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I nodded and took a seat in the white plastic chair under the strange hood, like the beauty shop hairdryer.
I was so tense as she punched buttons and did calibrations on the equipment that I could have leaped from my skin when the door opened.
I was expecting Victoria, though, so I relaxed and let Flora keep going.
But as she pulled the silver dome down over my head, I saw somebody watching me from the doorway.
Robert Remington, Alexander’s father, and my future father-in-law. His eyes glittered dark black, and I swear I saw inky darkness slide over them as he disappeared out of sight.
All I could see was the inside of the dome. My own wide eyes reflected back at me.
CHAPTER15
I thoughtabout panicking and pushing the dome up, but it was locked in place, and my hands were bound. I tried to lift them up off the arms of the chair, but somehow, in the process of getting me adjusted, Flora had wrapped straps around my wrists, and I was trapped in place.
“I’m not going to run off this time,” I said and wiggled my fingers. “You don’t need to tie me down.”
“It’s for your own good,” I heard Flora’s voice muffled from the other side of the metallic dome. “Hang on and let the treatments start taking effect, and you’ll relax. You might understand what’s going on, too.”
“Listen to Flora,” Robert said. “She’s the expert.”
I felt her cover me with the same metallic blanket they had used in the hospital, and my panic rose in pitch. The machine started to hum, and it drowned out what Flora was saying, but I could hear her flirtatious voice talking to him as the treatments began.
I hadn’t seen much of Victoria’s treatment, so I couldn’t tell if mine was going the same way. I felt a tap on my shoulder and Flora’s voice came through a speaker in the dome.
“I’m stepping out to get Victoria set up. There’s a buzzer under your left hand. You can feel the button on the arm of the chair. Call me if you need me.”
And I was left alone in the room. At least I thought I was alone. For all I knew, Robert Remington could be standing right in front of me, watching me.
I felt terribly self-conscious, and I struggled again, trying to break free of the treatment. It wasn’t painful, but it was uncomfortable. Not just the unknowing, not knowing if I was alone in the room or not, but the hum in my head began to unwind into a steady rhythmic tempo again.
A green light appeared, and I squeezed my eyes shut as it seemingly scanned my face. When it hit my eyes, I could see the bright glow behind my lids, outlining blood vessels and veins like galaxies and constellations scattered across my flesh.
The light didn’t move, and the longer I stared at the blotches and lines in my lids, the more they swirled and drew together in one large, dark, rotating black hole.
It was the same feeling as before when I’d been in the church… or I should say ritual. It was important to rearrange my language, or I’d keep offending people in my post-coma world.
The black hole swirled, endlessly pulling everything around it into the darkness at the center. I stared and watched as it grew, getting larger the longer I looked. My stomach began to knot up and twist. That familiar tug came back, the pull to fall into the darkness and let myself dissolve in the black pit.
I squeezed my eyes tighter as tears formed and leaked from the edges. The hum grew louder and the bass throb vibrated inside my skull. My brain felt too big for it as if I couldn’t contain it within my house of bone.
It began to hurt. More than the discomfort of pressure, pain bloomed where I wanted to detach from my body and float into the abyss.
I felt myself lifting up. My hands were free, and I felt boneless, without form. My eyes wouldn’t open, I couldn’t see what was happening, but I could feel tears streaming down my cheeks as I began to disappear.
An alarm blared somewhere in the distance, a klaxon bell warning that something was happening to me. That something dangerous was going on.
All at once, it went silent. I heard Robert Remington’s voice bellowing, “Goddammit, Flora! Get your ass in here! She can’t leave. We still need her!”
The door flung open, and Flora’s voice said, “Oh my god, she’s—”
Flora didn’t finish her sentence. The dome flipped up, and bright lights flooded my vision. I peeled my eyelids apart and found myself looking into her shocked face. The horror there was confusing because I felt fantastic. I felt brand new as if I’d been put back together in all the right ways like the puzzle pieces were fitting at long last.
“What happened?” I asked and reached up to brush a strand of hair off my forehead.
Her eyes were huge when she stared at my hand, then looked down towards the other one.
And then it clicked. I’d been strapped in, and now I was free.
