Scene 3
Matthew's stomach grumbled, a hollow, persistent ache that made it harder to focus. He lay on his back, staring at the ceiling of his sterile white room. His room, a sterile white box with no windows, offered no clues to the time. It could be midnight, or morning. He closed his eyes, his mind replaying the dream. The soft sun on his skin, the smell of wheat, the innocent laughter of the girl. It was a memory, he was sure of it, a fragment of a childhood he couldn't quite grasp. The vibrant green of his own eyes was a reflection of the green of the girl's.
A sudden, soft knock at the door broke the silence. Matthew's head snapped up. He hadn't heard a knock in what felt like an eternity. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and walked barefooted to the door. He takes a deep breath and pulled the door open.
Standing there was a girl with tanned skin and striking orange irises. Her black hair was pulled back in a slick ponytail, and she wore a plain gray shirt and pants with bright cyan rubber gloves. In her hands, she held a tray. On it sat a grilled cheese sandwich with scrambled eggs spilling out, a tall cup of lemonade, and two familiar blue pills.
"Jade?" Matthew's voice was a whisper, a mix of confusion and surprise. "What are you doing here?"
She shifted her weight, a nervous blush creeping up her cheeks. "I... I just thought you might be hungry," she said, her voice soft and shy. "So I brought you the morning meal."
A wide smile spread across Matthew's face. He reached out and took the tray, the warmth of the food a welcome feeling in his hands. "Thank you," he said sincerely, his voice filled with genuine gratitude.
Jade smile grew brighter. "Consider it a thank-you gift," she said. "For helping me yesterday."
Matthew's mind instantly replayed the memory, a brutal clip that tore through the quiet contentment he felt. The clean, sterile white of his room was replaced by the chaotic fluorescent lights of a cafeteria. The warmth of the tray in his hands was gone, replaced by the slick, hot stickiness of blood on his knuckles.
He was on top of a man, Seth, his body a dead weight beneath him. The man's face was a grotesque mess of fractured bone and torn flesh, the features completely disfigured. Yet Matthew kept going, his fist a piston, crashing into the ruin of a face over and over. Each blow was a thunderous echo in his ears, drowned out by the roaring crowd behind him. They weren't yelling in fear, but in excitement. Their cheers and shouts of "Kill him! Kill him!" were a chorus of encouragement. The rage felt good, a pure, white-hot fire that consumed everything else.
Matthew snapped out of the memory, his chest heaving as if he had run a marathon. The tray in his hands trembled, and he barely managed to keep it from crashing to the floor, he couldn't believe what he had just remembered. Jade was standing there, her smile slowly fading as she stared at him with concern. The memory had been so real, so vivid, and the sharp contrast to the gentle girl in front of him made his head spin.
"R-right... uhm..." he stammered, his gaze dropping from her face to the tray. His eyes fixed on the two blue pills, their small, circular shapes a familiar and unsettling sight. "Two pills?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper. "Is one for noon?"
Jade's smile was completely gone now, replaced by a nervous frown. She shifted uncomfortably, her gaze flickering to the side before she answered."N-no. They're for now," she said hesitantly, her voice even softer than his. "You have to, uhm... take both at the same time."
"What? But..." A wave of confusion washed over Matthew. Suddenly, another memory slammed into him, unbidden and violent.
The sterile white of his room dissolved into a chaotic struggle. He was being dragged, by the same guards ordered by Dr. Sawyer, his arms held in a vice-like grip by two large, uniformed guards. He thrashed and yelled, but it was no use. The guards, their faces impassive, pinned him down on the bed. One of them held a palm to his chest, the other twisting his arms behind his back.
"Let go of me! What are you doing?!" Matthew screamed, his voice raw with panic.
The door to his room swung open and a woman in a white coat, her face obscured by a surgical mask, walked in. She held a syringe filled with a familiar blue liquid. A cold dread, a feeling he hadn't experienced since he was a child, washed over him.
"No. No, nooo!" he screamed, his head thrashing from side to side. The guard holding his head forced it back, exposing the veins on his neck.
The woman's hand, encased in a glove, reached for him. "Sssshh," she whispered, her voice a calm, detached hiss. "This will make you feel good."
As she drew the syringe closer, Matthew's frantic gaze darted around the room. That's when he saw it. Standing silently next to the woman, completely still, was a young child. Pale skin, soaked and dripping wet, with vacant, unblinking eyes. The boy wasn't smiling, wasn't crying. He just was.
The needle, long and thin, pierced the skin on his neck. He felt the cold sting as the plunger pressed down. As he breathed, he thought to himself "What... the fuck?" As his eyes remained on the child, his mind trying to process what he is seeing.
The woman's thumb pressed down on the plunger. A sharp, burning sting flared in his neck as the cold blue liquid rushed into his veins. His vision blurred, the room swaying and spinning. The guards' faces became distorted, and the ghostly boy seemed to shimmer and dissolve. The screams in his throat became muffled groans as his body went limp, his consciousness fading into a heavy, impenetrable darkness.
Matthew shook his head, snapping out of the memory as his confusion morphed into a sick dread. "But... I got injected, i should be taking one pill like everybody else." he pressed. "Why should i be taking two?"
Jade looked away, her gaze flickering to the surveillance camera in the corner of the ceiling. "I don't know," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "They just... told me to give you two. It's what the doctor prescribed."
His eyes widened in a silent realization. He wasn't on a simple medication schedule anymore. This was a change. This was a test. A punishment. He thought back to Dr. Sawyer's accusations in the other room, his anger and fear. They had changed something. They were trying to control him. A silent rage began to simmer beneath the surface, a familiar, terrifying feeling that he fought to keep down.
Matthew dropped the tray on the floor. He took a single step back and pointed to the door without looking away from Jade. "I'm not taking them," he said, his voice flat and dangerous.
Jade's head snapped up, her eyes wide with fear. The tray hit the floor with a clatter, the grilled cheese sandwich and scrambled eggs a messy pile on the sterile tiles. The blue pills rolled away, coming to a stop near the open door.
"Tch... Matthew, you have to," Jade's voice was a plea, her eyes wide with fear.
"Why?!" He snapped, his voice rising.
"BECAUSE YOU'LL DIE, MATTHEW!" she screamed back, the force of her voice making him recoil.
The shout hung in the air, a final, shattering note. Matthew stared at her, his mind reeling. I'll... die? The words echoed in his head, a nonsensical jumble. "What?" he whispered, the anger draining from him, replaced by a deep, cold confusion.