Project LAZARUS

II

            And so she has learned that her name was Maggie.

            But along with it was the inevitable truth that nothing there was true. Not even the market itself was real. Maggie discovered that when the woman fired a gun upon something high atop the wall opposite them. Something sparked and crackled up there but what baffled Maggie was the disappearance of the fruit stand and the two people who looked to be choosing from the baskets of fresh picks. When the simulation of the market scenario from the destroyed projectors vanished, it showed the blank and crumbling wall of an old building. Maggie was speechless for a full minute. Then, when she had fully grasped the real situation all around her, she went to ask the woman some questions again.

            “Who are you?”

            “Don’t you really remember me?”, the woman doubted her.

            “I wouldn’t ask if I knew and remembered who you are, would I?”

            “Sydney.”

            “Sydney what?”, Maggie asked, not bothering to mask the edge in her voice. She was annoyed at the woman’s seemingly sarcastic reply.

            “Just Sydney.”

            Maggie lost her cool.

            “So . . . your first name was ‘Just’? And Sydney was your last name? Did I get it right, miss Just Sydney? You ever heard of a thing called respect? ‘Coz I can’t see any in your replies since some time ago.”

            But Sydney did not even bat an eye. Instead, she looked at Maggie’s reddening face and studied her boiling expression for a long time. Then she just shook her head.

            “Damn, you sure don’t remember anything. What the hell happened to you, Maggie? The name thing was originally your idea, your rule from the moment we met each other at the doors of our adjoining rooms. I asked you before who you were and you answered me in the very same way. Told me you were Maggie, just Maggie. And that was all I need to know because we won’t be seeing much of each other either. Plus, you said that the lesser we knew of each other, the better we would be. A little convenient for me, if you wanna ask me. I never felt good being around wiseass lab people like you.”

            Maggie felt stung by her words. So she wheeled around and resumed her approach to the houses. Sydney let her walk some distance before speaking to her again.

            “May I ask where the hell are you going, ‘Just’ Maggie?”, she raised her voice a little bit for Maggie to hear it. And, of course, for the pun to sink into her.

            “To some place called ‘it’s-none-of-your-witching-business’. And no . . . I don’t take anybody home with me!”

            “If your planning to walk into your room once more, assuming you already remember now which house and room number it was, I’m telling you that is one hell of a f*****g idea to start your day, Maggie. Especially if your trying to kill yourself. Otherwise, I suggest you: don’t.”

            “Hey! Can we drop the curses and such things? You seem to enjoy them but I don’t. I really don’t.”

            “Done.”

            “Why can’t I walk myself back there now? Why, what’s in there right now?”, Maggie asked innocently.

            “It's more like who’s in there right now. But if you insist on what, I’ll tell you this. Somebody from the Higher Echelons sent a death warrant for you in the form of four heavy-built armed sentinels. They have vandalized the entire house in less than twenty-four hours searching every goddamn room for you. When they could not find you, the bastards took two trophies back to their barracks with them.”

            “Trophies?”

            Maggie suddenly saw Sydney’s expression on her face hardened. Then her defiant eyes began to water, though the tears refused to fall down.

            “They took Emily and Fatima. They said it’s for interrogation but when the poor girls came back, they could barely stand on their own feet. Only three of the four men who took them came back to return Emily and Fatima. And they were all laughing when they dropped the girls just at the doorway when the landlady opened the door for them. Then they left without giving a single f*cking glance back at them! They did not even see how those two pitiful girls half-crawled and half-staggered back to their own wrecked cribs. Interrogation, their asses. Those girls had more than their rooms broken into and destroyed!”

            “Oh my God!”, Maggie was horrified.

            “Oh no, it’s not over yet, Maggie. No! The worst part is not over yet. The next day, we found those two girls hanging in Emily’s room with her torn blanket made into a tight noose around their necks. They both were found hanging from the ceiling, side by side with each other. You should have seen their grotesque faces, Maggie. So much for your very secretive yet very lethal lifestyle. I think you just killed them yourself, Just Maggie.”

            “What?! No! I have no idea what you’re talking about! I don’t remember a damn thing and I don’t know what’s happening with me right now! I don’t even know who I really am, for god’s sake!”

            “Why is The Higher Echelons after you? What is it they are looking for?”, Sydney probed.

            “I don’t know! What is The Higher Echelons and who are they, by the way?”

            “F*ck that! Answer me or I’ll shoot you, you lying b*tch!”, she threatened Maggie.

            “I don’t know! Please, I really don’t know!”, Maggie yelled at her while she raised her hands for Sydney was pointing the gun at her now.

            “I don’t believe you! Two innocent women already died instead of you. Because of you, you liar! They were such good persons and reliable friends. They deserved more than dying for a goddamn lying b*tch of a person like you! I’m gonna count to three. And if you still don’t tell me what I want to know, I suggest you start praying.”

            “Please . . . Sydney.”

            “One!”

            “What are you talking about, Syd? I can’t tell you anything if I don’t remember anything, right?”

            “Bullsh*t! Don’t go acting like a genius right before my shaking trigger finger, Maggie! I warned you already. And stop calling me that! Only my truest friends have – had – that right. So, what do they want from you?”

            “I honestly don’t know! Please, believe me!”

            “Two! I’m gonna kill you, I swear! What were those men looking for in your room? I can certainly tell that they were searching for something that you are hiding. And by the looks of it, it must be very important for them. This is your last chance. What is it and where is it now?”

            Maggie began to feel the fear creeping into the very last vein in her body. She did not want to die . . . again. Not until she could find out the truth about herself and her lost life. But the woman holding the gun before her could not and would not care to understand what she was trying to say. She was hoping against hope and she knew it. Her life now was lying at the mercy of somebody’s trigger finger. Someone that she barely knew . . . or remembered. Maggie closed her eyes and cried in hopeless surrender. This was it for her . . . again. Only this time, she was well aware of it coming for her.

            “I don’t know, Sydney! If you want to shoot me, then go! But I’m telling you I really can’t remember a single thing about my life! My past and lost life! I’m sorry!”, she said defeatedly.

             “You LIIAAARR!”, Sydney screamed at the top of her lungs.

            The very loud bang of the gun echoed for a short time and Maggie felt like fainting when she heard it. Then, she could not keep herself standing on her feet anymore for her knees already gave up on her. Eventually, she fell down to her knees. But she was still alive.

            For no bullet hit her anywhere on her body.