I have always struggled with my weight and since I’ve gotten older, my metabolism had become slower than Joe Biden’s thought process. I’ve tried every fad diet from low carb to low calorie and I never could achieve the results I wanted, so I got discouraged and fell back into my old eating habits. I’m sure some of you can relate.
I was perusing the dark web one day to satisfy my morbid curiosity when I came upon an ad that said experimental weight loss program. I thought to myself that it was probably some kind of scam so I didn’t bother clicking the link. I looked at the clock and realized I’d lost track of time, so I figured I’d better go to bed because I had to work the next morning.
After I came home from work the next day, I fixed myself a sandwich and sat down at my computer to browse the dark web as I do every night. I guess in a way, it was an addiction for me. You can find pretty much anything you can imagine, from black market organs or freshly packaged human meat ready for consumption. Pretty macabre stuff.
I came across the experimental weight loss ad again and I guess curiosity and desperation finally got the best of me, so I clicked the link while crossing my fingers that it wouldn’t be a scam or a virus.
“5 lucky winners will be chosen from hundreds of applications to join our experimental weight loss program! We are offering you $10,000 and a chance to shed those pounds you’ve been trying so hard to lose! Our team of professional researchers and doctors are here to help you safely and effortlessly achieve your weight loss goal in our very own state of the art facility! Please fill out the application below to receive a chance to win this life changing, once in a lifetime opportunity!”
Why not? I thought to myself. After all, I was broke and fat so I had nothing to lose besides my jelly rolls. There’s a likely chance I won’t win anyway. I’ve never been a lucky person. I filled out the application while reminding myself to not get any high expectations about being chosen.
I got up from my computer and started to go take a shower when my phone rang. It was an unknown number so I didn’t answer it. Probably a debt collector trying to get money I owed for hospital visits. I was living on Ramen and chef boyaredee so I don’t know what they expect from me. I’m no cash cow by any means, just a broke cow.
A few seconds later, the phone rang, unknown number again. Usually debt collectors wont try calling multiple times in a row. Maybe it’s someone I know, I should answer just in case, could be important, I thought. Hello?
“Hello! “ The overly cheerful voice exclaimed. “Could I please talk to Jade?” Yes, this is her, I said cautiously. “ We received your application for the weight loss experiment and I am happy to inform you that you have been chosen as one of our lucky participants!”
That was fast, I said surprisingly, I literally just filled out the application five minutes ago. I didn’t expect to actually be chosen. “We are very eager to meet you and help you on your journey for a new you! I will be emailing you some more forms to fill out before you leave and I will also attach an address for you to meet us so we may chauffeur you to our facility!”
Umm, thank you, I said hesitantly. I will start filling the forms out right away. “Perfect! We are very excited to meet you Jade, goodbye!” That was weird, how did they receive and review my application so quickly? I pondered. It seemed a little suspicious but I was so desperate that my judgement was clouded. I should have listened to my oversized gut.
The form that was emailed to me was some sort of ridiculously long contract that I was expected to read but I never take the time to read the fine print. I wish I had and maybe I wouldn’t have ended up in this predicament. I initialed and signed in all the blank spaces and emailed it back to the company.
The separate email I received was an address to meet up with one of the team members in the morning. It also stated that the experiment would last 3 weeks, so I’m glad I had vacation time saved up from my job. I just hoped it would be worth all my hard earned time. I was a little on edge because everything was moving along so quickly.
I left early the next morning because I had a six hour drive to the address. I wasn’t thrilled about driving so far away, especially alone. If anything happened to me, I had no family or friends to report me missing. I had gotten in a bad argument with my mom and dad a while back so it has been years since we spoke. I’m pretty sure my boss wouldn’t miss me either because he always talks about how expendable we are so we should always be working hard everyday to prove we earn our crappy pay. He’s such a douchebag.
