Chapter 7 - It's Better To Feel Pain

Dawn confronts Avid.

I woke up in my original white room to find Avid reading his clipboard by my door. His short, blonde hair was ruffled as though he’d been running his hand through it often. I propped myself on my arms and faced him.
"To what do I owe the honor, Avid?" He looked at me with that same pained expression resembling someone who had heard I just killed his puppy.
"How do you feel, Patient 2-3-6?" He attempted to navigate away from the obvious existence of my memory that was supposed to be gone. I clearly wouldn’t have known his name if their little gadget had worked.
"Don't play games, Pathos, you know as well as I do that it didn't work." I slipped the name out to see if he really was the same person. His eyes widened the same way Valor's had when I said my name. He quickly recovered his pained look and scribbled onto his clipboard. I slowly moved myself off the bed and towards him. As I approached, he pulled the clipboard tighter to his chest but I was still able to catch a glimpse. My name was written repeatedly on the page.

 Noticing we we're about the same height, I leaned over and placed my chin on his shoulder. My words whispered into his ear, "Wouldn't it be great to just leave this world? To see what the stars have to show off? It has to be better than this." He stifled a laugh before his gut reaction spoke,"What? Better than fighting -" I began to smile but he cut himself off and moved to the opposite side of the room. Shaking his head and running his hand through his disheveled hair as I had assumed he’d been doing for a while, he muttered words to himself that I couldn't make out. I kept my distance and watched his brain unravel. His feet seemed to force him to pace in a pathetic attempt to keep his cool."You can't be. I can't be. We aren't," he locked eyes with me, "my name is Avid and you'll do well to remember that, Patient 2-3-6!" He shouted before collecting himself and leaving my room. Standing near my door in complete shock, I made a mental note that everyone has a breaking point despite how broken they already are.