The Girl in Sabine's Head, The Screenside Trilogy, Book - 3: Chronicles of a Stolen World, #3

By J. A. Hailey

Sabine's lost her mind.
Esmeralda's found her body!
In Paris, Esmeralda draws the beautiful and insane Sabine as the first mental patient to be assisted by their world.
The relationship starts off uneasily, as the two girls bicker often over who should have charge of the physical body – Esmeralda, the newcomer helper and controller who makes it work, or the now helpless Sabine, who has owned it since birth!
As these two delightful girls rob ATMs for spending cash, and quarrel their way around Paris and France, that which is happening in the background turns out to be the main game, in which they are merely pawns of the evil group planning for deathlessness, and perfecting the systems of the future.
It is a terrible and violent future, in which the Human Race itself could be obliterated!

• Language: English
• Publisher: J. A. Hailey
• Release date: Nov 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386152521

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J. A. Hailey

COPYRIGHT AND MORAL RIGHTS BELONG EXCLUSIVELY TO THE AUTHOR.

©2017 Indiependent Publishing

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This is a work of fiction. The characters and events described herein are imaginary, and are not intended to refer to specific places or to real persons, alive or dead. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations embodied in critical reviews.

1

"What are you trying to do down there, Sabine?" asked Esmeralda curiously, speaking French inside the head she now shared with Sabine. It was seven in the morning, and Louis, with BC in his head, was sleeping soundly on the far side of the bed.

"Release my hand, please. I’m horny, and I do this every morning, explained Sabine, whining a little. In those lunatic places, one cannot get, and never gets, another opportunity until night. Everything and everyone stays all together all day; plus there are supervisors. It’s a very nasty prospect, going through the day, desperately horny. Okay, I know you’re a soul-capturing devil, who has taken over my body and mind; heaven guard me against your evil project, but one of those two feelings we’re feeling is horniness, and the other one is hunger. You let slip yesterday, that you don’t know how human feelings feel. What? First capture of a human soul? Better get out, if you don’t want another problem with God."

Oh dear, what has happened to the frightened girl of last night, hiding in a corner of her head?

Esmeralda had spoken a little with Sabine, coaxing her to communicate, prior to waking BC, in the dark, before dawn, and, in the beginning, both girls were extremely frightened of each other. There was nothing much to discuss, beyond the reasons behind Sabine’s mental illness, which she had tremulously revealed as being brought on by prolonged sexual abuse, suffered at the hands of a much older neighbor.

But, of course, it was Sabine who was far more frightened, and, after a few minutes of trying to reassure her that she was not an enemy, Esmeralda had let her be, feeling extremely sorry to see her shrinking into a corner.

Fortunately, Esmeralda had a huge databank of experience, through her involvement with her mother, Sophie-Marie, of being inside a human brain system, handling consciousness. Still, Sabine, a mentally-ill young girl, was completely different to Sophie-Marie, who, besides being much older, was past menopause, sexually inactive, and perfectly sound of mind, needing only motor assistance to overcome various degrees of paralysis, brought on by an accident on the road.

In fact, Sabine was locked, both in and out of her own head, by Sagan’s amnesia loop, and Esmeralda had had to initially go into the deepest reaches of her consciousness to find her and communicate with her.

Anyway, Sabine, she continued, now. "My name is Esmeralda; Esme in short, which you surely know well enough, as we’ve been together for many hours and done a lot of things, including getting screwed.  I’m not a devil, and if you are capable of behaving logically, I am more than ready to leave your head and body. I also do not capture human souls, and what is going on with you is the first time ever. I’m sure it’s the very first time in the universe."

I want to warn you, said Sabine, quaveringly, but with some aggression, that I am of the party of the righteous, of those who go to church, well, at least sometimes, and whose souls belong to Jesus. It's no use taking over, when you are sure to get kicked out soon. I've been praying all night.

"Sabine, sweetie, you seem to be okay there, from where you are now trying to pick a fight with me, but I can tell you that that is you, deep inside your mind, hiding and being cantankerous with me. We’ll work together, and the moment you show that you can come to the surface and handle the world alone, I’ll be gone."

