The scream that ripped through the ward sounded like someone being torn apart. Erika bolted upright in her bed, breath ragged, fingers clawing at the sheets as if she were trying to rip herself free from something invisible. Her eyes were wide but unfocused, fixed on something that wasn’t in the room. The nightmare had swallowed her whole. In her mind there were white lights burning into her vision, metal digging into her wrists, voices speaking above her while something burned through her veins like liquid fire.
The door burst open.
Nurses rushed in first, followed quickly by a doctor and two orderlies. Their voices filled the room in hurried attempts to calm her as they approached the bed.
“Erika... Erika, you’re safe...”
“Hold her down before she hurts herself..”
They didn’t get far.
The moment their hands touched her shoulders, Erika’s head snapped toward them. The confusion vanished from her face in an instant, replaced by something that made the nearest nurse hesitate for half a second too long. The sweet medicated Erika was gone, Sinthea was resurfacing..
More staff rushed into the room as the shouting grew louder, the door left wide open in the chaos so the entire hallway could see inside.
She moved. Her hand shot out and caught the doctor’s wrist. There was a sharp crack as the bone bent the wrong way beneath her grip, the man crying out as he dropped back. One of the orderlies lunged forward immediately, grabbing her from behind while the other tried to force her back onto the mattress.
Erika fought them like a wild animal. It took three, then four people to force her down onto the bed, their combined weight barely enough to keep her there as she thrashed beneath them. One orderly tried to pin her arms above her head. She twisted violently and snapped forward, teeth sinking into the side of his ear before anyone could react. His scream filled the room as he stumbled away, blood spilling between his fingers.
More hands replaced him instantly.
They forced her flat onto the mattress this time, bodies pressing her shoulders and legs down while she struggled beneath them with frightening strength. The thin hospital frame creaked under the pressure as she tried to throw them off.
Her head lifted slightly despite the weight holding her down.
“how long do you think those little pills keep the Red Skull’s daughter asleep?” she screamed at them, not even sure what those words meant
One of the doctors froze. Impossible. There was no way she could remember anything after the "treatment" she went through...
A nurse pushed through the crowd with a syringe while the others tightened their grip, trying to keep Erika still long enough to inject it. Even pinned beneath them she continued to strain against their hold, muscles trembling with contained force.
@soviet-ghost-story sent “your shoulders are tense.”
Her body tensed, shoulders bunching up as she attempted to stay still, feeling his firm body behind her back. Not close enough to touch her but close enough to feel the heat radiating from him, the feeling of his breath against her neck enough to make her beg for him to stop. But, she was tougher than that so, she sucked in a breath and turned her head back until he was in her field of vision. Why did he have to be so close? Not that she disliked the feeling but she wasn't used to it.
Sin had remembered small fragments of her past life but shooting was not part of the fresh memories. Now here she was, with the ex-Winter soldier learning how to hold a gun properly.
“ I'm not really comfortable with this, yet..” she admitted, showing him the gun. “Why can't I remember?!” she asked, frustration and irritation in her voice.
The young woman's room was small but cozy. The walls were a sheer grey color, the floor a thin layer of fake parquet covering the concrete, but she could still feel its coldness when she walked barefoot. The left wall used to be covered by drawings, but the guards would tear them from the walls and that made her very sad.. And angry. They were nothing special, just a Skull colored in red. It was pretty, it changed from the usual drawings, right?
The girl went by the name Erica Holstein and she used to have serious issues before her incarceration. The doctors said that's what she needed and they knew better, they were health workers and Erica wanted to be healthy. They helped through her nightmares and filled the void in her mind she couldn't fill herself. She couldn't remember much of her past life but they had helped her so much it was starting to slowly get back to her.
She had a routine of her own in addition of the one set by the workers of the facility. 6 am she would wake up, get dressed with clothes bought for her (they were always a little large but it didn't really matter). She would make her bed and go to the self-service restaurant where she and all the other residents shared meals every day. Three mornings each weeks, she had blood analysis before breakfast. After that, she would go to 'class' where she learned how to speak English correctly and how to behave in the society. Each one of the residents had a job at the facility to prepare them for the outside world.
Nobody knew exactly how long they had been there but they were told they'd be out soon enough. There were armed guards everywhere but they were there for their safety. She was told she was a very special girl and every special girls had to be protected, that's why she always had someone armed following her everywhere she went. That used to make her feel uncomfortable but it had become a routine.
When she was done with her chores and reeducational activities, she'd pace around the garden at the very end of the yard in search of red flowers. The girl was obsessed with red but she didn't know why. Whenever she'd see someone wearing red she would grin happily like a little girl who found candies. She heard the doctors say that it triggered something in her but she couldn't put her finger on it...
Today was a good day, she came back to her room from a check up and the doctors were proud! She remembered her life perfectly and made big progresses in class. No angry outbursts or delusional moments whatsoever. The machine they used for her nightmares ( little sticky patches connected by wires to a computer, painful but effective) was starting to show results and she'd sleep so much better now. They told her she'd be out of there soon, but they still had to run some tests. Each test was a painful one but they were for her own good.
Sitting on her bed, she held a sketchbook on her lap and checked the time on the clock on the opposite wall. It was still early, dinner wouldn't be ready and she wanted to take a some fresh air because she had spent the whole day indoors. Erica made her way through the hallway but abruptly stopped. Screams erupted from the Test Room and it made the hair at the back of her neck rise. She knew perfectly well what they were doing in there, that's what they did when she misbehaved.
