The Imprisonment of Lauren Barnes: Prologue

[TheSpotConlon]

And I'm back! It's been a good seven months since my last installment, but I've come roaring back with this piece. It's a bit short, but I hope that it leads to a totally new direction for the character. Consider this both a continuation of "Peculiar Journey" and the start of a totally new story. Anyway, here we go, and please leave any comments/questions/rotten fruit which you feel could benefit the next installment.

Prologue: Post-Doppelganger

There were moments that I wasn’t sure. It had all happened so fast. I saw them together, and the next thing I knew I was. . .well, I was here. Wherever here was. I didn’t see much; the lab coats didn’t let me out of the room, and most of the work around here was automated. When I did see an actual human face, it was like staring right into the eyes of God. It turned out that God had the improbable name of Hristopher. Stranger things had happened.

I asked him where I was. Who I was. What I was. He asked me for Jackson’s career-high batting average.

“Two-seven-nine, but why–“

Then it hit me. Back at the dorms I didn’t even remember who he was, but now I had total recall on all of his statistics just like any die-hard Royals fan would. And I could remember farther back than that and so much more and suddenly I instinctively knew the date and the time and that I had been gone a whole week–

And then I knew exactly why no one missed me out there. They probably had another one out there. I bit my tongue, that hideous silicone thing between plastic molars, because if he knew I knew it would be gone in a nanosecond. My name was Lauren Amanda Barnes, but in a flash I realized that it had probably been a serial number long before. I was a fucking machine, and given the impulses that were fed into my brain like commands, that designation probably held more than one connotation.

I wanted to cry. Wait, no; Hristopher wanted me to cry, because he was my programmer. I was a thing, just a mass of wires, no more part of the Great and Small than a toaster or a stop light. Man had created me, not the Almighty. . .which meant that I was no more beholden to his rules than any of the inanimate appliances in this room.

“Lauren. Undress.”

There was not a bone in my body, nor any metal connector or wire which had any intention of doing his bidding. Within seconds my flesh was exposed and walking toward him slower than I could ever remember moving before–

“Fuck me.”

I’m glad they didn’t wipe my memory of that night. It clarified several points in my mind. I knew now that I’d love no one but Carolyn, as seductive and artificial as I had become. I knew now that I was determined to reclaim Lauren Barnes, whether she be my full reclaimed memories or simply that frightened innocent who woke up in the Hilton.

I knew now that my God had to die for the crimes he had perpetrated against me.

[DollSpace]

Wow...so powerful in just a few words! Please post the next part soon!

Catrin

[Trace Venom]

I'll try to be very civil about what I'm about to say, but...

If this prologue is anyindication, I expect the next installment to be F*CKING AWESOME!

Thank you, and please continue as soon as time and real life allow it.

[htb21]

WOW! that was excellent! so well written too! thanks for that looking forward to seeing more!

[confusitron!]

Just caught up with this. Great work!

[33cl33]

Waited too long to say this - but I'm really digging this storyline... Hope there's another installment to come soon!

[confusitron!]

'nother bump in hopes that this gets continued sometime soon.

[Doctor Robo]

Short, sweet, and to the point. I echo the sentiments and I hope it is continued.

[Trace Venom]

Bump x3