Don’t think I was expecting you to admit, said Sabine, stubbornly holding her position. "I know enough of devils, from the church back home in Marseilles. We were religious, when children, but drifted away. Still, don’t you dare think that God’s angels abandon the poor, the destitute, the weak of mind, and those made helpless by circumstances. I know that you’ve come to the surface of the earth with a partner devil. His name is BC, and he’s captured poor Louis. Be warned that Saint Peter keeps watch over us. Beware of hellfire. What am I thinking? I can’t frighten you with hell. It’s home. Got heating."

Esmeralda started laughing. "How are you remembering all that stuff, even if you are talking crap? I mean, despite the loop? Or does it not work? Sabine, what do you remember of the past?"

"Everything. Why? What am I supposed to forget, devil?"

"I don’t really know, but the doctors have imagined that the things causing madness might be forgotten, or be not accessible. You are a test case, and later cases will be dealt with according to what is understood through this and other early interventions, in which we are included as helpers; Louis is one. He is your friend from the mental shelter place, and has been brought out with you, so that neither one is alone. And I hope sex was something natural for you two, and not forced by us. But I’m no devil. Anyway, you did go to school for some years. Remember something?"

"Everything. I was a good student. Then, three or four years before university, this happened."

You’ve said, but tell me again. Any idea why?

"Every idea why. One of your gang, a devil with a body, was raping me for a long time, until it finally blew my mind."

So, your development ended at that time?

"No. I was still very young. I had to develop. I grew boobs, and I got a rug down there. Happened after; so, development did not stop, obviously. And, by the way, carpet and rug match; both blonde."

Yes, Sabine, I saw at the salon, and later in the bathroom, last night, and actually, if we chase this insanity thing away, we are going to be a really good looking, very sexy girl, with matching carpet and rug."

So, is it part of your plan to earn from me in the Pigalle sex places, selling my body, prostituting me?

"What on earth are you thinking up? No, Sabine, we’re going to have to find a way to reintegrate you into this world, as a non-insane person. But when I was asking you about continuing development, I meant learning."

Oh, one can learn a lot through TV. It may not be academic, but it is certainly educational. I kept learning, and still do.

And you remember?

Try me. Climate change? Schizophrenia and other types of mental illness? North Korea’s missile and nuclear threats. I cannot use a computer, but I know that google and yahoo are for searching. Tons of education on the Internet, if I had a computer.

And you remember...

"What would be the point, if I didn’t?"

Good, I hope you are soon able to negotiate the world safely; I mean roads, people, traffic, traffic lights, other hazards.

"That is the confusing part, when I’m operating in the world. Sometimes I become frightened, sometimes angry, but most of the time, just confused. What does it matter? You need my body, and you’ll keep me safe for your evil purposes."

"It’s not quite like that, Sabine, but don’t worry. We’ll figure out the relationship between us. I am in you for a purpose; some of it is selfish, but most of it is to cure you. It is experimental, but you seem to be a good subject, although I don’t know at all how you’re remembering your old stuff. Never mind, with research conducted by our world, we should soon figure out how it is that you are in your present condition in your head. I just hope it translates into a capable Sabine in the real world."

"As if I believe all that? Doesn’t matter what you do in my body. A captured helpless soul, surely remains innocent, no matter what horrific crimes you devils force through my hands. And talking of hands, now leave my hand alone, please, Esmeralda."

"Okay, Sabine, do it, though I don’t know what your emergency is. We got laid last night, and the man who did the job is on the same bed as us. This is no lunatic shelter. It’s a private, lockable hotel room, where we can screw, and do other sexual things whenever we want. We’ve got a do not disturb sign on the public side of that door. Relax, and do your thing."

Sabine shifted around on the bed, until she found a comfortable position, with her legs spread open, dragging a spare pillow that she found at her feet, under her thighs.

So nice, this baldness there, the juice cannot run short, said she, happily. I’ve never been hair-free.

Esmeralda kept quiet, getting drawn into the new experience. She experimentally repositioned her consciousness in Sabine’s head, to seek out the routes being taken by the waves of pleasure pulsing through her body.

