2. Shades of Crimson

Everything hurt, I lifted a hand to my face, felt the warm liquid on my cool skin. Someone called to me, and my eyes moved to where the voice came from but my head and neck were unwilling to move. I mustered through the pain and opened my mouth and said weakly, "Nick?" Streaks of red blurred my vision and I could not bear the pain anymore, everything went dark and silent.

Some time later...

I heard a voice say, "Leave the lights off, it will wake Mr. Jiang." Hearing the familiar voice I knew it was my mother.

"Okay. Has Caitlyn's situation changed at all?" a woman asked.

I felt someone pull on my eyelids and something slightly warm close to my eyes, but I couldn't see anything.

"She is still stable, but we have to wait to see when the swelling in her brain will go down a bit, so that we might be able to operate," the same woman's voice said. "There is a new treatment, I would like to discuss it with you and your husband in the morning. Just try to get some rest, she needs your support, so you need to take care of yourself."

I heard footsteps and a door close.

"Mom," I tried to say but nothing came out.

Mom must have been crying, her voice was hoarse, and she was trying to hide the pain in her voice.

"Sweetie" she said, "you have rested enough, it has been two days already, time to wake up." As I felt her hand brushing my hair. I wanted so badly to move, even just to open my eyes, but I had no control over any part of my body. All I could do was just lie there, awake but my body would not respond.

That little effort to move my body and speak made me so tired and it made my head hurt, and sleep beckoned.

But sleep was not peaceful. When I was conscious again, I remember feeling fear and being held down.

"Hold her and make sure she doesn't bite her tongue," someone yelled.

"What happened?" I heard my mom yell.

"Don't worry, this is to be expected. Seizures are common when there is so much trauma." a woman responded.

"Trauma, trauma, how much trauma!" I was screaming in my head. But not a word came out, the frustration and panic started to set the monitors off.

"Administer the Propofol," someone demanded.

Then it slowed, everything in my mind slowed, all my anxiety and all my fear melted away. Before I drifted off though, I heard, "Have you decided on the new option that I discussed with you a few days ago?"

I know I dreamed, disturbing dreams, cause I was feeling distressed when I was actually awakened by the feeling of cool water around me. It warmed a bit, easing a bit of the discomfort I was feeling earlier. I felt something being placed on my temples and near my heart and on the back. I still could not move.

"These are just sensors," a woman said. " This is the helmet that will transmit the program into her subconscious. As the doctor had mentioned, it will start to regulate her thoughts and dreams, so as to lessen the number of seizures that she will have as the treatment progresses. I am going to turn it on now, but to initiate a dream cycle, I am going to also administer some propofol as well."

The familiar feeling of the slowing of my mind and soon it is quiet.

Smack! A hand slaps across my face. "You little bitch, how dare you steal from me?" a man is screaming at me. I fell to the ground.

"I never did that," I responded. My voice is tiny and sounds young. I tried to get up, but he straddled my waist.

He stared down at me, "Then tell me where the money in my wallet went."

I smelled really strong alcohol, it was disgusting, I turned away when I responded, "I didn't take it."

He grabbed my face, "Look at me when I am talking to you, you little bitch." he yelled and smacked me again. "You little whore, you good for nothing. How dare you still lie to me!"

I tasted blood, my inner cheeks were cut, I spitted it out and said again, "You asshole! I said, I didn't take it."

His face got even angrier, "Still lying!" He got off of me, picked me up by my hair and dragged me to the bathroom. "I am going to wash that dirty mouth of yours."

I struggled against his hold. Kicked and screamed, "Let go of me, I didn't do anything wrong."

While still holding on to my hair, he turned on the water and filled the sink. When there was a bit of water in the sink he dunked my face into the sink. He then lifted my head again, he had pumped some soap into his hands. As I was gasping for air he pushed it onto my mouth.

I tried to spit it out but before I could, my head was once again dunked into water. I splashed around and started to choke from the soap foam. He lifted my head again and asked, "One last time, did you take it?"

All I could do was shake my head, as I tried to spit out the foam. Before I could get enough air into my lungs, again my head was underwater. I flayed and splashed and scratched at anything I could grasp. I must have gotten him, since he yelled and then pushed my head harder against the sink. I continued to twist and turn trying to get out of his hold. I blew out, trying to scream and I took in water. I couldn't hold on much longer.

I felt so much anger that this would be how my life ends. I wished I could make him feel what I was going through! I wished I could kill him!

Just as that thought ended, I heard a thump and his hand loosen from the back of my head.

Instinctively lifted my head and fell to the floor as I gasped to fill my lungs. Disoriented and not knowing what was happening, and not having the strength to find out, darkness took over.