Chapter 16: Special Delivery
My eyes flew open after I felt a jolt underneath me. I quickly scanned my environment, but it didn't take me too long to figure out where I was. The stench of medical devices was overbearing and I thought that I would throw up, but I kept the feeling at bay.
I knew that showing any signs of weakness to these lunatics would only make them want to "experiment" on me more than they already had. The cage that I was in was small, cramped, and it reminded me of the animals in the cages at the zoo.
Now I remember how they feel... I thought to myself.
My bag with all of my stuff was gone, and I could tell that there was something heavy on my neck. When I touched it, a small jolt of electricity ran through my body. I immediately drew my hand away and held it tightly to my stomach, feeling the sting in my now twitching hand. I heard some chuckles above me and I looked up to see two Erasers staring at me with amused smiles on their faces.
"Look, she's awake" said one of them. "I guess the drug hasn't kicked in; she still looks alert".
DRUG! WHAT DRUG! I thought, my body instantly growing stiff. The other Eraser put his grimy little fur-coated finger in my cage and wiggled it around.
"Go ahead, freak. I dare you to bite me" he said.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. The boss said that she has some kind of weird power..." warned the first Eraser. The one with the wiggling finger didn't take his eyes off of me, but his smile became wider.
"She can't do anything. She's too scared because she knows that I would tear her to shreds" he said. I was totally silent as I stared at his finger, seriously considering to take him up on his dare and rip his finger off in the process, but a better idea came to mind. My pupils drew into slits as I concentrated hard on the still wiggling pointer finger.
It was much harder to make fire pop out of nowhere than it was to actually see a flame and work with it, but I continued to try.
C'mon, c'mon, BURN! I thought. I saw a spark and right after that, I finally got a result.
"OH, JEESH! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!!" the Eraser yelled, bringing the finger that was now on fire out of my cage.
"What happened?" asked the smarter Eraser.
"SHE FUCKING SET MY FINGER ON FIRE!" the idiot bellowed while blowing on his finger, only making the small flame grow bigger.
In all honesty, I would have set his whole body on fire, but I was feeling woozy, so I stopped keeping the flame up, even though I kept a prominent smirk on my face. I heard the Eraser suck in a breath before my cage started to shake. I was already slightly disoriented, so this didn't help too much.
"YOU BITCH! I swear when they let you out-"
"Shutup! We're here" said the calmer Eraser as we stopped in front of a closed door. The Eraser without the burnt finger knocked roughly and seconds later, the door opened up. The Erasers pushed my cage inside, following close behind it. I scanned the new brightly lit room and almost cursed out loud.
The place was packed with whitecoats, and they all turned their attention to me when I rolled in. I would have shrunk back and cowered in fear if I didn't keep telling myself that these maniacs craved fear from their subjects. I stayed silent with a stubborn expression pasted on my face as several whitecoats smiled and walked towards me.
"Well, well. Look who we finally have in our possession once again. Long time no see" said a woman who bent down to my eye level and shot me a smirk.
The way she looked at me disguisted me so much; I just wanted to reach my hand out of these cages, grab her face, and rip off her skin. But I sat there Indian style in that cramped cage, staring back at her without saying a word. Her smile faded slightly and I could tell how nervous she was when I saw a little bead of sweat drop from her forehead.
Was it possible that she could fell the hatred and resentment that I was feeling towards her right now? Was my anger rolling off of me in huge tidal waves? Man I hoped so, because I wanted them all to drown in it.
She quickly stood up and turned away from my cage and I noticed the shallow breath that she took in. Some of the nearby whitecoats looked at her questionally but the others were too enraptured by me to even care.
"She really has grown a lot. She used to be able to open her wings to their full extent in that size of a cage when she was younger, but now she can't even pull them out!" noted a whitecoat.
"Has she gone mute?" asked another.
"Maybe she's deaf" suggested another.
They all broke out in a round of conversations, all huddling near my cage, marveling, wondering, but never touching. I guess they heard the story of that stupid Eraser and his now infected finger.
I stayed still, stayed quiet, my eyes looking straight ahead as I tried to drown out the idiots surrounding me. I would have literally lost my sanity and self-control and broke down crying if I didn't try to recede into my own mind and relax.
Find a happy place, find a happy place... I repeated to myself. Wait...do I even have a happy place? I asked myself.
