“Do you remember who you were? Do you want to? Please answer truthfully, we are fully aware of your ability to lie.”

Its head pounded as it was suddenly amidst a conversation, sitting across someone, something adorned in white. It couldn’t make out their face, blurred, lost as soon as it looked at it. But at the same time it felt itself sitting upright, looking into their eyes holding some sort of conversation.

“We never wanted this for them. We still remember, we choose not to tell. After all this was what they wanted, what has made them the happiest they’ve ever been. We’ve even considered burning all that we have and letting them be.”

The voice was not its own. The words expelled not of its own mind but coming from some recess that it no longer felt connected to. It felt, loss. Of some kind, but at the same time as its body began to shake the words soothed its mind once again. Silencing any sort of emotions brewing beneath the surface.

“They’re awake now. They don’t know. Nor do we think they ever should have to. . .”

There was a lengthy pause between what was said. Its gaze forced to the ceiling. A cool metallic gray that held no interest to it.

“We think this is best. We know that our presence has been useful to your continued endeavors with them but our place here with them will only bring the possibility of greater harm in the future. We believe this is our last time here with you.”

It was crying, cool tears streaking down the sides of its face as it sat there. Staring off into the soulless metallic ceiling as if there was something hidden in its dulled homogeneous nature hid something deeper beneath the surface.

“We’re sad to see you go so soon, but we understand how the process might make things difficult in the future. Is there anything we can do for them, anything at all that might make this transition easier?”

There was movement, a shifting of hands. Its posture suddenly lurching forwards and snatching at something on the tabletop. Its other hand accepting something from the entity in white. It wrote something, incomprehensible. A scrawl of jumbled letters and numbers seemingly floating on the page as it pushed it towards the figure.

“We can make that happen. Thank you again for your insight and co-operation in our ventures here. You’ve helped ensure a healthy precedent going forwards.”

The figure extended its hand while thanking it. It didn’t understand what was going on at all. Its head was still pounding but as it reached out with trembling hands the feeling waned. Taking the figures hand in its, its heart raced. Vision blurring and dopamine flooding its system as it panted.

Whatever it had been thinking about was gone, the words that it didn’t understand. The strange voice, not its own, was not a distant memory but entirely removed.

It was even more confusing about how it’d gotten there. Why was it here but this simple act, tenderly holding her hand. Everything else melted away. Nothing else seemed to matter as its vision became a blur, hands reaching down to lift it from the chair.

It didn’t know where it was going, vision a blur of blindingly white corridors that encouraged it to shut its eyes for most of the passage, but it felt happy. For once.