Morning sickness (no, he’s not pregnant, I’m making a pun)

I woke up about a hour before my alarm. Instinctively, I burst out of my room and rushed to the bathroom. I flung the toilet up and vomited my guts out. Now, this was strange. I hadn’t eaten dinner last night, so it wasn’t anything food-related.

After eons of spilling my guts, I opened my eyes and looked at the carnage. I think I knew the culprit. I recognized the shiny orange liquid in the bowel. What I didn’t understand is why I was vomiting truth serum. Wasn’t it injected into my bloodstream? I don’t know enough about anatomy for an explanation.

You know how when you throw up you kind of taste a warped version of what you had? I was feeling the fuzzy warmth the **** gave, but this time it was like a lukewarm, moist fur coat was on me. Far less appealing.

The door burst open behind me. I groggily looked over to see a disgusted but concerned Ava. My guess was she was trying to get the shower before I did after yesterday’s problem.

“Michael, what the hell? Did you drink a fucking lava lamp?!”

I looked back at the mess in the toilet. It was glowing.

“No… it’s, uh… I’m fine, rea-“ I started puking more.

“Jesus Christ, man! Okay, you have to tell me what you’re taking. I can’t help you if I don’t know what you’re on.” Ava ran to her room to grab her nurse shit.

I’d stopped vomiting when she returned. I needed to defuse the situation.

“Ava, I’m fine. I’m not on anything. I’ve never even tried pot.”

“You’re clearly on something. You scratched yourself to shreds two nights ago, and now your vomiting shit that fucking glows. I could see you with the fucking lights turned off right now!”

Yesterday a ****, a druggie; what would she accuse me of tomorrow, I wondered; maybe diagnose me with depression? Wouldn’t be too far off.

Fuck it, man. I needed answers.

“Ava… how well do you guys know Hana?”

“Hana?” She gave me a weird look. “Why?”

“Do you know what she does at Vocx?”

“Yeah, she’s an intern like you. Works in the medical department, working on cures and shit. Why are you asking about her? Want her fucking number?”

“No, no… fuck. Okay. Never mind.” I needed to be careful. I thought back to the question Hana had asked.

‘Michael, have you told anyone about what we did to you? Anything about the incident you stumbled into? Anything about the deal we’ve made, or the tests we’re running?’

I assumed they had a protocol to follow. There’s the idea that everyone has their own personal truths. I had to assume that’s how the serum worked, right? It’s based on my own knowledge. So, I’d need to reveal information in a way where I could still answer ‘no’ to all of those questions she’d asked.

“Okay, Ava, I’m going to sound like I’m insane. Just give me a chance, okay? Bad things could happen if I say the wrong thing…” I spoke somewhat slowly, ensuring that I don’t slip up.

“Are you in danger?” Ava asked, looking nervous.

“I… can’t answer that.” I scrunched my face in thought. Could I answer that? This was annoying.

Ava looked aggravated at my non-answer.

I put my finger up before she could say anything. I had an idea.

“Okay, so, I’m not saying anything about myself here…” I put emphasis on every other word, trying to make sure she knew to read between the lines, “but I heard a… rumor that they… do some unethical things at Vocx.”

Ava raised an eyebrow. “Vocx? I’ve never heard anything like that.”

“Let’s imagine I really didn’t want you to talk about something. A secret. And, if the secret got out, it would ruin me. I’d likely make some sort of… counter-measure to ensure you stay quiet, right?”

“What, like ****?”

“Think… sciencey-er. Have you seen Octopussy?”

“The James Bond movie? A long time ago, yeah. Why?”

“What did the bad guy give Bond?”

“What? I don’t know. Beat his ass?”

“Fuck. No. Uh… okay, think cartoon logic. If you needed the truth out of someone.”

She snapped her fingers. “Oh! A polygraph!”

“What? No, that’s a real thing! I mean something that sounds dumb!” I said with exasperation.

“Oh, like a truth serum?”

“Yes!”

“Wait, so…” The pieces clicked in her head. “Wait, they’re testing… why would they test a truth serum on you?”

“No, they’re not testing that on me… hypothetically. In theory, that’s how one would test to make sure they haven’t spoken out about any other kind of secrets… yeah?” I hated having to word everything so dumb.

“Okay, well then...” She got serious. “We need to know what they’re putting in you.”

“I-“

She put up a hand to cut me off. “I get your game. You can’t say anything. I’m not dumb; your logic is flawed, but I can follow it. You don’t need to confirm or deny anything, just listen.”

I nodded. I know Vanessa said a nurse wasn’t good enough, but Ava was all I had.

“Okay, from my understanding, they’re… testing something on you… then, on top of that, they’re using a separate **** to make sure you are keeping quiet. Okay. This is… okay.” She was looking off into the distance, deep in thought. I just stared at her. I flushed the toilet because I’d been sitting over my mess and it was gross.

“Okay, here’s the deal. I’m going to take a blood sample from you. I’m going to see if I can figure anything out.”

I nodded.

“Second: if there is any possible way for you to get any of the **** before they are in you, bring them to me. I’d be able to figure out a lot more that way.”

I nodded again.

Ava opened her giant first aid kit and pulled out some sort of device. It didn’t look like any medical device I’d seen before, but I also didn’t keep up with the rapid medicinal advances Vocx had been doing.

She walked over to me and grabbed my arm. She jammed the cylindrical device in my arm. It felt like a mosquito with a particularly large nose bit me. Not too bad, but not a good feeling.

“Cool. Now fuck off. I’m going to shower and get to work.” She pointed to the door. Was.. was this really the entire conversation? I felt like there should be more to this.

Right before I could close the door, Ava called out one last time.

“Hey, what did Hana have to do with any of this?”

I looked back at her. Her face showed that she already knew.

“I never said she-“

“Shut up. Plausible deniability, I get it.” She sighed.

I left. I got back into my room and threw myself into the bed. One nice thing about waking up too early was that I could go back to slee-

The alarm went off.

“Fuck….”

-

Hey guys and gals! 5k views! Nearing 100 likes! Appreciating you all, and loving the interactions I’ve had! Wanted to give a little headspace for me with this story. I’m trying to make sure I keep up with a chapter a day, but I’m scared to run out of steam. I’m not there yet, don’t worry! Just a concern I have in the back of my mind. I’m sure most authors would say “maybe plan ahead a little”, but I’ve been doing this story mostly off the cuff. I have plans, but the layout to them is… vague. I also have an idea for another story, but there is absolutely no chance I could write TWO chapters a day with the job I have. Not complaining or anything, I just sorta wanted to put a blog-esque post here to give you all an idea of my headspace with the story.

One note I’ll have is this: I’d like to **** myself to have some sort of superhero thing happen soon. I have plans way down the line, but I think something needs to be introduced soon so that, down the line, it doesn’t feel out of place. In my mind, superhero shit just happens in the background lol. I mean, think Marvel or DC. Maybe some villain robs a bank, and the hero fights them; for some guy working at a fast food place, this likely has no effect on their day. For our characters, there’s just been no connection to any super-events yet.

Also… honestly? I’m still not sure what powers Michael will get. I have so many ideas, but I’m scared to settle on one lol.

Anyway… thanks for reading! If I were to make this somewhat interactive, I’d love to hear a character you like! Any gals anyone is interested in seeing more of? I notice Sara, despite being introduced in chapter two, hasn’t been in too much since then! Strange, huh?