"When can I get the hell out of here?" Miss Parker demanded. She shifted in her hospital bed and sighed.
"When you're better." Lyle patted her hand. "You have to take it easy."
"I'm inert, if I take it any easier I'll be dead." Miss Parker snorted
and sat up higher in the bed. Lyle reached up and gripped her arm,
stilling her movements. Miss Parker frowned. She didn't like it when
he touched her. It made her uncomfortable and she didn't know why.
He was her brother, she should be comfortable with him. His touch
shouldn't feel strange and make her shiver.
"Please, don't even joke about that." Lyle squeezed her arm. "I lost Mom before I got the change to know her, I can't lose you too. I don't want to even think about how close it came to happening this time."
"I'm sorry, Lyle, I didn't mean anything by it." Miss Parker smiled.
"I'm just antsy. I want to go home."
"And you will, as soon as I'm sure you're better." Lyle smiled. So far things had been going well. Miss Parker had accepted all of the gestures of a doting sibling that he had made and had even returned them. It was actually going better than he had planned, but there were still a few tests she had to pass before he let his new and improved sister out into the world. First she had to take his side against their father. Then it would be Jarod's turn. If she turned her back on Jarod when he needed her most then Lyle would know Miss Parker was finally the sister he had always wanted.
"Not Daughter," Angelo muttered to himself as he shuffled through the ventilation shaft. He hadn't been able to see Jarod. Jarod hadn't been out of his cell for the past week and the ventilation was much too narrow for Angelo to get through to see his friend. Angelo shook his head. He didn't know what to do. Daughter and the Lost One were not right. They talked and laughed. Daughter smiled at him. Daughter only smiled for Jarod.
"Jarod. Jarod," Angelo chanted softly. He had to find a way to get
to Jarod. He had tried to see Daughter again and she hadn't yelled.
She had smiled at him with kindness in her eyes and pity in her heart.
Angelo didn't like it. Daughter called him nasty names and snapped at
him, but underneath that was fear and love. Angelo knew that Daughter
was afraid to show that she cared for him. When Daughter loved people
they went away.
Angelo stopped and slumped down against the cool metal. He had to think. He couldn't get to Jarod and neither could Sydney because he had overheard Sydney arguing with Mr. Parker. The Lost One was the only one with access to Jarod. Angelo had no idea what to do, but he had to do something soon. Daughter needed to be herself or she would never survive the Center.
It wasn't going to happen again. Jarod was not going to believe that Miss Parker was dead. It didn't matter that their weird telepathic connection was severed, it didn't mean she was dead. He would know if she was dead. The emptiness...it would consume him.
Jarod sat on his cot and stared at the wall. He had been left alone
for weeks since the beating. Lyle had been in only once to taunt him,
but nothing more than that. He wasn't Lyle's focus anymore and that
wasn't good. Any time Lyle wasn't spending with him, he had to be
with Miss Parker doing God knows what to her. There was only one way
he could help her. One way he could repair the damage done to her
after they had gotten away from the Center. Jarod had to pretend to
be Lyle.
It was easy becoming a doctor, a pilot, or a teacher. Becoming a cold
blooded psycho was scary. Jarod didn't want to feel what Lyle felt or
think his dark, twisted thoughts. it was easy pretending to be
someone who saved lives and helped people, but it was easier pretending
to be someone who took lives and hurt people. That was the scary part.
But he would do it for her.
From the moment of his birth, the boy was alone. His adopted family did not belong to him, but there was someone who did. She was out there. He knew it. And she would love him and accept him. He searched for her relentlessly only to be disappointed time and time again. They weren't right and so they had to pay. It was frustrating and the frustration made him angry. Why was she hiding from him? Why wasn't she looking for him? Soon, he didn't care when the girl he found wasn't her. When they disappointed him, he could hurt them. He could rip love from other people's lives and leave them feeling as lost and alone as he was. It was fun. It was satisfying. So much more satisfying than looking for her. Fear and pain were so much easier to obtain than love and acceptance.
He appreciated the irony of the situation that once he had given up his
quest, she walked right up to him. His sister. His perfect twin
sister. She belonged to him. His cold, beautiful sister was his other
half. His match. She only one flaw - she cared. She cared for their
father - a cruel, ruthless bastard. She cared for Sydney - a pompous
man who didn't have the balls to admit that he was as involved in the
Center's activities as Raines. And Broots - a twitchy nobody who
wasn't worth the scum on the bottom of her heels. But her worst flaw,
her most damning sin, was caring for that freak of nature Center
science experiment. It wasn't fair that Jarod got her love. That he
got her loyalty. He had to change that. Everyone had to learn that
his sister belonged to him, not them. Someday, she would love only
him. Jarod would mean nothing to her.
With an angry cry, Jarod wrenched himself out of Lyle's thought patterns. He pounded on the cool cement wall of his cell. It was of little consolation that Lyle wouldn't kill Miss Parker. Instead he would find a way to twist her thoughts and destroy her feelings until she was as evil as he was.
"It won't happen," Jarod mumbled. He dashed angry tears from his eyes. As hard and cold as she liked to present herself, Miss Parker would never truly give up her soul. She would never become someone her mother would have hated. Jarod lay down on his cot, taking slow deep breaths to calm himself. Miss Parker would never leave him, not completely. He tried not to think about their severed connection. It didn't mean anything. Just because it no longer seemed to exist did not mean that Miss Parker now belonged to Lyle.
To be continued...
Author's Note: Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, I just wanted
to let people know that I haven't abandoned this story or fan fiction
writing. I dashed it off pretty quickly, so I also apologize for any
typos or other errors. Thanks for everyone's support and the emails.
They really are encouraging!