Requiem for a nightmare

[Kyte_]

White hot mind-numbing pain, shot through her body cruel,spasmodic balls of energy, coursing from every nerve ending. Her sympathetic nervous system reminded her heart to beat and her lungs to draw air but she gave up screaming hours before. Her tormentors were murmuring some unintelligible mantra and the old woman would lean in and gaze into her eyes, as if searching for answers to some profound, yet unasked question.

Do you see? the old woman asked.

The girl could not respond verbally, her lips cracked and bleeding from lack of water and several beatings over the past two weeks. Her mind had slipped and the fabric of her own reality had begun to unravel at an alarming rate. She could breathe, but even that had become laborious.

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Gabrielle remembered her abduction. She had lived with her parents in Planet Nevers. She had a good life. An only child, she was attending the Sorbonne, a very prestigious appointment awaited her after graduation. Walking back to the dormitories from the student union, she paused to assist an elderly woman cross the street. She seemed so frail and weak with her rubber tipped cane. She allowed the woman to take her arm and at first was a bit alarmed at the talon like clutch the woman had on her arm. As they passed over the median, a transport, with darkened windows screamed out of nowhere and the cargo door flew open. The old woman, now quite a bit stronger than the girl could have imagined, thrust her into the transport, where two men were waiting with a black, cloth bag. It was all over in an instant. The bag secured over her head and tied with a cord, smelled of oil and soil. Gabrielle thought for a moment of her fathers coveralls, from the refinery where he worked. Her mind screamed that she needed to do something ANYTHING then she felt the sting of a needle in her neck and the world fell away

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She awoke in a cold sterile chamber, shackled with a heavy 3-meter chain that terminated at the floor. There was a steel table and a chair, a metal bucket and nothing else. Twice a day a young woman would come into the chamber and feed her a foul smelling yellow gruel and then would instruct her to squat over the bucket to relieve herself. At first, Gabrielle resisted, but her resistance met with sharp slaps, that threatened to crush her cheekbones. She pleaded with the woman to be set free. The woman had dark hair, tightly tied back and cold piercing dark eyes. There was sadness in them, dispite her cold exterior. The woman spoke very little. She would only tell Gabrielle that all would be clear in time.

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On the third day, the old woman who had tricked her appeared. Her features were harshchiseled and betrayed her cool demeanor. She sat for a time, simply observing the girl studying her. Gabrielle could not meet her gaze. She asked the woman what she wanted with her, to which the woman responded that Gabrielle was to be gifted with a great opportunity

Throughout history, The old woman began, women have proven to be the most consistent gateways to the unknown. They have served as seers or oracles to the ancients, because they are the vessels of the gods. It is widely known that females can endure more pain than their male counter parts and it is in the experience of this pain exquisite pain, that they are able to pass over to the other side, and they can see what ultimately awaits us all.

Gabrielle listened feeling her body begin to shake as this woman continued her insane explanation. Her own belly contracted from the fear licking up and down her spine and her bowels felt like they were beginning to liquefy. She was going to be sick, she knew.

The grand question girl is there a Goda HeavenHell, can be answered if we have the courage to venture into the unknown. It takes a special girl to be able to bridge the gap between life and death, and still have the ability to report what she sees and experiences. A girl such as this is rare and ellusive. When we find such a girl we do as those who came before us did we subject her to all manner of pain, for only through the purification of pain will she be able to transcend this world to give us a glimpse of the next. We use the term Martyr to describe such a girl. However, the definition has become confused over time. The original meaning of the word was simply witness. We need a girl who can convey what she sees and feels at the time of her breaching the border between this existence and the next. Some call it life and death, others the beginning and the end. But a Martyr, can endure the misery and the pain she can transmute it and she can linger in that place between two states for a time. Some lack the internal strength to control their faculties some turn off others go quite insane during the process, but there have been a few that have stayed coherent long enough to show us that the our methods are effective and we are encouraged to proceed. You see we are not seeking to be cruel for crueltys sake, but rather we are resolved in our quest for understanding and our willing to take extraordinary steps to find the answers that have eluded mankind for so long.

The woman paused and a smile found her way to thin lips. She leaned forward and held the frighten girls eyes with her own and she nodded her understanding.

I understand that this is all very frightening and seems quite insane, but I promise you that before this is all over, you will see and you will understand. You have just become the most important soul in the known galaxy. I hope you realize what an honor this is for you

With that the old woman rose and turned to depart the chamber and Gabrielle felt her bowels churn and cried as the bile worked its way up her throatstinging her. Her mind moved from a state of sheer terror and panic to a quiet repose then switched again. This went on until the dark men appeared...

Her screams echoed through the chamber as he approached...

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