Master B-1901 (Garden of the Gods #14)

Master B-1901

W as someone screaming? Pleading? Yes, those piercing tones lanced into my very being. And I could feel myself searching them out, trying to decipher the mystery that came with them. Trying to dissect the different layers of emotion attached to the screams…or yells. Screaming? Rage? Begging?

“Breathe, Brad. It’s time to wake up. Wake up! Breathe!”

Whack!

Bright light blinded me as I sucked in as much oxygen as I could. Heat was pouring from my skin, and it had nothing to do with the throbbing of my cheek. Wetness covered every inch of me. My clothes were soaked. I gasped and coughed. Humming voices were buzzing just out of reach as my mind tried making sense of what I was seeing.

The Main Master was…arguing with my doctor? With Mistress Two? Both of them were looking at me, but their harsh expressions they were giving each other muddled my mind even more.

“I told you it was too far .”

“And you clearly saw I had it under control. You interrupted and tried to take over,” Elec roared. “We were getting somewhere. You ruined it by inserting yourself. Why would you do that? You know better, Melissa.”

“Master.”

A hand fitted against my cheek. I jumped at the touch, jerking my gaze to a stranger. To a woman…I knew? I felt I did.

“Master,” she said, lowly, again. “I’m here. Would you like me to get you water?”

Water…

I quickly nodded, watching her stand to walk across the room.

“Brad.” The Main Master kneeled as I fought to focus on his face. I knew him. In the very core of me, he was there. The woman…Melissa. I knew her too. But. I looked back at the beautiful woman, filling the water. She was still looking at me. And I knew her too. I did. She called me Master. Yes...Master. That was me now. I was…a Master. Her Master . My slave. That’s right. “Brad.”

Back and forth I went from pale blue eyes to sapphire ones. From my slave to the Main Master.

“Elec.” I cleared my throat. “Main Master.”

“Elec is fine. You don’t have to worry about titles right now. We’re friends. We’ve always been friends. Brad, how do you feel?”

Taking the water, I drank it down as if I couldn’t get enough. And suddenly I couldn’t. I didn’t stop until it was finished.

“I feel…tired.” My slave took the glass, heading back to refill it. “I can’t think very clearly.”

“It’s normal to feel that way after you’ve been under as deep as you were.”

I wiped the sweat from my face.

“Who was screaming? I heard…I think.” Pain had my hand shooting up to my head as I winced. “Someone keeps—Fuck.”

“That was you, Master.”

My lids cracked as I lowered my hand from my head and took the water.

“What do you mean?”

My slave seemed to catch herself, glancing at Elec. “You were the one screaming. It was you.”

“ Me? No, I’m hearing them in my head. That wasn’t me . ”

The slave didn’t speak as she once again looked to the Main Master. It had me moving my attention to him.

“Was I screaming?”

“I would say yelling. They weren’t screams. And we couldn’t make sense of what you were saying, so it’s hard to know.”

“I was yelling.” It wasn’t a question. My voice was monotone as I brought the cup to my lips trying to recall the reoccurring dream or memory that kept coming.

Yelling.

Yelling.

I was yelling? At whom? Why?

Nothing was clear as I finished off the water and pushed to stand. The tension between Elec and Melissa built at her walking closer, and I didn’t want to have any part of it.

“Are we done? My head hurts. I’m ready to go back to my apartment.”

The Main Master went to speak but stopped himself as he threw a hard look at my doctor. At the gesture of his hand, Mistress Two straightened her shoulders.

“I want you back in a few days. We need to address some things discovered today. I’m pretty busy, but I’ll call you when I have an exact time and date. It’s imperative we get you in.”

I didn’t wait. I reached over grabbing my slave’s hand as I headed for the door. Just as I approached, I placed the glass on a small table, pushing through the door at a fast pace. My legs were wobbly, and pain kept stabbing into my brain. It felt like mush. Like someone had put it in a jar and shook the hell out of it.

“I don’t know why I keep coming back to this shit.” I slowed at the elevator, stopping as I took in the button. At my long pause, my slave reached forward, pushing it for me. The fact that I hadn’t thought to do that left me pulling at the collar of the gray T-shirt I wore.

“Master, I detect you’re unwell. The session was hard on you. May I make a suggestion?”

Was I supposed to answer? I was suddenly too tired to speak. My arm lifted, and I flicked my hand, half lazily, half…unable to remember what to say.

“I believe you need rest. I would like for you to nap while I make you lunch. Something healthy and nutritious. Maybe if?—”

“Sandwich. I don’t do healthy.”

Dizziness had me reaching for the wall next to the elevator. My slave had her arm around me, leading me to the lounge area before I could get steady on my feet. How she managed to take on the majority of my weight was baffling but barely a thought as I fought the rotation of the room.

“You need assistance. I will get the Main Master.”

The room wavered, almost turning sideways as I went to tell her no. But it was already too late. She was running, and me…I was falling to the side on the loveseat she’d sat me on.

Colors blurred. The view before me faded. The screams edged in, and I could feel my breath catch in my throat.

“I’m going to tell you a story…It didn’t have to be this way.”

“I didn’t know. Please. I didn’t know!”

The collage of screams came back, deafening and overwhelming to my senses. I could feel my lids squeezing shut. My teeth were biting down against each other as I covered my ears to muffle them out.

“I didn’t know,” I ground out. “I didn’t know!”