It’s really very nice, what you’re doing, she said. "Later, I might work at the thing a bit too, so that our sessions are not mundane or tiring, for either of us. Think of it like who goes on top in hetero sex. And, who knows, maybe my system of operation, even though with the same hand, might turn out to be a different experience from what you do? But it could be a change of hand, too. You are right-handed, and I am certainly ambidextrous, so a left-handed session might be naturally different.

"But, if you behave badly, I have the ability to suppress your part of this mind, and then I will end up operating both mind and body alone, with you locked in and locked out."

Sabine’s frightened silence was pitiful, and Esmeralda began searching for something to make her feel better, and less of a captive.

"I am here to help you; to make you capable of being in this world alone, handling life unafraid, and living logically and sanely, every moment. I am from another world, but, because you might find it very difficult to understand right now, we’ll leave that for later. Come on. Are you doing us or not? You’ve stopped. I think doing that is a lot more fun than arguing about who’s a devil."

I can see that you’re a very advanced devil. But I’m doing it right now, Esmeralda. Restarted. Later, you’ll thank me for saving us from desperation the whole day. No talking, until it’s over.

Esmeralda found that she was extremely deeply involved, as Sabine conducted her morning masturbation routine, to the point of climax, moaning through it, and gasping and shuddering at the end.

So complicated, said Sabine, shyly, after hiding for a few minutes in her corner. "Can’t figure out who’s doing whom? Are we lesbians?"

"It’s undoubtedly complicated, Sabine, but we are surely not lesbians, because though we are two in the mind, if you look in the mirror you will find that we are only one in the body. I suspect that actual lesbianism has the basic requirement of at least two separate, independent female bodies.

"Of course, I have to admit that there is an element of possible lesbianism, I suppose, because one of us can be completely inert, like I was, through the session just completed, but that is truly twisted logic. I mean, what is lesbian, when you are really doing your own body and satisfying your own needs? Perhaps I could leave when this is being done, although why should I feel guilty? I have no other body.

"But, because I share the body with you, someone, like a perverted onlooker, could say you’ve done me.

"I can take it on sometimes, in future, now that I know the basics of how it’s done, and maybe then we can have part two of this discussion, and figure out how much masturbation is going on and how much lesbianism. Not long to wait. Tomorrow?

"We’ll check the dictionary together too, a good one, Oxford level, not the online new crap; just to make sure that we are agreed on what is masturbation and what is lesbianism.

"I’m pretty sure it would no doubt have been masturbation, except for the fact that you knew I was initially controlling your hands, preventing, which I later released, for you to touch yourself, or maybe it’s ourself, damn confusing.  But that is a strange argument, though, to prove lesbianism.

"Okay, anything to do with two separate people might not be a good analogy, and we need to think up new logic, because this is the first time ever. I am a separate person, but inside the very same body as you, and what you have done has affected me too. Me or us? Too complex.

It’s all new for Louis, too, and he’s clearly in need of building up stamina. Once we get him fit, why not get laid every morning?

Yes, Sabine giggled. Kick him awake whenever we’re horny.

Absolutely. Otherwise, he has no right to be in bed with such a nice, hot, blonde like us.

Sabine laughed delightedly, at the prospect of a different solution to her morning anxiety.

"Sex is something, Sabine, and we’ll make sure we overdose on it, but I am in you to get your mind working again. I can see that your body was never in need of any help. I am going to try to give you as much independence as you can handle, immediately, from today itself, and also give you independence in all our time together, including when we are in public areas. I will always be hoping that you get cured, and I will keep assessing how you are handling things; the world, sweetie, not our twat.

Let’s move; make something of the day.

2

After a quick, silent shower, Sabine and Esmeralda exited the room quietly, into a long and empty carpeted corridor. Two floors down, alone in an elevator, and then through a very quiet lobby, with only a couple of hotel girls working at computers behind the counter, Sabine, free to choose, commenced walking down another quiet corridor.

You know, Sabine, you are absolutely short of clothes, though it’s not your fault. I genuinely want us to be a very clean, fashionable and sexy girl, walking confidently in the world.

