The Panopticon of Babel: Eve 1

Eve 1

I’ve gotten somewhat used to this place. The ticking, the shifting, the screaming, and the raving. If you listened you could hear them, the damned. Anyone who looks at the light past the metal bars are damned to insanity. They rave and they scream and they shout. I feel a great sense of dread whenever I am forced to share my space with one of them. Thankfully this one seems different from the others. He’s calm, serene, almost. He just sits at the bars staring. He doesn’t scream nor rave nor shout, the only noise he makes are shaky shallow breaths. He never slept either, like all of the damned. His frame was rather large and muscular. He must be new here. He wore a plain orange jumpsuit, like the rest of us, and I couldn’t get a good look at his face unless I wanted to risk looking beyond the bars.

I’m very glad that he’s so well behaved. He even slides my food tray back towards me. Our days go by without any words being spoken between us. It’s a very pleasant change of pace from my past cellmates. It was still difficult to grip things with my left arm after my last one tried to drag me to the bars. Thankfully I was able to fight her off before she forced my eyes open.

This cell seemed to last much longer than the others, and the ticking was a nice slow and consistent pace. After a few days I started to feel safe around him. He was kind to me, always sliding my food tray towards me and staying quiet and peaceful. He never broke his silence and neither did I. I was just glad to finally be able to enjoy the presence of another human being for once.

One day I decided to sit back to back with this man. He had been kind to me for the past several days, and I had missed feeling the warmth of another human being. When I sat down I could hear his breath stutter for a moment. His surprise and perceived shyness only served to endear him more. As I started to lean my back against his,  his breathing continued and he began to speak.

“What’s your name?” The man said in a whispery voice.

“Eve,” I replied, “Your’s?”

“Adam,” he chuckled.

“Well isn’t that a fun little coincidence,” I giggled. He did not respond after I spoke. He was silent once again, very silent. Despite the several days of previous silence, this silence felt eternal. This silence was different. It was painful, it was slow, it was terrifying, it felt like I was being slowly pulled apart by horses and my entrails were being splayed about in a field of mice, hungry mice. I felt as if I was going to vomit and locusts would leave my throat.

“Why don’t you look outside the room?” he finally broke the silence, “Why do you spend all your time staring into the dark?”

“The light hurts my eyes.”

“You get used to the burn. It’s much better to see something rather than nothing.”

“I can see things. It’s not complete darkness in here. There’s still some light.”

“But surely what you see in the dark is not nearly as magnificent as what I can see in the light. You must see it!”

“No thanks, I’ve seen it before.”

“And yet you still choose to stare into the dark?” his voice started to grow louder, “What could possibly compel you to refuse the light?” I started to sit up, off his back. I had made a mistake. I shouldn’t have trusted him. He was still insane like the rest of them. How could I have possibly thought that he was any different? Just because he slid some food trays back towards me? How could I have been so naive?

“Ah. W-well you know…” I stammered out, “T-to each their own and everything. You like to look at the light. I like to look at my little corner.” I jumped up off the floor as I heard him start to move. “Y-ya know it's not really all that serious we can just go back to minding our own business and everything.” I started to walk away from Adam. It was terrifying that I could not see exactly what he was doing. As far as I could tell he was still sitting down, if not a little bit more curled up. 

Tick. With a massive labour the whole cell lifted up and to the side and then eventually fell back down into place. I took a moment to regain my balance, but then I noticed a large shadow looming over me. Before I could get a word out I felt a hand grasp the back of my neck and lift me. His fingers dug deep into the sides of my neck and I could feel my spine decompress as I rose into the air. While I writhed around in his grip, he began to turn me towards the light. I frantically closed my eyes and placed my hands over my face. “PUT ME DOWN!” I screeched, “I’M SORRY FOR BOTHERING YOU, PLEASE JUST LET ME GO!”

“No, you must witness the light,” he said as he tore my hands away from my face and slammed me into the cold steel bars of the cell. Despite keeping my eyes closed my whole vision went white. I could feel my eyes start to water and burn. It hurt. I writhed around even more in his grasp, trying desperately to escape. I reached up towards his face and just started to flail. I needed to break free, but my malnutritioned body made it difficult. I felt around his face trying to find his sunken eyes with my nails, while he was using his free hand to bat away mine. Eventually after much struggle the nail of my ring finger was able to find its mark. I felt the soft and moist membrane of the eye at the tip of my jagged nail and then thrusted it inwards with all the strength I could muster. It felt like poking a grape. At first there was considerable resistance given by the skin, but once my nail worked its way through I could feel the whole thing split in two.

With the scream of a wounded beast Adam slammed me into the bars once more and his grip released as he retreated into the darkness holding his face. I stared at Adam in horror. I had nothing to protect myself, no pocket knife, no pepper spray, no rings on my fingers, and not even a flimsy food tray. I grasped the steel bars with white knuckles hoping, no praying, that one of them would come loose and I would have something to protect myself. But the bars did no such kindness, as Adam stood at his full height and began to stomp towards me.

He was tall, very tall. His face was above the light coming from the bars, and all I could see was the bloody tears tripping off his chin. He was still once again, but he was neither calm nor serene. Both his hands were clenched at his sides, red liquid dripping from his palms. His breathing was not shallow but it was still shaking. The aura of pure hatred and anger which Adam exuded was suffocating. I struggled to breath, my heart began to race, my legs started to give out, and my eyes stung and watered. I could not bear the sight of him any more. I closed my eyes and turned my head away from him and prayed to whatever gods which may exist that Adam’s attention once again returned to outside of the cell.

None answered my plea, as Adam lunged towards me. He tackled me to the ground and sat atop my stomach while his hands constricted my throat. I tried to pry them off my neck, but it was impossible. I must have missed the part where Adam kills Eve. I am going to die. Here in a concrete hell, is where my corpse will lie. His grasp grew tighter and my head started to feel light. My vision, while still blocked by my eyelids, was fading. There was a loud ringing in my ears, and for a moment everything was gone. My body was gone, my senses were gone, my self was gone…

My eyes opened to a blank concrete ceiling. What happened? Did Adam let go of me? I then tried to get up only to realize that Adam had not let me go. His hands were still around my neck and his body sat on my stomach. I shifted my eyes about, only to realize something. Adam had no head. His body was stiff as death, and where his neck should meet with his head was instead a clean slice of flesh and bone. No blood was leaving his body, and his hands were cold as ice. I was able to pry his frozen hands off my neck, and slid out from under him. There his frozen decapitated body sat. I rested on my cot staring at his shadow. It’s odd. The next tick should have happened by now. Did I miss it? Oh well, these were issues for tomorrow. I thought as I layed down in my cot and tried to fall asleep.