I finally arrive at my destination in the middle of nowhere, nothing but desert for miles all around. There’s a black SUV waiting for me and as I slowly walk toward the vehicle, a tall well dressed man steps out to greet me. “HI! You must be Jade,” he says with a big smile on his face. Yes sir, I said nervously. “Nice to finally meet you” he says as he shakes my hand. “My name is Malcolm, I’m one of the researchers for the experiment. “I’m sure you’re tired after that long drive so let’s get you to the facility so you can rest.” “Sounds good, I said as I climbed into the backseat.
I got more nervous the further we drove down the empty desert road but it was too late to turn back now. I thought to myself, if I had been watching me as the main character in a horror movie, I would have been yelling at the screen by now to say how naive and stupid I was for driving hours away to meet a bunch of strangers in an unknown place.
My thoughts were interrupted when Malcolm suddenly spoke. “I know you must be nervous considering what little information you have been given on the location and details about the experiment, but I assure you that you are in the best hands and we will make sure you are comfortable at all times. We will brief you on the process when we arrive and tomorrow morning we will begin.”
Okay, awesome, I said sheepishly. He must have felt my apprehension growing. How much farther until we are there? “It’s the next turn up ahead, nearly there!” Malcolm said reassuringly.
“Well, this is it!” Malcolm said cheerily. What do you mean, I don’t see any buildings for miles? I said concerned while preparing myself mentally to be murdered in the middle of nowhere, due to my own stupidity. “You’ll see!” He said excitedly. He pulled a small remote device from his pocket and pushed the button while pointing toward the flat sand and tumbleweeds. I was shocked when two large metal doors emerged from ground, parting the sand away.
“Secret underground entrance to our state of the art facility!” He said excitedly. We like to remain as remote as possible so no one can have access to our research that we have spent years gathering.” All of our researchers and doctors are family because we don’t want to risk having an outsider stealing our hard earned progress for another company.”
I nodded and stayed silent. Not knowing what lies ahead put my anxiety into overdrive. I guess that makes sense, I thought, trying to calm myself down. Malcolm seemed to be a nice person but I was still cautious as we walked toward the large opening and down the stairs deep underground. The large door creaked shut and I resigned to my fate. I just hope I made the right decision.
“HI Jade!” It was the same cheery voice I spoke to over the phone. “I’m Cassie. I will be the one briefing you on the process and overseeing your progress throughout the experiment! I’m so glad you made it safely, it’s nice to meet you!” Nice to meet you as well, I said with the best smile I could muster.
“Tomorrow morning we will be putting you in our most comfortable bed and administer you a mixture of sedative and anesthesia to help you relax and sleep peacefully during the process. You will remain in this state for 3 weeks. We will give you the nutrients you need through a feeding tube and of course an IV to keep you hydrated. Your vitals will be monitored at all times. It may seem a little scary but I assure you it will be a safe and effective progress!”
Wow, 3 weeks? So basically your going to put me in a coma and feed me the bare minimum until I lose weight? That sounds easy enough but a little dangerous too, I said to her. What if i dont wake up? “Don’t worry, I promise we will treat you like one of our own family members and I will personally make sure you’re given the best care!” Everything will go smoothly and be professionally handled!”
I nodded in silence again not knowing what else to say. I didn’t want to make a bad impression toward the person that would be caring for my helpless body for 3 weeks. Cassie seemed genuinely sweet and caring so it put me a little more at ease after speaking with her. “Follow me, I’ll show you to your room!” She said enthusiastically.
I layed my head down on the soft and fluffy pillow and tried to go to sleep. I was too anxious so I tossed and turned all night. Morning finally came and I was startled awake by the nature sounds coming from a speaker on the ceiling. I figured this was my alarm to get up to start the process. I got up and got dressed in the gown left for me on the bedside table.
“Good Morning! Cassie chirped. I am so excited to help you change your quality of life! I would like to introduce you to my 4 other team members, my brothers and sisters. This is Eli, Drew, Alice and David! They will be assisting me throughout the process! After you have completed the experiment, you will receive the $10,000 in your account as promised! Let’s get started shall we?”
We exchanged pleasantries and I followed Cassie toward the room. The walls were completely white. There were machines surrounding the bed and it seemed to be a sterile and safe place for me to be unconscious, or so I thought. I layed down on the bed as the team scrambled around me, connecting me to all the machines and the IV. I drifted off to sleep, excited to see my progress when I awoke.
