Chapter 7

 Varian

Even though a day had passed, my body was still tingling from the unexpected shock. I couldn't believe a human could treat another human like this – they didn’t even have an excuse! Back home it was so chaotic that treating each other like this would have been understandable. It wasn’t unusual to find people brutally beating someone for their supplies. Here, however, they had a plentiful amount of supplies, and they were pushing us not for survival, but for ‘improvement’.

Once, someone had tried stealing my supplies. I remember falling asleep, or trying to. I didn’t get much sleep because it was hard to find myself relaxed enough to actually trust myself to fall asleep. Either way, someone was approaching, keeping their footsteps light by only touching their toes against the ground. But they weren’t light enough.

I kept my eyes closed, letting my chest rise and fall despite the feeling of my heart rate as it spiked. No one knew, but I was terrified. I’d never had someone steal from me before, but it was happening right now.

For a second, I considered lying there and letting them take it. I wouldn’t have to result to violence. But I realized if I let them take my supplies, everyone would start stealing from me. I would become the prey in a wolf’s world.

So when they were close enough I jumped up, tackled them to the floor and started beating them. I couldn’t see them, couldn’t tell whether they were a he or she. I just kept hitting them until someone pulled me off, distantly yelling.

I later found out they were a he and that he was only around the age of ten. But I refused to show any remorse. I couldn’t show remorse towards anyone, not even little kids. They’d tried taking from me. After that no one tried stealing my supplies again.

I was sitting on the floor, still refusing to even use the bed. I wasn't about to let this sick lab coat think I was getting all cozy and comfortable here. No, I planned on leaving the moment I could.

I also wasn't going to leave without taking Arcelia with me. Just the thought of her in pain had me angry, and I yearned to beat the bastard who'd hurt her over and over.

Suddenly the door opened and in came three people: a lab coat that had my eyes turning cold, a man with a scar running across his eye and then the last person had me relaxing slightly.

"Hello Experiment Varian. This is Dimitri, our new director and Linsey, his assistant." Arcelia said formally, not looking at me, but at the man holding a clipboard in his hands. Did they not learn from last time?

"So, are you the Varian that's become everyone's favorite thing to talk about? I didn't think they'd ever stop talking about Lia." Dimitri said in a friendly tone that had me bristling.

"How was your day Arcelia?" I asked, switching my eyes from Dimitri's to hers and watched as hers eyes widened and she looked down.

"When asked a question we answer Varian." She said softly, peeking up at me through her eyelashes, her gray eyes looking scared.

I gritted my teeth and would've answered the question just to see her eyes look at me with relief instead of fear and for her voice to be soft and joyful rather than the stiff formal way she talked earlier. It all stemmed from the apprehension she had towards Dimitri, who just grinned and talked before I could.

"I don't mind. I'll just gain his respect the old fashioned way." He said and his eyes looked like they held an ancient secret that only he knew.

"I apologize for Experiment Varian's outburst." Arcelia started quickly, looking down.

I frowned. "I'm the one placed in charge of him, therefore it's my fault. I take responsibility for his actions and will also take his punishment." I watched her body shrink inside itself as she braced herself for a blow that never came.

"Lia, look up." Dimitri started and when she didn't he raised his hand producing a growl from me. His eyes flickered to me, but went back to her as he cupped his hand under her chin and her whole body jerked with her flinch.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He said in a softer voice and I felt my body trembling, practically begging him to raise his hand so I had an excuse to kill him.

She finally looked up, her gray eyes peeking slowly out of her tightly closed eyes. She was hesitant, but she finally looked up at him.

"I don't want to hurt you or Varian okay?" He said, nodding his head like it would make more sense. Slowly she nodded her head before I saw a frown appear on her face and she looked back down. I heard Dimitri sigh before letting go of her.

Dimitri talked on, explaining about how things were going to work now that he was in charge, but I wasn't really paying attention. I was watching Arcelia.

She seemed to look like she was paying attention, her hands folded over each other neatly in front of her, her eyes meeting Dimitri's head on and she was nodding occasionally.

When you looked closely you could see her lips weren't in a straight line but tilted down slightly. Her eyes were the biggest giveaway though.

They looked confused. They'd grow distant when Dimitri took a huge breath, like she was afraid he'd start yelling. It made me want to tell him to leave and never come back.

"What do you think Varian?" Dimitri asked and Arcelia's frown deepened when I didn't answer.

"Dimitri thinks it would be best to test us together tomorrow instead of separately. He believes it will be less time consuming and easier to tell the differences between us." She explained, but my face stayed blank.

She tilted her head before asking "Have they not tested you yet?"

"I've been here and nowhere else sweetheart." I replied and saw her stiffen, her body coiling worse than a boa constrictor's.

