2. Science

Photo credit: Denise Larkin -The Flat Iron building in New York

I walked into the lab and waited for Dr Darrell to tell me what he wanted me to start working on. I'd been looking forward to this day for a while and now it was finally here. I wanted to enjoy every minute of it.

Darrell guided me to a room that was locked and it had to be opened by entering a code and a handprint. This meant I would not be able to get in myself until I'd gotten my authorization clearance from personnel.

"Miss Bridges..." Dr Darrell's voice brought me back to reality.

"Oh, please call me Lucy, doctor," I announced.

"Very well. Then you must call me Darrell. Now, this room is very important to me. Something very special is in here and it must be protected at all times. Do you understand Lucy?" He asked as I nodded declaring that I understood.

He was very serious when he spoke and he stared directly into my eyes with a stern expression. I understood by his look that he had been working on something very important in this room and I was about to enter it. I realised he might want me to work with him on this project. Doctor Simmons always had many different types of projects going on at the same time from what I'd heard. I had learned this about him when I had tried a few months ago to contact him.

"Yes I understand very clearly, Darrell," I said with a determination.

I wanted to see what was in this room as he began to lead me inside. What could be in there? I knew he had worked on various scientific projects in the past. Some of them were for the army and the government but they were top secret and I didn't have a clue what they were. I had heard that he was fascinated with the mind more than anything and I had heard, through various pipelines, that he had discovered something unique about the mind. Perhaps, I was about to find out what that was today. I smiled to myself, hoping he would show me and that it would be in this room.

He guided me inside slowly. At first, I could not see anything, but then I saw a huge chair made of leather with computerized buttons on each of its armrests. I didn't have a clue what it could be. It was strangely, scientific in some way. I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

"Lucy this is my new creation. It is something quite unique in itself. You will understand more when you see how it works. So the first thing for you to start with on your first day of working with me is not to write facts down or talk this through, but to actually experience my new project called 'The Chair.'"

"Experience it? What do you mean? What to do you want me to do?" I asked feeling excited and apprehensive at the same time.

"Well, it's simple really. I just want you to sit in it and give it a try." He spoke slowly, looking at me as he did.

"Just sit in it?" I asked curiously and feeling a little strange about it. "But what does it do doctor? Is it safe and has anyone else tried it yet?"

"Ah... well, I will tell you a little about what it will do before you sit in it but no one has tried it yet except for myself." He paused and was silent for a brief moment. "This chair is supposed to transport your mind to a place or to somebody that the memory can recall in everyday life. The chair will do everything when you set it with instructions by using these keys here on the armrests. Do you understand now?"

I was excited but I was also felt scared by the possibility of actually trying the chair before learning about it first. I was willing to give it a go but I was unsure why Dr Darrell wanted me to try it so quickly and on my first day of starting my new job. I had never expected him to make anything so creative like a chair. Why was he in such a hurry to get me on the chair though? 

I got the feeling he was up to something and that he needed someone else's opinion.

"Yes. I understand completely. This chair will take me somewhere using my mind. Correct?"

"Yes. Correct dear. Now come on tell me something you wish to recall that you cannot remember and I will instruct the chair to do that whilst you sit in it. Is there a time in your childhood maybe that you did not understand something or perhaps someone you wish to meet that you had never met before? Even someone you have seen on television maybe like a character." He said as I tried to think of something.

"Never met before? It can do that? That sounds exciting. Can I meet a famous person?" I asked.

"Yes, Lucy you can. Who do you want to meet?"

"How about putting me on a beach where I can meet a vampire or a wizard of some kind. Can you do that? I would love to meet a vampire from a book or television series." I said feeling a bit unsure about what I had just told Dr Darrell.

"I can try to do that Lucy. Tell me the name of the vampire or book."

"Okay. I want to meet Damon Salvatore, the character from the television series called The Vampire Diaries. Can you do that? What will happen if I see him? Is it like an illusion for me or will it be like a dream?" I asked.

"Let's not go into that too much until you try it, Lucy. I cannot go into all the details. You must experience it for yourself to learn more and then you have to tell me what happened. You will have to tell me how you felt too." He explained.

"Why? What will happen?" I asked. I was thrilled about trying the chair but I was beginning to feel a little frightened.

"Trust me. Try it then we will talk about it afterwards. Now please sit down in the chair." Dr Darrell said as he guided me to the chair.

I sat in the chair as he wanted me to and I lay back as it glided downwards. My arms were locked into clamps and my legs too. Suddenly, I was scared and did not know what to think of Doctor Darrell Simmons' new creation. Would it hurt me? Was it dangerous? The questions ran through my mind as I lay there.

"Now, tell me who this character is and the details of the television series," he asked.

I told him to look up the series on the internet, so he could read about it.

"Right... Lucy, all you have to do when you close your eyes is think of the character's face and let your mind picture him. The chair will do everything else. Have fun." Dr Darrell said.

I didn't know if I was going to have fun or be absolutely terrified, but I had a feeling it would work out just fine as all this was surely not going to be real. I closed my eyes and tried to relax as I felt something zap my skull sending me into a vision of darkness.

Did you enjoy this chapter? Thanks for reading.

To be continued..................

Read Chapter 3

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