Secret Technology, Unrequited Love, Absolute Vengeance
© November 2022 - Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission
CHAPTER 17 - "VIOLET VIOLENCE"
Slice Of Life (11-19-22)
Hello again.
B O O K S
Ah, I seem to be flipping back and forth between coding in Pico-8 and writing in here.
The truth of the matter is I feel fairly certain that THIS book will be the last in the Future Barrier series. There isn't much left yet I need to cover - although I will do my best to make this one 100 chapters or so and full of interesting material besides.
I guess I'm feeling my age now - more so than ever. Nonetheless there is still so much to write and so many days to get it written the right way.
. . .
I N F L A T I O N
So, what all is happening in the world around me ?
Well, higher prices for groceries for instance.
I just recently bought some eggs as that is part of my daily diet and found a single dozen went up to $5.00 ! You might do better buying a different type of egg, in this case Kay suggested we get brown eggs for about the same price. I agreed.
Brown eggs were usually superior to white eggs yet now they were both the same price. Wow.
. . .
D R E A M S
I have been having a lot more dreams. I think the next time I get to writing it will not be a chapter here but to return back to Dream Diary. I know by the volume of readership and comments that was considered by you to be one of the most popular outlets to read fantastic tales - so i can continue this.
. . .
H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y
My Birthday is coming right up and no I won't be 100-years old - but if you add another 50-years to that, I just might be. :)
Let's pose a trivia question right now though. If I was born a day later than I was my middle name would not have been Andrew as you know. So taking this into account, what day of this month is my Birthday ?
. . .
D A T I N G W E B S I T E S
Everything here is going about the same. I am still without a boyfriend. Not that I think I'm ever going to enter my hat in the ring for dating websites again. No. Wow.
Not only learning that 40% of all internet traffic is 'bots top that off with how many people or possibly want to rip you off in dating sites - each and every one giving you a tragic boo-hoo story and insisting you give them money to help them or ask for personal information such as your credit card # because you are their 'friend.'
I dearly hope all these people who act like sincere friends and are actually in the field to rip off other people all get arrested and go to jail, straight to jail.
Just - unbelievable. So - I don't know. Maybe I stay too busy to try and find solace in lack of companionship. Now that doesn't mean I still don't see Carlos and Katy on Wednesdays, yet usually I just feed them from my pantry and we watch a movie upstairs in my theater room.
. . .
T E D D Y B E A R S
Now if you are asking about teddy bears, I still have quite a few and I am expected to get a very nice one on my Birthday according to the rumor mill. Katy has graciously given me clothes of hers that no longer fit for my bears like a shirt and pants and the like.
Yep, I must have a collection close to 200 teddy bears, and some of them are quite large, several feet tall. Many from around the world. Import from Japan, China, and France. I honestly don't know when that collection will end. But I feel good when I see them.
They remind me of happier simpler times.
. . .
C H U R C H
There is one pleasure in life I have managed to start up again. And that is going to church. As I mentioned earlier, this is the same church I went to when I was in kindergarten.
It really is a lovely church and strangely after all these years I have found my voice. Taking voice lessons years ago and being in the choir.
Carlos and me are also attending the meeting and get-together that starts an hour before service. Where the preacher talks about passages in the Bible and uses an on-screen display to teach us. Altogether quite nice and interesting besides.
. . .
W I N T E R
The weather has indeed gotten colder and while last year I wore shorts until it actually snowed, today I am a bit more self-conscious of the way I look and seeing NO-ONE wear any shorts of any kind at this time of year I am prompted to wear long-pants myself. And that's fine. The cold doesn't feel as good as it did to me years ago.
I guess I'm just getting old and sensitive to it. Still, I haven't turned on my central heating yet. I =DID= turn off my air-conditioner the other day. And I think the guests who do visit me here are glad for that. :)
. . .
C H R I S T M A S G I F T S
I was out shopping today. Katy stated quite clearly that she wanted one of those great big and expensive NERF Guns for Christmas with the rapid fire like a machine-gun.
So we had to do a little shopping around in toy places. I had no doubt in my mind that her and her relatives will be all outside playing with it and the other NERF guns the other kids already own.
I'll be inside though, having some dark chocolate cocoa, and watching Football on the big screen with Carlos's relatives and talk about the past. And that's fine. Those are good memories right there.
