  The monitor went black and the room lights turned on.

  I stared at the black idle screen Mary displayed that she only ever executes during sleeping hours. I felt alone.

  “Mary?” I said with a light tap on the screen. “You um… you there Mary?” I gulped.

  I untangled the bed sheets wrapped around my body and stepped on the ice-cold white tile covering my small square-sized room. White walls, a mirror door leading to the bathroom, and a plain desk, chair, and bed, were all that furnished my personal space.

  Before I stepped into the bathroom, an unusual curiosity brought my attention to my desk again. I saw a large brown envelope. Could it be a really big birthday card? I didn’t dwell too long and continue my usual routine.

  I stared at my reflection, my overly pale ivory skin, the green eyes and brown hair. In my eyes I saw my worry, this discomfited dread restrained my whole. And then, finally my thoughts bloomed to life.

  Speculation had me thinking everything I felt thus far has been orchestrated. But why would I think that? I shook my head neglecting that thought, and placed it aside in some vacant space inside my mind so I’d never retrieve it again.

  I sighed and entered the completely white bathroom: white tiles, white walls, a tub, toilet, and sink, the only thing that brought a hunch of color was the black nineteen-inch monitor mounted on the right wall like a painting.

  I cringed and walked up to the monitor. I ran my finger down its soft LCD display.

  “Mary?” I tapped on the screen lightly as I leaned my head against it.

  I gasped and pulled away when the monitor became black and had Loading… on the upper right. Letters began to type themselves on the screen:

  ---

  U?kno?n F?ct: On Abvril, 27 of ?0?? Frail attempts to sever the decaying Outside World wrought a catalyst to wither the amalgams of nature and cause what is known as The R-Rever Effect… the haven of splendor that’s age capitalized its beauty evermore as time progressed…

  A researcher and scientist named Jake Hartman lead the o-op-perations to ensure the survivability of certain areas known as R-R-Rever-r-r-s…

  ---

  A piercing static cut across the monitor before I could read any more, I gasped, and flinched with its reaction.

  “S-S-Sam,” Mary’s stuttering voice said, “G-get r-r-ready.” Her voice came back to normal.

  I stood there startled.

  “Contacted the doctor and he’ll be with you shortly, and again Sam, Happy Birthday, may fortune shine in your future, g-good b-b-bye-bye.”

  Another sharp sound cut through the monitor’s speaker. A second later the static stopped, the bathroom lights flickered, and tiny bits of different shades of grey flickered on and on all throughout the monitor’s screen.

  I stared blankly. What was Mary talking about… that Jake Hartman… scientist, researchers? I closed my eyes and tried to recall what that word meant. I shrugged and stopped talking upon hearing the shower water commence.

  I must get ready, a doctor’s coming.

  The bathroom door shut by itself and on the hook hung a teal long-sleeved buttoned-shirt, black slacks, and pair of glazy black dress-shoes. Baffled I went and passed my fingers down the silky shirt. I smiled.

  Twenty-five minutes later…

  I stepped out of the bathroom fully dressed. My bed was made, as usual. And Mary’s monitor had vanished. I stood motionless. The air had a tangy scent to it too, and the room’s temperature felt warmer.

  I was hungry, no I was famished, a word that Mary told me was a bit more fancy that hungry, but meant the same thing. No water or food on my desk… not even my Daily Journal, just that envelope.

  I squinted my eyes and sighed. I went to my desk and grabbed the brown envelope. I flipped it around to see a message written on the back:

  Dear Sam, take the time and ponder, only open this when you think it’s the right time.

  The envelope was sealed with a reddish clay stamp. The engraved symbol had a picture of an eagle, with two swords crossing, inside a diamond canvas.

  A screechy buzz spooked me. Before I knew it I’d already folded the envelope and tucked it in my back pocket. I took a deep breath and gulped some air. I stared at the small square monitor near the sealed door-like crease. The monitor flickered and turned on.

  An elderly man with unkempt charcoal colored hair, aged streaks of grey hints shun like highlights, a trimmed beard and mustache, dark eyes magnified by big, black round glasses, appeared on the monitor screen.

  “Hello the
re Sam, I’m Dr. Harris Brown.” Dr. Harris said with a big smile brightening his old, crinkly face. “I’m delighted to finally meet you!”

  I didn’t know what to say, or how to react. This urge to run and hide had me pinned against the wall.

  “Sam, look into my eyes.” I heard him say.

  I took sight of his hazel eyes.

  I felt myself easing away from my hysteria. My muscles loosened and I pulled away from the wall.

  “Good job Sam.” He smiled again. “I’m here to help you, so there’s nothing to worry about. Not many can ease off their first interaction, so I’m glad you’ve held your own. But what I’m here to do is go over the necessary procedures to get you ready for the real world that lies behind these walls.” Dr. Harris explained. “Sam, would you like to see this world I speak of?”

  “Y-yes,” I croaked. “Yes I d-do.”

  “That’s the answer I was waiting for. Now, I’m going to open the seal.” Dr. Harris said.

  I gulped. “But c-can you explain more, please?”

  He chuckled. “Of course I’ll explain more. But there’s a couple of important procedures before I do.”

  “Ok.” I bit my lip.

  My mind spiraled out of control. I couldn’t understand myself; I couldn’t even fathom answering his simple questions.

