The room is damp, sodden and grimy, the only light grimly persisting from the half-eaten bedside table and maggots are sprouting underneath the bed. Siren doesn't notice, her eyes clamped shut and mumbling in his sleep. There isn't any natural light despite the room being on the eleventh floor and the window spread open but no one watching her minds. No one even minds the gentle patter of rain drops fluttering in or the unusually dry fell wind. There are eleven other people in the room watching her. Old. Young. Some of indiscriminate sex or, at least, constantly changing. Some have clipboards and some came naked but they will all be gone by the time Siren wakes up and she will never know they were there. An irritated voice cuts.
'Does she have a Secret?'
'... what's wrong with "Siren"?'
'There's nothing wrong with "Siren", I just want to know whether she's got a proper Secret. A real one rather than nonsense gibberish.'
'Would it change anything?'
The naked women smiled collectively. The naked men resonate with the murmurs in the air and scowl.
'"What is in a name?" Yeah, I do think it matters.'
The woman is called Reni, she's twenty nine and five foot four. She isn't naked, comfortable with her white lab coat and is the second person holding a clipboard. She jots down her companion's reactions, as well as his emotional gauge - the naked men - with those of Siren's. She's handsome rather than pretty and has an uncomfortably deep voice but nothing unnatural and she had been happily married for three years. Her companion, the first with a clipboard, is called Simons and is also noting the reaction of the naked women according to Siren's mental state. He is thirty nine and also five foot four and is in a very bad mood. He is also handsome rather than pretty but has a lighter voice and pale skin, has been with his girlfriend for eleven years but neither believe in marriage. Neither will live further than two more days as a result of Siren and Vixen's unwitting actions. Reni's husband will kill himself after suffering an increased bout of depression and Simons' girlfriend will eventually marry a successful businessman after eleven years.
But, for the time being, they busy themselves by noting down anything they believe relevant, unclip the mask protecting Siren’s face, wheel the heavy and unnecessarily expensive equipment out of the window which lands with a muted crash and, one by one, slowly leave the room. The naked peoeple disappear into the air. Reni and Simons go home.
The eleventh person in the room, who is not attached with Reni, Simons or the naked people, stays and slowly strokes her hair. It’s thick and matted with dandruff and sweat, she's been running, the ends are split but clumped together with dried blood which spreads through the dry moist air. He leaves a clock incorrectly timed at 0900 and tried to clean some cuts on her cheek before giving up and lazily spitting a healing plaster down. He checked her stomach, her clothes still damp with blood and her stomach literally empty. He is unsure how she is still alive. As he leaves and shuts the door, the alarm sparks.
9 a.m... the alarm clock struck as the eyes of Siren shot up. In despair Siren shaking and remembering flickers of images of someone being shot, as lots of emotions and thoughts flew around in her head.
Was this a dream?...