By the time Sabina and her parents got up, I was in the kitchen, making breakfast.

Sabina came down the stairs first. "Alex?"

"Hmm?" I didn't turn around from the stove.

"I never thought of you as someone who could cook."Sabina sounded incredulous.

"You'd never think then, would you?" I muttered.

"What?"

"I asked if you had a pen on you." I said loudly.

"What for?"

"To write down what I put in the pancakes." I looked over my shoulder to smile at her. "I like to improvise and see if it turns out alright."

It seems that I 'improvised' a lot these days. But Sabina didn't know that, did she?

"Do you have any syrup and ice cream? Maybe some raspberries?"

"'Course we do."

I looked to see if bubbles had shown up on the pancake to flip it over.

His skin.

Oh fuck. His skin.

My heart stopped; not in fear – in horrifying revelation.

They weren't just burning him. They were melting him as well.

I pivoted around and shut my eyes, only to open them and stare at the ground as the image stuck with me.

The piercing sounds in the air were ones of sheer agony and pain. The scent of burning flesh and singed hair was all I could smell. I stood over thirty feet away from the burning man, my back to him, yet I could still feel the flames curling – licking – under the suspended man.

I didn't know how they'd done it.

The pictures flashed through my mind, like strobe lights. The same one; over and over – lower body was only just beginning to burn – his upper body beginning to melt. The face that begged for help and to be relieved of the torture.

The screams have stopped and I knew he is dead.

His ghost travelled coldly up my spine to hang above me. I could feel his eyes boring into me accusingly; feel his last words echoing through me –

"Lord, help me –" Choking scream. "Please!" Scream.

No more words. Only the sounds of flame cackling at me and the dead man's screams were reaching my ears; taunting me.

He was dead.

He knew I was there. And he knew I was more disgusted then afraid. I wasn't sorry for not helping him. Only sorry for the fact that I hadn't felt like helping. He would've died in the end, anyway, so what was the point really?

A hand was placed on my shoulder and I looked up at Salvage, grinning like the fool he is, he said, "Shall we move on to the next room, then?"

My stomach rolled at the thought of watching another one have his death by way of experiment, but I knew Salvage expected me to lose it.

Expectations were going to change after this one.

I smiled, chillingly. "Let's do it."

Salvage blinked in surprise and I sensed his slip up reveal a slither of fear of me.

Satisfaction ran through me. Fear made people easy to control.

Reality snapped back in the form of burning pancakes. I frowned darkly, still in my thoughts and quickly dumped the ruined ones in the trash, starting a new set.

How long had I been standing here, caught in my past and vulnerable to the present? I needed to stop these flashbacks and dreams. I was going to get killed if they continued.

I heard Sabina walk in and she came up behind me. She put down a bottle of syrup, a tub of ice cream and a pen on the bench beside me. "Hey, Alex, what's that smell?"

I shrugged. "Pancakes. I left them on for too long."

"How'd you manage that with pancakes?" I heard the suppressed laughter in her voice and smiled.

"Well, maybe I'm not all you expect me to be." I grinned. "Sabina, go call your parents down. Breakfast is done."

"'Kay." Her footsteps retreat and then tap up the stairs and my smile slipped away.

Salvage could be a real son of a bitch with memories. You just couldn't forget them. I sure wish that he wouldn't forget me. Even if he was dead, maybe he'd remember me in his next life.

I finished the last of the pancake mixture and began to set up four plates when Sabina appeared beside me. "Mind getting the jug of orange juice I made earlier from in the fridge?"

She obliged and I had just finished arranging the table when her parents came down.

A few minutes later, we were all sitting down at the table and the Pleasures stared at the breakfast in amazement. "Alex?" Edward Pleasure looked dubious. "You can cook?"

I nodded warily and Sabina laughed. "Nobody in this house can cook anything to save themselves." She smiled. "Mum can't even make orange juice without burning it."

I looked at Mrs Pleasure for a moment and squinted in confusion. "How do you burn orange juice?"

Everybody laughed and I smiled as we begin to eat. Mrs Pleasure's face lit up. "Alex, you are a very good cook! Where'd you learn?"

"Jack –" I clammed up at the mention of her, but then I forced a smile before any of my tension could seep into the room. "Jack taught me how to cook. It was either I learn how to cook or risk her starving me just to prove her point. Although I can't cook anything that takes more than ten minutes..."

I faded back as the family laughed and continued on with conversation.

Jack. Jack. Jack... A howl of pain and pure loss resonated through me and I felt my world break apart again. Luckily, external body language was easier to handle than internal battles, so I kept to myself and finished my breakfast.

As I got up to clear the plates, Mrs Pleasure stopped me. "You already cooked breakfast for us; don't tell me you know how to clean dishes too." She laughed. "We have a dishwasher, so no one here has to worry about that."

I smiled crookedly. "Well, then I'll be headed upstairs to grab a little reading and studies. I've got to catch up before I start school this year."

Mrs Pleasure's eyes lit up in adoration. "Alex, you really are a strange boy, aren't you? I've never seen any teenager cook something edible – then volunteer for studying, but I think I like it." She laughed and I joined her as I nodded and left the room.

As I walked up the stairs the cheery mask fell away and gloom poured off of me. I missed Jack. The Alex inside fought and wailed at the cage. He wanted out.

He wanted to be able cry his eyes out. To talk to someone with nothing held back. To walk freely – not watching his back every day.

This Alex wanted to be able stop.

Because we were one and the same, weren't we? I didn't have another side. Just the one person standing on the line between espionage and life.

And right now; this Alex was leaning heavily on the side of espionage.

Only since the one inside would break down once let out. He wouldn't be able to cope with the battering of emotions. But that was why I was here, wasn't it?

A single thought struck me when I got to my room; I never did use that pen Sabina got for me.