You’re the queen of the cash machines. Gave your sisters so much.

"So, the amnesia loop is not interfering with memories of current activities at all? It’s as the doctor said. You remember the ATM, and that those two human girls are my sisters? Do you remember the beauty salon?"

Yes, spreading my legs and allowing a stranger to wax me. It was so embarrassing and painful. And I felt so vulnerable, too, to sudden rape.

"Bullshit, sudden rape. That work was done by a girl, and anyway men aren’t allowed in that salon. And my human sisters were both present, protecting me, because it was my first time out alone in the human world.

"I’m actually finding this discussion a bit strange. I mean, you were meant to be this blanked out loony, to be made manageable by the amnesia loop, and to not go screaming and dancing down busy roads, but be like blank.

"Still, if you’re remembering current things, as the doc said you would, it’s very good, because it means that what you do in this period, with me, will be retained in your head, though God knows the amnesia loop doesn’t seem to have made you forget much of the old. Still, remembering wandering with me, around the big wide nasty world, freely and confidently, should mean new survival skills for the new Sabine. You remember yesterday clearly, huh?"

"Yes. Were you really going to stab that Arab man?"

"Of course! It was just a moment away, and he was saved because he was pushed out of our reach by BC. He was guilty. He initiated contact, and he threatened violence."

"There. You are a monster, like you said to Louis in bed. Do all your stabbing and killing with my body to satisfy your bloodlust, and send me to jail, huh? I know a bit of law. I was intending to do law in college, when this illness flattened me. Odd; maybe it has nothing to do with the rapes. Struck me some years later, when I had already had a boyfriend for a while."

"No, Sabine, I have no bloodlust. I was protecting you. He had threatened you, not me. I can neither be harmed nor killed by that sort of fellow. You will understand, after I have taken you to see another world, mine, which I will show only when you are able to trust me fully. My world is called Screenside. But when I am walking with you, in this world, I am ready to take any measures to protect you.

"Why? Because, if not for me, you would not be stepping out into this world, and you would not be entering those situations in which you might be in danger. And don’t worry about jail and stuff; people with your illness, do not get sent to jail, and our world can anyway sort out all records, whenever required, to prove it wasn’t us who stabbed any idiot.

"I’m wondering. How are you bypassing the amnesia loop? Am I subconsciously doing something to let you? Looping was meant to suppress your history, according to Sagan, so that whatever in your past is creating mental illness in the present, it would be, like, forgotten. But you’re bypassing and remembering, which proof is given by you showing that you know who and what you are, and that could pose the danger of all the old crap returning to the surface, and restarting the illness in my absence, and that would not allow my permanent exit.

"We shall be meeting the doctor people, sometime in the next few days. We could also, just by chance, bump into them; possible, as they are staying in this very hotel. But I think it would be stupid to start medical evaluation discussion straight away, because if I keep shut, we could just have a good time, these first few days together, the two of us, wandering around in a world that actually existed less for you than for me, especially since I took on helping mum.

Where are you going, Sabine? We don’t know our way around this hotel.

Esme, I’m following my nose; hunger is killing me. That way, down the corridor; smell the breakfast? We need food. All we had last night was a chicken sandwich, and Louis had half of it.

Very strong smell; I was wondering.

"Esmeralda, don’t devils eat human food? That is the smell of food; scrambled eggs. Do you know how to eat?"

"Yes, I learned to swallow while being with mum. Or, more correctly, I learned through her. We are not allowed food in our world. But I don’t need that to be taught to me. You know how to eat, and that’s all we need between the two of us. Drinking I know, but without swallowing it down.

"Evaporates too fast in the inferno, huh? Anyway, I did the eating of that chicken sandwich. You were going to choke."

"Doesn’t matter, Sabine. We’ve both got only the one body to feed, and to screw with, or to mismanage and kill off. Won’t be much use then, will it, your horniness and your matching rug?"

Esmeralda, I’m no expert at sex, giggled Sabine. "I lost my boyfriend some years ago, and I’ve been ill nonstop since that time. You did the screwing last night. I’m glad you know that stuff well." 

Was it good?

Very nice, the sex.

