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Switched
Chapter 39
Alone in a freezing room, Cayla huddled in a dark corner and tried to will her shivering body to sleep. So cold was the air that she could see her own breath and her handcuffed hands were almost numb. With every second that passed, the room got colder and colder, and Cayla hoped that with a little luck her core body temperature would drop so low that she would drift into a sleep from which she would never wake up. Freezing to death was far preferable to the end Taron would have in store for her. Already she'd been told that Taron was going to personally exact his revenge upon her and the only victory she could hope for now was to die before he got the chance. It was the only way left of drawing a game that Taron had won. But no matter how much she tried to send her body into eternal sleep, her mind would not shut down. Instead it played out horrors before her, horrors that waited for her at the hand of the Reaper whose name was Taron. Suddenly, the air turned so cold that Cayla's very lungs seemed to freeze and she could hardly breathe. Then the air warmed up slowly until it was comfortably warm. Despairing of an icy death now, Cayla could only hope for a hot one, but while the temperature continued to rise for a while, it then stabilized and rose no more.
So far, cold and confinement had been Cayla's only torture, but when she heard footsteps in the corridor outside, she knew her real time of torment was about to begin. But as horrific and terrifying as the thought of physical torture was, what tormented her most was the thought of Taron's gloating face as he basked in his long awaited victory. The footsteps stopped outside the door and Cayla steeled herself for Taron's triumphant face, but when the black doors parted it was not Taron's face she saw, it was Lacey's. And yet not Lacey's. For the handcuffed woman before her, pressed between two stout men, was a shaking wreck and looked like hell. Her long ginger hair was wild, her eyes red-raw from crying, and her face bruised. At the sight of her, pain seared through Cayla's heart and she scrambled to her feet.
"Leave my sister alone!" she cried tearfully. "She's got nothing to do with this! Nothing!"
"But she's got everything to do with you," Wyn said. "And you should know that Taron's favorite pastime is to torture before their eyes the loved ones of those he hates. And he hates you, Vonra, more than he's ever hated anyone."
Cayla fell on her knees before him. "I'll suffer anything," she said. "I'll do anything, but let my sister go."
With studded gloves, Gus slapped Cayla across the face and then pushed Lacey to the floor. "We'll let her go eventually," he said. "You should know by now that Taron never kills the innocent. He only murders the guilty. Sometimes, yes, the innocent have died accidentally, but Taron can't be blamed if a transport cuts out or a weak heart fails. He'll let your sister go, but not before he's made you suffer by seeing her suffer."
Cayla got to her feet again. "You're sick evil bastards!" she yelled. "All of you! And you'll rot in hell for this! Do you hear me? You'll rot in hell!"
"I don't believe in hell," Wyn said coldly. "The only hell I believe in is the one you're about to endure."
"That's right," Gus smiled. "And not even the devil himself could torture like Taron."
"So prepare yourself for unimaginable pain," Wyn added. "Because Taron's close. Very close."
The two men then left the room and the black doors shut behind them.
"Oh God, Lacey," Cayla wept, turning desperately to her sister. "I'm so sorry...so sorry..." Her heartache was so great, the shock of her sister's capture so intense, that she could hardly breathe. "I never....I didn't....Oh God, Lacey..."
"He's not coming," Lacey said. "Taron. I heard them talk. He's too far away. They just want you to think he's coming." Tears spilled onto her cheek. "It's been hell, Cayla. I've been here for days and they've done all kinds of things to me. They said that if they couldn't find you they'd take my life for yours. Fair exchange they said. But Taron wouldn't have it. He wanted you. They're going to keep you here for days, both of us, and only let me go when you're..." she sobbed painfully. "When you're dead. But there'll be no torture. There won't. So don't cry, Cay, please don't."
"But there will be," Cayla wept. "Oh God, Lacey, there will be. And I can't bear it. I can't..."
Desperately, she got to her feet and tried to tear her handcuffs off, but they were fixed firm.
Damn," she cried. "Damn it! I have to get free. I have to get us out of here...."
"There's no way out," Lacey said. "We're at their mercy."
"Then you'll have to kill me! You'll have to smother me, strangle me, do anything to me. I have to be dead by the time Taron comes, understand? I have to! Because he will come, Lacey. I know he'll come!"
"Don't talk like this," Lacey wept. "Don't! I need you to be strong. You've always been strong! I need you to bear this. I need you too because I don't know if I can!"
Cayla shrank to the floor sobbing. "I'm so sorry, so sorry."
"And don't keep saying that. Sorry won't help us!"
"No, it won't. Nothing can help us. Nothing but death. For Taron will crucify us...send us to helll...do things you can't imagine. There'll be no relief. Just torment. Just..." her words trailed as a thought occurred to her, a hopeful revelation, and she looked up at Lacey. "You're not real," she said. "This is all part of the torment. You're in Deep Space, aboard a starship. There's no way Taron can have you. You're nothing but a hologram....a trick of light." Immeasurably comforted, Cayla leant back against the wall and almost laughed. "Of course. Well done, Taron. You got me!"
"I'm not a hologram," Lacey said. "I'm real. They made a hologram of me to torment Commander Chakotay with, but she isn't me. I'm real." She held out her bruised and bleeding wrists. "See where I bleed....finger my blood...smell it."
Cayla recoiled from her and got to her feet. "I'm not falling for it! I never fall for the same trick twice. You're not my sister. You're a computer generated program." She looked up at the ceiling. "And if you're watching this, Taron...Ranto...Grant Merellus, she's not fooling me. Do you hear? I'm not fooled!"
"It's me," Lacey cried. "Don't you know me? I was on my way home...left our ship last week so I could get home sooner. It was killing me there when all this was going on with our parents. I had to come back, had to see you, had to meet my real mother. So I took a shuttle, alone, and was almost home when I was boarded and brought here."
Cayla sank to the floor again and put her hands over her ears. "I'm not listening. You're not real."
Lacey pulled Cayla's hands from her head. "I am real...feel me...feel my blood."
"No," Cayla cried, turning away. "He doesn't have you. Not my Lacey. Not my sister."
Lacey took Cayla's hands in hers and smeared them with the blood that ran from her clamped wrists. "I am, Cayla. See...feel...taste my blood."
Cayla could feel the blood on her skin, could feel it wet and warm. "No," she wept. "You have to be a hologram. I can't bear it if you're not a hologram."
"We'll I'm not," Lacey cried. "And you'll have to bear it."
"I can't. Oh Lacey...I'm so sorry...so sorry..."
The doors suddenly opened and Gus and Wyn returned.
"Taron's arrived," Gus said. "And wants some carnal pleasure before getting down to business. So you'd better be in a whoring mood, Lacey, because the less you resist the less it will hurt."
Gus and Wyn then yanked Lacey to her feet and pulled her towards the door. "No," Lacey screamed. "No...Cayla...help me!"
Cayla leapt to her feet and desperately grabbed Lacey's clothes. "Don't you dare hurt her," she cried. "Don't you dare!"
But her strength was no match for the men's and they ripped Lacey from her.
"We'll do with her what we want," Wyn said.
He then pushed Cayla to the floor and with Gus dragged a hysterical Lacey into the corridor. Cayla stumbled to her feet to chase them, but before she could reach the doors they shut fast. Desperate, Cayla pounded the doors with her fists, pounded them with all her might, but to no avail. Then, unable to endure the pain, she let out an agonizing cry and sank to the floor with heaving sobs.
END OF CHAPTER 39