The cold, sterile smell of the laboratory clung to her skin like a damp shroud. Fifteen-year-old Karen stood on the spot of the white tile.
Shivering subtly to the cold metal shackled binding both her feet; laced to the chains that wrapped her small fragile wrists, Karen's dim brown eyes remained fixed on the rows of gleaming equipment and the masked faces of the three technicians feet away from her.
They stood within the silent white walls of the airtight laboratory, bearing a metal-sealed exit next to the opaque two-way mirror that reflected their figures.
With her dark ebony skin marred with dark bruises and cuts on her face, arms and legs, her swollen eyes sagged to the dark bags underneath — her black curled hair left disheveled and unclean — matching the untidiness of the blood-stained patient gown that shrouded her emaciated body.
"Please, Ms. Karen, step forward," a detached voice instructed.
Her feet remained planted as her eyes didn't leave the instrument tray.
Karen's tired gaze slowly dragged to the window, staring silently at the reflective smooth surface; with a firm certainty of a person staring back at the other side.
"Karen?" The second called in a flat tone, receiving nothing but her dead silence and lifeless gaze.
Parting her cracked dry lips, a strained whisper barely resonated from her throat. "D- Daddy, said... Today was... My last day o- of punishment..." She watched the small group of surgically attired members, her stale expression unchanging.
One of the technicians nodded. "Exactly why you should respect your father's leniency, Ms. Karen..." Forgetting their previous instruction to step forth, Karen only stared with her lips agape.
She hesitated. She had undergone countless tests under the canopy of her father's discipline. But something about this one felt different.
"AH!" Her body jerked involuntarily to the sharp shock that darted into the flesh of her neck, burrowing through the inflamed nerves of the rest of her body.
Karen's eyes immediately lowered to the metallic collar around her neck as her feet took the initiative to step forward — as that was just a warning signal to comply.
She slowly walked to the metallic bed they gestured to her to lie down, facing the pure white ceiling above them; she felt the bounds around her limbs finally click loose, having them shift her limbs to strap to the table instead.
Karen's being stayed motionless and numb to the ripping sound of the fabric that draped her body, feeling the chill sense of her fully exposed body.
"Open your mouth, Ms. Karen." The command fell on Karen's deaf ears as she continued to stare at the opaque window, as if it were a person.
"Ms. Karen?" They called once more. Karen's eyes dared not look away from who she knew was staring back at her, dead in her pupils.
"Daddy..." The word slipped out. "Ms. Karen, please open your mouth."
Tears slowly leaked from the corner of her eyes. "I- I'm sorry..." Her vision blurred. "I'm sorry, Daddy... I'm sorry... I—" A hand grasped her head to forcefully face up.
"Please!— Daddy, please! PLEASE! PLEASE — I'M SORRY, I WON'T— MMH—" Muffling her words by the thick gauge gagged between her teeth before being strapped behind her head.
Karen began to resist, kicking her restrained legs violently as she shook her head.
The fabric drowned her strained screams as the straps casting her to the surface were tightened, searing her joints to her persistent struggles.
Karen's body jerked upwards in tantrum to the drowning fear of what was about to happen to her. She fought even more aggressively.
A needle pierced into her flesh, forcing an excruciating agony that narrowed through her veins.
Her neck muscles strained the torturous pain that spread across her being — her body suddenly slumped to the surface, stiffened to movement as her eyes and lips remained wide open.
Tears continued to trail from her eyes as her gaze was left fixed on the two-way mirror and her body paralyzed to her control.
Her nerves gnawed to her spine at the sharp sensation of the surgical blade incising the skin of her abdomen.
The capillaries in her eyes lined red and her tears ever flowing to the crude pain.
But of course... There was no way they would decide to anesthetize her — Not when they could have her tamed to feel each and every cut burrowed into her skin and organs.
Karen's soul wailed.