"Claire"

[Dox Maturin 0]

"Claire"

Personal Log – 0705.28

 

Dox hung his head low, taking shallow breaths in the smoke filled chamber. His mouth was dry, and his tongue had split open and slowly oozed blood. The silvery taste was welcomed as it moistened the inside of his mouth. It dripped from his lips and onto the floor and formed a small pool. He was strung up above it, chains wrapped around each wrist and bolted to the walls of the room, stretching him out into a Y. His legs dangled limply, unable to find the strength to move them any more.

 

He squinted through the smoke upon hearing what sounded to be a young child crying. In one corner of the room, a Jem'Hadar soldier stood, eyes straight ahead, ignoring everything around him. In the center, just in front of him, a Vorta sneered through unclean teeth. The child continued to whimper.

 

The side door opened and a young woman entered. She was slim in build with dark hair and a small pregnant belly. It was Claire. Dox watched her, knowing that nothing about this was right. This was not how it happened; she was not supposed to be there. Again the child whimpered somewhere in the smoke.

 

Claire walked deliberately up to the Vorta, who handed her a small Federation issue phaser. The smoke cleared and Dox finally saw the child, a small boy of perhaps thirteen years of age sitting curled up in the corner of the room with his knees tucked against his chest. He looked up at Claire, reaching out his hand.

 

The door opened again and a large Scorpiad clicked across the floor. While Dox was helpless, and no one else moved to stop it, the Scorpiad plunged his pincer into the child's body and tore it apart.

 

Claire looked at Dox and smiled. "Goodbye, Jonathan," she spoke softly as she pointed the phaser at her own chest and pressed the trigger.

 

The room filled with light and Dox sat up from the floor, opening his eyes and seeing a blur. He shook his head, trying to regain focus, the back of his mind clinging to his dream yet fervently focused on breaking from it. He was in his quarters, in the dark with only a few lights from various panels along the wall.

 

A moment later the pounding headache caught up with him and he held his hand to his forehead, trying to massage it away.

 

"You had too much to drink," a voice spoke from beside him. It was Claire, lying next to him as he slept, "It always gives you nightmares."

 

Dox shook his head, trying to remember all of the details of his dream as they slowly began to slip away. The more he focused on it, the harder it became to remember.

 

"I saw that young boy again," Dox told her, lying back down on the hard thinly carpeted floor. "I was in the interrogation chamber, just as it had been on Andaman. But you were there, still alive, and that boy, and a Scorpiad. It killed him. And then you killed yourself."

 

"It's alright, Jonathan, it's all over," she smiled at him.

 

"Jonathan, why do you keep calling me Jonathan? I do not even know who that is." Dox turned his head and looked at her. She was always the same, always wore the same clothing, her hair was always perfect and her smell, it was all familiar.

 

She didn't answer him. Instead, she put a hand to his forehead, as if checking his temperature, and lay down next to him. "You drank too much again, at the Grail last night. That Tristan, he was nice. It would have been kind for you to introduce me; you always pretend that I'm not around when you're with other people."

 

"I do not believe that he would have welcomed such an introduction."

 

"What?" she clearly did not understand what he meant. "You have your next shift scheduled in an hour," she changed the subject, standing to her feet, "and it will do no good going out with a hangover. Come, let's get you cleaned up."

 

Reluctantly Dox climbed up off the floor, and only then noticed that he was still dressed in his uniform. He turned to face Claire, but she was gone. He was alone in the room. Taking a moment to compose himself, he shook his head at his own foolishness and headed for the sonic shower.

[Victria 0]

Thank you Dox for not being in Security.

We don't need any more crazy people in our department. :D

 

Nice log!