Preparations

My body feels so weak, all I can see is darkness. I can’t seem to lift anything on my body. It feels like someone is pulling me down on every inch of my body. It’s like every time I try to lift up an arm or my back, someone or something is pulling it down harder.

“Someone…can anyone…help?”

Hearing and feeling my own voice, I just feel so weak. Hold up, there’s something on my eyes.

“Excuse me? Is there anyone?”

The more I move, I can feel I’m on some kind of chair. But why are my arms and legs strapped down?

“Please can anyone say something?!”

My shout echoes, it sounds like a large room.

“Amaya, just calm down. Everything will feel alright in just a bit.”

That booming voice, it sounds new. A deep voice in fact.

“What is this? Where’s Itona?”

“Calm down. Itona is alright, she’s just going through behavioral therapy to soothe her nerves.”

“What? Is this because she yelled at that guard? She made a good point about the camera in the bathrooms.”

“Ugh, um, Amaya, you should know better than slapping a guard.”

My eardrums hear footsteps; they sound very far away. With every step, the sound gets louder and closer to my ears. Moving again is useless, even if some of my energy is coming back.

The footsteps turn pretty much loud now, I shift my head towards the sounds, hearing them just stop. I feel someone holding my head, in fact, they’re peeling something from around my head. Seconds pass by, I get blinded by a very bright white light.

Even if I slightly open my eyes, it stings too much.

“Amaya, open your eyes please.”

Slowly lifting my eyelids, the light is not as bright as before. Adjusting to the light, I finally open my eyes and see everything now. The room is a massive one, like the bathroom. But it’s definitely messier than I expected, I just see stains and cracks along the walls. In front of me to the side is a large lamp, which still shines heavily

I stare at the person who made me see, a guard in a layered black uniform. Throwing away the mask like garbage, the guard walks away and exits through a door.

“Okay Amaya, hope the light isn’t bothering you anymore.”

“Please, can you let me back in my room? I’ll apologize to the guard, please?”

“Amaya, no. You’re going to go through behavioral therapy just like Itona.”

“Please, I’m sorry! Just don’t hurt me!”

My eyes water, but whoever is talking doesn’t seem to care about my feelings. Looking down, I can see straps wrapped around my arms, belly, and legs.

“Look, can you at least tell me in front of me when I can go back?”

“Amaya, I can see you, but you can’t see me. This is for your own good, good for your health, and good for your mental health.”

Looking around, I see a camera in the corner of the ceiling. I just stare into it, crying.

“Please, I don’t remember anything before waking up in this hospital. I just…want to know about my family.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t give out personal information about your family. It’s for their safety, and mainly yours.”

Looking over to the sides, the only door opens again. The only doctor I truly know enters with some white straps and it looks like a bottle of medicine.

“Doctor Tanaka! Please, I’m sorry for hitting the guard. I want to go to bed and forget about this day, please!”

She looks at me, with a nasty look. She goes behind me and I hear something metal being placed down.

“Ow!”

Doctor Tanaka grabs onto my hair, pulling me back, she places it on this weird metal thing.

“Can someone just tell me what’s happening now?!”

“Amaya, Doctor Tanaka is just strapping your head to a metal pole behind your chair. You’re going to watch a nice and relaxing video to calm down, nothing else.”

Doctor Tanaka straps my head fully, to the point that I can’t turn it anymore. She holds a large bottle of medicine, removing the top of it.

“Please, no more shots!”

“Amaya, these are eyedrops. Your eyes won't dry at all for the next 10 minutes.”

“You need to listen to my young assistant Amaya; he knows what’s best.”

Doctor Tanaka picks up an eye dropper from the jar, already full of the medicine. Getting close to my eyes, she drops two drops of it in my right eye. She goes to my other eye and does the same.

I don’t feel anything weird, it feels like water. In fact, it feels very cold, like if I just had cold water put on my face.

“Do you feel anything Amaya?”

“No, it just feels cold on my eyes.”

“Good, that’s the first stage of the medicine. You’ll know the second stage when you feel it, so just relax as we set up the video.”

The more I blink my eyes, the colder my face gets. It feels like my eyes won’t stop watering now.

“My eyes are watering a lot now.”

“Excellent, get ready for the third stage. Don’t be scared when it happens, just take deep breaths, okay?”

I’m just confused by his words; all my eyes can do is release water. My vision is okay, but a lot of water keeps going down my face. My eyelids are getting tougher to blink though. You know, it’s getting really hard to close my eyes.

“Uh, hey! What can’t I close my eyes?!”

“Perfect, that’s the last stage. Take deep breaths like I said, the video will begin in under a minute.”

With no choice, I breathe in loud and let it out. I do this multiple times as my eyes are wide open and can’t close anymore. The light gets less bright, as some type of bright colors appear on the wall in front of me.

“Okay Amaya, just look ahead and don’t say a word. This video projection will calm you down.”

I stare at the numerous bright colors as I see numbers. I first see the number 10, next by 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. It all goes black, I just sit here, unable to move. I don’t know what will happen to me, but I hope it’s not painful.