Emotion

When I awoke, the camera lenses were still trained on me. Not that I was surprised. According to the Brill brothers, Haven had run hours worth of specials on special old me while I was in a coma. And half of them were “updates” of my status in the clinic. How I wished I could go back to those days, days of comfort where I had to do nothing but think.

A pity I’d already used the coma trick. This time, if I passed out, they’d no doubt bring an IV and a med kit into my cell. No way would they risk having me escape again. Not that they needed to fret. I had no way to get out. I had no more clones, no more magic, and no inside helpers. I’d need a miracle to escape from this cell, and in my state, there was no way I could make a miracle happen.

I looked at the luminescent clock on the wall: 3:30. I had been taken into custody at around 6:00 this morning, and I’d gone to sleep shortly afterward. Actually, that was yesterday morning now. I figured that I’d been asleep for around 17 hours. And now I felt so much better. I was aware. I actually had energy, for god’s sake. It had been too long since I had had excess energy. Another reason to make that bitch pay for what she’d done to me. She had wasted me, ignored my talents, and been as condescending as anyone I’d ever known.

My only escape from her had been this living hell. The only redeeming factor of this place was the cameras trained on me 24/7, just waiting to see what I’d do. And the most frustrating part was that I had no idea how long they’d be here! I was certain it would be quite awhile, but I needed them here to keep me sane. I could look pretty for them all day long, but I just had to hope they’d keep lapping it up. There was nothing else for me to do, nothing!

The fairy people were so stupid, so shortsighted. They were blinded by their fear of my ambitions. I was so smart and so beautiful, yet they’d locked me in here and all but thrown away the key. They’d taken me, along with my gifts, away from the world! I longed to scream, cry, shout, ANYTHING to break the unnatural silence of this place. In Howler’s Peak, even the goblins went silent after awhile. This place had a way of sucking the soul out of you. Even if I could have thrown a silent tantrum, though, it would have gotten me nowhere. Plus, the cameras would catch it. They may be unmanned now, but trust me, they’d be checked. And I had no desire for Haven to see me, Opal Koboi, going to pieces like Foaly had during my quest to save Haven. That ridiculous centaur had never been anywhere near as talented as I had; still, he had gotten to the top through pure sexism. That and a backwards sort of racism, I supposed. Everyone always felt sorry for the centaurs since there were so few of them left. But I was better than he was, so much smarter, and I refused to throw a tantrum anywhere it could be recorded. Unlike him, I would not stop fighting. I would never give in, and people would remember me as Opal Koboi, the pixie who dared to be great.

***

I must have drifted off again in my reflections, because the next thing I knew, sunlight was streaming into my cell. Psuedo-sunlight, of course, since we were so far underground. I glanced at the clock: 6:00 am. 24 hours since I’d been removed from the world. I wondered if the world missed me, but before I had time to contemplate that, my cell door was yanked open and I was escorted to the showers. At least there was no surveillance in the shower room. But even if there had been a camera, it wouldn’t have been sharp enough to catch the tears intermixed with the water running down my face.

After I was clean, I exited the showers. I was getting used to this routine already. Dry off, dress, head to breakfast. I wondered how many days it would go on.

As I was about to leave, something caught my eyes. It was a mirror, cracked, scummy, and pitted, but a mirror nonetheless. I grabbed my towel and wet it, wiping years of grime off the mirror. Apparently goblins don’t use mirrors much, a part of my brain thought. Once it was at least somewhat clean, I chanced a look. The picture in the mirror almost took my breath away. Even now, so badly outnumbered, so hopeless and dejected, so beaten, I still looked stunning. Why and I still here? I thought, angrily. I should be a model! I deserve to be shown off! But even as these thoughts entered my head, they were pushed away. I just stared at myself. Yesterday, in my mug shot, I had looked how I had felt—there had been residual blood on my face; my nose had been slightly swollen; my cheekbones protruded from my sunken face. I had looked like a poor, lost, tired girl. But not anymore. I was myself again, down the slightly malicious glint in my eyes. I don’t know how long I would have stood there transfixed by my beauty had the LEP not sent in guards—females, of course—to see what was going on.

The fact that they dared enter my sacred area, invade my privacy, and take away what little I had left infuriated me. As they surrounded me to take me out, a flash of auburn hair caught my attention. Familiar auburn hair, attached to a familiar-looking Recon officer.

“Short!” I screamed, becoming more agitated. “You will be DEAD one day like I planned, dead and dishonored.” The elf didn’t move an inch. Didn’t even bat an eyelash. Well, that wouldn’t do. “You look at me, Short, you look at me!” My voice was so piercing I knew she heard it, yet she ignored my demands. The other guards were exchanging glances, but not Holly. If I had to guess, I’d say her gaze was boring a hole in the far wall. “You don’t deserve to be alive, elf. You only survived because of dumb luck. Pure, dumb, LUCK!” I was practically frothing at the mouth, and still she refused to meet my gaze. I had seen her shift guiltily, though, so I knew she was paying attention. That was almost a given, though. Who could not be? “Are you still listening, girly? Cause you’d BETTER be!” my voice didn’t even sound my own anymore, distorted by rage, amplified by the walls. “You think you’re so great, you’re all ‘Ooh-I’m-A-Girl-In-The-LEP, but you AREN’T! You’re nothing, Short, NOTHING! No brains. No beauty. You’ve mad it this far through LUCK and by becoming ALLIES with an unpredictable, wannabe genius MUD MAN!” I saw her stiffen. Good. “But you have NO smarts of your own, not even a bit of an endearing smile. And one day when little Arty goes HAYWIRE, you’ll play along like everything’s normal. And then, Captain, everyone will see how DUMB and UNWORTHY YOU ARE!”

The sudden silence made my ears ring. And, with nothing better to end the performance with, I toppled into a dead faint.

They must have caught me as I fell, because this time there was no explosion of pain, no sickening crunch, no glutinous drip of blood. I somehow felt them carry me down the hall and into my cell, where I knew the cameras were catching this. I bet viewers were loving every minute of their Opal-faints-again newscasts. And I knew all of the reporters were hoping I’d wake up soon so they could interview me. If I could have, I would have smiled. But my body lay unresponsive on the floor, and all I could do was to retreat further into my mind. I curled into a ball safe inside my head, and the day passed over my unfeeling body.

***

When I next cracked open my eyes, it was almost day again. I stretched and massaged the pins and needles from my newly re-inhabited body. Though it seemed a useful way to escape, the fainting was totally out of my control. If I got too emotional, it seemed my mind would check out and leave my body to fend for itself. And my body wasn’t too good at that. I had to get these black outs under control. Not being the boss of myself scared me—I couldn’t let anyone else see this weakness. I would do this, make no mistake. I was strong enough. And I would beat this fainting disease. After all, I was Opal Koboi.

Some other stories by carino:

• Taken Away Updates
• How to Write A Good Fanfiction!
• Never Enough
• Desperation- Award Winner! 2nd
• A Christmas Surprise-oneshot