Co-operative creative writing.

I watch as Colin slowly walks over to the chair. It reminds me of the one at the dentists, but with different tools. Not that I would want any of those in my mouth. The Doctor, Jonathan Raid, walks over to another seat in the corner that I didn't notice when we come in. It is behind Colin's chair, so as he sits down in it he can't see what Dr. Raid is doing. The doctor sits down, and presses a button on the wall in front of him. The wall slides open, revealing some kind of inset desk, with a computer sitting on it. He punches in a few commands, and the chair Colin is sitting in begins to move. The chair rises two feet, lifting Colin's feet off the ground. "Now, Colin," the Doctor commands, "Lean back and relax. This will only take a few moments." Colin leans back, but I can see that he is scared. Just like me. Now Dr. Raid gets up and walks over to the table of instruments. He fiddle around for a few moments, then approaches Colin holding the bundle of plastic wires. "Do you know what these are?" He asks. "Yes, I do have a guess. I read about them in a book that I have at my house. This is some of the stuff that they use during the Properization Surgery, right?" "Yes... It is..." He responds. He quickly walks back to the table and sets the wires down. Now I am totally bewildered. I have no idea what he is doing. He approaches another portion of the wall, and again presses a button I didn't notice. Another section of wall opens up, revealing some kind of headset. It looks kind of like a crown, but it is covered in clear plastic. inside the plastic, I can see all kinds of microchips and other bits or tech. As he brings it back towards Colin, I can see the inside of the band. It is lined with tiny spikes, which look like they would prick your head if you tried to put it on. Dr. Raid tells Colin "This may hurt a bit. These things don't adjust in size at all. Don't worry, though, this isn't a part of the Surgery." He places the crown-thing on Colin's head, and pushes it down until it is resting just above his temples. I can see Colin grimace in pain as the spikes poke his head from all around. Then, Dr. Raid pulls out some kind of remote and presses a button. Colin goes limp in the chair. "What did you do to him? What is that?" I demand. "Calm down, girl. It is just a device that allows me to view his memories. You see, information about the Surgery is confidential, and I want to know more about this "Book" that he read to gain the information he had. By accessing his core memory, I can accomplish this quickly, and gain more information that I would by merely questioning him." I just stand there as a projector slowly descends from the ceiling, and begins playing on the wall. It looks like a movie, but it is being rewound so fast that I can't really tell what is happening. A lot of it takes place at places I have been to, Colin's house and at school. Suddenly, Jonathan Raid pauses the memories. "There!" He exclaims,"This is the book!" "Hmmm...." he mumbles, examining it. He skips around a bit, looking at more memories about the place. I know where it is, of course. It is the old library room in Colin's basement. Nobody else ever went down there. Colin's parents used to spend a lot of time in there, but suddenly stopped a couple of years ago. Colin told me about it. they acted as though it didn't exist, and blew him off whenever he asked about it. He brought me down there a few times, so I could see it too. As the Doctor is skipping around, he makes another sudden stop. "What is this!?" I look up, pulled out of my reverie. He is looking at... me. It must be from one of the times when Colin brought me down there. Jonathan Raid turns to me. "He brought you down there?" He asks, looking at me. "Y-yes, a couple of times. There were a lot of books down there, but I didn't read nearly as many of them as he did." With that, he turns from he, looking dejected. "Oh, I see." then, mumbling, "Well, I can't expect to get lucky twice, now can I? Well, that's not quite true. She has read some, now hasn't she?" "Well," he says with finality, "That should be sufficient for now. Let's wake him up." The projector turns off, and retracts back into the ceiling. The chair lowers back down to the ground. he walks over to Colin and presses another button on his remote. Colin sits up, no longer limp. Dr. Raid pulls the crown off of Colin's head, and I can see a line of red dots where it looks like the crown cut him. Colin looks over at me and begins talking at rapid speed. "It was so weird! I was awake the whole time, but I couldn't move! I was living my life in reverse but I could still understand it. I did a bunch of things that I had forgotten, re-read books, everything! I could also hear you guys talking. Well, Dr. Raid? What now?" "That will be the effect of the coma-inducing chemicals I used," muses Dr. Raid. "They allow the patient to be perfectly aware during procedures, and give them an extremely positive disposition for a few moments after waking up. Very useful." Suddenly Colin's demeanor darkens back to normal. He looks at the doctor, and I can see nervous energy in his eyes. "Now," Dr. Raid says, in reference to Colin's question, "I need to examine her memories." "My memories? Why?" I exclaim, suddenly feeling a pit in my stomach. My hands grow cold and my face gets hot. I am definitely scared. "I need to know what you know. If what you said to me is true." He remarks casually. This isn't going to work. If he examines my memories, he is going to find out that I lied all of those times. I don't know what he will do then. After all, lying to adults is a Crime. "Okay." I say as I approach the chair. Colin can see that I am worried, but he doesn't know why. I can see the confusion on his face. I climb into the chair, and Jonathan Raid puts the crown thing on my head. Then, everything goes dark. - - - I suddenly wake up, and can recall everything that they just witnessed. I am ecstatic for some reason, but I can't seem to remember why. I am kind of babbling, but it is okay. I feel pretty good. Then it hits me. The Doctor saw my lies. he knows I lied. And now he is looking at me coldly, like I am garbage. "Truly a shame," he says. "You had so much potential, like this young man here. But look at what you've done." As he is talking, he walks towards another part of the wall. "Do you know what the penalty for that many felonies is?" He presses a button, and the wall opens. Inside is a long, sharp knife. "Death." He says, as he picks it up. He looks at me, but his eyes are cold and alien. Like I am an animal. "Step away, son. She is filthy garbage." Colin begins to react.