I wasn’t expecting it, but I wasn’t exactly surprised either. Maybe I’d seen it coming. At the very least I should have seen it coming. There had been signs of course. I should have noticed small things missing in my mind. My memories specifically tying to him had been growing fuzzy with each visit from him. The memories were being substituted for ones without him leaving a gaping hole in the middle.

When he showed up saying, “We loved each other once. A lifetime ago,” I felt the truth of it weighing on my heart and my mind. The words tugged at me in a weird way. I knew he meant it. I knew he felt it, but it just wasn’t there for me.

He would show up when I was in the middle of a fight. He would offer some help or just sit and watch me intently under the night sky. I could always feel his eyes on me. I could feel his need for me. The need to talk to me. The need to push me. His wants.

I just wanted him to go away.

I never expected his persistence and drive to try to bring me to my knees… emotionally speaking. Being chained up in this dark room and told they were going to fix me… yeah, I didn’t see that one coming.

I felt naive as ever thinking I’d drive him off one of the times he always seemed to just be there. He said he would never hurt me, never leave me, and missed me. Even when I told him he would be better off he said all of those things.

All of the “love” from him was suffocating me.

Why couldn’t he see it?

Why couldn’t he just walk away?

What is there to even fix anymore?

My attention was pulled from the broken window in the corner to the large door as a doctor in a mask walked in… needle in hand.

“I’m doctor Deerborn. I hear we have some deprogramming that needs to be addressed.” I pulled on the chains like they would just give and I felt the needle go in and the liquid burn it’s way through my veins before the darkness drowned me.