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Chapter Details:
Title Chapter 2: Confessions Hardly Made
Chapter 2 Summary: Introductions to the convicts and their faults.
Words in Chapter 2: 3.600
A/N: Thank you so much, you guys! You can't even imagine how happy your reviews made me! And I'm so glad you liked it so far. =) Hope you'll enjoy this one, too.
AN2(2012): oh god, I hate rewriting. Also I'm more than surprised that I didn't get any flames. There were sentences I had to read three times myself – and still had no clue what the heck I was trying to say. Wow. I dearly hope that it's better now.
Part 2:
Confessions Hardly Made
The air was heavy with tension.
The five captives were utterly silent and sat motionless as they listened to the metallic voice coming from a small, silvery recorder in the hand of one of them.
"Hello, Tobey...," it said. "I want to play a game. You might want to know, where you are, but you shouldn't worry your lazy head. What matters now is, why you are here.
Everything you need to know is on this cartridge. Listen closely and follow the instructions. These are the rules.
You and your new friends share a certain difficulty. Call it Karma. All of you have a slow processing poison working through your veins. If you lose the game you will be dead in no more than twenty-four hours. At this point I alone know what poison it is that is slowly draining the life from you. Do not despair, yet. There is a remedy. This is your main goal. The remedy is hidden somewhere in this building, but, I might add, there's a catch to this.
You can find enough of the supplied syringes filled with the aid to heal your condition. You will search for one of five hiding places, each one contains a different amount of the remedy. The first offers five, one for each of you, the second has four, the third has three, the fourth has two and the fifth holds only one syringe! I suppose you can do the math here.
Follow the cues and you will find one of these places. You will always be given a choice. Now listen closely, for this is your first cue:
The key to run free is not far.
The right one to leave is a source of grief, but not if attentive you are.
With logic and wits, do as you see fits. Watch your step,
take one wrong and along an endless nap.
Show me, that you are worthy of the life you have been given and you will leave this place breathing. None of you would be here if you would value life properly. But now you are given time to have a change of heart, and if I were you, I would think it over – fast!"
A short moment of silence fell upon the scene and seemingly signaled the end of the speech, but just when Tobey intended to stop the tape Mulder indicated for him to leave it running and the voice rose again.
"Tobey,
Apparently you don't have respect for anything – Neither for your body, nor for your own life, not even for anyone else's. I know you well. Why don't you tell the Agents about your daily routine -"
Harshly Tobey pressed the 'stop'-button and his gaze flashed to Agent Mulder in a dubious fashion. He shook his massive head and murmured, "There's nothing I have to tell." Mulder stared at him, intensely, but said nothing. Instead Agent Scully's voice sounded from across as she sat facing Tobey, her stare intimidating and fixed on his.
"What does he mean by that? How do you spend your days?" The muscles in her jaw tightened ever so slightly as suspicion and curiosity outweighed the fear and confusion regarding the general situation.
"And who, if I might inquire, are you?" Tobey tilted his head and threw a look that clearly spoke of annoyance at Scully. Her first impulse was to reach for her ID, but it wasn't there. She huffed at her own naïve assumption the culprit wouldn't have taken it from her.
"Special Agent Dana Scully," she said plainly, hands resting on the floor beside her, instead of flashing her badge.
"You two a team?" Tobey frowned and looked back and forth between the Agents.
'Amazing grammar,' Scully thought. Instead of voicing anything negative she cleared her throat and said, "Yes, we are partners. Now would you please explain what the message was about?"
The fat man shrugged hardly convincing and said, "Well, I'm unemployed, so mostly I sit at home and play videogames. 'Bout that 'don't-respect-my-body' crap, I may eat a bit too much fast food, but who doesn't? I have diabetes, but my father and grandfather had it too and they were both over eighty when they died."
"Alright. That's not a very healthy way to live, but I can't imagine somebody would think it's a reason to put someone through this. Is there something else?" Scully observed him carefully, her forehead slightly creasing in concentration. Tobey shook his head vaguely and held up his hands, indicating unawareness of any good reason why he had been put here. "Well, why don't you play the resume then? This shouldn't be a problem. Unless you have something to hide, that is." Tobey just gave her a nasty glare before he focused on some distant point, pretending not to notice her presence at all.
A few minutes went by and the female Agent just sat with a deep frown on her bruised forehead. Finally Mulder, who had been lost in his own thoughts about their possible chances broke the silence, "What do you think?" He watched her looking up at him as if she'd forgotten, he was even there.
