skin, bone, and arrogance
"And your left hand, please? Very good. Now, if you could please read the slide in front of you..." There was a moment of silence, then the disembodied voice added with an indulgent chuckle: "Into the microphone, please."
There was another moment of silence again before another voice sounded, this one clear and highly polished. After a moment's hesitation: "Are you quite sure?"
"Yes, please. Think nothing of the content. Simply read it as well as you can."
A pair of gossamer brows quirked upwards, a pair of icy blue oculars narrowed, and a pair of slightly pink lips parted to reveal perfect white teeth, and a tongue all working in concert to produce a rather ridiculous-sounding utterance: "To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock, awaiting the senation of a short, sharp sock, from a cheap and chippy chopper on a big, black block." Those chilling blue orbs were hidden behind their lids and rolled. "It's written down twice more. What is the point of all this?"
"We are testing your cognitive function. If you please?"
The blue eyes did not reappear, but instead repeated the verse twice more from memory. "Satisfied?"
"Very nearly, just a few differential equations..."
And on the battery of testing went, to what purpose the blue-eyed test subject could not be sure. All she knew is that she had been subjected to these kinds of tests for one hundred and eighty two days, with no sign that it would soon be over.
There was another moment of silence again before another voice sounded, this one clear and highly polished. After a moment's hesitation: "Are you quite sure?"
"Yes, please. Think nothing of the content. Simply read it as well as you can."
A pair of gossamer brows quirked upwards, a pair of icy blue oculars narrowed, and a pair of slightly pink lips parted to reveal perfect white teeth, and a tongue all working in concert to produce a rather ridiculous-sounding utterance: "To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock, awaiting the senation of a short, sharp sock, from a cheap and chippy chopper on a big, black block." Those chilling blue orbs were hidden behind their lids and rolled. "It's written down twice more. What is the point of all this?"
"We are testing your cognitive function. If you please?"
The blue eyes did not reappear, but instead repeated the verse twice more from memory. "Satisfied?"
"Very nearly, just a few differential equations..."
And on the battery of testing went, to what purpose the blue-eyed test subject could not be sure. All she knew is that she had been subjected to these kinds of tests for one hundred and eighty two days, with no sign that it would soon be over.