Chapter 17 – Numb

An eerie silence followed Marley’s words. She could think of nothing else to say, her face as rigid as stone in the echoes of her statement. Simona looked like she wanted to respond with something sharper, but she flexed her unfamiliar teeth, grunted once, and turned away.

Marisa looked on Marley with concern but didn’t add anything either, save to cup her knees and frown. Nicolas brewed quietly too. But the most interesting reaction came from Oswald. He was slack in his place, stretching to crane his head from one part of the room to the other. Eventually, he coughed into his wrapping and rested his head. As she turned, Marley noticed Oswald but did and said nothing.

There was no transition from the small face-off to Simona manipulating a wall to reveal a table set with refreshments and food. She gave a quick gesture towards the new area as she proclaimed, “As I offered before. Take what you wish. It’s all virtual but still comforting.”

None of the others made a motion towards the table except for Simona, who picked up and nibbled on a small sandwich with a piece of pink meat and some lettuce. After she’d made her selection, others made their way over. Nicolas picked up a tall bottle and drained it with a long swallow. He then turned over some pieces of fruit along with some familiar food like what he’d had in his pantry. Marley and Marisa stayed away as one conferred with the other at the other end of the room.

Marisa asked first, “You okay?”

Her deeply-highlighted eyes glanced over to their twins on Simona then back to Marisa as she replied, “A bit shaky. Terrified. Want to throw up. I’ll be okay.” Despite her admissions, Marisa noted that Marley looked rock-steady.

Sighing, Marley whispered back closely, “I’ve said what I will. There’s more inside me but there’s no point. Just pain and yelling.”

Clutching her hands, Marisa noted, “Yeah…it sucks. I just wish it could be like it was. The three of us before….just quiet moments. Not like it was great. But maybe it was better not making sense, not knowing what to be afraid of.”

Marley looked back with reserved intensity in her tightened eyes as she answered, “It wasn’t quiet. It was always fearful….at least for me. But Seth was there. Covering my eyes to hide the monsters, looking for clothes for me, and just being there.”

Leaning against the wall, Marisa gave a grimace as she added, “Yeah. Same here. At least I remember it all now. All of her from the moment I heard her through my wall as a man and she tried to save me from Sim rewriting who I was…”

Slowly, without meaning to and barely realizing it, Marley and Marisa drifted into a hug with their hands low. They grasped the edge of the other as they shut their eyes.

“We should get something to eat and drink. It may be meaningless, but I still have the feeling of a tickle in my throat”, Marley admitted. They meandered over to the table and picked out a few items.

Peering at the mass of leftovers, Marley returned her gaze to the sealed Oswald. She sighed and held her hands. Finishing off a bit of bread, Marisa asked, “Oh…by the way….you still using Semara, or do you prefer Marley?” The name had just about slipped her mind. Still, she felt a smile recalling it. The name was a little bit of Seth together with her, the same as Seth chose of her name.

With a smirk, Marley had to admit, “I’d forgotten about Semara. In the time I was alone, I returned to Marley…at least in my head.” She could remember that time sharply.

Marisa had a few memories herself, noting, “You mean after I got shot by Oswald…” This time, they both looked to the restrained man. Marley nodded, a reflexive sob stayed inside her as she added, “The room changed when Marlise rushed at him soon after that. I was all by myself…”

Thinking back wasn’t pleasant. She nibbled at a pastry as she unraveled her account to Marisa.

She screamed first. She banged on the wall. She used the couch as a means of pummeling. Eventually, she lay down on it, curled into a fetal position. In the quiet, she began to imagine things. She began to imagine the monsters which had driven her into hiding before. She could feel them at the edges of her vision, driving out all possibility of calm. Her unfamiliar, still-male-at-the-time body didn’t instill her with any confidence or sense of strength.

Her fear could’ve spiraled further from that point, consuming every thought she had. But it started to recede as she focused on a single notion.

She was going to see her friends again.

The face most vividly in her mind was her own face, as worn by Seth. The face of someone staring down Oswald confidently. A face which had been sunk deep into the sadness she was now immersed but had also risen boldly from it to fight against the oppression of Sim.

