Curves of Askii: Tavani's Adventure

The sheets are always the same. Light and smooth but rough to the touch, as if you could breathe through them.

I've been here a long time. Longer than I knew you could live without eating. One day just turned into another and then another, until one day they didn't. It was boring at first, but after a while it became exciting. Then I got used to that excitement and craved something else. Now I don't know what I feel anymore - or if I'm even alive enough to feel anything.

The sheets have changed a few times, though. Sometimes they're white and sometimes they're grey or brown or blue or pink. Once there was a pattern on them and once there weren't any sheets at all. Once there were clothes on me and once there wasn't any of that either because they'd taken it off me so they could watch me move around naked while I tried to get some sleep. That's how I remember moving around now - like I was trying to sleep in my own skin at night and struggling with it in the morning.

The lights change too, now that I think about it. Not just colours - before it was always really bright but now it's not so much anymore, although it's still not dark enough to sleep through when they turn out the lights to get some rest.

Some of them are nice, like Dr Lea who makes me drink water from a bottle after she injects me with something every morning no matter if I don't want to or not because she says that's how we stay alive here and I should be grateful for what we have here instead of complaining about it all the time because lots of people would kill for this place even though it's nothing special from where she's from which is somewhere far away from here because she doesn't even know where she is and wouldn't understand if she did because this is where she lives now and has done for a long time which is more than most people can say for themselves these days but there were lots of people who lived here most of her life so what happened?

There's someone else who came along sometimes when Dr Lea isn't here anymore, who touches me all over my body as soon as he walks in the room even though my arms are tied down behind my back because otherwise he says he won't do your treatment today little girl because you need to learn who's boss around here in case you forgot while you were sleeping all curled up on your side with your eyes shut tight like that so close to being asleep that you don't even realise how good it feels when someone touches you like this...

I try to close my eyes again but he keeps shaking me by my shoulder and saying "Hey little girl! You're gonna miss out on your treatment if you keep sleeping so hard!" until he lets go of me and reaches for his tools instead and picks one up, glinting in the light overhead as he brings it closer to my face until I feel him pushing down on my chin with his other hand while twisting it open wide enough for him to slide whatever-it-is inside...

"You're gonna be kinda sore later on but that'll wear off eventually," he says cheerfully before stepping out of the room and taking his bag with him after checking everything is set up properly and leaving the door open behind him so anyone walking past can see us sitting together like this all nice and cosy together "You never know when you might need some extra punishment around here - especially if you're like this little lady here..."

He gestures in my direction with his thumb strained almost backwards from being pointed straight out at an angle. Then he turns around and strides off towards the exit, calling out loud enough for everyone else to hear "You never know when someone might wanna punish someone else either!"

I think about getting up again when he leaves but I don't know if anyone will notice if I do or if they'll stop me anyway because there are too many others watching me right now instead of doing their job...

When they leave, they always leave me alone in this room with just the sheets covering me while they go outside and play games or look at pictures or talk about things I wish they wouldn't because then rumours start spreading like wildfire across the whole building until everyone knows everything about every person everywhere except for those few people who don't want anyone knowing anything about them ever...

And then there are those times they don't leave me alone at all...

I lie there listening to the sound of people walking past outside in the hallways until someone comes into view outside my doorway and then stops still for a moment before walking inside wearing... well not quite a uniform but kind of like one? They walk inside slowly with their hands clasped behind their back like an old-fashioned schoolteacher...