CHAPTER 4: MIRROR

Waking up, I gouged a fresh score into the cell wall with my arm spike. It had been six weeks since I had met Kelly and started my tally. From the hole I had blasted between our cells, a friendship had grown. Everyday after my questioning, I would stand on my table and tap on the ceiling, before waiting for Kelly to uncover the hole so we could speak.

Aside from my singing, she was my one comfort in the darkness. The sole human contact I had in my time here and I cherished my time with her. You might be asking isn’t this a bit much? 

Well… Aside from the voice in the intercom she was my only human contact, someone who wasn’t a guard anyway. More than just comforting each other though, we were in this together.  

We had each others backs.

I think if things had continued how they were before I met her, I would have slowly retreated into myself, despite all my self professed contentment in my situation. Kelly had her own battles.

Every few days the guards would take her from her cell and return her severely injured. Broken arms, lacerations, deep dark swollen bruises were all too common and at the worst end of this callous and calculating abuse was the amputations. 

I was left to pick up the pieces after these sessions and comfort my broken friend, Kelly. Every time I forced myself to see what they had done to her and watch with disbelief, as without fail she slowly healed. I no longer doubted she had died, not after witnessing her regrow limbs, like she had never lost them in the space of hours. 

The strangest thing thing about her healing wasn’t its miraculous power, but how it wasn’t retroactive. Any birthmark or scar from before the Emergence returned, even the scar on her arm from when she fell out of a tree as a kid, was there after the arm regrew. 

Kelly would never talk about happened when they took her and I feared any attempts might have broken her. My suspicions were that it was more than aimless torture, it was brutal but there seemed to be a methodical direction behind it. To me it seemed like they were testing her regeneration, for what reasons I couldn’t say.

The only thing I knew for sure was damage they left behind, a physically broken Kelly, emotionally fraying from the trauma.

Hand holding and softly sung lullabies through our mousehole, helped bring her back from the edge each time and a timid fragile version of her smiling self would return after she had healed. About half an hour later or six hundred mississippi's by my counting she would be making jokes and telling stories again. I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but Kelly had become the Sun shining into my dark cell.

Finishing my prison standard breakfast, I returned my meal to the dumbwaiter and began my morning ablutions in preparation of another round with my interrogator. After their response to my name, I had gone back to stonewalling them and refusing to answer any questions about who I was. Any other question I would answer, how I was sleeping; poorly, was I comfortable, etcetera.

Previously in my interrogations, I had futilely made requests for items to curb my boredom, like an mp3 player of music to listen to, an internet connection with any safeguards of their choosing to browse. Even my requests for just books and magazines, seemed to be privileges conditional on my cooperation. The powers that be, however had thrown me a small bone and decided it would be safe to lower down to me with the dumbwaiter, a rubber bouncing ball. 

It didn’t seem to matter much to me anymore.

Having finished enjoying my cold shower, I slipped back into my jumpsuit and sat at the table and waited for the intercom circuit to go live and the interrogation to begin. I felt it go live as energy flowed into the intercom and it began to emit its customary crackle.

“Inmate Wraith, your questioning has been put on hold for today. Due to a few bleeding heart activists, caseworkers have been permitted to visit individuals such as yourself. The fool woman will be down on your level in the next fifteen minutes. We tried to warn her, but she insisted.  Won’t be my fault if a monster like you murders her and gets this nosy program cancelled.”

I began to panic as the intercom went dead. Someone was coming down here? No one comes down here! What if she spots the hole and reports it? What am I going to do? 

My gaze drifted to the nest of shredded blankets I had been collecting and I grabbed a couple handfuls of the ragged cloth. Jumping up onto the table, I hastily shoved the rags into the hole, blocking out the faint light shafts that managed to slip through the cover on Kelly’s end.

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Satisfied it would hold up against a cursory inspection, I leapt back down and lay on my bed assuming a casual pose. The lift at the end of the floor dinged as it opened and I listened as the sound of light footsteps approached me. A beam of light came into view followed by the strange sight of a woman in a dress suit wearing a head-mounted flashlight.

“Bah, yu’d thunk they’d turn on the light for me, ay?” the woman complained.

“Yu can call me Ms Clark, I’ve been assigned to yu by the Oh Em Ahh,” she introduced herself. Aside from not being able to place her accent, was it Australian maybe, South African? I had no idea what she was talking about. OMR? 

