Estelle woke to blinding lights, her head was pounding.

“Yes, yes, that is quite interesting…humm”, someone murmurs by Estelle’s right.

Estelle tried to move her head to get a look at the person, but found that she couldn’t. She tried to move her arms, then her legs, but found that all her limbs were restrained. Panic began to rise in Estelle, twisting her stomach into knots. Estelle felt like she was going to throw up. 

The murmuring continued, “Yes…yes, excellent, the specimen is developing nicely.”

Dread continued to build in Etselle’s gut. Blinking, an unblemished silver surface came into view, the surface was so clear that Estelle could make out some of what was happening around her. Estelle was on a pristine white table, there was a strange blue glow that surrounded all of Estelle’s body. However, that was not the most horrifying thing that Estelle saw, no, that would be the person murmuring by Estelle’s head, or, more accurately what was murmuring by Estelle’s head.

It had seven tentacle-like arms, with anemone-like tendrils where suction cups on an octopus tentacle would be. It had a cylindrical body and was a pinkish coral color at which the arms came out of, and on top of the cylindrical body was the head. The head was the same pinkish color as the rest of the body. However, there was a conical-like metal shell that covered most of the head, only two little holes where one might guess a mouth would be. 

A scream built in Estelle’s throat, panic filled her interior body as she was the creature turn around and face her. Even instinct in Estelle’s body told her to run, but the blue glow still surrounded her body, keeping her from moving. Tears started to form in her as one of the tentacle arms touched her face. 

“Yes, you will do quite nicely for what I have in store. Hehe, I never dreamed of retrieving such a lovely specimen”, the creature crooned at Estelle. “Yes, this time my experiments will succeed, and I will be named a genius. Aren’t you so grateful to be my most crowning achievement?”

Estelle trembled down to her very soul, fear consumed her entire being as the creature petted her face, she could feel the tears start to fall, as everything when dark.