Damaris Cruz, “The Unspoken”

THE UNSPOKEN

Damaris Cruz

Before I could get my eyes open fully, I heard my mom screaming, “CALL THE DOCTORS, HE’S WAKING UP.” I started to hear a bunch of footsteps swarming into the room. My eyes were open slightly, but not enough to get a clear view of who was in my room. All I could hear was the beeping noise from the heart rate machine and the sound of my mom sniffing as if she was crying. I didn’t even know what was going on, or why I was in the hospital. My eyes fully opened, and a doctor flashed a light in my face. “Teejay, do you know where you are?” I knew I was in a hospital, I just didn’t know where. I tried to move but, for some reason, I felt pure pain throughout my body. “Ahh!” flew out my mouth as soon as I tried to move. The doctor thought it would be a good idea to take me to get some x-rays and blood work done to see if I was okay. I asked my mom and sister Aniyah what happened and why I was in the hospital. They couldn’t even look me in the eyes. My mom couldn’t even stop crying to tell me what was going on. My sister just came out and said, “TeeJay, you were kidnapped five years ago. They found you in the North woods.” My body froze; the hairs on the back of my neck started to stand up. I would have never thought this would happen to me. You see shit like this in movies, but you never actually think it would happen to you. WHAT THE HELL?! I had so many questions I wanted to ask at that right moment, but my sister already looked like she was holding back tears trying to be strong and my mom couldn’t even look at me without crying. The doctor came back in. I couldn’t help but to think he was about to tell me the worst, tell me I’m dying or something. I don’t know it’s just so much going through my head I couldn’t even think straight.

“Hey Teejay, how are you feeling kid?” asked the doctor. Me: “Umm, I’m feeling okay I guess… Is everything okay with my test?” Doctor: “Surprisingly yes, everything was perfect. We are just gonna keep you here for at least two or three days to make sure everything stays that way, then you can go home.”

Three days later: The doctors said I could go home. I didn’t even know what to expect my life to be like. I mean, I literally missed so much of my life. The last thing I can even remember is my friends Ty and Jayden talking about the new Lil Uzi music video, and now all of a sudden I’m in the hospital. Being told that I missed five years of my life, thirteen to eighteen without even knowing it. On the car ride home, me and Aniyah were just getting to all the music that’s new, and we talked about everything that’s been going on in her life and everyone else that I was close with. After thirty minutes of talking, we finally started to pull up to my neighborhood. I lived in Brooklyn so it was always active. Kids were outside playing and the aunties outside gossiping, while the uncles and grandpas gambled playing cards. No matter what it was, my block was never quiet. It was nothing like that. But kids weren’t even playing outside, it was dead silent on the block. Weird since it was summer time. Walking in my house I couldn’t help but take a long pause before even taking another step into the house. Mom: “Is everything okay Tee?” I didn’t wanna scare her or anything so I just acted calmly, like coming back to what appeared to be a different house didn’t affect me in any way. “Um, no, yeah, I’m fine. I just want to go up to my room.” Walking up to my room didn’t even feel the same. This doesn’t even feel like home. I opened the door to my room. Everything was the same, my Uzi posters on the wall, my bedsheets, down to the laundry I never

did. I couldn’t help but lay on my bed and just think about life before I could even get the chance to sink in the sheets. Some images popped up in my head. Well, I wouldn’t say images, it felt more like a flashback. Me running from someone. But not just running, it’s like I was speeding, like lightning, I could feel the adrenaline running through my body, the wind blowing in my curly hair. I finally snapped back into reality, gripping on my sheets as if I was in pain. I passed it off as me just daydreaming. I mean what else could it be. The person that was chasing me was a female, she was pretty, like the Victoria’s Secret models I used to think of. Why would a woman like that be chasing me? I passed it off trying to forget what happened. But for some reason, I couldn’t shake it. I tried to go about my day as normal, trying to forget what just happened. I spent some time with family, and even some friends from school came to visit. I had fun, it was good to catch up, but seeing how much everyone had changed was scary. Everyone was all grown up. My friends went from thirteen to eighteen with what felt like the blink of an eye. Momma had made some pizza, which was my favorite. Niya invited some friends over that she wanted to introduce me to. Her friends were really cool, I really learnt so much about my sister’s life since I’ve been gone. Everything my mom and sister did for me was honestly so nice. I even got to see Ty, one of my best friends. He told me Jayden couldn’t make it because he was away on a college tour. As we were sitting on the couch, playing the Playstation with my sister, a knock came to the door. It was a man. A tall, brown-skinned man, who looked like he could talk you into doing just about anything. The man gave my mom a hug, said hi to all of our friends, and then he finally got to my sister and me on the couch. He said, “Hey Niya, how’s it going?” My sister didn’t seem to be fazed by anything, she replied how she would to a family member. “Oh hey, Alex. Everything is fine, how about you?” I don’t know anything about the guy who just walked in, but it seems off.

