Chapter 4: Candy's Nightmare
1112 Words
Candy was back in the room where she’d grown up. The walls were close to her and she couldn’t walk more than two paces in any direction before hitting another one. Some light did come through a slot in the celling, but it seldom varied in intensity. She didn’t know what time it was or what day it might be outside the room. There was a place for her to make a mess in the corner. It was always changed. There were two pans on the floor. One for food, one for water. Every so often, water jets were sprayed out from the wall to clean her up. Other than the water jets, she had no external stimulation. She’d never tried to escape, as she didn’t know there was anything beyond the walls. They were uniform and made of hard stone.
At intervals, too few for her to detect a pattern, someone would enter the room. The person had their face covered by a white mask and wore gloves. Candy would be examined and then “The Shape” as she came to know it, would leave.
She never learned to talk, never heard any voices she could cue onto, never received an education of any type. If her skin became infected, the shape would treat it. At irregular times, her hair was cut. Her blood samples were taken at different intervals too.
She was under constant supervision, Candy later determined. Should she hurt herself, the shape would enter the room and take care of whatever injury she had.
It was all she knew and this was her life as far back as she could remember. Where she came from, she didn’t know. No one talked to her and she assumed her room was the entire world.
It all changed one day when the shape entered her room and tore her clothes off.
She shot up in bed and screamed. Candy fell off the swinging bedframe, hit the soft carpet on the floor and rolled to the nearest corner. This position hadn’t protected her in the room, but it held off the torture for a few seconds. It was the only protection she had until….
Until….
Until….
Candy huddled in the corner and tried to remember something. Why she managed to leave the room and what she remembered as she fled. It was a place the institute wanted to know about, but they weren’t ready to push there. The dream took her to this bad place and she struggled to remember where it was. However, she couldn’t recall much.
Jason woke to the sound of the monitor buzzing near his bed in his dormitory room. He looked over at the light flashing on his smart phone. As he leaned out of bed and looked at the clock on the wall, Jason realized this could mean only one thing at three in the morning.
Candy had an episode.
“Jason here,” he spoke into the phone. “What’s the problem?”
“Candy had a nightmare,” the voice of the technician said on the other end. “I can see her in her room and she’s huddled in the corner.” His voice sounded shaken. Candy hadn’t been through one of these in a long time.
“I’m on it,” Jason told the man. “Have one of the security people drive me over there. I need to see her right away. Let Dr. Klein know; he needs to be in on this.” Jason spoke quick and put on his clothes fast as she could.
“You want another cart with some of the big guys to ride along?”
“That won’t be necessary. I’m going inside there by myself. No reason to scare her any worse than she is already.” Jason slipped his phone in a shirt pocket, grabbed the security card on its lanyard and bounced out the door.
The electric cart used by the security people was already waiting for him. He recognized the lady behind the wheel and tried to remember her name. She was new and worked the night detail. Molly, that was her name.
“I hear you have a problem over at Candy’s place,” she told him as she jumped in the passenger seat. Once Jason was buckled in and had his tablet secure, she spun the electric cart fast as she was allowed to the direction of Candy’s house.
“She had a bad nightmare,” Jason told her. “I have to get over there before she hurts herself.” He mentally went over the medications locked away inside the house. At least he knew which ones to give her if she needed them. If she was really bad…well, he didn’t want to think about that.
“She must have some nasty ones,” Molly spoke as she raced across the grounds. “I used to have them after Afghanistan too, but I got over those.” Jason didn’t say a word. Candy’s nightmares weren’t a lot much from someone who suffered from PTSD, but the scale went in a different direction.
The minute she had the cart up the house, Jason jumped out of his seat. “Just stay here and wait,” he told the security guard. “I don’t know how bad she is.” He turned and ran to the door.
One swipe and he was inside. Jason knew the security technician could see them both on the surveillance cameras. If Candy moved since they talked, it would be easy for the technician to locate her from his station. Jason counted on Candy still being in her bedroom.
“Candy?” Jason said at the entrance to her bedroom and waited. None of the rooms in her house had a door, as she didn’t need privacy. Plus, there was always the possibility they might have to get inside one in a hurry. Like right now.
He waited.
In the room, he could hear a whimpering sound. Jason said her name again and looked inside. The room was always lit, but at night, she could turn down the lights to sleep. The room light was on its most dim setting. He could see Candy in the far corner rolled up in a ball, crying.
Jesus, this was a bad one.
- Writer