The confusion must of shown on my face, because she gave me a sympathetic smile, “I’d forgotten how little information yuse would be getting down heeya, the Oh Em Ahh is the Heroes Organisation for Mutual Assistance ayd Resources.”

“There’s heroes now? They’re letting monsters like us play at being heroes?” I probably sounded slightly bitter, this seriously felt unbelievable. I was down here in a cell for trying to stop Jakob, while others like me got to be heroes. 

By the way her brow furrowed with disapproval, I could see my use of the word monster hadn’t gone unnoticed. If not monsters, what were we? Why did this mean so much to me? Perhaps deciding now wasn’t the time, she let it slide.

“Oh yeah, a few Emerged stepped forth as heroes ayd in particular after their valiyunt actions limiting damage during the second Emergence, they generated a lot of good Pee Ahh. Thanks to that popularity, we’ve been able to push through this case workah program,” Ms Carter passionately recounted.

“My job heeya is to help Emerged like yuself, who have found themselves trapped in bureaucratic limbo unable to prove their identity. I will open open a case file forya ayd listen to yu telling yur story ayd then I’ll verify it ayd make any necessary changes. The guards have yu marked down as Wraith, canya tell me yur name?” 

Holy crap, was someone giving me real actual help, unlike that asshole interrogator? 

Hell maybe she’d even be able to get me out of here if she heard my story! I was trying to not get my hopes, but it was hard. If heroes were a thing and she was associated with them, maybe they would be fixated on justice like in the comics and my story would move them!

It all just spilled out of me like a flood. I couldn’t stop. I spoke till my throat burned and my breath ran ragged. 

I told her my legal name, how I got it, my upbringing, how I was kicked out of my foster parents home right before I changed and the accident then misunderstanding, I believed landed me in here. 

Ms Clark, never once interrupted me or accused me of lying, making things up or messing with her. She just took notes on her clip as she listened and recorded our conversation on her phone. When her pen finally stopped moving, I let slip a hopeful but anxious smile.

“You actually believe me?” I asked, failing to coach my voice in indifference. The mask didn’t return easily.

“Well I don’t thunk yu would be lying to me. There is plenty of verifiable parts to yur story, beginning with contacting the Adoption ayd Fostah Care Analysis ayd Reporting System. By the way, What would yuse prefer I call yu?” The case worker direct and honest manner really seems to have a soothing effect on me and I was starting to grow fond of her accent.

The effect was almost intoxicating, my long ingrained protective walls and inhibitions were no match for it.

“I have never liked my old name… I was wondering… would you be be able to call me Robin? Robin Wraith?” I blurted out.

I could feel myself hoping she would like my name and I was surprised by how much it meant to me. I’d only just meet her, but she was the first person of authority to treat me like a human.

“That is a pretty name for a pretty girl like yuself. Would yu like me to make it official?” I could feel myself starting to flush and I hoped the darkness would hide it.

“Yes please! If you could? I like Wraith but being called just that is kind of dehumanising… Wait… Did you just call me pretty? You’re lying right?” In the darkness, I had yet to see my reflection despite darkvision, but I was sure I looked monstrous. How could I not?

Rather than arguing the point, Ms Clark reached into her handbag, pulled out a small makeup mirror and passed it to me through the bars before turning her head torch on me. I hesitantly peered into the mirror and it took my breath away.

My face was framed by long raven hair, my skin was a pale white with the same swirling tattoos of black smoke like the rest of me and my eyes were grey with the same swirling black mist in the whites of my eyes. Rather than looking like some sort of ghost that had crawled out of a well like I expected, I had this adorable button nose, elegant cheekbones, long fluttering eyelashes and full bodied black lips. I was an eerie mix of pretty, cute and beautiful.

Her method of argument had worked. “Thank you,” I quietly muttered, still taken aback.

“It is no problem, little Robin. Our times up ayd I have to go, I’ll be confirming yur story in tha meantime. I’ll see yu in about a week.” She then pulled a hairbrush from her bag and passed it to me and winked.

“A pretty girl will be needing a hairbrush. I won’t go telling the guards if yu don’t,” I smiled at her conspiratory whisper. Then after returning my smile, Ms Clark turned around and walked back to the elevator. 

I couldn’t wait to tell Kelly about this!