"Look who's finally here, the game can start all over again" The woman said on Jade's ear and laughed. "Beck, dear, I'm glad you could join us…it's always good to see an old friend"
"I couldn't resist, could I?" He asked.
"Actually yes, you could've just said no…Her destiny won't change that much but yours will, you could've lived" The woman said. "I actually thought you wouldn't come"
"You don't know me then" Beck responded.
"You shouldn't have come" Jade said angrily.
"Don't hurt her, kill me if you want but let her go" Beck begged.
"Awww, such a sweet boy now…You didn't think that the last time we met" The woman commented smirking. "You do remember, right? I'm sure Jade does…she had a quite memorable time" she said and Jade took a small breath trying to control her fear. "Right, darling? Oh you were so scared, you must remember, I remember…"
"Shut up" Jade said coldly and the woman chuckled.
"You've always been a bad girl, after everything you said to him I'm surprised he came here knowing he would die" The woman commented. "I must admit I'm surprised, the last time we were all together and you confessed to all your dirty little sins, Beck was delighted with the idea of having you killed…"
"That's not news" Jade said and Beck looked at her mortified. "And that was the idea, I wanted him to live"
"Yes, I guess he's here out of guilt because leaving you here was not all, darling, he is worse than you think! We didn't free him right after he left the room…Don't be silly" The woman said. "He was there all along, he couldn't manage to hurt you himself but he wanted to see it, he wanted to see you die, he desired it! Oh god he did!" She commented smiling excitedly and Jade stared at Beck confused.
"What do you mean?" Jade asked.
"First, tell me what he said to you" The woman demanded.
"He left the room, you set them all free and then they came for me" Jade responded.
"That's what happened" Beck affirmed.
"No, it's not" The woman said. "I mean, it is but there's more to that little story and I'm gonna tell you the whole thing now"
"I'm listening" Jade said.
"As I was saying, Beck refused to kill you himself because he is weak but that doesn't mean he suddenly forgot what a whore you are and all the things you've done…He hated you and he wanted you to suffer, he actually made some requests to the players, it was his idea to have you burned with cigarettes and choked with the rope…it added a nice touch of irony given your mom's suicide, I thought it was a brilliant idea" The woman informed and chuckled while Jade stared into space disconcertedly, remembering those horrible moments and wondering if he'd actually been behind it. "Beck was with us in the theater watching the whole thing, he drank wine with us, cheered and chuckled with joy as we saw you getting tortured…He kept saying you deserved it and that they should give you more, he even requested to have the men gang rape you as a punishment for cheating on him but we don't like that kind of stuff so we had to deny it"
"What the fuck are you talking about? That's not true" Beck said angrily but Jade was just staring at him coldly and hurt, she didn't know what to believe anymore. "Don't believe her, none of the things she's saying are true"
"We were testing him, Jade, you don't seriously think we would just set him free without being sure he was okay with what we were doing, do you?" The woman asked and Jade looked down. "We are not that dumb but he turned out to be an actual traitor in the end…and I'm sure he didn't mention any of this to the police, wouldn't have looked good"
"Stop it, stop lying" Beck demanded. "Jade, listen to me! I know I don't deserve your trust but what she is saying is not true, we left as soon as I walked out of that room…I didn't see you getting tortured, I wouldn't have been able to handle it and I didn't make any request"
"You knew it would happen, I wouldn't be surprised if you had been watching" Jade said upset and shook her head. "What are you even doing here? You are so hypocritical, GO!"
"No, I'm not…I'm here because I love you and you have to believe me, I wasn't there" He insisted. "I wasn't there then but I'm here now, I'm here for you! I love you, Jade, I know I was a monster then but I didn't go to those extremes, if I'd wanted to see you suffering I would've hurt you myself but I didn't because I couldn't, you have to believe me" Beck affirmed and she took a breath trying to decide if she believed him or not but in the end she didn't want to think he was an actual monster so she decided to do it. "Please..." He said with tears in his eyes and she nodded a little so he smiled and nodded back.