  “Excellent, now, I’m opening the seal, so… as soon as it opens, you’ll feel a bit woozy, but nothing to be alarmed about because you are in my care now.”

  I’ll feel woozy? What?

  The monitor buzzed off, a loud clang rung with pressured air slitting through the pleat of the door as it slid open.

  I did feel woozy, nauseous too: my head bobbed drowsily with my eyes beginning to water and lose focus.

  Dr. Harris Brown walked in carrying a clipboard and pulling a silvery cart with a tray full of random stuff I’ve never seen before.

  “Relax,” Dr. Harris said. “You’ll get use to real gravity and oxygen, which I’m hopefully you’ve already learned about by now.”

  Dr. Harris placed the syringe on the stainless steel tray and put on a pair of plastic gloves, “Now, due to the nature of things I’m going to give you an Antibiotic Relaxant that will help you acclimate to this new environment.”

  I felt streaks of sweat slithering down my face. I held my balance by leaning against the wall and even then my muscles wouldn’t budge.

  “While I arrange your injection please, tell me what gravity is.”

  “G-gravity.” I hesitated and felt fatigued as I closed my eyes.

  The abyss behind my eyelids had every shade of grey flashing dimly as it twirled and comforted me, wanting me to give in, accept its captivating tug that would bring me to serenity... sleep, sleep... sleep.

  “Gravity is force… it pushes down on objects, it’s every… everywhere.” I gasped as soon as Dr. Harris injected me.

  “Good, good, that’s exactly right.” Dr. Harris cleaned my arm with a wipe and then placed a bandage on it. “There you go, good as new.”

  A second later something inside me clicked, my eyes focused and I was finally able to see my surroundings with clarity.

  “How do you feel Sam?” Dr. Harris asked.

  “I-I feel better,” I said with a smirk. “A lot better.”

  Every single uncomforting feeling disappeared instantaneously. I pushed away from the wall and felt the muscles on my legs contract. I clenched my fists and saw the muscles of my hand erect. I felt great!

  “Wonderful!” Dr. Harris said.

  He placed the used syringe on the tray and pulled the plastic gloves off his hands.

  “So, you’re thirteen I see.” He took the clipboard and flipped through sheets of paper until he stopped and pulled a sheet from the folder. “By the way, happy birthday Sam! My how you’ve grown since I last saw you.”

  My eyes squinted, and I felt my brow slump, “You’ve seen me before?”

  Dr. Harris cleared his throat and then grinned. “I have. I nurtured you a bit when you were but a newborn… you don’t really think you’ve been locked up since infancy do you?”

  I didn’t know how to answer that question, because as far as I can recall I’ve only been confined in this small room… and then it hit me, could that shot Dr. Harris gave me freed my thoughts?

  Because I could think and speculate… and wonder why I would even be confined in this little room to begin with. Could my mind have been tampered with? Could someone have somehow brainwashed me into reimagining something different as my life ticked away in here?

  And then another word typed its definition inside my mind, not on the clear screen like it normally did, but in dark corridors of my mind: Brainwash, where could I’ve heard that word? But it felt right in that particular moment.

  “Please explain more, why was I trapped in here?” I asked.

  “That is a mystery that’ll have to wait until you’re old enough to comprehend.” Dr. Harris said.

  Curiosity now typed its definition in my head… inquisitiveness to discover unanswered questions that kept bubbling out of nowhere, because I wouldn’t be just with a simple neglect. I felt cheated.

  Dr. Harris placed the clipboard on the bed and pulled a pen from his pocket, “So, I know you’re probably still a bit confused as to why I am here, am I right?” Dr. Harris’s glasses slid to the tip of his nose as he waited on my reply.

  I nodded.

  “Well, I’m the doctor assigned to release you from this isolation. After I follow basic protocol’s I’ll explain everything. There are two stages you must complete before being fully released. Now straighten up, this might sting a bit, but the pain will subside.”

  I grinned uneasily, “Uh ok-k.”

  Sting, to cause an uncomforting irk.

  I felt apprehensive.

  Dr. Harris pulled a laser-pointer sized black object from his pocket and unscrewed the top. “Hold out your hands Sam.” Dr. Harris pressed a button and a red streak beamed out. “Now, keep them open, don’t coil them.” He went over every one of my fingertips and burned the print off, leaving a smooth layer over my skin. “That’s that, keep them open so that the skin refreshes itself.”

  My fingers felt as though they’ve been plunged in molten lava. I cringed and held back my coming yelp of pain. My eyes watered and my hands trembled.

  Dr. Harris placed the laser back in his pocket and continued to write on the clipboard. “So Sam, tell me, tell me about this nightmare you had.” Dr. Harris licked his thumb and turned the sheet of paper around.

  I croaked, “It-it,” I hesitated as my thoughts bloomed to life with the vision of the cluttered people panting. And a word typed itself in my thoughts: “Execution.” I blurted out, “I witnessed an execution.”

  He cleared his throat. “And Sam, what is an execution exactly?”

  “The penalty of disloyalty, a punishment.”

  “Exactly.”

  Dr. Harris straightened his posture and moved out of the room, “Come, come, Sam, I’d like to welcome you to the Preteritus Facility. After one more little test I’ll introduce you to your new life and your caretaker.”

  ---

  Book

  I

  Derivation

  ---