"I think... we should play his game. I mean, it's not like we have an actual choice, other than waiting for death," she eventually mused, pointing to the shackles. Her partner narrowed his eyes and rested his chin thoughtfully on the knuckles of his right hand.
"What do you mean, 'we should play'? We have to find a way out, that's what we should do," Mulder said, frowning. But Scully just shook her head no and as she spoke again her voice was calm and rational.
"No. I don't think that we have a choice. If we play along - well, if that guy wanted us dead, we'd be dead by now," Scully pointed out.
"How do you know?" Tobey inquired. "What if it's just some sicko who gets off watching people die slowly?"
Agent Mulder looked at Scully intensely, then he sighed, "You think, it's that 'Puzzle'-guy, don't you?" Scully shrugged but nodded slightly, not too sure herself. "I had that idea, too."
"What the fuck is going on here? Would you mind to induct me for a change?" Tobey nearly yelled desperately, which earned him an unwilling and clearly reluctant glare from the red haired woman.
She sighed heavily and in a rasped but serious voice she replied, "I am not very familiar with the case, but it was all over the newspapers. Agent Mulder and I were not part of the commission, though word gets around and some details that weren't revealed to the public seem to apply here." She tilted her head in Mulder's direction and he nodded absently. "The press named him the 'Jigsaw Killer'. There is a rather clear and constant scheme to his victims. It's always people, who did something that was wrong in his eyes. Say, murderers, drug addicts, violent or corrupt people; those, who act morally reprobate and balance on or even cross the line of righteousness. His opinion is considered to be very radical. Those who won't value and respect life, no matter if their own or others', draw his attention."
"Okay. What's that got to do with 'Jigsaw'?" Tobey spoke up, forgetting his former determination to ignore Scully.
"That's due to a detail all crime scenes had in common," Mulder answered, looking on the ground before him, deep in thoughts. "A piece from every victims' skin was missing. Always in the shape of a jigsaw piece."
"Nasty," Tobey grunted, baring his teeth a bit. "Okay, go on."
Mulder briefly glanced at Scully, then turned to face Tobey and explained, "He tests the people, who aren't worthy in his eyes. Puts up traps they can't escape unless they are willing to play by his rules. Those traps usually involve pain and fear they have to accept and overcome in order to stay alive." He drew his brows together and went quiet for a moment, his gaze becoming unfocused, again. "It certainly carries the signature so far," he spoke up again, referring to the unconscious boy with the appliances around his shoulder and wrist. "But it could be a copycat as well. The similarities that hadn't been publicized could be coincidences, although I doubt that. If we assume, it really is him, then you may be right. We'd have to obey and play by his rules. I would say, first of all, let's find out why we were chosen in the first place. There's no use in lying to save us from humiliation, it can't get much worse, so let's be honest." Mulder gazed at Tobey. He knew, that guy was hiding something from them. He could tell by the expression on Tobey's face when Scully had asked him about what was on the cassette.
Scully nodded in agreement and Tobey merely shrugged. However when nobody seemed to be willing to say anything Mulder took a deep breath, rolled his eyes inconspicuously and cleared his throat.
"I guess, I'm the first in line, then. My name is Fox Mulder, I'm a Special Agent at the FBI. I barley have a private life. When I'm not chasing-... culprits I mostly stay at home. Well, as a matter of fact I can't think of much more to say. I suppose I could do more with my life. Maybe I could do more to prevent crimes, too." Scully rolled her eyes at that, but Mulder pretended not to notice. He felt like he was attending some Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. There were some things that actually nagged at him, but feeling responsible for his sister's abduction, or reacting too slowly in a hostage-taking, or similar things didn't seem relevant in this situation. Yet, there was one thing he considered to be a very likely possibility for why he was put into that hall. He fought with himself, but some pathetic, but incredibly convincing part of him wouldn't give him permission to voice the suspicion. Instead he tried to convince himself that no one could possibly know, that it had to be something else.
