Inside the Company: Chapter 7: Eurhythmics

Day 19

Sorry for not writing for a while. My experience about a week ago had left me with some side effects that left me… How to put this? Mentally incapacitated for a while. Now that I have mostly recovered, I will share what happened.

The procedure I had to undergo was their idea of a gesture of goodwill. They called it Eurhythmics. The idea behind Eurhythmics is that it would allow for my final moments to be recorded and published. That way, should I die while I am with the Company, you would know what happened. At least, my memories will live on, I guess. Hopefully, at that point, some of you may have a way to prepare for what’s coming. Should the Company fail to stop Inanis… Should I die trying to prevent this thing from happening… Promise me… Promise me that you will drop everything in your lives and spend what would be your final moments with your loved ones. In the meantime, cherish what time you have. As far as I know, there isn’t a real deadline for Inanis’ arrival.

Well, I definitely got sidetracked. Where was I? Ah, right! Eurhythmics. They told me that the procedure was simple and they promised that it wouldn’t hurt. As usual, they lied. At this point, I wasn’t really surprised but it still did suck.

They brought me to a room in the basement. It looked to be some form of medbay. I couldn’t spot any real signs telling me what it was so it could have been another test chamber or Entity containment area.

The room was as sterile as every other. The main feature of the room was an operating table of sorts in the center. It was laced with blue lines and looked to have glowing blue glyphs along its edges. I felt both anxious and scared. Based on my experiences so far, I could hear the warning bells ringing in my head that this was going to hurt. So far, everything in this bloody Company has bit me in the arse one way or another. However, I was still curious. There is that saying, ‘Curiosity killed the cat, but it didn’t stop it from coming back’. I guess it applies to me.

I was instructed to lay down on the table as doctors began to walk around me. They hooked up all sorts of devices to me, checking for my blood pressure, heart rate, the usual standard of procedure I guess. It felt somewhat normal. I know, given my situation, normal is never going to happen. However, the doctors taking time to properly check my vitals and all… That sort of normalcy was soothing.

The head doctor looked over with his face obscured by the light above me. He said, “Hey there, Sonny. This will probably hurt a teeny bit. However, it will all be over soon.”

Why is it that whenever a procedure is going to hurt a lot, the doctor says it is going to hurt a little? I would rather prepare for a lot of pain than try and convince myself that there is no pain coming at all.

I guessed he noticed my discomfort when he said that as he continued to attempt at small talk. He introduced himself as Dr. Robert. He said that he is a subject of an Entity too and chose to help the Company in its cause. Him being a subject like me was both terrifying and relaxing. I know, a huge jump in emotions. It was nice to know that I am not the only one in this predicament. However, I am terrified, in all hell, of having another Entity essentially operating on me. He did try and reassure me that nothing bad was going to happen.

“Don’t worry, boy. Unlike yours, my Entity is almost certainly under control. She just works as my nurse of sorts.”
I heard this creaking and wheeling. With the light in my eyes, I could barely see anything aside from a faint feminine shape.
“H-h-iya hu-bby! I-i-I-s thi-s o-u-r n-n-n-ew pa-tie-nt?”

The voice sounded definitely mechanical. I would liken it to hearing snippets of a radio, garbled and distorted. It was high pitched and broken. Definitely not something you’d want to hear when you are in a vulnerable position… like lying on an operating table.

While I was distracted by that weird robotic voice, a belt was strapped over my forehead, holding it down to the table. I felt my limbs all getting strapped down. I wondered to myself, “Why so many restraints? I’m not going to hulk out or anything? Am I?”

I felt something thin and long penetrate the back of my neck. It was a very sharp prick that pierced past the skin. It slowly went deeper. I clenched my teeth in pain, holding back my tears. It was as if a long needle was stabbed through the back of my head.

Then, it started getting warm. Warmer. Then, it started heating up. It burned. God, thinking about it. Recounting what I felt. The pain. I don’t know how I lived through it. It was as if I had the worst migraine ever.
I felt the pain sear through my forehead and face. I felt as if all the muscles in my body tensed up, rendering me immobile, a prisoner in my own body. My chest thrust up and down. It thumped against the operating table. I felt my arms tense up as I, full of adrenaline, ripped my bindings off.

I raised my hand to my face, obscuring the light. It was way too blinding. When I moved my hand away, it was as if the aura of my hand remained. It felt as if it didn’t move away from the light but I could feel that my arm was in a different spot.

The pain continued to spread down my spine, pulling my shoulder blades together. A few of the doctors had to physically restrain me.

I continued to vividly hallucinate. I saw myself staring at a mirror, looking at my own reflection. Then, as if the camera panned to the other side, to the Mirrorverse, I was looking out of the eyes of my own reflection. I looked to my left and I saw the Man in the Mirror. My mouth gaped in fear as I slammed on the mirror. Begging to be let out, to my side, the real side. Then, I felt fingers wrap around my neck and I saw the mirror fall apart. I felt my neck jerk back and then everything went dark.

