Noah came in completely, closing the door behind him. I just watched him. "Hi," he said, smiling. "Hi," I replied, not smiling. He was silent for a minte, looking first at me, then at the floor, then at the wall. Finally, I sighed and said, "Is someone going to tell me what's going on here?" He brushed his hand through his hair. "Um," he started, "it's kind of a long-complicated-story." I looked around the room. There was a table, a chair, and a large, exquisite bed. "Looks like I've got lots of time and nothing to do with it," I replied, shrugging. Noah sighed and sat down in the chair, pulling it up to the bed, (where I was sitting.) "It's...you know what was going on with the disease, right?"
"All the gory details," I replied, a hint of anger in my tone. I didn't need to remember what happened. I wouldn't relive it in my mind now. I focused intently on Noah's cool green eyes, the calmness that even now, with him seeming nervous, radiated from them, sending a wave of calm through me. It didn't take long for this to make me forget my troubles. He smiled shortly, not noticing my inner battle or choosing not to comment on it, "Yes, well," he started, looking down, "that would be why you're here." I rolled my eyes, "Mhm," I said, "I kind of got that." He shook his head, "See, though, you shouldn't-I mean... well, how to explain this..." He bit his lip and tilted his head to the side, thinking. He ran a hand through his dark blond hair and I reminded myself that his appealing looks were all part of their game. I looked down, waiting for him to continue, "Well," he said then, "have you noticed... um... have you noticed that no one else seems to remember? The past life, I mean." I narrowed my eyes, "The past life." Noah nodded, "Yes. I mean, before you came here." I crossed my arms over my chest, "Yes," I said, "I have noticed that." He nodded, "Well," he said, looking towards the door, as if praying it would open and reveal someone else to do this explaining for him, "that's no accident."
I sat on the floor of the room and just stared at the blank black brick. Noah was long gone, telling me that Delatrix would want to council with me and would call me for dinner in a few hours. I hardly heard him though, my head was filled. Surgeries. The word was repeating itself in my mind over and over, and I had a feeling that if nothing else here drove me insane, that word certainly would. "That's no accident," he had said, and of course it wasn't, of course some part of me knew that. But surgeries? That was just... not something I would've considered. Noah told me that everyone here had been given surgeries, tweaking their memories so that they remember basic human actions like breathing, talking, walking, eating, etc... but so they had no memory of other places, no memory of other people. They created artificial memories which they then played for these people, strapping them to chairs while they were still sedated and yet awake, so that once they exited the chamber, into the quarantine bubble... those were all the memories they had. It was all just very science-fiction novel-ish to me, not quite believable. Possible, yes, but not something that any humans in their right mind would actually do. But perhaps the people here weren't in their right minds.
"Ah," Delatrix said with a wide, breathtaking smile as I was escorted into the enormous dining room, clothed in a dress that I had literally thought was a joke when a household servant told me to put it on. It was long, billowy, and dark earthy-colored. It had sleeves that stopped at the shoulders, revealing the full length of my arms. It was low cut and it hugged my waste. It was loose around my legs but not huge. I felt like something out of the middle ages. As I walked into the dining room and took in the table, I saw that I wasn't the only one. Noah, on one side of the table, was dressed in a jacket, waistcoat, and a tie. The jacket was a very dark green and the waistcoat was dark blue. Across from him was a small girl with red ringlets. She glanced up with me and I took in her bright green cat eyes, the way they glanced over me as if I was of no importance and then looked back the her plate. She had a round little face, but not too round, and her lips were plump and red. Her nose was a little too big for her face, with a bump on the rim, but somehow it suited her and made her seem all the more superior. It was only after I took in her face that I was able to look down at her ensemble. She was wearing a dress similar to mine in that it was tight at the waste and billowy at the bottom, but it was anything but low cut. It cut straight across her shoulders so that the straps lay flat on her upper arms, revealing her collarbone but completely covering her chest. It was dark red and she had on a simple dark green necklace that had a few small blue crystals leading up to one large dark blue rock. Petreus was at the head of the table closest to me and the doors leading into the room, and he was wearing a black jacket and a black waistcoat. He had no tie, however, instead sporting a necklace of his own. It was a thick black leather rope with a tiny dark silver crest hanging from it. I couldn't see what the crest looked like, but it did strike me as odd. Not that this entire dining situation didn't strike me as odd. It did. Delatrix was at the head of the table opposite me, complete in a tank-top-like strapped white gown that had the same style as mine and the other girl's, her hair piled on top of her head in an intricate hairstyle, and a necklace that had many tiny sparkling diamonds leading to one the size of a quarter. The necklace was extravagant, but the strangest part of her apparel was the thin black leather necklace that had clearly been tucked into her dress but was still completely obvious. I raised my eyebrow at this but she pretended to ignore it and continued, "Vanessa," she said the name in a voice that made it sound so much more foreign and elegant than ordinary Nessa. "Please, do sit down. Next to Anevay." I rose an eyebrow and asked, "Might I ask who Anevay is?" Delatrix rolled her eyes, "That is Anevay, in the red gown. Now sit." I rose my eyebrows and obeyed her command, taking the empty seat next to Anevay. "Since you are so curious as to the meanings of the names of members of this place, I will tell you that Anevay means 'superior'," Delatrix said as I sat down. She smiled upon the girl as if she was her own daughter, which was clearly impossible as they were obviously close in age and looked nothing alike, aside from both being strikingly beautiful. Though Delatrix was still more mesmerizing. Delatrix then continued, "Does she not look it?" I glanced at the girl, who now looked at the wall opposite her with a blank expression on her face, those cat eyes seeming bored with the world. I couldn't help but agree, "I suppose she does."
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