Because of my terrible reputation, the prison ignored his abuse and even allowed him to use non-lethal methods if it meant getting the truth faster.
No one expected that even when I nearly died many times, I still never gave in. Now, memory extraction was my only hope.
Vincent shaved my head, then, without any anesthesia, forced a five-centimeter metal connector into my skull. I shook in pain and foamed at the mouth, but he ignored it and even refused the doctor’s offer of a sedative.
“This animal won’t die so easily! I want him to watch the killer he’s protecting get exposed in the most painful way!”
At his command, the memory extraction started. The first scene appeared: a university library, coming into focus.
I sat by the window reading. When I looked up, Tasha was tiptoeing to place a copy of The Little Prince beside me.
In my memory, I touched her hair. She leaned on my shoulder and said softly, “After you graduate, let’s rent a small place. I’ll cook, you wash the dishes and on weekends we’ll go to the morning market together, okay?”
The scene then shifted to a small rented room, its narrow kitchen filled with the smell of scallions.
“Wash your hands! I got paid today and bought your favorite braised pork knuckle!” I said as I hugged her from behind.
“Beep! This fragment is marked as top-priority memory,” the cold, mechanical voice said. The courtroom instantly stirred.
“You beast! How dare you think of this? Tasha fought with her family to be with you and gave you everything! And this is how you repay her? Disgusting! Looking at these happy memories, doesn’t your conscience hurt? When she was screaming for help, were you still thinking about this? Do you deserve anything?!”
Insults filled the courtroom and people threw rotten eggs and vegetables at me again.
The bailiffs moved in again to control the crowd, but people looked ready to break through, their angry shouts ringing in my ears.
Vincent kicked me hard and I crashed to the floor. My knee slammed into the tiles, the pain almost numb.
“Erickson!” he shouted coldly. “You still dare to remember these things? You have no right!”
Lying on the ground with blurred vision, I saw my in-laws. My mother-in-law collapsed into her husband’s arms, crying, while he held her with shaking hands and looked at me as if I were a monster.
“If Tasha knew what you were really like, she’d rather die than marry you!”
The memory continued. It was the day we took our wedding photos. Tasha, in her wedding dress, spun on the lawn with her arm linked through mine.
“Enough!” Vincent shouted, grabbing the metal connector on my head. “Turn off the machine! I won’t let him remember any of this!”
The technician rushed to stop him. “Captain Newton, no! If you interrupt it now, it will cause permanent brain damage!”
“Brain damage? He deserves it! Why should he enjoy these happy memories now? Tasha has been in the ICU for five years and he’s here thinking about the good times. Isn’t that ridiculous?!”