She touched her face, feeling Seth’s contours. It was a comfort. Something of him was always inside her no matter their forms or genders. She sifted through his memories of his brother, smug and teasing but loving. She held onto the fragments as she could see them inside Seth’s head.

Moment by moment, she found the strength to take her hands, trembling though they were, and push herself up from a pit of fretful safety to the hope and uncertainty of her feet. She explored as little areas opened up, trying to find a way back. The only passageways were ones leading away. Still, she trudged forward, trying to visualize the reunion, holding onto every possibility left. There were moments when the world around her convulsed and she was worried it would all break down.

The instant she was summoned, she’d actually relinquished constant thoughts of Seth and the others. And then she was there in that room, without a shift of air or a change in feeling from the previous moment. She cried out for help, half-feeling no one would answer. But Seth came. Out of nowhere, like an angel from a dream. She teared up at the recollection. Her female form had been restored but she hardly noticed as the joy shifted back and forth, as she learned fragments which slowly drew together into the current horror.

Waiting for a pause, Marisa gave Marley a bolder hug, a firm hug that enveloped her. Marley relaxed into the hug as she looked down and sighed. Each clearing their throat, they fell quiet until Marley pondered, “I wonder if there’s a way to store some of this food to go.”

Tapping her lip, Marisa wondered about a satchel or a backpack. Finishing what she was eating, Simona remarked, “It’s not real, there’s no point. It won’t spoil. It doesn’t need to be stored. I can summon it at any time I have an open interface.”

Marley gave her a look but didn’t respond. Marisa stuffed a sandwich in her pocket without any intent to eat it later. She noted, “Just because…” Marley nodded and put a little something in her pocket as well. She looked back to Oswald and picked up a beverage bottle.

Before long, Marley was cupping her chin. She watched Simona as though she were watching her own doppelganger. Carefully, she made her way closer to Oswald. He was wrapped up in such a way that looked painful.

She crouched over him and his eyes locked on her. He grunted through his wrapped mouth. She gazed into his eyes with a solemn, stern expression. Marisa followed behind, her gaze was vicious with the full memory of what he’d done to her.

A look to Simona suggested she had no interest in what Marley was doing. She even exited the room for a time without explanation. It was in this absence that Marley made her move, whispering to Oswald, “I’d like to make a deal with you…”

Behind her, she could hear a gasp from Marisa but she said no more. Marley elaborated as Oswald’s eyes watched her, “You’ve been listening. You know the situation as much as any of us do. A program and its creator. One wants to torment us. The other has no qualms about using us like that pile of food over there…”

Nicolas, who could faintly hear, stepped away from the table with his head down. He shot Oswald a look and tensed his arms but did nothing else. Oswald focused on Marley and gave a soft grunt. Marisa seemed confused.

Marley undid the top wrap around Oswald’s face, revealing his mouth. He could have easily bit at her or yelled. But he did nothing as she unscrewed the top of the drink and tilted it towards his lips. Quivering and losing some of the liquid as he tried to drink, Oswald drained the whole bottle and coughed slightly.

Marisa scuffed her foot and sighed. She took a step away as Marley leaned over Oswald. He sniffled to himself and asked weakly, “A deal?”

Folding her hands, Marley acted like it was just him and her as she talked. “A deal. An agreement. An understanding. The sort of thing we didn’t have when you first showed up.”

Oswald cast his eyes away from Marley and said, “Yeah. I know. So, what’s your deal?”

“You get your freedom from this mummy wrap and help from any of us whenever you need it. In return, you don’t even attempt to hurt us, and you help us when we need it. No grudges. No matter what’s happened before. A fresh start all around.”

Raising an eyebrow, Oswald remarked, “Why? Why me? You’ve got Mister Muscles over there and you’ve got Miss Attitude right here.”

Nicolas took a big step towards Oswald, which made his head jerk back. Looking to Marley, Nicolas advised, “This is a bad idea. You didn’t see what I saw when I first met this guy. He was choking your friend Marlise to death like some psycho.”

