• One of the things that I remember was trying to convince myself afterwards that I had died that day, that there was no reason to believe that the place I ended up in was real.

    ***

    Slowly opening my eyes I found myself in a strange, dark place. I knew that it was not familiar right away because of the smell - which was of a sickly stench of disinfectant, like the kind in hospitals - mixed in with the disgusting, stomach turning smell of rotting flesh.
    I could not see anything either, just a seemingly endless void of black all around me. As I watched, it began to materialize into a monstrous entity, before my very eyes. The beast began to slowly move in towards me intent on swallowing me whole into its black abyss. I tried to fight it, shaking my head to fend off the figment of my imagination. However the command from my brain was unanswered by my legs and arms. Suddenly, without warning, instead of normal mobility a slash of pain erupted from the very core of me, and throbbed unbearably, rushing through all of my limbs and up to my head in a flush of hot blood. I tried to cry out for help but no sound left my lips, just the cold, musty air from the room as if I was only exhaling. I was trapped inside myself, unable to move or even to speak, with this ugly hellish monster almost upon me.

    ***

    It was the sudden rush of light that I saw first, and it was such a relief to see it, after all I had been through I didn’t care even if it was the light of heaven coming to take me away. It seemed, to me, to drown the darkness, dissolving it away on either side of my eyes into tiny fragments of pulsating black. And I could even feel the flames of pain burn lower and lower until everything seemed alright again, more or less. It was then that I noticed, once my eyes had focused, a fan above me on the ceiling of the room. I could hear it whirring round and around with its long metal blades, slicing through the air and sending a cascade of dust down to me. But for some unknown reason it began to make me feel a little bit car sick and dizzy, so I forced myself to concentrate on the space behind it - the smooth, flat ceiling - since there was no chance of sitting up, beginning to wonder what on earth had happened to me.

    ***

    Then there was the voice, the calm, monotone voice of a seemingly middle aged man that sounded after the light had come. It was far away to begin with, from what I could tell. I found myself longing for that voice to come close and to comfort me. At that moment the light suddenly shut itself away, and I heard plodding footsteps and the same voice, as if to answer my plea come closer and closer.

    ‘Let’s see if you are awake. I can’t tell if you have returned to consciousness yet,’ he said, an air of deep concern evident in his words, as he scanned my body quickly with his eyes. I decided to not answer him, but only for fear of the blazing pain that had burned in me previously. Although I can not even describe what he looked like as the smell of him was quite dominant, so I was forced to pull my gaze away. But it was not his natural smell it was of a strong perfume of some kind. It was very overpowering.

    ‘Not speaking to me eh? Are you a shy one boy?’ he added, talking like a stern master would to one of his newly acquired servants. ‘You must be wondering why you are here of course, it’s only natural,’ he continued seating himself to the left of me on the table, still watching me intently. ‘You remember that terrible accident you were in yesterday? Shame of course but now there is no need at all for worry,’ he finished, his voice accumulating a sort of smug tone behind his words. I felt a sudden rush of shock when he said the word ‘yesterday’ revealing that I had been in this horrible place for a whole day! Questions suddenly were poured into my brain, why was I out for so long? Why was I in so much pain when I awoke? What part does this man play in my predicament? And if so what exactly did he do to me?

    ‘Look at this! Not long now until you are ready, that’s exciting isn’t it?’ the man said, as if I had been well informed with his intentions. The man glanced at his watch and tapped his fingers upon the table close to my leg as If impatient. At this point I was starting to feel nervous, I could feel my brow beginning to sweat a little, and I was fully expecting my stomach to twist into a tight knot but luckily nothing of that sort happened. Instead the man leaned forward and began to blot my sweating forehead with a handkerchief saying, ‘I strongly recommend that you refrain from nervousness until we have properly examined you it might ruin the work’. Of course I wondered what on earth he was talking about, but my curiosity was cut short as the same door burst open again, and more light hit the roof. Next the sound of high heeled shoes got closer and I saw my captors clearly for the first time. The man that had been talking to me was chubby looking, and wore a long white lab coat, dirtied with age. The women that had just walked in had short blond hair with a pair of glasses framing her face. She looked about in her late thirties. As she conversed with the chubby man her face showed no emotion what so ever. After they were done they both looked down at me, their faces reflected professionalism but with a shard of something that made me think, that I was not going to like what was coming next. They certainly did not look like friendly hospital doctors.

    ‘Well then, shall we proceed?’ the man suggested to the women. She nodded and before I knew what was happening I found myself being strapped tight to the table and then hoisted up right, still in a lying position but able to see the room around me. It looked almost like a laboratory; there were strange machines everywhere and white wallpaper with splats of color here and there. A sound to my right came and I saw a large covered up thing wheeled into the room, by two broad men in all black clothing with there faces covered. They left the thing directly in front of the table, then the cover was whipped off and I saw that it was a mirror.

    In the center of it stood my head on top of a shiny, metal body.