I woke up to the sound of a familiar voice. “Good morning! Cassie said in a sing-song voice. Good morn…what is this? I asked as I struggled to move my arms and legs. Why am I strapped down? I asked panicking. “Oh! That’s for your safety and ours! We don’t want you ripping open your incisions before you have time to heal and we certainly don’t want you running away from us now do we?” She said in a creepy motherly voice.
Insicions? Why do I have incisions? What did you do to me? Who are you people? I looked down and notice a large poorly stitched incision on my left abdomen. “OH! That’s just where we took your kidney out to implant it into our brother. You see, all of his organs are failing slowly and you were the perfect rare blood type to match him!”
I looked up in shock. “Are you crazy?! I should have trusted my gut, I knew this was a bad idea! Please just let me go! I won’t tell anyone anything, I promise! I begged. I heard a constant beep to my left and turned to see a man lying in a bed, unconscious and connected to the same machines I was.
“That’s our baby brother, Kevin. You will be saving his life, aren’t you excited!?” She said trying to reassure me. No! I didn’t sign up for this, you people are psycho! Let me go! I screamed. “ Actually…you did sign up for this. It was all in the fine print of the contract we emailed you, but I’m assuming you didn’t read it huh? Most people never do, such a shame. You are the fifth person that we found to match Kevin’s rare blood type. The others organs were rejected when we transplanted them into our brother. The only thing keeping him alive are these machines.” She said sadly as she looked over at Kevin.
Tears streamed down my face as I screamed and thrashed around trying to get out of the restraints. “Calm down now, everything will be okay, we don’t want you hurting yourself.” You need to heal quickly so we can start the next organ transplant. The kidney transplant was successful, but he doesn’t have much time. Soon he will be back to our playful little brother again, one organ at a time. I have high hopes this time that we found the perfect donar, so I will make sure to take extra special care of you!”
You can’t do this to me! You can’t take my organs away piece by piece, it will never work! I won’t survive long enough to keep your precious organs alive for your sick experiment! I screamed furiously at her. “We have ways of keeping you alive, you are our fifth donar after all, so we’ve had plenty of chances to research and work out the kinks. The organs in your body make up about 25% of your body weight so in your case, that would be a 75 lb weight loss! That’s quite a life changing amount, don’t you think?”
I stared at her menacingly as she smiled and walked toward the door, locking it behind her. After I heard her footsteps trail away, I remembered that I had slipped my phone under the mattress just in case things went awry before they put me under. I’m glad for once I was thinking ahead. I just had to squeeze out of these restraints somehow. The right restraint was a little looser than the left so I pulled and strained for hours until finally I broke free.
I quickly freed my right hand and my ankles and searched for my phone from under the mattress. I let out a sigh of relief when I realized they hadn’t found it. I powered it on and just my luck, no service. Of course there’s no service, I’m in an underground facility in the middle of nowhere! How could I be so stupid! I tried the handle of the large steel door, it was locked of course.
So this is my final goodbye, if you’re reading this, it’s too late for me. I posted the last days of my life on here so maybe people will eventually catch these crazy people out here in Arizona. Hopefully my organs will all be transplanted successfully so no one else has to go through the same horrible and twisted situation. I love you mom and dad, I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to tell you often since we last fought. I guess I’ll see you again in heaven one day.
This is Kevin. I found this phone under my mattress after I came out of my 4 year coma. I awoke to scars all over my body, some were healed and some were fresh. I put the phone in my pocket to charge it later and investigate it a bit more. To my horror, my siblings told me they brought me to this underground facility and kept me alive while constantly performing organ transplants until I was brand new again.
I think it’s sickening what they did and I just can’t let them get away with it. They killed so many people on my behalf. After reading the message left behind on this phone from my donar, Jade, I just had to bring her justice. I owe her that at least. I can’t imagine the pain and suffering she was subjected to. I am taking this to the police station tonight when everyone is asleep. I just hope I can make it past the security alarms. Wish me luck.