Thanks again Sarah. Had to wait for your review before I could update! Hope you like. - Ursula
Chapter 4
It was one of those rare pleasant nights in late autumn when the sky wasn't threatening rain and the temperature was just short of perfect, and Claire chose to take her dinner outside, relishing the thought of a quiet meal away from the bustle of the Center's main floor. She stretched out at the edge of the steps leading up to the building. The bruises on her back stung, but the cool concrete felt good against her fevered skin. She put the earbuds of her mp3 player in her ears and turned up the volume to drown out the rest of the world. This was one bit of modern technology she had embraced without a backward glance. True, the bass was lacking, but what did she care when she could carry her music with her?
She pursed her lips in a frown when Shawn approached her, interrupting her solitude. She considered him, standing over her upside down, his close-cropped brown hair tousled, as he considered her, lying sprawled on the concrete with arms and limbs splayed every which way. She pulled out one of her earbuds.
"More of the Sex Pistols?"
"Huh. I didn't think you'd recognize. Before your time, I suppose."
He smiled, although from her vantage point it looked like a frown. "I didn't. You – ah – you mentioned Sid Vicious so I –uh – I googled him."
She sat up, smiling. Not that thin smile she used in Jordan's office; this time he glimpsed a row of teeth. "Ah, so a little research in the name of musical education."
"Right, I suppose." He took a seat next to her on the steps.
"Well, you've got a long way to go. Wasn't that Dido I heard coming from your apartment the other night?"
"Oh, so you were lurking around my apartment?"
"You know, hoping to catch you naked."
He grinned. "Right. An eye for an eye. Didn't feel like eating inside?"
"Nah. Needed some peace and quiet. You know I – " She didn't get to finish her sentence. Joan, one of the other workers that had been on the floor with Claire that day, cleared her throat noisily behind them.
"Oh, hi Joan." Shawn called.
"Claire, Mr. Collier is looking for you. He says you're late to a meeting? He seems pretty peeved. I would get in there if I were you."
Claire sighed. "Right. Tell him I'll be right in." Joan hurried back inside.
"A meeting? What kind of a meeting do you have with Jordan at 9:00 at night?"
"It's nothing. I should go." She stood, and he scrambled to follow. "I'll see you around, okay?"
"Okay, see you around." He said to her retreating back as she re-entered the Center's main doors.
Claire settled herself again in the lone chair in the back room off of Jordan's apartment.
"Well Claire, now that we've established the content of the experiments, is it safe to assume that there's no longer any need for restraints?" He jangled the handcuffs in demonstration.
"I suppose not." Claire eyed him warily from her sitting position, trying to scan the room unobtrusively for more of the heavy projectiles from the previous night.
"It's important that you understand that these experiments depend on your mental response to the stimuli, and if you resort to physical means of defense, it counteracts what we are trying to accomplish. Does this make sense to you?"
"Yeah," she said shortly, annoyed. "Yeah, I understand. You know Jordan, I may be young, but I'm not stupid. You didn't have to blindside me with those bowling balls yesterday to get me to play along."
Jordan gave a brief, lopsided smile. "I was hoping the element of surprise would help bring your abilities to the fore."
"No such luck."
"It would appear not."
She sighed. "So what now?"
Even Jordan had to marvel at the incongruousness of Claire's ability to actually allow him to cause her pain without responding physically. She clenched her jaw and tried to keep her eyes open, despite the tears that streamed from them. She even stopped cursing; the only sound Jordan heard coming from her was the occasional grunt or hiss of escaping breath. Now that she was prepared for what Jordan intended to do to her, she seemed intensely determined to conquer his tests. What Jordan didn't realize is that Claire was no stranger to disengaging her mind from the world around her. She had spent several years in dirty New York apartments doing just that before her abduction, but this time she didn't have the help of a needle in her arm. She was dependent on her own strength.
Still, even her stoic acceptance of his assaults didn't seem to have any positive effect on the experiments. Claire finished her second night having made no more progress than the night before.