Extracted - Chapter 4 – Increasing Warp Speed – Part 1 of 2

 

Extracted

By Karen Singer

 

Chapter 4 – Increasing Warp Speed – Part 1 of 2

 

It was late in the day before the Philadelphia police detectives came into Stephen’s room.  As the city D.A., Stephen’s father was annoyed that it should take them so long, but at the same time, his son was still complaining about the room spinning, with or without his eyes open.  What had those drugs done to him?  According to the doctors though, he guessed his son was lucky that he had as much memory as he did.  Drugs like he had been given often caused memory loss.  Sometimes for quite a while.

Henry Marsh listened carefully as the detectives questioned his son, but as he already knew, Stephen remembered nothing, and it wasn’t just due to memory loss that the drugs could cause.  From what the doctors had said, it looked like they had fed him those drugs since the moment he had been abducted.  Four days!  They never once gave Stephen a chance to wake up.  Henry figured that was most likely so they wouldn’t have to deal with him.  His son played football and lifted weights…a lot!  He was strong.  Not someone anyone would want to mess with.

When the detectives finally left, Henry moved closer to his son again.  “How’s your head?”

“Still spinning,” Steve replied, “but not quite as bad…I think.  I wish it would stop.”

“The doctors explained that you’ve probably still got a lot of those drugs in you.  They kept you doped up for four days Steve.”

Steve shook his head.  “I barely remember going to bed last night.  Or, whenever it was.”

“Five days ago now.  And your mother and I have been going crazy trying to figure out why we were sleeping just down the hall, and we never heard anything at all when they took you.”

“Who knows,” Steve replied.  “Maybe they drugged you too.”

Henry nodded.  “Maybe.  Or they could have gassed us or something.  That sounds more likely.  Whoever it was, went out of their way to kill not just the power and internet connections, they even shut down our backup generator.  They might have simply gassed everyone in the house to make sure we’d stay asleep.  You as well.”

Steve shook his head.  “Don’t ask me.  I still can’t think, and everything is still all confused in my head like you wouldn’t believe.”

“Give it time son,” Henry told him.  “It’ll settle down.  Soon, I hope.”

Steve nodded, as memories that belonged to someone else flashed through his head.  Memories of being a girl named Nancy.  Weird!  Especially since they felt so real!

 

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Nancy’s New York hospital room was visited by a single investigator.  A woman.  Since Nancy was the daughter of a U.S. congressman, that woman was part of an FBI team that was investigating the abduction.  Nancy’s mother moved away from the bed, but she and her husband stayed close.  Nancy’s sister, Emily, was in the room now too.  She stayed further away.  Nancy was glad Emily was there.  The two of them had always been close.  Special!

The FBI woman sat in the chair Nancy’s mother had been using.  “Hi Nancy,” she said with a smile.  “I’m Ellen Rosenberg, with the FBI.  How are you feeling?”

“Awful!” Nancy replied.  “Everything is still spinning around.”

“I understand,” Rosenberg replied.  “So…can you tell me what you remember from when you were abducted?”

Nancy shook her head.  “Abducted?”

“Kidnapped.  Taken,” Rosemberg explained for the twelve year old girl.

“I don’t remember anything.  I don’t even remember going to bed last night.”

“It was a few nights ago now,” Rosemberg corrected her.

“Not for me,” Nancy replied.

Rosenberg nodded.  “I understand from the doctors that it looks like whoever took you probably kept you drugged and unconscious for the entire time.  We just can’t figure out why you were taken since no ransom note was ever sent.  Whoever did it, simply took you, then dropped you off a few days later where you could easily be found.  They had you for three days.  The question is, why?  Not to mention who.”

Nancy shook her head.  “Don’t ask me.  I don’t know.  I don’t remember anything at all…except all these weird things running through my head that don’t make any sense, especially since my head still won’t stop spinning.  Even keeping my eyes open is difficult.  The room keeps going all around and it’s making everything so much worse.”

“Weird things in your head?” Rosenberg prompted.  “Like what?”

“I don’t know.  I can’t make sense of anything.  All I know is that I’m completely confused.”

“So when you were taken,” Rosenberg said, “you don’t remember seeing your abductors at all.”

“Not that I remember.  Like I said, I don’t even remember going to bed that night.”

 

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The doctors for both Nancy and Steve were very concerned about their spinning heads issue.  It was the only reason they both were still confined to their respective hospitals.  Since their kids seemed to be doing well, other than their still spinning heads, the families of both Stephen and Nancy decided to go home for the night for some much-needed rest.  Both families, at both hospitals, promised to be back again as soon as they could tomorrow morning.

Without the constant stimulation to the needed areas of the brain by the family members, the process of overwriting the memories and personality traits in the brain was able to access those areas easier instead of mostly seeping through other areas and memories that hadn’t been needed.  Neither Steve nor Nancy would realize it, but while they slept, not only did the head spinning decrease somewhat, but so did their memories of their old lives.  Those memories being overwritten by other memories that had been in the souls they now possessed.

 

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In the New York hospital, once again it was Stephen, not Nancy, who first opened his eyes the next morning.  The first thing he realized was that his head was still spinning, but not nearly as bad as it had been yesterday.  The nurses checked on him, but otherwise barely talked to him at all.

As his eyes did their best through his still slightly spinning vision to follow one of the younger and more attractive nurses around the room, something immediately bothered Steve.  Something strange.  His hand quickly reached up and swiped at that something that kept brushing strangely against his head.  It wasn’t a bug like he first thought it might be.  Whatever it was felt strange and his hand immediately grabbed it hard and pulled…and it started to hurt.  What the heck?  He pulled again and felt the tugging to the top of his head.  It felt like….  No, it couldn’t be!  He pulled it around where he could see it and nearly fainted.  Hair?  Long hair attached to his head?  And he was holding a bunch of it in his…what?  His hand looked so small.  Why?  Long hair?  Nuisance long hair!  And small hands?  Yeah, his head spinning was really getting the better of him now.

