Unfathomable Power, Book 2, Epilogue (Patreon)

Box room was boring. But I learned that if I hit enough things and made enough noise, they’d shove things through the little hole in the door. Well, first they’d shoot me until I couldn’t move anymore. But after doing that a few times they started to bribe me. The markers and Crayons were fun for a while, but I got tired of them quickly. There was only so much space on the walls to draw on.

I wanted to make noise to see what I’d get today, but today was visiting day. Visiting day was when Alice came and taught me words. If I made too much noise on visiting day, visiting day would be over, so I did my best to be patient.

I felt bad for tricking Alice. I knew more than I was letting on. I knew I wasn’t in a safe place, even if they fed me and gave me markers. A safe place wouldn’t stop me from going outside. A safe place wouldn’t shoot me if I played with the door.

I don’t know how I knew, but being dumb made them think I was not dangerous. So even though Alice did her best to teach me words, I pretended to learn them slowly. I even shoved her away when she tried to touch my thoughts—not with my hands, but with my brain. Alice was like Think-man and could touch my thoughts. But she wasn’t as strong as Think-man. Well, she could beat him with punches, I was pretty sure, but her thinking wasn’t as strong.

At night, when the place got quiet, I pretended to sleep. I was missing many, many thoughts. So at night, I did my best to remake them. I had to start early, but I didn’t like my early thoughts. They were about the bad man who hit my brother and me and my mom. Because I didn’t like them, I might not have been as diligent as I maybe should been. But I had nothing but time, so I worked until it got bad and then slept for real.

But today was visiting day, so I sat on the floor in the middle of the room and did my best to wait. Alice was so pretty and nice! She was the best part about this place. She told me she was my friend, and I was very glad for that. I didn’t have any other friends.

I heard activity outside the door and grew excited. Visiting day! But, my excitement dampened when I heard a difference in the footsteps outside. Those weren’t Alice’s feet. Was it food time? I just ate. DID THEY CANCEL VISITING DAY?! NO! I WAS GOOD! YOU CAN’T CANCEL VISITING DAY IF I WAS GOOD!

I was about to charge the door when I heard the lock click and the very heavy metal door was pushed open, revealing a man. Who is this? Where’s Alice!? Visiting day is for Alice!

I studied the man as he handed a cane to one of the gun men. He shuffled into the room, his clothes hanging off him like tarps. He was very thin. His eyes were sunken, and he had a few days of growth on his face. He looked familiar.

“Hey, Liam,” the man said as the door closed behind him. “Mind if I sit?” He pointed at my bed.

Frowning, I shook my head. The man shuffled across the small room, before sitting heavily on my bed with a sigh. “I’m not supposed to be walking this much, but they wouldn’t allow me to bring a wheelchair,” the man said, rubbing his hips and thighs.

I scooted closer, looking up at his face. He was so familiar!

“Do you recognize me?” The man asked.

I shook my head.

The man’s expression fell. “Alice warned me you… weren’t the same. I thought she was mostly talking about—“ he gestured at my skin.

I smiled. I like my skin. At night, I did fun stuff with it. I couldn’t do fun stuff during the day because the guards shot me. They kept getting bigger guns, too.

The man sighed. “I’m your brother. I’m Conner.”

I don’t know what happened. One second I was happy on the floor, thinking about the shapes I could make with my skin, the next I was hugging the man—my brother.

There was shouting behind me and I knew I was about to be shot. Every time I did something too fast they’d shoot me until I couldn’t move anymore. But they might shoot Conner! I might have to kill the guards—but I wasn’t ready. There were more of them out there. I needed my thoughts back. Thoughts meant power, but I didn’t have enough.

“Stop!” Conner shouted. “It’s fine! It’s fine. He’s just hugging me. He’s… he’s my big brother.”

The noises from the door stopped. “Are you sure?” Asked the mean guard. He was always ready to shoot me.

“Positive,” Conner said, wrapping his thin arms around me.

