(A short bit of writing – female perspective – because I haven’t done anything original in a while, let alone a story.) ———
When I woke up, I had been brainwashed.
As I blinked my eyes open with a flutter, the thought ran through my head. It almost felt like the feeling you get when you startle yourself awake, realising you’ve forgotten to do something important. Except at that moment, the important thought was ‘I have been brainwashed’ – those exact words, clear as crystal in my mind.
I didn’t fully comprehend what I’d thought until a few moments later, when my mind had been awake a little longer. Brainwashed? Huh? My thoughts were more than a little hazy, which meant it took me a few more moments after I sat up to register that I was alone in an unfamiliar room.
Through the window blinds, I could tell it was dark outside, and the uniquely artificial glow of a light-bulb bathed the room’s walls in a warm orange. The room was so bare! A couple of couches, including the one I had awoken on, sat in a V-formation around a large black coffee table, facing a large television in one corner. The only other thing in the room was the TV’s remote control, placed within arm’s reach on the table.
Sitting there racking my brain for answers, I wondered if I’d gotten drunk the night before. Briefly looking down, I saw that I was in fairly comfortable clothes – T-shirt and jeans, no less. If I had gotten drunk, it certainly wasn’t for any special occasion, or I’d probably be more dressed up. As I tried to remember, one thing became astonishingly clear – I couldn’t remember almost anything from the recent past. I struggled with my thoughts for a minute, trying to remember what I could have been doing to make myself feel this way. What day was it, even? I was beginning to worry that I’d gotten so drunk that I’d done real damage to my brain, when the thought cut through my mind again like a hot knife through butter.
I have been brainwashed.
Shaking away the thought again, I decided wherever I was, it was time to find out just who I was with. Find someone to blame for this mess of a mental state, or hangover, or whatever this was. I decided to go with the laziest option first, and called out.
Ladyandthetrance 