When I said that everything went dark, when I meant was that everything around me went dark. I could feel myself standing on solid ground and I could still see myself. I didn’t even feel the pain of the procedure.

I had nothing better to do. So, I began to walk around in the darkness. Hoping that eventually, I would find something. It didn’t take long as after a few minutes of walking, I saw a faint light.

I chased after that faint light. That was when I saw a small child, no older than eight. He was wearing a green striped t-shirt and was playing with the ground as if he was tracing in the sand. It was impossible. I recognized that kid. He was me.

Then, I saw a figure move close to him.

From the figure, I caught a glimpse of something coming out of his pocket. The glint of a revolver. The figure raised the gun to the kid’s head. I screamed “No!” as I charged towards the duo. However, when I tried to tackle the man, I felt right through him as if he was a puff of smoke. That was when I saw him clearly. There was no mistaking it… a green tie. It was Mr. Green.

As he was about to pull the trigger, I saw his face scrunch up in a wince as he pocketed the gun. Young Me being unaware of the whole situation. He then walked away. At that point, I realized that I wasn’t just hallucinating. I was reliving previous memories on a subconscious level.

My memory prior to Man in the Mirror was spotty since I got here. I couldn’t remember much about my childhood or the people in my life. I never really thought about it until Eurhythmics was scrambling my brain.

Then, another memory came in. It was of a woman. A woman I saw before… when I was dying of old age from my usage of Time After Time. She was wearing a lab coat and had long dark hair. She had this aura around her that made me comfortable being around her. I felt that I could trust her. She was talking on a phone.

“Experiment 038 was a success. Awakening would be expected in 19 years.”

Tears began to well up in her eyes as she bit her lip.

“I can’t do this anymore. Promise me, Red. Promise me that this will be the last one.”

She nodded for a bit and put away her phone. She picked up a small child and cradled it. She stroked it and begun to sing a lullaby. As she sang, tears began to roll down my cheek. I felt like I heard it before but I just couldn’t put my finger on where I heard it before.

Then, as I blinked, the scene changed again. This time, I saw young Me again. Well, slightly older than when I saw him with Green. This time, he was standing over a grave, sniffling. I felt this deep hole bore in my chest. It was a feeling of emptiness I hadn’t felt before.

I looked at the gravestone, Evangeline Green. I didn’t know why I got so emotional over a gravestone with a name I couldn’t remember. I tried as hard as I could to remember where I heard the name before. However, other than the surname being Green, nothing rang a bell. However, my emotions were still erupting inside of me.

The memory dissolved to be replaced by another. This time, it was Mr. Green, now familiarly aged. He was sitting on a desk with a pocket watch and a revolver on the table. He buried his face in his hands as he sobbed. The pocket watch was a familiar one… It was Time After Time.

Then, I woke up back in my room at the Company. I looked at the clock, nearly a week had passed. I wiped the saliva from my mouth as I heard a knock on the door. Mr. Green walked in and gave me a knowing nod.

“This is common for people who have been implanted with Eurhythmics. To experience long-buried memories.”
I asked him. No. I begged him to tell me what were those memories. I don’t remotely remember any of them. When I mentioned Evangeline Green’s name, his normally calm face suddenly drooped to a frown. His eyes began to twinkle with tears.

“You still don’t remember?” he asked in a solemn tone.

“Make me remember. I feel like I need to know.”

“Evangeline was the only person I have ever loved. She was my wife. However, an agent of Inanis took her away from me.”

“Why do I feel so strongly for her? I don’t even know her.”

“My boy. It is because she is your mother.”

My eyes widened in confusion. “My mother?”

“Yes. She was.”

“So you are…”

“Your father.”

I just looked at him as my head began to burn up again. So, Mr. Green got up and walked to the door.

“Get your rest, son. Tomorrow, we need to run some tests to make sure you’d be ready to fight this war.”

I lied on the bed, staring blankly at the wall. That was a lot to process. So, I decided to write this entry so that I may hopefully process all this information better. Evangeline Green… More mysteries… Great…

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Sorry for the mini-hiatus. Life has been hectic for me recently handling my mother while she is unwell. Hopefully this chapter would be fun for everyone. Not much horror stuff but more worldbuilding and surprise twist!

You, the reader, are a character in this story. In what I call "Interactive Writing", you are encouraged to participate in the story. How? You may ask. Well, like I said earlier, you are a character in this story. You may not be directly referenced individually in the story but the main character will respond to your comments (or rather me, as the writer, will be responding as the main character). Your comments WILL influence the outcome of the story in one way or another. Be careful, you may accidentally kill the main character, in which case, the season ends and after that... Well, we'll keep that a surprise for now.

Image Source: Bastian, HC (1896), "The brain as an organ of the mind" as found on https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14760990156

Previous Chapters:
Chapter 1 - Man In the Mirror
Chapter 2 - Mr Green
Chapter 3 - Time After Time
Chapter 4 - The Study and Zeppelin
Chapter 5 - Blank Space
Chapter 6 - Mr Blue