Free For an Hour: Awake (Part 1)

I woke to a searing ache in the side of my head. I felt the firm bed underneath me and the thin layer of paper between it and myself. I can’t move my arms. I try to open my eyes and they are heavy. They peel apart from each other and the fluorescent lights multiply the pain.

I don’t know who I am, where I am or when I am.

The buzz of the lights and the sound of a speaker in an adjacent room are the only senses I can absorb. Slowly my faculties return as I am laying there. My arms are bound and there is an IV in my right arm.

The room is empty, no writing, the bed and the sparse medical equipment next to me.

The door slides open and a humanoid robot rolls in. Its arms have attachments at the end and Its face is a mishmash of medical equipment.

In place of its right arm is a strap and it shot out around my ankle and appeared to take some readings. A split second later the head of the robot detached from the body and ran along a rail above the bed. Once above my head it dropped down within a centimeter of my face. Two small hydraulic arms shot out from each side with prods at the end and connected to my temples and the searing pain intensified.

Everything went white.

I woke up in what looked like a courtroom.

In front of me was a judge. I could not move.

“Inmate 786 you are set to release. A select few of your memories will remain. We destroyed the memories of your previous crimes and cohorts. Any attempt at reuniting with previous accomplices will result in a return to incarceration. Please confirm”

“I confirm.” I said, overwhelmed and confused with everything going on.

The split second the words came out of my mouth a rush of thoughts flowed through my head at a rate untenable. Like someone put my brain under a waterfall. The pressure was unbearable. Every moment of my life came rushing back. I know who I am, where I lived. My family. What year it was. My wife, my son, all back in an instant.

Fluorescent lights hit my eyes again and the two rods on the side of my brain released. I was back in the cold sterile room strapped to the chair.

The robot reattached its head, released the ankle straps and pulled the IV’s from my arm. The bed stood up straight and slid me off of it, releasing the straps as it tilted.

“Inmate 786 proceed to reintroduction area”

An arrow lit up on the floor and the robot nudged me forward. My legs wobbled as I gained my footing and began walking out of the room into the hallway. The arrows continued down a long corridor and made a right turn at the end. I followed them until I entered a room. In that room was the first human I saw.

Pale, blank stare, She handed me a stack of clothes. Placed a pair of shoes and belt on top and pointed to another room.

“Where am I?”

I said in relief to finally see another person.

She looked up at me and that’s when I saw her mouth bound shut. She stared blankly and continued pointing.

I entered the room and changed.

As soon as I laced the last lace on my shoe a door on the opposite end of the room opened. A robotic voice came over the speaker and said,

“proceed to the prison exit.”

I walked through the door and there was another long hallway. At the end of the hallway was an exit.

I walked towards it and out.

Read Part 2 Here: