PRESCRIPTION: APHRODISIAC

Prologue

I looked up at the clock above the chairs opposite me. Unusually, mine was the only chair filled today, which either meant that the other groups had been completed before ours, or that it was a solo experiment. We’d never know… they didn’t tell us anything. We were just guinea pigs – why should we know what dugs they were pumping into our body and what effects they’d have on us? I looked down at my hands, which were shaking badly. This always happened when I was left alone… or perhaps it was because Molly was always called in before me. Anything could be happening to her in that testing room and I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it… I wouldn’t even know if she was in pain until I went in there to get tested myself. She could even die… and I wouldn’t know about it, I’d just be sat here, waiting…

Before I had come here, I had never been this paranoid… but I guess that’s because I never had anything to be paranoid about. I didn’t value my life, or the lives of others. But ever since volunteering here and meeting Molly… I’ve realised that there are some things in life that I want to keep. That might sound really soppy… but it’s true. Coming here was both the best and worst decision of my life.

I folded my hands in my lap just as the door to the testing room opened. I tried to peer inside, but my limited view didn’t really answer any of my questions. My only glimpse of Molly was a flash of blonde hair as she was guided through the other side of the testing room – to the observation area.

“Number 25? Ah… hello Eric.”

I glanced up at the doctor and immediately felt the red mist settling over my vision. I wanted nothing more than to wipe that smirk off his face. I clasped my hands together tightly and spoke through clenched teeth.

“How is she?”

“Who?” His feigned confusion irritated me further. He knew exactly who I was talking about. I was talking about the only person in this place who gave a damn about me. The only one who cared whether I lived or died. The doctor must have caught sight of my tension, for he abruptly swallowed and spoke again. “You mean Molly? She’s a little sleepy, but she’ll live.”

I breathed a sight of relief and this became the doctor’s chance to take another risk. He brushed his fingers through his black hair and the smirk appeared again. “You know, Molly is a very pretty girl. Laid on the stretcher, waiting for me to inject her with whatever drug we have available, giving me that grateful look of hers. Oh yes… she’s very grateful.”

At that point, I lost it. I knew I should ignore him and be the better man. But… something clicked and all my common sense flew out of the window. This had happened to me plenty of times before, but that was the old me. Molly had changed that part of me… I’d promised her that I’d never be violent again…

At some point, I became totally blind to my actions, and it was only when I felt myself being pulled backwards that the red mist was lifted and I was able to see exactly what I had done. The doctor was on the floor in front of me, writhing and moaning in agony. From what I could see of his face, one eye was painfully squeezed shut, and his nose was at an odd angle. His lip was bloody and already double its normal size. The rest of his face was covered in blood, seemingly coming from his nose, his lip, and a small cut above his left eye. I stared at him for a moment, not quite able to comprehend what had happened.

“Nice work, Eric.” A voice said from behind me. “Now you have to wait for Molly to come out of observation before you can see her.”

At these words, I lowered my head, immediately regretting what I had done. Molly would be in that observation room for at least a day, and I wouldn’t know how she was doing… now I really was alone. Everyone from that area was in observation – Sam had gone in first, then Cain, Molly had gone in before me, and I had been last. I’d put the doctor out of action, so at least no one else would have to go through the trial… if there was anyone else.

“Come on Eric, back to your area.”

I straightened and turned away from the doctor, who was now being attended to. Usually they overlooked things like this – they were tolerant of the fact that we didn’t want to be here. We didn’t have any other choice, but that didn’t mean we liked it. But I wasn’t sure whether I would get punished for this – I had beaten the doctor up pretty badly and this probably provided an inconvenience for them… they didn’t like inconveniences…

“What’s gonna happen to me?” My question wasn’t directed to anyone in particular, but the security guard who had addressed me earlier answered me.

“I’m not sure,” he said, thoughtful. “You’ve put the doc out of action for a while – they’ll probably have to get someone else in. But there were witnesses who saw him provoke you.”

I sighed as the security guard guided me out of the waiting room. At least he hadn’t been ordered to take me straight to the Dark Room – that would definitely mean I was in trouble. Usually, only runaways went to the Dark Room – but there were some exceptions. A couple of years ago, for example, a guy had tried to assault one of the female nurses. When she’d fought against him, he’d beaten her up so bad that she went into a coma and never woke up. He’d been taken to the Dark Room – and we hadn’t seen him since. We didn’t want to ask what had happened to him; we feared that we already knew what the answer was.

“Alright Eric, I’ll be back soon to let you know what’s gonna happen.”

“Wait.” I turned to look at him. “Will you please find out how Molly’s doing?”

He nodded. “I’ll try.” He placed a key into a slot in the wall and a white door in front of me slid open. As soon as I stepped inside, the door shut behind me. The open space I was stood in front of was what we called the living room – but it was almost completely bare. There was a small television set in one corner, which was considered to be a privilege. Not many of the areas had TVs. In front of the TV, there was an old battered grey sofa – made for two people. We’d moved two of the wooden chairs in from the kitchen and placed them beside the sofa – but we rarely sat down to watch the box. It gave us images of the outside word that we missed too much. It hurt to watch the news stories of the celebrities in all their glamour and fame. It hurt even more to watch the soap operas with the normal families living in comfort.

Leading from the living room were four doors. A bathroom – with one toilet, sink and bath. A kitchen – supplied mostly with tinned food and frozen food, along with a microwave. Once a week, they gave us a bowl of fruit – they needed us to be healthy, or else we couldn’t be their guinea pigs. As well as the tiny bathroom and the ready-made kitchen, there were two bedrooms. They were more like closets than bedrooms though. There was only enough room in them for two beds and a set of drawers in the middle of them. When I had first come here with Sam and Cain (we hadn’t come here together, but had volunteered about the same time) I had taken a room for myself and had forced Sam and Cain to share, which Cain continually hated me for. About a month later, Molly had walked into our area, and she’d pretty much changed our lives. She’d set up her stuff in my room, despite me shouting at her to get out (I’d liked my personal space back then) and had then found a load of cleaning products in the kitchen and set about cleaning up our one-month old mess.

I snapped myself out of the daydream and wandered into mine and Molly’s room. My bed was on the left, and hers was on the right – this fact was made obvious by the state of our beds. Mine was a complete mess, blankets thrown aside, pillow askew… Molly’s was absolutely perfect, not a crease out of place.

I’d gone off into another memory – the time when Molly had climbed into my bed one night because she’d been upset, when all of a sudden, I heard the main door slide open and shut. Was the security guard back already? Curiously, I walked out of the bedroom into the living room and found myself staring at a little girl. She wasn’t dressed like most of the people who volunteered here – she had on a fancy white dress, complete with frills and lace. Her black hair was tied up with a clean white ribbon, and she was clinging onto an expensive-looking porcelain doll. She gazed at me with huge blue eyes, and before I knew what was happening, she burst into tears.