As doctors usually do, one of them came in to assess how Nancy was doing.  “How do you feel today Nancy?” the doctor asked as he stood next to the bed with a clipboard in his hands.

Nancy?  What the…  Steve started to grow angry at the insult.  “I’m not….”  And then some of the old remaining memories finally hit him…her!  She was Nancy, not Steve.  No wonder she had long hair and small hands.  It was what she was supposed to have.  She breathed a sigh of relief.

“You’re not what?” the doctor asked, waiting for her to continue.

“Sorry,” Nancy replied.  “Yeah, my head is spinning still, but it’s not nearly as bad as it was yesterday.”

The doctor was concerned about that, but…  “At least it’s improved,” he told her.  “Still, I’m concerned about it.  Other than that, any problems?”

Not wanting to tell him about the weird things going through her mind, Nancy shook her head.  “No.”

“Good,” the doctor replied.  “I’ll check on you later.”  With that, he walked out.

What was going on with her head?  At least things weren’t spinning as bad today as they had yesterday, but they were still spinning.  She really wished her sister was there just then to be with her.  Emily always knew just what to do to make her feel better.

 

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In the Philadelphia hospital, things were remarkably similar to the way the situation was in New York.  Just as Stephen had woken up first in Nancy’s body in New York, Nancy woke up in Stephen’s body in Philadelphia.  Like with the person in New York, Nancy was quick to notice that while her head seemed to be a lot better today, things were still spinning around.

“Good morning,” one of the nurses said as she went about her duties in the room.  Nancy didn’t say anything.  She just watched as the nurse did this and that, then simply left.

Lying there alone again, Nancy sat up in the bed to be more comfortable for a while, hoping the spinning would stop altogether.  It didn’t.  But once she was in the new position, she bent her head forward a bit, expecting to feel the usual pull from her long hair, except there was no pull.  Her hand unconsciously reached around to grab her hair and run her fingers thought it…and discovered practically no hair on her head at all.  She panicked!  What happened to all her beautiful long hair?  Both hands now groped all around the top of her head.  What was going on?  Where was her hair?

A man walked into the room  It took her a moment to realize he was a doctor.

The doctor noticed her agitation.  “What’s wrong?” he asked immediately.

“My hair!” Nancy replied, immediately realizing her voice was all wrong.

“What’s wrong with it?” the doctor asked.

“It’s not there!” she told him.  “What happened?”

The doctor shook his head.  “Your hair looks just fine.”

“No it’s not.  I have long hair.  Long brown hair that feels like silk.  Not this…whatever it is.  And why is my voice so bad?”

“Bad?” the doctor asked, fully concerned now.

“Yes!  Why do I sound like this?  Like a…I don’t know what.  Like a man.”

“I don’t understand,” the doctor said.  “Why wouldn’t you?”

“What’s going on?” Nancy yelled.

“Okay.  Settle down,” the doctor told Stephen’s body.  “I think we’re having a bit more of a reaction to those drugs than we expected.  I’m going to get you something to help calm you down.”

“Calm me down?  Just tell me where my hair is!  What happened to me?”

“You know what happened,” the doctor told her.  “You were abducted and kept drugged for days.”

“But where’s my hair?” she cried as her hands came off her head and started waving around in front if her to accent her question.  It was then that she noticed her hands and her arms.  They were huge!  Really huge.  And there was hair on her arms.  She stared in disbelief at them.  “What the…” she managed to get out as she continued to stare, not understanding anything.

More people suddenly walked into the room.  People that for some reason Nancy vaguely recognized, even though she couldn’t quite place who they were.

“Oh doctor,” Agatha Marsh, Stephen’s mother said.  “We were hoping we’d get here early enough to see you.  How is he?”

“Very confused!” the doctor replied quickly, his voice full of concern.  “Excuse me.  I’ll be right back.”  He hurried out.

Stephen’s mother and father moved over to the bed.  “How are you today Steve?” his mother asked.

Steve?  “Who are you?” Nancy demanded.

Both of Steve’s parents were aghast.  “Steve,” his father said.  “What’s going on?”

Nancy looked at the man.  “And who are you?” she demanded.

“Steve, what do you mean?  I’m your father.  Don’t kid around!”

“Who’s kidding!” Nancy yelled.  “And what happened to me?”

“Steve, you know what happened,” Henry told his son.  “You were abducted and kept drugged.”

Nancy shook her head.  “That’s what the doctor said, but what happened to me?”

“We don’t understand dear,” Steve’s mother said.  “What’s going on?  Don’t you remember us?”

Nancy stared at them.  They did look familiar.  Very familiar.

“Steve,” Henry said.  “Wake up!  Get your head on straight.”

Nancy wanted very much for her head to be on straight, but it was still spinning, just like the entire room.  Steve?  What the…  And then something finally clicked within her head, and she nearly blacked out.  It wasn’t the first time she had to deal with this problem.  She wasn’t Nancy, she…no he…was Steve…Stephen!  Not Nancy.  And they were his parents, Henry and Agatha Marsh.  He closed his eyes and shook his head, oddly still missing the feel of the hair he thought should be there.  He opened his eyes again and looked up at his parents.  “Mom.  Dad.  What happened to me?”

“That’s what we’d like to know,” Henry Marsh told his son.  “Do you remember us now?”

“Yeah.  It’s just that…everything is still all weird.”

“Is the room still spinning?” his mother asked.

“Some.  Not like before,” Steve told her.  “But it is still spinning.  It’s driving me crazy!”

Why was he suddenly having thoughts of a…sister?…named Emily?

 

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