Prologue

The hospital was like any other in the Western world.

Neat, clean, fancy, and expensive.

In the middle of the room, a closed curtain around a bed preserved the modesty of who lay within its boundary.

I stared out of the window.

The rain pooled around the corners of the glass, as though they were reminders of my inability to feel much of anything these days. I wanted to, but, I just couldn't.

The feeling of disconnection wasn't helped by the fact I have to be here for my grandmother, who is slowly dying, while my dad 'does his best to serve his country'.

The sound of my grandmothers respirator was hypnotic, but I didn't want to drawn in, not to wherever she is at least. Her heart rate was normal, and upon checking, her face was serene, but, she just wasn't there.

It really freaked me out to think of the same woman dancing around to Tina Turner not long ago, is now in this state - here, and not here at all.

I sat staring at the car park outside, trying to drown out the noise of dad's latest speech on the television in the corner but, it wasn't working:

"It is every mans purpose to provide everything he can for those he holds dear. He must fight for his right to be alive. Without this, we are nothing more than animals."

Sure, he had a way with words, but, if only the crowd baying in celebration for him truly knew what he was like behind the scenes. The only reason I am here today is because he wasn't looking after anything besides his own selfish interests.

I am not one for revenge but it makes no sense to me, in a world where we are about to overcome death, there are people out there, like my grandmother, who are stuck in limbo.

He shouldn't be telling others how to be better, let alone providing services that eradicates the death process altogether, when his own mother is vegetative and has had very little brain activity for months on end.

He was keeping her like this, I was sure of that.

***

"Julie, we are going there tonight and putting the chip in. She will be up and ready to go home tomorrow, I promise you!" a man slammed the phone down, almost licking his teeth in delight.

Vernal Clarkson was a man of his word, and he had promised his siblings that within the first round of patients being given the life saving and extension microchip, his mother was going to be one of the first.

To be brought back from the very brink of deaths grasp, and back to the world of the living, to remain with us many, many years into the future.

They had already worked out the kinks to bring people back to life, but, the issue was, the technology was so good, there is no off-switch.

Once it's in and on, its there forever. Hidden within a tiny capsule, feeding information to the organism of which they are a part. Secreted away, yet very much in charge.

Vernal was particularly proud of this function, as it was the hardest part of the process, to not have the body reject it, but take it own as if it were a part of whatever they were.

He smirked and scoffed over his whiskey tumbler.

He deserved this, and he was determined to enjoy every second.

***

I was drifting in and out of sleep.

It was dark when I first arrived, but, it was lighter now. I couldn't see it exactly, but, I knew it was there.

I couldn't feel much but there was a breeze gently blowing across my skin. My dress was the same as I remember putting on, I could feel it laid flat against my legs, but, I was in a state of suspended animation, and couldn't move.

There was a faint and distant beeping sound that seemed out of place where I laid, and, I could feel the cold stable floor beneath me, with the spiked edges of the straw poking into my arms.

I was too young to be playing out here on my own, I knew that now, as I laid here helpless. Mom really was right, it was a dangerous world for a little girl like me.

Well, not so little in age, but in physique I suppose that was true. And given my current predicament, I'd have to agree with Mom for the first time in forever.

"Anna?" came a mans voice, and I could hear him running from the stable door towards me. "How did you get down here?"

I could feel him shake me gently, but, I couldn't respond, despite being very much there, somewhere.

"Oh, no!" he shuddered, panicking because I was hurt, but, I really couldn't feel much beyond vague sensations on the edges of my awareness, like touch.

"I'm alive!" I called from inside my head, not really sounding convinced, and surprised at my own cognizance of the situation.

The man laid me back on the ground, and ran for the door shouting: "Mavis, get Bianca on the phone, Anna is really hurt!"

I wanted to tell the man, whoever he was, that I am really quite fine. I don't feel myself hurt, or injured at all. Simply sleeping, trapped awake inside my own body. I couldn't say anything, I couldn't move, and I was about to be taken somewhere else by people I don't even know.

Come to think of it, who is Anna?

My name is Eliza, it was not Anna.

It then dawned on me, I didn't even know who I was, where I was, what happened that brought me here, or who these other people were.

I could hear high heeled shoes dashing across the stone floor outside, this must be Mavis, coming to check how hurt Anna is, before hauling her away to a hospital.

I had always hated those places.

"Colin, come quickly. Anna is hurt, we need your help. Oh, her eyelid just moved!" before I blacked out again.

***