Marley’s expression turned from calm to a sharp frown. She gave Oswald a careful look and added, “What you did when we first met will never happen again. Never. No matter if you trust our words or not…”

Oswald interrupted with a faint voice, “I trust what’s been said….because of what I’ve seen…and felt.”

Marley dipped her head to encourage him to say more. He cleared his throat and continued, “There’s still the faint chance this is a horrible nightmare. But for me…the proof was in the sensations. Things feel strange here, especially now. You unwrapped my face and I expected tingling pins and needles. But I don’t feel anything as it should be. I don’t feel numb. I don’t feel pain. It’s all wrong…”

He looked at her with an unusual gaze for him. It appeared plaintive as he said, “Nothing about this place…nothing about us…is real. It’s crazy.”

Folding her arms, Marley said, “One could interpret that as…it doesn’t matter what one does because there are no real consequences. One could hurt anyone…kill anyone without fear…for the fun of it.”

Oswald stared at her and said, “Not me, despite what I’ve done, I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just wanted to get back to my chateau, where everything was taken care of. Where things were good but that’s fading from my mind like a lost dream. It was all fake anyway, probably this Simona person’s mansion instead of mine. Fragments all strung together. Why the fuck should I get angry when it doesn’t matter?”

Marley put herself right next to Oswald and said, “Then we find out the truth about ourselves. We find out what’s out there. We save everyone.”

Raising his eyes, Oswald gave a little snort as he said, “But we’re dead….”

With a little shake of her head, Marley proclaimed, “There’s something more which she’s hiding and I intend to find out what it is. For now…you’ve heard my deal. Do you accept it?” Behind her, Marisa reached out a hand. She’d scowled at Oswald’s term for her but now she wore a deep look of concern. Marley ignored her and waited on Oswald.

Oswald narrowed his eyes slightly and said, after a moment, “Fine. I accept. But don’t expect me to make friends.” Marley nodded and asked Nicolas to help with undoing the wrap since he was the one who placed it. Begrudgingly, he agreed.

After he’d undone the bit around Oswald’s head, Nicolas suddenly paused. Marley was about to ask but, instead, her mouth hung open. Oswald glanced around and appeared about to speak when he realized what happened. His face had changed.

It had rounded and gotten smaller. A lot smaller. His hair was still just as long but his Adam’s apple had sunk into his flesh. His cheeks were smoother and a little flush.

Taking a sharp breath, he suddenly said, “I feel…” But his voice wasn’t the commanding one which had demanded a different answer to questions of reality and threatened death. It was a childish squeak. Then he tensed up and whimpered, “Release it…please…release it…now it’s hurting!”

With a nod from Marley, Nicolas quickly went to work unraveling the wrap. His body dwindled at the shoulders until Nicolas finally freed his hands. They were tiny, smaller than any of theirs, and attached to slim arms. He scratched at his chest, muttering to himself as it was liberated. Instead of his coat, he had on a gray top with a rounded neckline and short sleeves. The removal of the wrap brought out a fleshy swell. It was just a faint swelling but enough for everyone to know what it was.

From there, Oswald melted away as more wrap came off. He clung to bits of it as he shed his body, staring down at his released groin with a sudden wince. His legs retreated so much into slim, black crop pants that most of the bottom material fell away, wrapped only around air.

Marley clutched him…now her, by the arm, and helped her to her feet. Oswald, never that imposing, now had to stand on tiptoe to be a head shorter than Marley, who guessed she didn’t clear five feet. The new Oswald looked more like a pubescent teen girl than the man yelling for his chateau when they first met.

Trembling, Oswald squeaked out, “Still…numb…” as she turned and vomited what liquid Marley had just given her. She pressed a hand to her mouth and Marley tried to offer what she could. Simona finally returned with a casual stride through the doorway.

Marley locked her gaze as Oswald tipped her head up.

Simona brushed Marlise’s hands with a clearing of her throat and said, “Done. We can proceed to the next location…the core nexus. A location where I can resume full control and put Sim back in his place. As well, there are records contained there about who you all were in life. If we work together. then you might get to see who you really were before you died…”