Tumunomi Escaver woke up to a head that shouted in pain.
He squinted his eyes as he peeped a window.
And it took him several minutes to see that across the street was a building he knew.
Then the memories returned and he snapped his head to the woman sitting in the desk whose eyes were not even on him.
“I like your Spirit.”
Still struggling, he wanted to speak but saw that he could not.
Her hands were now outstretched and something was sticking out from his neck.
“You seem to like games though, so let us play one.”
He felt his body spread pain like fire burned him long after he was soaking in sweat and he was finding breathing hard so he was violently inhaling and exhaling.
“On my left hand is a pill that will heal you but you will lose faculties on your upper half.” She now stood suddenly holding pills in both her hands.
“On my right is a pill that would make you loose faculties in your lower half.
Of course, it will heal you as well”
She chuckled, “one is forever and one is for now.”
“Also,” she shifted the weight of her body to the left.
“If you wait too long, you will become an invalid.”
True enough, his right hand squeezed itself and forcefully became clawed after the shoulder there dislocated until his elbow pretty much faced forward.
His right leg then bent until it was arced.
He wanted to scream but he literally could not!
Breathing hard Tumunomi Escaver looked at her right hand to see that she was moving both hands up and down as she had an innocent smile plastered in her face.
He glanced from left to right as his spine forced bent him forward like he was a puppet on strings until it then added a curve to the side and he kept his eyes ln the right hand.
“Oh, I forgot you can’t speak.
My Apologies.” She then slowly took a thoughtful pose.
“Oh you had been looking at my right hand.”
His head fell to the left as though his neck could not support it anymore.
She then slowly extended out her arm as though she were the one becoming an invalid towards his lips.
This same mouth had now began producing drool that reached the floor as the pill was put on his lips.
When she finally pushed it in, he had began buckling as though he were being electrocuted.
Then he stopped and his body hung as though time had been stopped
CRACK!
“MMMMMMMPHHHHHH!”
His clawed right hand became normal again and his shoulder was back in its normal pose.
CRACK!
“MMMMMMMPHHHHHH!”
His leg followed in correction.
CRACK!
“MMMMMMMPHHHHHH!”
Next it was his spine.
CRACK!
“MMMMMMMPHHHHHH!”
His head bolted upright, but his lips were still drooling, until…
CRACK!
“AAAARGHHHHHHH!”
He took in gulps of air until his eye was corrected with a sharp pain to his brain as if a head ache was condensed to a single strike instead of being stretched over several minutes.
“MMMMMMMPHHHHHH!”
His vision was clear again and just when his breathing was Normal his heart began beating again as his chest once more rose and fell rapidly.
“Wow,” she slapped her forehead, “I forgot to say that Was Potent Artefact of Grade 0 but it was on the cusp of becoming a Grade 1.”
“Did you not hear me when I said the institution was over a millennia?”
She looked puzzled then tapped her chin as if in mock thought.
“When people have experienced certain levels of longevity, they can easily be cold you know?”
She scrunched her eyebrows, was he dead?
…
“What is that?”
“D…”
“What?” She had to come closer
“De…”
She cocked her head to the side as did not understand him at all.
“De…re…”
Was that a name?
“I really cant hear you-“
“Derek.”
“Is that your name?
No, young Marilyn had said Tumunomi Escaver, though.”
When she saw his bloodied face from his facial orifices after he snapped his head up, she was shocked.
He should have fainted.
“Well, guess you got the pill that leaves your upper half fine.
Good luck going down the stairs.”
She then went to her table before raising her lips to her wrist.
“Young Marilyn send people to place him in detention and come up when you are done.”
When the lady was back down on her desk, she heard a knock on her door before she snapped to it as she wrote and it swung inward.
Mrs.
Rose Marilyn walked in before a trail of people coming 10 seconds after.
Smiling, she bowed at the waist before standing to face her boss.
“Who is he?”
“He is one of our deviants.”
“Hmph.”
“You don’t usually ask about them.”
“He has… Spirit.” The lady had still not looked up.
“I was almost impressed.”
Mrs.
Rose Marilyn was at a loss because her boss usually did not complement what needed not be.
So, she just hoped he did not do something extra to provoke her wrath.
“Wait,” the people unfastening his straps paused.
“Leave him at the door to his room level and then change the rooms of his roommates instead.”
Now, she was even more curious as to what had happened, but she did not dare push too much and only waited instructions.
“Let them stay in their rooms and not step out, and send that instruction first so that he should see no help when he wakes.
Move.” The lady behind a desk waved her hand as if dusting away trash before staring at Mrs.
Marilyn.
“Just who is Derek?”
…
Tumunomi Escaver woke to find himself on the ground in an empty hallway.
Though light streamed through the windows behind bars to prevent jumpers, he felt a little too low.
His lying body tried moving his legs but could not and for several moments crises filled his mind as his eyes stretched wide open.
Then, dragging himself, he reached his door by crawling with only his hands.
By now he had remembered what she had told him about the pill.
And when he reached his door, he found the room empty which was surprising at this time of day.
Either way, he got to his bed by pulling his first half unto it, then grabbing the edges of the frame for his second that he threw atop it.
He had never felt anger at his legs for the 10 years of his life and this was the fist time.
Looking out the window, he took a deep breath before forcing himself to sleep.
And just before passing out, he heard a soft click coming from the door.
He awoke to the breeze of the night and felt a rumble in his stomach.
So, he wanted to head for the door and attempted moving his legs but felt no response.
Gritting his teeth, he allowed his torso to fall to the floor, as he pulled himself towards he hallway but he found he could not reach the door handle.
Putting his weight against the door, he pulling himself up until he was at his limits, he then threw his hand at the door knob that simply…
…slid off…
It was locked!
His eyes opened like saucers as his hands could not hold on and his propped half which was suspended fell back to the ground.
Plop.
Tumunomi Escaver wondered if this was what had happened to Derek.
Was Derek still alive?
He crawled back to his bed where he was going to rest for the rest of the night.
The boy then imagined Derek going through the same thing and resolved to brave it when he heard something.
Knock!
Knock!
Before he could even answer, the door swung open to which he saw a face that twisted his own in dense shaking lines.
And just as he shoved himself from the bed as though to impossibly tackle his visitor in regards to their separated distance, he then suddenly found himself stuck as if there weight to the very air.
Like the air had decided to possessively cuddle him.
Behind the Owner of the building, Mrs.
Rose Marilyn walked out before someone who held out a tray.
“I was going to ask if you thought better of your actions but it seemed I wasted my time.
Do enjoy the presence of the walls, windows and pedestrians.”
“Should I still…”
“Yes but make him understand it is his salvation.”
She turned away in one smooth motion and walked out as veins bulged on the boy’s head, showing his struggle against whatever formless force thought it could break his will.
His motionless form, as stubborn as his body, was wracked in pressure and a merciless cage that lockdown his lungs.
“You will not ruin what I have worked I had worked so hard to build.”
A flick of her hand and the air congealed to toss him back to his bed where he still felt bound.
“Now, for the reason I came here,” she saw his face turn red as he started making choking sounds.
So she released the pressure and he sucked in air like a pig being cut open.
“There is an opportunity here that can save you from further punishment.”
His eyes met hers as he did not show his fear even as he gasped for oxygen.
Derek had told him about cultivators, which meant he knew, she knew that he knew, she could kill him at anytime.
“What opportunity?”