"It's not that I'm not enjoying this truly heartwarming conversation but the show must go on and you're the stars" The woman said. "Do you like the location I chose?"
"It was unexpected" Beck responded coldly.
"I chose it thinking of Jade" The woman commented. "I know mental hospitals bring memories to you, darling, don't they? You as a little kid crying and asking for your mommy as the doctors locked you up in a room because your mother didn't want to see you" she said, Jade was only listening and remembering those moments. "Oh I did my research and I know all about you…Your parents asked the doctors to keep you restrained and locked up because you were a little psychopath, a criminal, the first doctor you had wasn't very kind, was he? He didn't like your crying and annoying little voice so he kept you in a dark room as a punishment but you never learnt so he switched it to the padded room with the straitjacket and something around your mouth, it wasn't allowed but there was no one to stop him…Your parents didn't care and the other doctors didn't even bother to look, in the end you were a psychopath under his care and you were completely alone…You still are, always have been"
Jade was just staring into space visualizing her past and a few tears started streaming down her face because everything that woman was saying was true. "Then he was fired and your new doctor was nicer, this one actually realized you weren't dangerous like they'd said so he set you free but you were back in a matter of years because you tried to follow your mother's footsteps" she said and Jade looked down. "What was it like to see her hanged in her room and then read what she wrote?" The woman asked and more tears streamed down Jade's face. "What did she say? Oh right, it was something like 'I just can't deal with this anymore, Laura, I really can't! Seeing her every day kills me inside because all I can feel whenever she is around is hatred. I've tried to forgive her but I can't, I remember what she did to my baby and I lose my mind, sometimes I even wish to see her dead too and I hate myself for it…That's not what a mother should feel for her kid. I hate Jade, I hate her and whenever she comes to me, whenever she asks me to hug her and say that I love her I don't know how to react…It's killing me! She should've stayed in the clinic, I wouldn't feel like this if she had…she belongs there and I belong with my baby'" The woman quoted and Jade was just staring at nothing with more and more tears streaming down her face because she could remember reading that for the first time through teary eyes as her mother hanged from the ceiling behind her in the painfully silent residence. "And then she continued talking about how she missed her little boy and apologizing for killing herself, remember that?" the woman asked and Jade nodded a little.
"Stop it" Beck ordered because he could see how much she was hurting Jade.
"You tried to end your life but you didn't succeed and you only bought yourself another ticket to the mental hospital, I must admit I'm surprised your father didn't hire someone to keep you sedated in a room…That's what he would like anyway" The woman commented and chuckled. "So that's the story of how I chose this place, I figured Jade would get a little sentimental about it…After all, according to your mother: this is where you belong" She said on Jade's ear as she stared into space. "This is it, Jade, you're meant to be locked up because everything you ever do is cause the people around you problems, that's why nobody loves you…Your friends set you up to die, your boyfriend told us to torture you, your father hasn't even looked at you in years and that's about it…You have no one else, you're all alone and you know what else? If your mother were still alive, she would probably want you to stay here, away from her" The woman said on her ear but Jade didn't respond, she remained emotionless as some tears streamed down her face. "If you had stayed locked up, she would be alive now…You killed your mom and your brother even if you tell yourself you didn't, deep inside you know it's true, you know your mother was right…You belong here or in a grave"
"No, that's not true!" Beck affirmed. "Jade, don't listen to her…Look at me, Jade! Look at me!" He demanded but she ignored him, it was as if she didn't really hear him.
"See? All it takes is to say the right words and we have our insane lab rat" The woman said laughing. "But she needs a little more help"
"What are you talking about?" Beck asked confused.
"You don't really think we'd just kill you, right? Come on, that's dull" The woman commented. "This is going to be way more fun, we are going to watch Jade West go completely mad…She's not so far from that side of the spectrum so it shouldn't take that long" she said and chuckled. "Isn't it exciting?"
"No! No, don't do anything…What are you planning?" Beck asked worriedly.