"My name is not 'sweetheart'. My name is Arcelia, but it’s Arcelia 14786 to you. Only Arcelia 14786 and nothing else." She snapped, her silky voice turning cold like a knife.

Then she did something that surprised me, Dimitri and Linsey. She turned around, her hair a red tinted halo around her, and waltzed out.

Arcelia

Nothing was making sense anymore and it was all Varian's fault.

Today it started when he didn't answer a question. That was strictly forbidden for all experiments no matter how successful they were. You had to answer every single one of their questions or you'd receive a punishment.

It might just be the sharp whip of a hand against your cheek or it might be the piercing ringing that never stopped that made me so against breaking the rules. Either way, they were the unbending consequences of not answering a question. I’d faced the consequences when I’d last been punished.

I’d taken my Weekly Mental Examination. The wall had ask me how I’d felt and I’d answered wrong. I hadn’t answered healthy and stable like I was supposed to. I’d told the wall I’d felt lonely. I’d told it I didn’t like spending all day alone in my room. It had slipped out of my mouth and before I knew it the wall was whirling, processing my answer before it shut itself down. That’s when I realized I’d done something wrong.

Two lab coats came into my room, smiles on their faces, but their eyes held something else that I couldn’t place. Was it disapproval? Pity? It didn’t matter. At the time, I didn’t realize my answer to the wall was why they were in my room, so I smiled back, standing up.

“Hello.” I’d greeted like He’d taught me. They kept smiling before one of them took a deep breath.

“Hello Arcelia 14786.” He’d greeted back, glancing at the other lab coat. I kept smiling, not wanting to frown and get in trouble.

“Arcelia, how are you feeling today?” The lab coat questioned and the smile on my face fled, replace with hesitation. I think that was the point in which I realized my answer for the Weekly Mental Examination had been the wrong one. Why else would they be asking a question they already knew the answer to?

“Stable.” I answered, managing to smile once again. The lab coat narrowed his eyes, not liking my answer. That’s when fear seemed to settle in.

“Are you lying?” He asked, but I didn’t answer. I’d been afraid of giving another wrong answer. I thought that not answering his question was better than disappointing him by answering incorrectly. I’d looked down, showing my inferiority, but it didn’t curve his anger.

The next thing I knew the shocker around my neck started to send an electrical current through my neck. I found myself on the floor, writhing and biting my tongue so hard I could taste the bitterness of my blood.

I’d never experience a shocking like this one. Usually when I was shocked I could control my movement and still my body as I whimpered. But this shocking made my body feel like it was being fried. I felt like I was being ripped apart, limb by limb.

Slowly, much too slowly, the pain started to ebb away and my body was becoming numb. I could hearing the lab coats incoherently yelling, but I couldn’t bring myself to open my eyes. They’d felt so heavy, weighing more than I remembered. Then my hearing had gone too. Now, I was just in an empty, black void.

Later, He’d told me the lab coats had turned the shocker too high and it caused my heart to stop for a few seconds. He’d told me that I’d been dead. I didn’t react to the news for the simple fact I didn’t know how to. I’d been dead, but now I was alive. Secretly, I’d thought the lab coats had been wrong. I didn’t believe I’d ever been dead.

I never saw those lab coats again.

Varian had gotten away with it. He refused to answer to someone as important as Dimitri, and he didn’t receive any punishment at all. What didn't make sense to me is why he didn't look grateful; he still looked like he hated everyone. He wasn't grateful for not having a bruised jaw or numb ears. He just looked at Dimitri with hostile eyes.

I remember telling myself that I wasn't going to let him hurt me; I wasn't going to give him the chance to. I told myself I would remain distant.

But Varian didn't answer the question and the experiment in me took over. I stood up for Varian when I really didn't want to. I should have let him learn the hard way like I had to. It was only fair.

He finally didn't look hostile, but he looked angry still. I would have been okay with that, but then I heard him call me 'sweetheart'.

Only He was allowed to call me that - that's specifically what He said. And He had hurt me, worse than anyone knew.

So instead of sulking and letting Varian take advantage of me in a moment of hope, I'd take that experience and use it to better myself, to teach myself not to trust people naively like I’d done with Him. Varian was like Him.

I entered my room and sat on the bed, staring at the white walls. I stared and stared and stared until I realized I was frustrated. Varian was changing everything. Everything was normal, but then Varian was brought in and He hurt me before disappearing. Then Dimitri came and I was now allowed to asked questions and not answer them if I didn't want to.

I started realizing how much I didn't like the changes because all they had done was hurt me in some way. I started despising change. I started wishing it was normal, even if He was still hurting me. At least I knew what was going to happen. Nothing was unpredictable.

Most of all, I started hating Experiment Varian.