Fixed

Fixed

                She stared at herself in the mirror intently. She was... She was herself again. She wasn't someone else, people trying to force her to be what, who she wasn't. It was her that looked back and no-one else.

                A strand of hair in her hand, she sighed. Being wrong; mind and body not matching; was a truly horrible feeling. They'd done something to her body, changed her. They said they'd cleansed her, fixed her, but that was a lie. They'd made her look at herself again and again - but it wasn't her she saw. It was someone else. A person they wanted her to be - that they were trying to make her be against her will.

                She'd refused. She'd held strong. She'd waited and waited and waited, and made her escape when the chance came. But she'd never forget what they'd done. "This is you!" they'd yell, again and again. "This is how you should act!"

                Worse was when they didn't yell. They'd whisper, reason, send in people who said they knew her. That she was 'better' after what they'd done. They hadn't destroyed her, they'd repaired her.

                They lied and said she'd never been anyone else. That how she felt, who she was, was wrong. Their twisted logic had affected her deeply, worming its way into her mind, almost convincing her when she was at her worst. Being stuck in the wrong body had weakened her resolve so much. It had felt like her soul was tearing in two; she'd lost herself, her own self, to their madness.

                The escape had been swift but difficult. A lucky opportunity seized, and she'd been out of her cell. Getting out had been hard too; not just because she had to sneak past countless guards and people. She'd been pushed so far that she wasn't sure what was right any more. Who was she? The question had almost stopped her getting out. Why had it come to mind right as she was leaving the grounds?

                But she had gotten out. She'd returned to where she belonged, and been restored. She was herself again. It was okay. She'd done it. They couldn't say horrible things that tore at her mind and soul any more. Tears of relief rolled down her face, one after the other, splattering and then pooling on the floor. She sniffed a little, but she smiled. She'd be okay.

                "Are you alright?" asked a voice behind her. A familiar voice, a friend.

                "Yes," she said. "Just... Just thinking about what happened to me."

                "I can't believe they'd do that. I know this is a war, but..."

                She nodded. "We can't let them do this to anyone else."

                The voice made a guilty rasp. "I'm so sorry we didn't rescue you! But we're stretched so thin... We're fighting on so many fronts."

                She turned around and looked right at her companion. "We should leave the war. We don't need to fight."

                Her companion was shocked. "We can't abandon our friends!"

                "Are they our friends? Why do we - why do we just do what they ask us? Work with them? Are we really doing what's right?"

                "I - this is - you've had a lot of time to think, haven't you. You..."

                "Some things they said had nothing to do with me. I don't think they even said them deliberately; it was just what they thought. What they believed. I think they might be right."

                "They changed you even though you tried to resist."

                "I don't think anyone could go through what I went through unchanged. But... I know why they tried what they did. And they're right when they say - when they say that we're the bad guys."

                "You... aren't the only one who think that way. We're arguing amongst ourselves already. Should we leave the war? Should we leave the city and go far away? Should we change sides?"

                She smiled. "It's good to know we aren't stupid."

                "So... How are you feeling?"

                "Good. Myself. I don't feel like... Like I'm in the wrong body. I can look at myself"- she waved at the mirror -"and it's me again. It's like I've woken up from an endless nightmare. I can barely believe I was there for five months."

                "No... Regrets? Issues with being yourself?"

                "No." She gave her companion a confused look. "Why?"

                "They... They say that they've had successes. Not with our people. With some of the other groups. They've 'cured' them. They say that-"

                "The other groups, they're, uh, different. They aren't like us. Some wouldn't need more than just a little push to... flip."

                "They have them fully recant. It's all over the television, the newspaper... Posters even."

                "I didn't." She smiled. "And I won't! They couldn't break me."

                "You felt weak though, right? Like you... Like you were close to breaking."

                "Yes, but. Even if I did I'd still be me. That body was wrong. It wasn't me. The person they were trying to make me be - how could I be her? I'm not her."

                "I hope you're right."

                She looked at her companion, a little worried. "They've captured someone else, haven't they. Someone else is locked up somewhere with no way out. Waiting for a rescue that won't come."

                "Y - yes. Three of us, a few weeks ago. They're being held by a different group than those who got you, although they're based pretty close. Over in the third street in a huge facility. They say they specialise in 'fixing'."

                "There's no plan to save them, is there."

                "No. We don't have the resources to mount one. Everyone is ne- wait!"

                She was already rushing out into the rest of their base, her companion ignored.

                "Blue Fizz! Wait! Blue Fizz!"

                Gray Meds kept calling after her, but she was already out of earshot. She had a rescue to go on.