p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"uChapter XXIV : We Will Never Be The same/u/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"Rachel could no longer tell the difference between reality and fantasy. The room where she spent most of her time had no windows, no way to mark the passage of time. She only left to be questioned and occasionally tortured. They would bring her out to another dark room where the Mexicans would smoke cigars by candlelight. Rachel felt suffocated./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"She only saw daylight twice in what felt like months. The first time shouldn't have happened. A kid, who couldn't have been older than sixteen, had gotten lost, taking her above ground by mistake. Back then she had felt no compassion. Now she vaguely hoped he was okay. The Mexican cartels were a tough place to live if you stood at the bottom of the pecking order./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"The second time she saw the sun was on the day she left Mexico. She felt the light through her blindfold. The hot sun on her skin felt both like a curse and a blessing: it instantly scorched her ghostly white skin but brought with its blinding rays a new kind of promise. She felt like a brand new day was finally beginning after a long cold night. Rachel felt hope for all of five minutes. They drugged her, tied her, and threw her in the back of a horse-drawn wagon. Someone else might have been with her back there. Her mind kept playing tricks on her. The journey had flown by and when she finally emerged the people spoke English again. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"There had been no concrete signs of Bass or Miles. As for Connor, that spineless sleazeball, she didn't care. That idiot had been betrayed by his own cartel. She had no idea what they had done with him. Like father, like son./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"Her dreams melted into reality. Sometimes she thought about Charlie and she would materialize, sitting next to her, talking to her, her words muffled and unintelligible. Sometimes, she thought she heard Bass or Miles cry out in anguish during the night. Or was it the day? Maybe the cries were a figment of her imagination. Sometimes, she picked a place, a white cottage on the beach. For days she would live there; cooking, cleaning, and walking on the beach with her feet sinking into the soft white sand. Seagulls flew overhead, filling her ears with music. A family would be playing by the sea. She would wave to them from afar. She never got close enough to take a good look at their features./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"But then she would wake up once again in her cold, dark cell./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"Demons had moved in with Miles. They crawled on the floor; they crawled on the ceiling, right above his head. They taunted and teased him mercilessly. The tiny demons would creep around and disappear inside the vent. They only did it to show him that they were free and that he wasn't. Sometimes they whispered something that made sense, a truth that hurt. However, most of the time, none of what they said made any goddamn sense. Miles was getting thinner. The cold would penetrate his clothes, freezing him down to his bones. The demons always seemed very comfortable though. He wondered how they produced heat. Were they hot blooded or cold blooded? Miles thought they looked a bit reptilian./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"He never thought about the others. He was a prisoner of his own mind, his past faults kept him occupied day and night. Sleep gave no respite./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"Miles was now, more than ever, a lost soul./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"Rachel could no longer tell the difference between reality and fantasy. The room where she spent most of her time had no windows, no way to mark the passage of time. She only left to be questioned and occasionally tortured. They would bring her out to another dark room where the Mexicans would smoke cigars by candlelight. Rachel felt suffocated./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"She only saw daylight twice in what felt like months. The first time shouldn't have happened. A kid, who couldn't have been older than sixteen, had gotten lost, taking her above ground by mistake. Back then she had felt no compassion. Now she vaguely hoped he was okay. The Mexican cartels were a tough place to live if you stood at the bottom of the pecking order./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"The second time she saw the sun was on the day she left Mexico. She felt the light through her blindfold. The hot sun on her skin felt both like a curse and a blessing: it instantly scorched her ghostly white skin but brought with its blinding rays a new kind of promise. She felt like a brand new day was finally beginning after a long cold night. Rachel felt hope for all of five minutes. They drugged her, tied her, and threw her in the back of a horse-drawn wagon. Someone else might have been with her back there. Her mind kept playing tricks on her. The journey had flown by and when she finally emerged the people spoke English again. /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"There had been no concrete signs of Bass or Miles. As for Connor, that spineless sleazeball, she didn't care. That idiot had been betrayed by his own cartel. She had no idea what they had done with him. Like father, like son./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"Her dreams melted into reality. Sometimes she thought about Charlie and she would materialize, sitting next to her, talking to her, her words muffled and unintelligible. Sometimes, she thought she heard Bass or Miles cry out in anguish during the night. Or was it the day? Maybe the cries were a figment of her imagination. Sometimes, she picked a place, a white cottage on the beach. For days she would live there; cooking, cleaning, and walking on the beach with her feet sinking into the soft white sand. Seagulls flew overhead, filling her ears with music. A family would be playing by the sea. She would wave to them from afar. She never got close enough to take a good look at their features./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"But then she would wake up once again in her cold, dark cell./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"Demons had moved in with Miles. They crawled on the floor; they crawled on the ceiling, right above his head. They taunted and teased him mercilessly. The tiny demons would creep around and disappear inside the vent. They only did it to show him that they were free and that he wasn't. Sometimes they whispered something that made sense, a truth that hurt. However, most of the time, none of what they said made any goddamn sense. Miles was getting thinner. The cold would penetrate his clothes, freezing him down to his bones. The demons always seemed very comfortable though. He wondered how they produced heat. Were they hot blooded or cold blooded? Miles thought they looked a bit reptilian./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"He never thought about the others. He was a prisoner of his own mind, his past faults kept him occupied day and night. Sleep gave no respite./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 13.23px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;" align="justify"Miles was now, more than ever, a lost soul./p