Mulder swallowed hard. The next best thing that came to mind wasn't a story he liked to share, either. However he had said it himself, there was no use in lying. He had to force the words out of his mouth, but eventually he said, steadier than he'd expected, "When I was twelve my sister was abducted. I never saw her again. I don't remember much of the actual event, but I do remember how frozen I felt. I should have done something. Anything! But I just stood there and watched, immobilized and silent. There was never an accurate explanation for her disappearance and for some reason I, too, was a suspect for the police, there was a rumor about me having killed my own little sister. Of course, I told them what had happened, but they didn't believe me and for some time they thought I was just boldly lying to save myself." He fell silent for a few heartbeats. When his voice sounded again it was shallow and quiet. "I wasn't, and I keep searching for her ever since. I don't even know whether she's still alive or… I should have done something. She is the reason why I became what I am to the day." And that was indeed true. He just didn't tell his assumptions about what had actually happened that day, figuring it would be wiser to not risk being regarded as an unprofessional lunatic.
"Mulder -" Scully made the attempt to speak, wanting to say something reassuring and soothing, but no more words come to her mind and even if she had known what to say, it surely wasn't a subject to be discussed in front of a probably dangerous criminal and a temporarily mentally instable girl.
Tobey gazed at the Agent, but made no move. In fact, he looked somewhat bored, which sent a jolt of anger through Scully. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and took an even breath. Finally she cleared her throat.
"My name is Dana Scully. I'm a Special Agent with the FBI and I'm partnered with Agent Mulder" She gestured vaguely in Mulder's direction before going on with her own story. "I try to do a good job. I always wanted to do something –" She sighed, lifting her hands a bit in a somewhat helpless gesture as if she expected words flowing into her grip. "I wanted to do something good, to help. I honestly don't know whether I'm doing the right thing or not." She shrugged "As for my life aside from the bureau, that's a short story, but I don't break the law." She shifted a little uneasy and a strange frown appeared on her forehead. Sneaking a glance at Tobey she knew, she too had to admit the whole truth – Or at least, most of it.
"Once I had this friend and she was like a sister to me, but we were no good for each other and did some… some really stupid things." Scully sat back, tilting her head and absently gazed at her hands, obviously unwilling to say anymore.
"Such as?" Tobey inquired, saying aloud what everyone else was thinking anyway. But the short woman just raised one brow and shook her head.
"And nothing. We did some stuff, that wasn't okay at all. We –" She paused. After she had taken another deep breath she forced herself to actually tell something if just to convince Tobey to tell his own dirty secrets. "Well, we paid to some guy to buy alcohol and cigarettes for us. We took my brother's car sometimes, none of us girls had a license, but we thought it was alright as long as nobody would catch us. Stupid kids, not knowing what we were doing."
"You caused a car crash, then?" Tobey's eyes danced a little with disgusting excitement at the thought.
"No. We weren't involved in a car accident, but that didn't make the whole idea any better. Today I know this, but back then it had seemed harmless to us." Scully sighed and shrugged.
Tobey pouted thoughtfully. "Why did you say 'car accident' so strangely?"
"Excuse me?"
"Does that mean something else happened? Because so far, I don't see anything actually unusual. Don't get me wrong. Sounds like you used to be a spoiled, little brat."
"I think we can cut the insults," Mulder interrupted the man with a warning glance before Scully had a chance to voice the anger forming in her guts.
"Sure thing." Tobey smiled daringly. "I just wanted to say, so far it sounds like the average – let's call it 'rebel-yell'."
Scully stretched her neck to get rid of the tension forming in her nape. "Listen, I don't want to tell you the whole story of my entire life. All you need to know is that I've made many mistakes in my earlier life – but I've learned from it, so I actually don't see why I am here." She narrowed her eyes and wrinkled her nose slightly despite all efforts to not appear like a stubborn child.
Mulder watched her closely and thanks to his training and intuition he didn't miss the definite signals of shame, regret and fear of being caught. Some indicates she couldn't hide and sent without even noticing.
"Fine. Like I said, I'm Tobey Connelly. Ma'am", he made a completely inappropriately devoted and in this situation clearly mocking gesture to Scully. She didn't even raise a brow. "I'm in my forties. Huh. I confess, okay, I too did some heavy shit, but it was never like – ugh. It was really not that bad, okay," he hissed, acting like he had been attacked. His face had gained a color that reminded awkwardly of an eggplant.
Mulder chewed absently on the inside of his cheek before he asked, "Would we put you behind bars if we would know?" The overweight man paled clearly and his mouth hung open to show a gap.
Recovering swiftly he simply answered, "Yes." and shot daring glances toward the Agent.