"Look at her, she looks so…lost" The woman said as she stared at Jade's face. "This is not going to last that long, she'll eventually come back from her little memory trip…Unless, we help her stay away"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Beck questioned confused.
"She will relive her childhood over and over again. She'll be locked up, she'll be alone, she'll be cold, she'll see no one, she'll remember her mother's words, she'll remember all the pain and she'll end up going completely insane, isn't it brilliant?" The woman explained and Beck stared at Jade nervously, he knew she wasn't completely stable and what that woman intended to do would in fact destroy her.
"Please don't, don't…" Beck begged. "Let her go, kill me if you want but let her go"
"Take our guest to his room while I take care of this little one" The woman said and kissed Jade's cheek.
"No, no…NO!" Beck screamed as two men dragged him away and the woman laughed. They put him in one of the rooms with just one bed, a toilet and a little window on the door. "LET ME OUT! STAY AWAY FROM HER" He yelled and kicked the door several times but it was useless so he eventually stopped.
The woman indeed put Jade in a straitjacket and locked her up in a dark padded room; she had reacted by that moment so she tried to fight it but she couldn't and that terrified her, she knew what that would do to her and she didn't want to lose her mind. "Please let me out! PLEASE!" Jade screamed as she looked around scared but no one came.
They kept Jade away from any human contact and fed her with smoothies she would be able to drink with a drinking straw but they never interacted with her, they gave her the meals through a tiny hole on the door. Beck had been seeing the woman and her friends but he was desperate to see Jade. Another week went by and one night the door of Beck's room opened.
"Well, I think it's starting to work…Do you wanna see the results?" The woman asked and Beck stared at her angrily but nodded. "Come on, follow me" They walked down the hall and the woman opened a door. There was a room with screens and another door, which opened the padded room.
Beck looked at the screens and saw Jade sitting in the middle of the room wearing the straitjacket and swinging her body a little as she stared into space with an appalled expression. Every few seconds she looked to the sides and moved her head a little like she was hearing something. "Oh my god, what have you done to her?" He asked angrily.
"She is my little experiment and it's great to see it working so well" The woman said and smiled as she stared at the screen. "Humans can't be in isolation for too long or they start going mad, it's been proven to be the worst kind of torture and in her case, I'm adding some context…the straitjacket, the padded room and the darkness, those are her triggers and this is the result"
"You're a monster" Beck affirmed.
"You know, she was very cute in the beginning…she kept her head busy and said her name, what she did, what she liked and basically tried to solve puzzles but after a couple of days she lost it…" The woman commented. "And she's just been getting worse, it started with long blackouts, then sobbing, then shaking desperately, then screaming until she lost her voice, then imagining things in the air and now she's hearing voices that are not there as well…It's been really funny"
"Stop it, please I'll do anything but you need to stop this" Beck begged, he couldn't handle seeing Jade like that.
"You'd do anything? Are you sure?" The woman asked and he nodded. "Fine, if you want this to stop you can go in there and put her out of her misery forever" She said and his eyes wide opened.
"Everything but that" Beck responded.
"That's the only option, you either kill her or you see her become a lunatic" The woman said coldly.
"Please don't do this" He begged.
"You made a mistake when you came back for her, she could be dead now and I could still be with my husband, you could be free…everything could be perfect but you led the police to my house and messed with my life" The woman said coldly. "You deserve this"
"Just kill me if you want but leave her alone" Beck demanded.
"I am" She responded and chuckled so he rolled his eyes.
"Let her go!" He ordered.
"This is the beauty of it all, Beck, this is not just about killing…it's art! Can you see it? If you say yes, you'll kill the love of your life and if you say no, you'll see her lose every bit of sanity in her body, she will never be the same even if they found us and freed her because the damage has been done, she would just end up in a room like this for the rest of her life. One way or another, whether you decide to kill her or to watch her go insane, no matter what you choose…You will never find peace"
;)
I hope you guys liked the chapter!
I warned you it would just get crazier haha PLEASE REVIEW! :)