I really wanted to squeeze him, but he was so thin! I felt like I would break him. So I just rocked us back and forth.

“You remember me?” Conner whispered.

I made a frustrated, whining noise. I didn’t remember him, but I knew him. He’s my brother. As soon as he said the words, I knew it was true.

“It’s fine,” he said, patting my back. “I’m told some of the agents that lost their memories are starting to get theirs back. You… were exposed a lot more than them, though. Targeted, likely. It’d make sense that you’d take longer.”

I vowed at that moment to make much more effort in getting my thoughts back. I needed to remember my brother!

Conner tried to pull away, but I whined again and held him tight. He laughed. “Come on,” he said, gently pulling away. “Let me look at you.”

I reluctantly let him pull away. He patted the bed next to him, and I sat next to him, our hips touching. He pulled on the sleeve of my jumpsuit. “Is that comfortable?”

I shrugged. Truthfully, it was annoying when I had to poop, as I had to take the whole thing off. I solved that problem by just not pooping anymore. I had to make a few changes to my insides, but now I didn’t need to bother with that boring chore.

Conner seemed to be at a loss. He spent the next fifty minutes trying to engage me in conversation, but I remained mostly mute. I felt so bad. I could say many words, but I needed the guards to think I was dumb. Just a dumb animal that they could shoot until I behaved. Until I had enough thoughts back to leave.

Our time was coming up. I heard the guards engaging the locks on the door. Conner sighed, turning to give me a weak smile. “I’ll keep visiting,” he said. “Once I recover a little more, Alice and I will trade-off. Maybe we can talk them into letting us both visit.”

He stood slowly, and I helped him to his feet. I glanced at the door. No one was watching through the slat while they wrestled with the locking mechanism. I grabbed Conner’s face and made him look at me while putting a finger to my lips. “Shhh,” I said.

His eyes widened as I pulled up the sleeve of my jumpsuit, my skin writhing on my forearm. I squinted in concentration, the words “Love you” forming. I pointed at the words, then at my brother.

He gaped but quickly schooled his expression. He smiled and drew me into another hug. “I’ll see you soon, Liam.”

I squeezed him as much as I dared, then sat on the ground as the guards got the door open. I was supposed to be sitting on the floor when they opened the door. Conner shuffled out of the room, giving me a final wave. I waved back, a big smile on my face.

Visiting days were the best!

  *

I got another visitor. And on the same day! But it was think-man.

Think-man entered my room and waited for the door to close behind him before addressing the guards. “Take a walk, gentlemen. Come back in five minutes.”

There was a pause. “You sure, boss?”

“Get going,” Think-man said. He waited until their footsteps faded before squatting in front of me.

“If you’re going to pass secret messages,” he began, and I felt panic rising in my chest. He pulled out a glass rectangle and showed me a picture of—of me! Me and Conner, from above. The words “Love you” clearly defined on my forearm. “You need to be a little more circumspect—I mean careful.”

He pointed up to the corner of my room. Following his finger, I saw a little piece of glass I’d never noticed before. I turned, and in each corner of the room, there was a similar piece of glass. I looked at the rectangle, then at the glass. The glass can make pictures?! WHY THE HELL WAS I GIVEN SHITTY MARKERS THEN? Gimme the glass picture maker!

I arrested my thoughts and pulled them back. I looked at Think-man. Why was he telling me this?

“No one but me saw this,” he said. “But I won’t always be around to cover for you. I would just like to ask that when you make a break for it, avoid killing people. I won’t be able to help, but I can buy you time. Also, just because you can stop me from reading your mind, doesn’t mean I can’t read the mind of people who visit you. Remember that.”

Oh my! Think-man was so smart. But that makes sense, he can take thoughts from other people. With so many thoughts, he must be so strong! I nodded quickly.

“Good,” he said, standing. “Remember: no killing.”

I nodded vigorously.

Albright waited for the guards to return and left without a word. I climbed into bed and knuckled down for some real work.

Time to get my thoughts back.

Time to… to be me again.