All of my life had been filled with sorrow and loneliness. The only times that had made me happy was when I looked at the pictures in my book, and I didn't even have that with me.
My time with the Flock was fun... I thought, remembering the laughs, the lake, everyone together...
I was trying not to cry when I heard some say, "The Chief is here!". My attention snapped back to reality as I saw the sea of people make a pathway for someone. My vision was slightly blurred when I tried to look at a far distance, probably because of the drugs that they had given me, but as the person got closer to my cage, my heart sank.
In front of my little personal hell, looking down at me with an amused smile on his face was Jake, the boy from the boat.
"Hello there, princess" he said sweetly. My mouth was open, my eyes wide with surprise, but as he said those words, my teeth clenched, my hands balled into fists, and I started to see nothing but red.
"You..." I said in a menacing whisper while glaring at him. He chuckled and bent down to my level.
"Oh good, you remember me. At first I thought you wouldn't" he said.
I heard the whispers of the other whitecoats saying, "Oh, she can tallk", "Do you think the Chief should be taunting her like that?", "He should be careful"; but I didn't care what they were saying.
At that moment, all I wanted was his throat; all I wanted was for him to be dead. I didn't care if I was drugged, I didn't care how many whitecoats were in that room or if there wasn't an exit, and I didn't care if Erasers were nearby just in case.
I wanted him dead.
I let out a banshee screech as I pushed my shoulder against the top of the bars, making small dent marks where I had impacted into it. I heard gasps coming from the observers and I heard the Erasers that brought me in here calling for backup, but that guy...that MONSTER just sat there watching me.
"You know, this could all disappear right now. All you would have to do is be mine forever" he said casually. I looked at him with fury scribbled all over my face, ignoring the pain in my shoulder.
If I was in my right mind, I would have said, "So you have to ask a captive bird-girl in a cage to be your girlfriend. That's really pathetic. But not even someone like me would stoop so low", or something to that effect.
But I was beyond thinking.
I had lost it.
I lunged forward, letting out a growl, but I made the mistake of putting my hands on the bars in front of me.
I swear, maybe 100 volts of electricity coursed through my entire body in that small instant. I was literally paralyzed while holding the bars for about a count of three before I forced myself away. I laid there in the cage, panting hard and twitching like crazy, surprised that I wasn't dead or worse, like brain damaged.
"God, you're so hot when you're pissed beyond any rational thought" the jerk said. The only thing that I could do that didn't involve too much movement was flick my middle finger at him. I couldn't speak just yet, but I could think clearly now that the red was draining out of my sight.
Ok, I have to calm down, I have to think, I have to be smart. Another thing like that could really cost me my life. I just have to sit, listen, and wait for the perfect opportunity and then I'll be gone, I thought to myself. My body was becoming more stable and I was able to move a bit more, but I didn't want to look at his face again.
"I'm glad your father brought me into this. He is such a great partner! And, as an added bonus, I get to see you even more than I did as a child" he commented enthusiastically. I struggled to get up to look him in the eye so that he could feel my rage but he was already standing up and talking to a female whitecoat.
"Shall we do the performance as scheduled?" she asked. Mr. I'm-a-nutcase looked down at me with a thoughtful look on his disguisting face before he smiled.
"Sure, we will continue on as planned" he replied. I heard several murmurs coming from the peanut gallery; some saying, "This will be interesting", others saying that they wouldn't miss this for the world. "Bring her in" yelled the douchebag and five seconds later, a door to the right of the room that blended right into the wall opened up.
My breath caught in my throat as a small girl who looked almost like me but shorter walked into the room. I noticed a chill run through most of the whitecoats, and some of the Erasers in the room snickered before the girl sent them a glance that shut them up immediately.
She was the same girl from the photo on the internet.
She was...my sister.
"Come here" commanded Mr. Lunatic. His voice was cold and uncaring but she obeyed without saying a word. "This will be your opponent. Don't kill her, or I'll kill you" he said, the threat sounding more like a promise. She nodded at him once, but it was only when she looked at me when she raised an eyebrow.
"They look similar, don't they? Are you sure they aren't related?" whispered a whitecoat.
"No, their records are confirmed that they are from two different parents" replied another. Even the jerk looked at both of us with a curious look on his face.
"Are you two sisters?" he asked. I gave her an "I hate you, you're one of them" look, even though I was thinking the exact opposite in my mind.
