Page 98 of The Secretary Volume II

They’re looking at me.

I feel it—how this ends.Not dragged.Not screaming.Just…erased.

“Mr.Harrison wants you returned,” he says, like he’s ordering lunch.“I offered to let you walk, but—” he gestures lazily at the camera above me, “—you’ve made that a little complicated.”

A nod from him.The two step forward.

I don’t move.

I take a slow step back.Then another.My shoulder brushes the wall.Cold.Solid.Real.I grip it like it might open.Like there’s still a version of this where I make it out.

“Ms.Martin,” the man with the gun says, voice neutral.“We’re not here to hurt you.”

“Of course you are.That’s the whole point, isn’t it?”

They pause.Just for a second.Like maybe they weren’t expecting that.Like maybe I’m still in there, somewhere.

“Please don’t escalate this,” he says.“You were cleared to observe.Not to interfere.”

“Then maybe stop doing things that need interfering with.”

The one with the restraints twitches.Subtle.Training kicking in.I twist and run?—

Three steps.That’s all I get.

Before something hot explodes behind my eyes.Like a needle threading through bone.Like someone yanked a wire loose inside my skull.

The lights above me pulse.Hard.My ears ring.My legs buckle, but I don’t fall?—

Because they catch me.

Because they knew.

“She’s seizing,” one of them says, sharp.

“Reset’s triggered,” someone else replies.“Don’t let her go down.”

I try to scream.Or laugh.Or spit in their faces.Something.Anything.But it’s already too late.

The signal hits full force.

Everything splits.

My body stays upright, but my mind—my mind drops out from under me.

Not sleep.Not sedation.Not unconsciousness.

Erasure.

Like someone dragged a wet cloth through my head and wiped out every sharp corner.

The fear goes first.Then the resistance.Then the thought I was ever something separate from them at all.

The car is waiting when we reach the curb.Same as always.Black.Tinted.Already running.

The back door opens.A hand reaches out, not to help, but to usher.

I get in.Willingly.Soft-footed.Empty.

---