He finally came up to greet me, with his hand out, “Hey Teeja—” my mind instantly went to another place. I found myself laying down on a bed, with a tray of needles on my bedside, my arms strapped up. Like how they would do the mentally-ill people in the hospital. I couldn’t help but to try and break free. I started to hear loud footsteps coming from the hallway outside the door, like a woman’s heel. Looking at that door I see the woman. The one that looks like a Victoria Secret model that was chasing me. “It’s you, what is going on? Why am I here?” Woman: “Teejay, you’re finally awake…” I started to freak out, trying my hardest to break free. Woman: “Calm down Tee, I’m not trying to hurt you.” Me: “What the hell are you doing to me? What’s going on?” The woman just chuckled. Someone else walked in the door, a man with a lab coat looking down at a hospital chart. The man was tall. He finally looked up at me and it was Alex. I didn’t know what to think or say. I just started to stare into his eyes without even saying a word. Then I started to hear Niya ́s voice. “Tee, you good?” I looked at Alex in his eyes as I was shaking his hand, I pulled away. “Yeah Niyah I’m fine, let’s finish this game.” I could shake this one off as a daydream. It’s clear that something weird is going on. I don’t know what, but I need to figure it out. Alex went into the kitchen with my mom to eat some pizza, and I couldn’t help but to question my sister about him. “What do you know about this Alex dude?” She can tell I was feeling a little annoyed by him being here. Niya: “Chill Tee, he’s cool. Him and mom have been together for like four years now.” I just replied with, “Mmm, yeah right, I’ma go upstairs real quick.” I went upstairs into my room and opened my old Macbook from 2016, and decided to go on a deep search of Alex’s Facebook. I may have missed five years but the way to find

things out about someone didn’t seem to change. I found out that he’s a scientist and he works at a lab in Manhattan. He had pictures with his coworkers, friends, and family. I ended up coming across a picture with him and some women, with the caption, “Best science duo you’ll come across.” The woman looked familiar. Suddenly, I started to get memories of the visions from earlier. The woman that was chasing me and that had me locked up in the hospital bed. IT WAS HER. What the hell is going on? What is this?! I didn’t even know what was going on, but I knew whatever Alex was involved somehow some way. A few days have passed, and I’ve been spending more time with my family along with Alex. I still don’t like him, but I’m trying to keep it together while also investigating him, asking him questions about his job, his personal life, and the people he works with. My mom told me that Alex was going to spend the night tonight, and she wanted to make sure that I was okay with it since I technically don’t even know him. I wasn’t okay with it but I figured this is a good way to get closer. When it hit about 11:00 PM, I decided to call it a night and went up to my room. I fell asleep, and all of a sudden I heard the floorboards by my room door creek, and a light but heavy footstep. It woke me up, but I wanted to see what this person was going to do so I went to sleep. I peeped my eyes open and saw that it was Alex. He had a needle in his hand with some booger-green liquid inside of it. After seeing that my palms started to sweat, and I couldn’t even breathe right. He started to inject the needle into my right arm. I could feel whatever liquid was going through my body. Alex didn’t leave my room after injecting me. He sat in my room on my computer chair staring at me. About ten minutes later, this feeling of anger came over me, and my body started to overheat. I felt like I was strong, like I could do anything. Something in me took over. I felt like I wasn’t me anymore. I heard Alex say, “g7X you there?” g7X: “Yes captain, it’s me.” Alex: “I think I finally found a way for you to live your life on

earth using Teejay’s body.” g7X: “After all these years we can finally take over, using the serum. FINALLY WE ARE GOING TO TAKE EVERYTHING OVER!” Alex: “Let’s start with Teejay’s family. Inject all your brothers and sisters in them, let’s start our family.” g7X: “Okay Dad.” To be continued . . .

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