I felt fairly sure she was going to lose every bit of ammo to that gun the very day she plays with it, on Christmas, yet she didn't state anything else that she wanted.
Better to get that one Christmas present out of the way while it was in stock rather than her ask for something I can't get later because it's sold out.
I still haven't figured out what Carlos would like though. He is just now getting his house back to order - you remember the double deaths earlier 6-months ago, still had to weigh pretty heavily upon Katy and himself.
I also had no doubt in my mind that 13-yo Katy would receive simply marvelous Christmas gifts from all those surviving relatives who want to see that she gets everything she wants. And that's fine. To be young again.
Yet with that in mind, let's return back to Dev back in Middle School and the problems he is facing now.
Buford was definitely the problem here.
With a 4th swirlie in the same filthy toilet I had to admit the bowl did look better and cleaner, but at what cost ? My ego. My sanitary appearance. My. My SANITY !? What little there was of it was floating down the toilet along with my hopes of ever getting free of this - this - STUPIDITY !
And somehow being transported back in time where I would have to suffer through it again. "That's enough !" I finally say, roaring and finding my voice.
Buford pulls back, clearly surprised. "What's that you said, welp ?"
"I said, THAT'S ENOUGH !" and then I feel my left hand is hot so I fling it out to him and when I do this purple wave shoots out and invisible electric fingers grab on to him and blow him out of the stall and into the sink and window where he smashes against it, broken glass everywhere.
His other cronies look on in fright and suddenly ditch him by bailing out the door.
I am so angry, I don't even go to check on him. Instead I have my backpack. I reach in and get the towel that I knew was there and dolefully wipe my face. I feel strange. Years ago I would be concerned for someone else, but not this - this new - Buford character.
Then thoughts entered my mind unbidden. What if I killed him ? What if he was dead ? What if I went to jail for life ? - what if - "What if !" I finally say out loud, eager to clear my thoughts, especially of guilt.
There is a low groan from Buford. I finally get my glasses back on and look. Not only did -whatever- I did grab and smash him against the mirror there, the sink itself was carved open like someone took a buzz-saw to it and bits of sharp porcelain were everywhere.
I stood proper now to look at Buford, well, he wasn't looking well. Not only did it look like bits of mirrored glass and porcelain were sharply embedded into parts of his body. His face looked terrible, like he went headfirst against a freight train.
Then suddenly the room started to darken. I reached for the door to leave but it wouldn't open. More importantly the door handle felt like a piece of metal was welded to the wall, I couldn't even make out a door there now. I was trapped !
I looked up at the light not believing what I was seeing. It was getting darker and darker and even though the hallway outside was brightly lit earlier it was quickly becoming pitch black in here. Finally it was so dark I couldn't see anything at all.
Coming prepared I reached in my backpack and fumbled for a second for my miniature flashlight. Gratefully I found it, clicked it on and - it was still completely pitch black around me !
I dropped it like a blind man and reached for my face now, my eyes, there had to be something wrong, but nothing was there except my glasses. I tore them off and felt around at my eyes. Then I felt it. A wave of sleepiness. And it was familiar.
Clearly something or someone was pumping Tangerine gas directly into the bathroom I was.
"Stop it !" I shouted. I reached my hand up and felt the same warmth. Thrusting it forward while I still could not see anything, I felt the energy discharge again, smashing noisily into the wall where brick clearly splintered - and yet I still couldn't see anything !
Finally unable to stay awake anymore I collapsed on the cold tiled floor.
In another location unseen to me it was clear that I was inside some type of underground amphitheater that was prepared - to look exactly like the bathroom I was left in. And there I was, sprawled on the floor. The light had never given out. If anything it had gotten brighter.
Up about 25-feet in the air in behind a thick bulletproof protective glass were a bunch of scientists in a kind of laboratory including Dr. Seisbee and the real Buford from my past.
"Are we done here ?" Buford asked. Apparently eager to leave this scene, especially since it showed his shattered body below, clearly understood now to be a hologram.
Seisbee turned his head, I think a little more than disappointed that Buford didn't find the presentation more interesting. He sighed. "Yes, Buford, I believe we are done here." He turned his head to the right. "Go through that door. A woman will be there to write you a check for $75,000. You did just fine here directing the scene."
Not wanting to be in the room any longer, Buford exited the direction Seisbee told him. As for the other scientists they were looking over a machine that held many readings.
