Becoming - a journey from one form of life into another

Story by Athena42

Becoming

a journey from one

form of life into

another

1. well it has to start somewhere, doesn't it

I haven't always been this way.

Funny how you change some things in life, but mostly life changes you. Life had grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me until my eyes rattled. It's quite an experience, not one I would recommend to anyone. I had a good life, quiet home in the country, job in the city, a daughter who loves me, and my wife. I had a 2 hour commute to work, but the pay made it worth it. I worked at a clinic creating electronic records from paper ones. Fancy way to say "I scanned papers into a pc". Not the most exciting of jobs, but it was quiet and peaceful. I worked nights so the wife could be with the daughter, then I would take care of her when the wife went to work.

Admittedly it sounds like any other persons life, change the titles and names and it pretty much fits anybody you know. Almost like a generic life. Possibly even picturesque. But I noticed something was changing slowly, just barely noticeable. Couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I knew something was different. The wife seemed disinterested with anything I did. The daughter began to want to spend more and more time with her mom, only wanting me to stay when it was time to go to work. That's an odd feeling, let me tell you! You get angry, hurt, disappointed, and lost all at once. Makes you realize where words like "duh" and "der" come from.

One evening as I arrived early to work, I noticed a couple of other vehicles parked in the lot of the building. Usually there's no other vehicles there. I thought it odd, but figured some doctor had an emergency or something. I parked and went to the door. One of the fun things at work, the "punch in a number on the keypad to get in the building" game. How many times will I have to punch the sequence before it realizes it. Three this time, woo-hoo!

I go inside and walk down the hallway. The scanning room is on the ground floor, so I don't have to walk up stairs. I hate stairs. I get to the next code door, which usually works first try. That is, unless they changed it again. You gotta make your life at least seem fun to yourself, no matter how it seems to anyone else. It's my life dammit, and I'm gonna make the dull things fun for me. Everyone else can do whatever floats their boat. This is mine.

I enter the scanner room and drop my satchel I carry with me. It's got my zune and speakers with power adapters. I jam at work. Just as I start to get mt speakers out there's a knock on the door and it opens.

"Mark?"

It's the Human Resources manager. Oh boy, this is probably one of 2 things, either it's good-bye job or it's hello raise.

"Yes, you need me for something?", I ask her.

"Come with me, bring your bag of stuff", she flatly states. Well THAT didn't sound good.

I follow her upstairs to the 4th floor (top floor) which I thought was unused. And from the looks of things, it mostly was. But you could see a well lit room on the far side, like that it was built to be as far from the stairs as possible. I thought "well ain't that creepy?" and then realized "shit, that's where we're headed!". I started to slow my step when I bumped into a security guard behind me. Apparently this is something they have thought out pretty well. I catch up to her so I don't bump into the guards again.

We enter the room (she has a card AND code - shit) and she tells me "Sit at that desk, The Doctor will be with you in a sec." Then she leaves. The Doctor? Pardon me, but ??? As I watch her head back to the stairs, I notice the guards are going with her. Apparently I'm even less of a danger to anyone than I thought I was. Would have figured at least one guard, come on!

A door opens and I find out who the doctor is. It's the head doctor of the clinic, Dr. Tseng. He's always seemed a pleasant person, always smiling. The smile he was smiling now didn't seem pleasant to me, it seemed full of things to go wrong. He hands me a paper, it looks like a legal document.

"Read this carefully, for know here and now I OWN you, just as much as I own my car or my house. You are MINE to do with and do to as I deem fit for the next two years. You have no rights other than to survive and, if possible, learn. Your wife sold you for $300,000US. So for the next two years you will live here, in this room, obey my commands, and then *poof* as simple as that, you're free to go."

I look over the document. Indentured servitude. I was his property. Old law on the books that never got taken off, a wife can sell a husband for indentured servitude for two years for an agreed upon settlement. You heard stories when you were a kid, but that's all they were, stories. Right? Wrong.

"But .. my ... my daughter! My home! You can just snatch me away?" I stammered. This was a lot to take in, when you were expecting to be scanning a

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