The Recall Trials
Chapter 70: What It Feels Like to Feel Nothing

Chapter 70: What It Feels Like to Feel Nothing

Vincent’s POV

The world came back to me in fragments.

First, the pain.

A dull, throbbing ache at the base of my skull.

Then, the dry taste of metal in my mouth. My ears rang like distant sirens, and I felt the floor under my back, sticky and cold.

I blinked slowly.

Blurry faces. Harsh whispers. Someone was crying.

And then I remembered...

Zaara.

She was the one who swung the crowbar.

Right into my skull.

I remembered the blur of movement, the rage her eyes.

How brave.

I should’ve been angry. Enraged. Betrayed.

But all I felt was... nothing.

Nothing but a dull, distant ache behind my eyes.

I shifted slightly. My body was sore. My vision kept doubling and sharpening again. I felt something sticky in my hair. Blood, probably. Not mine. Or maybe it was.

Didn’t matter.

Then, the noise.

Voices. Footsteps. Crying.

Accusations.

"...Vincent killed Kai."

"He killed Asha. Aaron too. Ella."

More voices. Distant. Panicked. Tearing at each other like wild dogs.

A guy’s voice was the sharpest...spitting my name like venom.

"Your precious Vincent... he’s from Sector A. Vincent Aston. The heir. Reynold Aston’s only son."

Gasps.

A stifled sob.

Interesting.

They said I killed people.

They said I was from Sector A.

They said I had a name....Vincent Aston.

I didn’t know what any of that meant.

Sector A? Aston? Reynolds?

The names didn’t move me. They felt... artificial. Like reading someone else’s diary and pretending to care.

It was like, there was a blank wall where my memories should have been. A perfect void the Aetherions probably carved into me before the Hunter’s Game.

The blondie whispered something. Jojo yelling to shut them up.

It was like waking up during my own funeral. Everyone tearing apart my past legacy, tossing it onto the fire...like I hadn’t just bled out half my soul hours ago.

I blinked my eyes open slowly.

And emotions? Gone. I could feel pain, taste blood, hear sound...but joy, grief, remorse?

Empty.

The voices grew louder. Faces leaned in. Shadows tightened around me.

Zaara.

Her face hovered inches from mine, tense and trembling. Her eyes were red-rimmed.

She spoke like she thought I could be reached.

"Vincent," she whispered, "what happened to you?"

I blinked.

Said nothing.

"Talk to me!" she snapped. "Don’t just lie there like you don’t care! You killed her! You killed Asha, and Aaron and Kai...why?!"

I turned my head slightly toward her.

"It felt good."

Gasps tore through the room.

The chubby boy stumbled back. The blondie’s hand flew to her mouth.

Theo muttered, "What the actual fuck..."

Jojo stepped forward, her body wrapped in fresh bandages. Her voice trembled with disbelief. "What do you mean ’it felt good’? They trusted you, Vincent. I trusted you!"

I didn’t respond. My gaze trailed lazily toward the ceiling. A crack in the concrete looked like a crooked smile. I stared at it instead of them.

The old man’s voice rang out. "You don’t even feel bad, do you? You killed kids, man. KAI was just a kid...he idolized you!"

I turned toward him.

Deadpan.

"Who’s Kai?"

"You don’t even know his name?" He shouted, shaking. "You’re a fucking psycho!"

I tilted my head, considering the word. Psycho.

Maybe.

I didn’t flinch. Didn’t blink.

"Tell me you’re joking," Zaara said, her voice cracking. "Tell me... they really did something to you."

I finally looked at her.

"You know," I said, louder this time, sitting up with a wince, "it’s rude to talk about someone while they’re unconscious."

Theo’s fists clenched. "You’re really a psychopath."

I smirked. "Takes one to know one."

A guy on glasses, saw his name on his jumpsuit...Dinesh...He yelled. "I swear to God, I’ll put you back under—"

"Then do it," I said coldly, eyes locking with his. "Let’s stop pretending there are rules here."

Jojo stepped in between us. "Stop it."

"Jojo," I said softly, ignoring the rest. "You still standing up for me?"

She looked at me.. Her eyes were full of things I didn’t want to understand.

"You saved me once," she whispered. "I owe you that much. But I don’t know who you are anymore."

"Neither do I," I said. Then looked around at all of them. "Isn’t that the point of this game?"

Carter’s voice cracked. "We’re trying to understand, Vincent. Say something. Anything."

Zaara’s eyes drilled into me like she was trying to find the old me buried somewhere behind my eyes.

Jojo reached out with trembling fingers. "You can fight it. Whatever they did to you, you can still come back."

But I couldn’t come back to a place I didn’t even remember leaving.

Their words meant nothing. Their faces felt like smudged paintings.

And all I could think of... was how loud everything was.

Too loud.

I exhaled slowly and let my gaze drop to the blood dried on my hands.

I didn’t even know whose it was.

My eyes met zaara’s.

She walked up to me, took my hands, and gently pressed them against her face. I swear, my heart skipped,racing out of control.

"What the hell?" I muttered, jerking my hands back like I’d touched fire.

What just happened?

And why did she suddenly look so... fragile?

She flinched.

Theo stepped forward. "So it’s true. You’re Sector A. You’re them."

I shrugged. "That supposed to mean something?"

"You lied to us."

"No," I said. "I never claimed to be one of you. You assumed that. That’s on you."

Then I stood.

Slowly.

No rush. No urgency.

Just the soft creak of joints, the faint crunch of broken glass beneath my boots.

Everyone stared like they were watching something unholy rise from the ashes.

Carter took a step back.

Zaara stood frozen, fists trembling at her sides..

"Asha," Zaara growled, stepping closer. "She was my best friend."

I didn’t say another word.

I didn’t care.

Not about her. Not about them. Not about the dead names being shouted into my face like I was supposed to remember who they were.

I turned away from their horror, their disbelief, their questions that no longer mattered.

And I walked.

Past the blood.

Past the dead.

Past the lives I took like they were never real to begin with.

I pushed the restroom door open and disappeared inside.

Without looking back.

Without feeling a thing.