Ten Years A Prisoner, Now Free

ed into

lt like fire ants crawling under my skin. A

happening. A side effec

t was faint at first, easily dismissed. But it grew stronger.

t "erasing wrinkles." They

ly and Dr. Evans documented the "miraculous" improvement in my skin's

had taken Emily to some gala. Dr.

as my

, I commanded my right index finger

al, conscious tears

uscles were atrophied, weak, but they obeyed. Slowly, painstakingly, I worked my w

through

had ever done. My body was a dead weight. My head spun. The room t

the sterile tile. The smell of antiseptic filled my nostrils.

o

not let

egs were jelly, shaking uncontrollably. But I was sta

with papers and files. A binder lay open. The title

arah M

d through the pages. It was all there. A dec

otographic logs of the damage they inflicted.

blistering in response to Formula 7B. Recomme

ngry handwriting: "Proceed. The di

horizing Emily Miller as my medical proxy and granting her full control over

was a signat

id

s after my accident. Three months. That's all it took for

ral sob. The binder slipped from my fin

ears ago. My skin was raw, red, swollen from one of Emily's failed ex

ne point, refused to administer a particularly dangerous neuro-cosmeti

d him. He had found another, more compliant doctor for a time

ears. "If it weren't for that acciden

t just greed. He had wanted this.

te-hot rage

canister and hurled it at a glass cabinet filled with vials of Emily's

s pooled and mixed, their chemical stench acrid in the air. I kicked over a cart of supplies. I tore

s work. Her "art."

me, long ago, under a starry sky. "I'

bled backward, my foot slipping on a shard o

om a deep gash in my calf, staining

sical pain was nothing compar

rapped my arms around my shaking knees and finally let the sobs

izziness washed over me. The room started to spin again, the sha

back in, pulling me under. My last consci

of that I was

would have