I thought you might have been quite a sexually active girl, before your illness.

"Only had the one boyfriend. Didn’t last forever. For the little while my illness was suppressed by medication, he was there, but when it surfaced, he ran for his life. I don’t blame him. Here we are, at the breakfast place. They are scrambling eggs, live, and that’s what the smell is, and why it’s so dominant, despite all the other things in the buffet. You do it, the selection, but I’ll help us with the actual eating. Crowded."

Esmeralda could sense Sabine becoming disorientated, her movements beginning to lose coordination, and her pulse rising alarmingly, to the extent that she immediately needed to be managed, and Esmeralda did so by taking over motor functions, which the human girl seemingly did not notice.

It became clear, as they entered the breakfast hall, that Sabine’s major issue was in being in situations that had groups of people, which meant that her problem was in being in society. It saddened Esmeralda to discover that an entire, otherwise sound and possibly lovely human life, good-looking, clever and entertaining, was being totally wasted by inability to cope in social situations. That, of course, did not matter at all when Esmeralda was operating movement, as Sabine’s uncertainty and panic were then purely in her head, while her body was being operated perfectly in the human world.

This looks like a great breakfast, so many breads, cheeses and jams, and look at that freshly-squeezed orange juice, never had any, and I really want to enjoy it, said Esmeralda Got to learn. I’m switching you off for a while. You keep an eye on things, and try to get accustomed to being in social situations. Just keep track of the swallowing, so that we don’t choke to death. Or hang around in the corner where I found you, and work at making me mad, as your unemployment hobby.

Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, said Sabine, disdainfully, using a bored monotone.

The girl made Esmeralda laugh, and because she had now taken over the body, she laughed out loud, causing some nearby diners to look at her. You’re certainly educated, she said.

Couldn’t do university. Told you. My illness got the better of me. I don’t know which is preferable - being insane, or having a devil inside. Insanity has this bad press...

And so, arguing through every bite and sip, they put a great breakfast into their body.

"Oh dear, here starts another feeling that you don’t know, said Sabine, sarcastically. We shall need to go to the toilet, soon."

We’ll go to the bathroom in the room. We’ve already used it a couple of times, besides brushing teeth and having a shower, said Esmeralda. "I am often with mum, but all I do with her, is make sure the signals get to the muscles she targets. I don’t initiate or watch or anything, and, in fact, it could be considered that I am not in the bathroom with her, at all. I’m so lucky that she is not sexually active. I would not know what to do with my mother!

"All my friends follow the same rules, when with mum. Actually, if anyone attempts to initiate any body-action, she loses her cool. She’s perfectly good in the head, and everything has to run as per her program.  Try to take her to the toilet, if she hasn’t initiated the move? Murder!"

It’s a nasty daily job, explained Sabine. "Sometimes more than once, especially if diarrhea strikes. Same for constipation; in fact, constipation is worse; spend your day in the loo. You need to keep your mind out of it, and let the body do the job. Then flush, and it’s over. It’s a function; just a must. Do you really have no body of your own? I mean anywhere?"

I’m a virtual, Sabine; like a ghost. What has happened to me, in life, is what happens to humans after death, sort of."

They ate silently for a while, Esmeralda returning to the buffet a few times, to pick up small portions of different cheeses and breads. After some minutes of steady eating, Sabine said, "We are done with breakfast Esmeralda. That feeling is full.

Sabine. We’re going to take a walk to that wall.

Why? Anyway, we’re walking. Kidnapper.

It’s got a mirror. See? Full length view. Look at all those guys. Eyes following us. Now that we don’t look insane, and our face has got proper expression on it, in place of a slack and vacant look, and because we are no longer cowering while walking, plus because we have got coordination between arms and legs, we’ve acquired a much better posture, which has resulted in us looking attractive, sexy and desirable.

They want to rape me.

Forgetting what I might do with knives?

You’re a monster. I thought we would have a coffee, but I’m too nervous to head back to our table, with all those guys staring.

"Oh, I have already told BC to organize coffee in the room; we have a separate and permanent communication system. He is having a room-service breakfast. Sabine, I know all about hotels and