Chapter 5: The Price of Sight

March undergoes a procedure to help her see again, for a cost.

Chapter 5: The Price of Sight

 

“So it looked like a wolf?” asked the Old Man.

 

A sharp chisel peeled at March’s face. She saw no reason to hide the truth. “Like a Wolf, but also a human.”

 

Dry flakes of flesh fell into her mouth. The bile in her throat was eased back by pain killers. Still, it was hard to ignore the dulled sensation of fingers poking inside her skull.

 

“Right, I think that’s done, the antibiotics will take care of the rest, next stage is the implant.”

 

“Implant?” she asked.

 

He trampled around the room. “Now where did I put it?”

 

“Please, can you just explain what you’re doing, are you Human, are there others? Please answer me.” A mechanical saw spun to life beside her. March remembered the pain, the fear. “Please, I thought you were going to help me?”

 

“I’m helping us both. There’s going to be a price for this girl, one which will become clear the moment I engage the display.”

 

It buried underneath her skin. She was too numb to know where exactly, but her body jolted on the spot as her worst nightmare started all over again.

 

He cut away for what seemed like hours. She imagined the faceless stranger slicing her limbs, saving the head for last. The percussive clap of his hands rained a splatter of blood across the table when it finally came to a stop.

 

“That’s it,” he said, “Now we attach the display and bring you out of paralysis.”

 

It clinked into place around her eye sockets as another injection slowly returned feeling. Still blind, her fingers started to bend as both legs and arms stiffened the body upright.

 

“Are you ready, I will power the focus coil on your word?”

 

“Do it.”

 

She saw a tiny spec of light, then two more; they flickered from side to side then fused into a line to birth patches of colour, it travelled from top to bottom and showed the image of a face. It looked pale and haggard with a dozen cables under the skin which met at a visor-like display over his eyes.

 

 “Does it work, you look happier, certainly more energetic?” he asked.

 

March smiled. She saw everything. A lost sense of adrenaline fuelled an excited jolt off the table as she looked around the room. Dozens of cabinets made up the bulk of the metal shack.  A large mirror rested in the corner where she saw the Old Man’s handiwork. A visor, like the one he wore, rested in place of her eyes, attached through the sockets. Her left ear was still muffled. She lifted back the dry black hair and felt a smooth steel implant connected to the visor.

 

“Yes, that was the price I’m afraid. I needed some healthy nerves and your ear was the best option.”

 

March was too happy to care. Ecstatic giggles slipped from her mouth. This Old Man brought her back from the brink at a time when all hope faded. She would have turned to hug him were it not for a sharp twinge in her face.

 

It burned behind the implants as her knees thumped on the ground. March couldn’t even speak until the Old Man rushed up behind her with another needle in hand.

 

He pressed the plunger into her neck and waited for it to kick in. “The price of being Human I’m afraid, that operation was never meant for your kind.”

 

“My kind, what are you?”

 

She looked up at the Old Man and saw him clearer than before. His short round frame had cables connected underneath his cloak to equipment all around the room like a person on life support.

 

“Questions for another time I think.” His fist tapped the wall to shudder a set of ladders free from above. “You look tired, do you need to sleep?”

 

 “I do,” she yawned.

 

March climbed to the darkened second floor and watched her vision flicker into neon green night vision. It surprised her as she looked back down at the Old Man below.

 

“A handy feature isn’t it? You will find a box at the end with a sleeping bag, don’t let the brown stains fool you, it’s just incredibly old. We will discuss your payment when you awaken.”

 

It all began to make sense. “What kind payment?”

 

“Something worthy of getting your eye sight back, one life for another. You look too weary to carry this conversation girl, get some sleep.”

Author's Note

I always review back! and pride myself on giving real honest feedback about my reading experience :)

I'm trying to improve my own writing, this is another experiment into altering a book I finished a while ago. it was in a different tense and I'm still learning so it's not perfect but I really want your help, be brutal. even if you hate it, please say why? :) thank you

cheers for the honest suggestions from last time for those who reviewed, your awesome, lets keep the ball rolling,