“Brad.” Pressure gripped my shoulder, shaking and squeezing me. “Brad!”

“I didn’t know.”

“Brad, look at me.”

The room spun again as I was pulled up. I stared into the Main Master’s face, but I didn’t recognize the man who was staring at me in his own sense of horror. He was pale. He looked just as shaky as me.

“Talk to me. What happened?”

“I didn’t know.”

“Didn’t know? What didn’t you know?” He glanced between me and my slave, who wasn’t feet to the side of him. Even she appeared…off.

“Like I said when I ran into the office, he almost passed out. My Master is unwell.”

Elec pulled at his tie, turning to sink down into the sofa next to me. I was still off balance, but the room was coming in more clearly, as was my slave’s sudden stature. It had the fog dissipating enough to realize how quiet the room was. Quiet minus the click of heels that were beginning to approach.

“You look sicker than me.”

Elec glanced over, adjusting his tie as he turned more in my direction.

“I didn’t sleep last night. The hours are catching up with me. That’s all. Tell me about you. What didn’t you know, Braddock?”

I tensed at the name but was too exhausted to fight the anger that came with it.

“I don’t remember. I’m not even sure that was me saying that. The screams. They?—”

“What’s going on out here?”

“Side effect. Dizziness. That’s all. You can go back to your office now, Melissa.”

Elec’s voice was hard but shaky. The rage was there. The dislike was dripping with every word he spoke, but he wasn’t glaring at her anymore. He wasn’t looking at her at all.

“I see.” She scanned my face. “And you’re okay now?”

“Yes. I think I left the office too fast. It must have caught up with me.”

“Happens all the time. The Main Master is right. I have another appointment coming up. I’ll call you soon.”

“Alright.”

Elec didn’t look her way until the clicks of her heels were almost gone.

“Let me help you back to your apartment. I’m afraid you were under deeper than we expected. You’re probably going to feel a little off for the next few hours. It’ll pass with rest.”

I let him help me stand, and I followed him to the elevator.

“My slave advised the same. She’s going to make a nice lunch. I’m sure that’ll do the trick.”

He nodded, pressing the elevator’s button.

“Main Master…what happened in there? I think I can recall my grandfather. Or…Pierce Hall. I think I was there?”

“You were.”

“Why? And why was I yelling? Who was screaming? You have to know something. What in the hell is happening to me? Who am I? I feel like I don’t even know anymore. I’m so confused, and I think I’m getting worse by the day.”

The doors opened, and Elec hesitated before placing his arm on my shoulder and leading us in. When they shut, he let go and shifted, letting out a deep breath.

“Brad, how would you feel about me being your doctor from here on out?”

“You? But…” I stopped. “Is Mistress—Melissa…is she not helping me?”

For seconds he didn’t speak. The doors opened, and again, his arm settled on my shoulder, guiding me to my hall. He didn’t continue until I was unlocking the door and we were inside.

“Elec? What the hell is going on?”

There was no formality as he walked over and collapsed on my sofa. He leaned back, placing both of his palms over his face. A sound pushed through but ended just as fast. As if he were a completely different person, he sat up straight, squaring his shoulders as he looked at me.

“I can’t tell you what’s going on because I don’t know. I’m just as confused as you. The man who I invited to the Gardens is gone. The boy I grew up with has disappeared. I spent hours last night reading over your chart.” He continuously shook his head. “I must have gone over it countless times. You’re not schizophrenic. You have no history of trauma or anything close to a trigger that might have somehow…caused this. I can’t say much because truthfully, I had no idea this was even going on. It’s like you’re not even the same person. Do you hear what I’m saying?”

He gestured for the sofa, and I took a seat, leaving a cushion between us. My heart was racing. I felt sick. Anxiously violent. It was dancing along the blade that was digging into my heart, i nto my mind , at even talking about this .

“I hear what you’re saying, but I don’t understand it. Am I really so different? I don’t feel like I’ve changed at all. I’m still the same person I ever was.”

The shocked confusion he wore while shaking his head told me he was baffled at how I could even say that.

“Brad, I want to ask you questions, and you answer yes or no. There is no right or wrong answer, only insight for me as a doctor.”

“Okay.”

“Did you serve in the military?”

I paused. “Absolutely. I joined after college. You know this. Or maybe not. You were so heartbroken over Vivia. I…I didn’t say goodbye to you.”

He didn’t respond.

“When you got out, you said you were homeless.”

“I was. I lived on the streets for quite a while.”

“Your family is wealthy. Why didn’t you go home?”

My eyes turned from his, down to the floor. Swallowing hard, I felt my body nearly shutter.

“My father and I got into a fight before I left. He disowned me. He told me if I joined, I wasn’t allowed to ever come back. I got out and…I guess I was already sick at that point. I bounced around. I even held some jobs for a few months, but eventually it was too much.”

Emotion flickered behind Elec’s gaze only a moment before he nodded.

“You say you were sick. That’s what landed you in jail? What happened?”

Something between a groan and an aggravated sound left me.

“The episodes. They weren’t as often as they are now, but they happened. I’d blackout…people would be hurt. I killed a man. They didn’t believe or care that I didn’t remember. There was a video. They had everything they needed to lock me away. But then I was set free, and I came to the Gardens.”

“Amazing. You truly believe this.”

“Believe it? Elec, I lived it . It’s real… and I can prove it .”