Page 50 of Degradation
Who is this asshole? What does he reallywant? Just to torment me?
With renewed anger, I grab my crutches and make my way to the door. I crack it open quietly and listen. No one seems to be around, so I swing carefully across the hall into Blake’s room, shutting the door behind me and thanking whoever decided there should be carpeted halls in the house because my crutches would have given me away otherwise.
I go to his computer and open everything up. He never shuts it down properly when he leaves, but I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth.
I find the camera that’s in my room and bring up the history from this morning. I see Mav and I moving around the room and he’s right. When we’re talking in bed, our words can’t be discerned. A few minutes later, when we’re louder, they’re easily heard though.
A moment later, I see myself leave to go to the bathroom. Mav leaves too, and there’s no note on the table. I breathe a sigh of relief because I don’t know what I’d do if I saw him pull it out of his pocket or something. But then the note just appears in the frame. I pause it with a frown, and rewind. It’s not there, and then it is. Like magic. But there’s no one in the room. I watch it again, paying attention to the time stamp. It jumps up by almost two minutes. I check the ones outside my door and even on the stairs, but they all seem to stop and restart.
Someone else has access. They must have shut off the whole system or rebooted it to cover their tracks the way that I do. Unless it was Blake… But he didn’t go into my room unless he doubled back after I went into the bathroom…
Deep in thought, I restart the system so there’s no record of me being in here.
Is Blake the one who’s doing this? Who else would have so much power over the security of the house?
I leave his room, quickly returning to my own, and sinking down into my chair.
Whoever this person is, they…hewants me to figure out what happened to my mom, so that’s what I need to do. Maybe if I do what he wants, then he’ll leave me alone.
But I can’t do anything until I’m back on my feet, so I try not to think about the weirdo stalker who can get into my room and likes watching videos of me getting hurt on repeat while writing me threatening letters.
Psycho.
I try to put it out of my mind and, instead, I work on what Applegate has sent.
Halfway through the day, I get an email from Mav with an encrypted link to the lab’s database. I’m surprised because, up until now, they’ve kept me on a leash in their space. Information has been drip-fed to me when I needed it. Now, I can see everything, and I wonder if Mav knows that, until I notice that my login is Level Four. It goes up to Level One, but it doesn’t seem to be working properly because I can open everything. Mav has given me all the information on a platter, and he doesn’t know it.
I look over as much historical data as I canwhile I can, and I see they’ve been working on this for the better part of two years. I don’t see anything that tells me what Envy is meant to do, though. The formula has been tweaked and changed a few times, and I can see where they’re trying to go because the drug is similar to LSD and other psychedelics in structure but also seems to share similarities with depressants.
They started this off the back of the first drug. It’s undeniable. I can tell by all the results from the past few months that they don’t know where to go next either. They can’t figure out the problem. The things they’re changing are just shots in the dark.
I eventually find a document buried in some obscure folder that looks like a typed note from Mav to Blake.
‘Not addictive, and danger levels nowhere near other substances such as Fentanyl and Methamphetamines. Potency fine. High similar to LSD, but not reliable. Keep green color if possible.’
Not reliable.
So, that’s the problem. At least, like the legal drug they made, it’s not addictive, which calms some of my moral obligations about being a part of this.
I keep working on my secret research for the next few hours, only stopping when Lu arrives as she messaged me earlier.
When she comes in, I get up and hobble over to her, taking her hand.
‘Thanks for the other night,’ I say.
She lets out a breath. ‘You don’t have anything to thank me for, Daisy,’ she says without any hint of a smile or a joke. ‘I’m here for you. Okay? I’m just so sorry.’
I let out a small sigh. ‘Stop. Let’s just both say that we’re sorry and give our thanks and let that be the end of it.’
‘Okay, Daisy Duke.’ She smiles. ‘Thanks, and I’m sorry.’
‘Thanks, andI’msorry,’ I echo.
‘Cool.’ She throws her black backpack on my bed. ‘So now that that’s out of the way, where did you getthe phone? I mean, like, I knew you didn’t have one, but I didn’t want to make it a thing so…’
I laugh. ‘Shade got me it. He wants me to be contactable for safety.’
Lu nods sagely. ‘And how are you feeling? Do you need anything?’