Seisbee approached, "As you can see HERE - when he was thrust into the water, his energy level started to peak. And therein lies the problem."
The other scientists seemed confused at this. Seisbee explained. "We were hoping to drain this boy of his powers easily with no discomfort to him. Yet it seems it only becomes active when he is agitated or angry."
"The problem with this if you cannot see it is he could destroy that whole downstairs presentation room if we are not careful - in getting him angry or vengeful as you saw."
He beat his fist against a metal panel. "Why do all these kids ? Why do they only show their abilities when they are angry !? Just once I'd like to find someone that can turn it on and off as easily as a lightswitch. That would be so much easier to manage."
He reached to a switch to turn off what clearly was the flow to Tangerine. The whole downstairs where I slept now was filled with it. He hit a switch and a powerful fan blew it out its turbines so to be replaced with normal oxygen.
"I'm not going to wait any longer." he finally said and pushing another button a door on the opposite side opened up and he climbed down a spiral staircase to where I was.
The broken body of Buford could be clearly seen now, a 2D hologram and Seisbee walked straight through it to examine the damage of the presentation room.
Unseen to me I saw that in my blindness when I released the surge of energy again, I had blown a hold nearly 10-feet across in an adjacent brick wall which still sizzled purple from its earlier blast.
"Powerful indeed." he commented. He sighed looking at my sleeping form. Finally he reached for a wrist-communicator.
"This is Seisbee. I'm down here in the Presentation Room with Dev Borne. Can you tell me what the status of his parents are ?"
A crisp metallic voice replied, "This is Seizure Station. We are still combing the area. So far we have not seen anyone."
He spoke, "Focus also on Janet, about his age, blonde hair. I think Dev had something with her - perhaps more than a shared kiss. It could be the leverage we need. I want this project to go off like clockwork."
With that he lowered his wrist and the device registering a change in gravity through a clever pendulum at once clicked off.
Seisbee snapped his fingers and at once a huge man whom I immediately would've recognized came down the spiral staircase.
It was Dempsey. He looked with some contempt to my unconscious body.
"Dempsey, let's take this guest of ours to his room. Surely he needs to sleep. And then I need some time to think about what to do here."
* * *
Dempsey didn't say anything. He just hoisted up my unconscious form over his shoulder and took a side door that blended in well with the wall. It was clear what I was in was some type of early and incredibly primitive 'holodeck.'
Nowhere near the standard interpretation, but enough for a muddled and drugged mind such as mine was to believe that I was actually somewhere else. That and the holograms and actual physical shapes they put down there were just wooden props.
It turned out the 'toilet' I was being swirled in was no more than a bucket of water placed past a few varnished wooden boards to represent the inside of a toilet stall. All of the 'bullies' were just holograms.
Seisbee worked on a digital notepad in his hand, writing down figures as he followed after Dempsey to a room simply marked, "8361."
Dempsey used a passcard to enter and then was prepared to throw me down on the bed when Seisbee interfered. "You clumsy ox ! Don't throw him. Place him down, gently. No damaged goods, remember ?"
Dempsey sighed but complied. Seisbee looked at Dempsey, just one huge raw hulking mass of muscle.
Finally he felt disgusted by his sight. "Just - get out of here, Dempsey. You're a bull in a China shop. I'll call for you if I need you again."
Dempsey felt his rage increase but he needed this job. Instead he swallowed his pride and politely nodding, left.
Once he was alone, Seisbee immediately went into action removing all of my clothes and attached all manner of devices to my head, my chest, even down in my privates area. He then tapped his wrist to see that all vital functions were being relayed to him, and they were.
He then hit a button to look at the time. It was late. It wouldn't do to wake me after such a short nap. Let him sleep he told himself. Then taking all the clothes with him, clicked off the light and using his passcard, exited the room where it made a plaintive double digital beep to confirm the door was once again locked.
As for me, I slept, drugged, again. How many times was this ? And this time Darceon was nowhere in sight. And the dream wasn't the pleasant of Tyr and me by the waterfall. No, it was me in school in a classroom and somehow forgetting absolutely everything I needed to write down what was written on the blackboard.
And like before the teacher was saying things - that just didn't make any sense.
"Alright class. As you can see when you bisect this triangle down using the curvature of PI to the exponent of 10 you get yourself this lovely ladybug."
So saying she wrote all of this on the board and then the chalk jumped out of her hand as an invisible hand drew a perfect ladybug on the chalkboard which magically wiggled its antennae on the board.
