Spheres and Fears

I needed it, I didn’t know why, but the longing for it was insufferable. It hurt, like an ache in my soul. “Please. Just let me see it.” I begged. Expressionless eyes examined me from behind the glass. “Please.” I had begged and cried for so long, I would have given up but for the gnawing in my heart. “If we show it to you, will you stay?” He knew I couldn’t lie, as much as I might have wanted to, the insert prevented it. I had learned to manipulate it though, work around it for my purposes. “I will stay” I said sincerely. Deliberately not saying how long I would stay. He stared at me for what was probably seconds, but felt like hours, the pain that was already unbearable was quickly getting worse. Finally he held up his wrist and spoke “Bring it in.” My hands shook, would he really let me see it? Leaving was only a whisper in my mind behind the searing pain that I felt would soon kill me if it didn’t stop soon.

I saw a flash of red, it was the light of the hallway as the door opened. In stepped a young woman, with eyes as expressionless as the mans. She had a sphere, likely the one they had taken from me during my capture. She held it casually, almost carelessly in her hand. My heart, soul, life and breath, my whole world in her hand, and she held it like a dirty napkin she planned to throw away. I held my breath as she approached my cell, partly because the longing was making it hard to breathe, I needed it so badly. “Can I hold it?” I dared to ask. “See it, you asked to see it. That is all we agreed to.” His cold voice bit at me from the corner of the room. “Then let me see it.” My patience was gone, the grass, the sun, my family, everything was gone. My memory was gone. My future didn’t exist, only pain. Only the desperate pain engulfing my body and my soul. A torture I could not endure. Slowly, horribly slowly, she held it up to the glass. Nothing. How could such expressionless beings be so cruel? “Do you see it?” He asked tauntingly. “No!” I almost screamed at him “No, I don’t see it, I only see the case it is in. To see it, you must OPEN it.” I felt woozy, there was very little time left. I hadn’t seen it in nearly three days, I knew of many who had died in less time away from their sphere. “As you wish” he agreed.

The woman pressed the key tab, and the case opened, a speck of bright green light shone out of it, slowly growing as it opened. If you have not felt it, I cannot explain the feeling. It was a warm beach after six months of winter, it was amazing sex after ten years in a chastity belt, it was hot soup after a 40 day fast, it was a mothers hug after crawling two miles on broken legs. It was the best thing I had ever felt in my life. The pain melted away, my mind cleared and my memory returned. I felt whole, and healthy, and ready for anything. Then, it started to fade. She was closing it. Just as I hadn’t said how long I would stay, he hadn’t said how long I could see it. The thought of the pain returning was terrifying. I could not risk it. I had seen it, and I had stayed, I had stayed as long as I could see it. That was a fulfillment of my word. Now it was time to go. I needed my sphere, I could not let them take it away, use it for leverage against me and show it to me every few days only when I was near death. They would torture me with it for as long as they could. They had no emotion, and therefore no compassion.

I had only seconds to act, soon it would be completely closed and my chance would be gone. I closed my eyes, I focused on the glass, and it shattered. I focused on the sphere, and it was in my hand. Quickly I pressed the key tab, and it stopped closing and started opening again. The light was my power, as long as I held it, they couldn’t touch me. I focused on the door, and it opened. I would have harmed the man and woman, except they didn’t feel physical or emotional pain, it would have no effect but to shame me for my cruel nature. I moved into the hallway and then down it. To them, I was a formless blinding green light moving down the hall. They moved quickly, yet unafraid out of my way. The red light of the hallway weakened me slightly, but not enough. I made my way to the exit, it opened and I went out.

Stars, I saw the stars above me, and in the distance, green lights glowing among the trees. I was free. I ran, or flew, hard to tell which, as fast as I could to the forest. I saw my sister, she had tears in her eyes as she held her arms out to me. As far as I know, I am the only one ever captured to have escaped. I knelt down behind a tree and she removed my implant. After the pain I had experienced at the hands of my captors, the removal of my implant was barely noticeable. From beneath my shoulder blade she pulled out an inch long device with a flashing red light. She placed it on a rock, and then smashed it with another rock until it was unrecognizable. Now I was home. Now I could be me again, free to be with my friends and family, with those who were like me and accepted me for who I was. One by one they came to greet me, and we lit up the forest with a massive green glow. Love and acceptance, freedom and peace. The captors were still out there, but they could not take us together, as long as we were together, we were safe. I vowed to never leave them again. Curled up next to my people I fell asleep, warmed by the glow of our spheres, and our love.