"What about you?" Scully's voice suddenly broke the unpleasing silence. She looked questioningly at the trembling girl, but she kept on staring ahead and whimpering, appearing totally oblivious to the fact that she wasn't alone. Sighing Scully asked again, changing her inquiring tone to a tenderly soft and understanding one, "Hey, it's okay, none of us will do you any harm. Looks like you've been through something horrible. I can understand that you don't want to talk now, but you don't have to be scared. We will help you, okay? Just tell us your name."
The girl looked up, facing the direction of the older woman, her eyes racing to and fro the whole time. Then she seemed to calm down a little and stared intensely into Scully's friendly eyes.
The girl's mouth hung open and her eyes were wide with shear fear vivid in them, eventually she nearly whispered in a rather high-pitched and trembling voice, "Nora"
All of a sudden she jumped to her feet and tried to rush over to Scully with such speed and force that took everyone by surprise. However the shackle on her ankle made her stumble and fall back to the ground; her head, shoulder, knees and palms hitting the iron grating hard, sending a very repulsive sound through the room.
Startled the two men and Scully sucked the air through gritted teeth. After a swiftly passing moment of shock the girl, Nora began fighting the iron shackle franticly as if her life depended on freeing herself from it – which, in fact, wasn't too far from the truth.
"Hey, stop that! Hey, NORA!" Scully screamed alerted, trying to reach for the hysteric girl when she wouldn't stop and just kept hurting herself even more. Finally Nora stilled, lying on her back and panting heavily. Big tears flooded her eyes and fell without a halt as she cried desperately. Violent sobs shook her whole body and miserable, choking sounds emerged from her open mouth.
"Alright, alright… alright," Scully chanted relieved, running her fingers through her damp hair. "Nora? Nora, you hear me?" she asked carefully, not wanting to push her luck.
As her whimpers started to ebb a little the girl attempted to speak between still heavy sobs. "Y-yes."
"Please, try to stay calm. Fighting would do no good for now," Scully said cautiously. When Nora made a weak effort to get up she raised her hands. "Wait, wait, I promise, we'll get you home, okay?"
'Big mistake,' Mulder thought. 'Never give a promise you probably won't be able to keep.'
"For now," Scully went on. "Tell us your full name and what you do for a living. It's alright, okay?"
Nora picked herself up clumsily and as she sat as comfortable as possible in this inhuman situation she rose her trembling voice, "I- I'm Nora Bailey, I'm nineteen and I don't have a job or somethin'. I-I keep company for money." She looked like a deer in the headlights.
"You mean, you're a whore," Tobey stated, half questioningly. Both Agents shot a warning glance his way and he raised his brow and averted his eyes.
"Go on," Scully said to Nora, keeping her tone casual and friendly.
Nora swallowed visibly and nodded her head almost unnoticeably. "Well, yeah, somewhat." She dared to shoot a quick look at Scully before looking at her hands and starting to speak again. "I have a baby girl and she needs so much I can hardly keep her from starving. I-" She wanted to defend herself more, but another sob cut her off.
Agent Scully spoke up, trying to sound as understandingly as she could, "It's alright, nobody blames you. How old is your daughter?" It seemed like Nora had to think rather hard, baffling the others a bit, for she appeared to be a desperate and loving Teenage-Mom, who did everything for her baby. None of the others could imagine such a mother would not know her own child's age.
After a while the girl answered, "She's 'bout six months. You know, I have no one, it's not easy."
"What about the father?", Mulder asked, a frown creasing his forehead.
"He's... he left me," Nora replied, obviously reluctant to answering any more questions about her daughter or the circumstances of her life.
"I'm sorry," Scully began, truly feeling sorry for her. "I understand your dilemma, but do you have an idea about why could you be here then? Do you have anything, what would reason your-" She was obviously struggling to find the right words. "your 'stay' in here? Something you did, that was really not okay? Don't mind telling us, each one of us seems to be here for a reason. All of us did something very wrong."
The girl shot Mulder an almost hateful glance. "But he didn't," she spat out, surprisingly harsh. Pointing at Scully and Tobey she said, "And you won't tell."
A few minutes went by during which nobody said a word. Nora was right. And the three others knew it. None of them actually confessed anything. Mulder licked his lips involuntary, thinking, 'I myself the least.'
Just when the silence reached the edge of becoming unbearable the young boy, who had been unconscious until then stirred and moaned, apparently coming round.
The convicts watched tensely as the boy started moving uncoordinatedly. A weak, raspy voice announced his awareness. "Where am I? ...Nora?"
To Be Continued...