It was not the first time I had these confusing kinds of dreams. I attributed it to the fact that my brain was busy, always busy, always trying to find meaning, interpretation in what was happening - what had happened in my life - and what would happen in the future.
Finally it was morning in real time and I had slept 9-hours and was now awake to see once again I was in an unfamiliar bed, and this time without my clothes. More importantly I was wired up like a Christmas Tree !
I struggled to get free of them but could not. The connections were too tight and pinned down my arms, hands, and legs. I bit my lip in anger and then felt the same rage I did earlier. With a wave of my hand a purple energy exited from my body burning away all the connections so I could be free.
A quiet high-pitched alarm sounded letting me know that I was no longer being monitored by these wires - and a muted emergency was taking place.
I stumbled up in a hurry and looked around, anxious knowing I would have company, angry company, soon.
But I couldn't think of anything ! I reached over to a window where sunlight was streaming in. I jerked back the curtains yet saw like in Arkos it was merely an illusion. A large computer screen was behind that showing all the beautiful sights and sounds of outside - yet it was all fake.
I heard a digital sound behind me and a rush of air. I whirled around to see Dr. Seisbee with two very muscular looking gentlemen, clearly orderlies.
The first one spoke with a slightly Irish brogue, "It's okee, laddie. You dint knowing bettah. Jewist - come wit me and it'll be a'ight."
The second spoke with no accent but still kind of roguish, "Easy theyah, kid. Takes it easy. No-one's gonna hurt ya now."
Dr. Seisbee though just stood there, watching as an owl might watch his quarry, a fresh mouse scampering over the ground.
The two closed in. Both with their hands outstretched to grab me in case I decided to flee. And I could ! The door was clearly open behind me.
But then I realized and remembered I was not the only one being held captive here.
"Where is Nikki !?" I demanded.
Seisbee spoke then. "She's fine, Dev. She's safe, and well. Just - relax. We're not here to cause you harm."
The two muscular guards increased their pace and suddenly I felt that kind of sickness in my head, like I wanted to throw up, and my hands lit a bright purple.
"Back off !" Seisbee told the two guards seeing this and remembering the devastation I left the Presentation room in. "Just - back off now !"
The guards eyes grew wide now that they could see both my hands were glowing bright purple.
Then Seisbee addressed me speaking with some authority, "Dev. You will stop this foolishness. Now."
I bit my lip in thought and shouted. "I want to see her - now !"
Seisbee gave me a slight nod, "That is precisely where we were headed. Now if you'll just - cool your jets - we'll go see her and you can see how well she is doing, okay ? Fair enough ?"
I looked to my own hands now and my own eyes grew fearful. I remembered what happened to Buford, my powers smashed him against the far wall in the bathroom and the sink was cut in two like from a chainsaw.
My lower lip trembled. I spoke quieter now and in a voice much younger, full of fear, "I don't want to hurt anyone."
Seisbee smiled wide and spoke in flattering tones, "Of course you don't Dev. We know that. Don't we know that ? You're a good boy, now, aren't you ?"
The other two guards nodded tersely. Clearly waiting for a command to tackle me from Seisbee. But these was from his thoughts right now.
Seisbee continued, "Dev. You're sick. Okay ? You've been infected by - something we don't understand. We want to cure you of it. That is why we are here. We have to take certain precautions to protect ourselves is why we acted the way we did. Surely you can understand this ?"
I nodded.
"Good. Now, just - come to me. And we'll go see Nikki, alright ?"
I walked past the motionless guards and up to Seisbee.
It was then I was aware I was still naked. "I'd - rather she not see - "
But Seisbee interrupted me. "I apologize for that. We were earlier monitoring your vitals and clothes tend to get in the way of that. Here. Marcus ! Give him the robe you have."
Marcus, one of the guards reached behind his back where he had a kind of makeshift and very thin backpack and pulled out a solid white robe from it along with snow white slippers.
I took it an put it on feeling a bit better about my nakedness although I was aware of the cuff around my collar said, "patient." in most legible red letters.
"Shall we go ?" Seisbee suggested.
I walked past him past the open door and he took the lead. "Alright you two. There is no emergency after all. Return to your posts !"
They both nodded and headed out in the opposite direction.
"This way." Seisbee said and continued to lead the way down the brightly lit hallway.
END OF CHAPTER 17
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