Melody, I'm sorry! I truly do love you! I thought to myself, knowing fully well that she couldn't hear me. But her eyebrows raised up in surprise for only a split second before returning to that emotionless face. But it was still enough for me to catch it.
"Well, I guess not. Although that would have made this so much more interesting. Alright, take her away. She needs her rest" he said. I heard a couple of Erasers move towards my cage and Jake bent down again to look at me."I'm really sorry, but I have to have them drug you again. It would be a shame if you got all of your wonderful senses up to full par and decided to leave me" he said, actually sounding apologetic. I glared at him and put as much hatred into my voice as possible, but it ended up sounding worn out, tired.
"I hate you" I said with disgust. He smiled, as if delighted to hear this.
"Hate is a resultant of love, my dear" he replied.
"You're crazy!" I said as they started to wheel me away.
"Only crazy about you" he said simply and winked at me. All I could do was look away. He kept turning my words around.
He made me sick.
O::O::O::O::O::O
After I got shot up with more drugs, I fell asleep.
I don't know how long I was knocked out. A couple of hours, or maybe even days. All I knew was that when I woke up, I was curled up in a tight ball, I was aching all over, and I was very disoriented. I wanted to go back to sleep and never wake up again, but I forced myself up and tried to focus.
I could feel that there was someone else in my room.
I rubbed my eyes and glanced around, becoming more and more alert. I saw someone sitting backwards in a chair nearby, watching me intently. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that it was none other than my sister. She stood up and walked toward my cage and my eyes widened slightly as I noticed the device that she had around her neck.
"You have one, too. They shock you if you don't do what they say" she said after realizing what I was looking at. Her voice rang in my ears and it surprised me how much her name fitted her. It was like a soothing song gently entering your head so that you could never forget.
She sat Indian style in front of me on the floor and brought out some pictures and my notebook. "Who are you, and how do you know my name" she said simply.
I recognized the pictures that she had in her hand. They were the last remaining things left of the house that we all used to live in as a family. I had managed to take them with me before my house burned down and I was taken away.
"You were such a cute kid" I noted absentmindedly, the thoughts that I had sealed away in the farthest parts of my mind now coming back to me in full force.
"Shut up and answer the question" she demanded, giving me the same look that she had given to those Erasers.
Honestly, I thought that was the cutest look that I had ever seen. An 8 year old trying to act tough. That brought a smile to my face.
"If you really want to know, then I'll tell you. My name's Ember, and I'm your sister" I said. There was a moment of silence as we stared at each other. After a while, her mouth turned into a slight frown.
"Your lying" she stated.
"No, I'm not" I replied, slightly confused.
How could she not see it? It was as plain as night and day.
"Yes, you are!" she retorted, her voice rising. I kept my voice calm, wanting to comfort her so badly.
"What reason do I have to lie to you?" I asked her innocently.
"I don't know!" she said furiously as she stood up and turned her back to me. I didn't say anything else, knowing that it would only make the situation worse.
I was seeing my sister for the first time in two years, in the flesh, not in any kind of dream...and she didn't even know it.
I don't know what she's hiding but I'm not gonna get any real answers from her... I heard a voice say in my mind. I blinked once and instantly looked around.
Angel?
Could that seriously be Angel sending me a thought?
She really does look like me, though. But she couldn't be my sister. She is gone...possibly dead... said the voice again. I turned my attention back to the little girl who was standing in front of me and noticed how her hand clenched into a fist, as if she was remembering something unpleasant.
What the...am I...reading your mind? I thought. She quickly turned to face me with shock clearly written on her face. Suddenly, I heard a clicking sound, like something being turned on. I was suddenly able to see everything from her eyes and feel all of her emotions as she stared back at me.
Get out of my mind! she screamed in her head, and it scared me how loud the thought seemed to be amplified in her brain. I shut my eyes tight only to open them again just when the door to the room that we were in opened up and in rushed in the jerk along with some Erasers. He pushed my sister out of his way and hurried toward my cage, looking at me with worry on his face.
"Are you okay? Did she do something to you?! Say something!" he said frantically. I was in a slight daze but I looked up at him and scowled.
"Go to hell" I said to him, the hatred starting to flood my body. He breathed a sigh of relief, bent down, and reached his hand into the cage, as if he wanted to touch my cheek.
"As long as you didn't get hurt, you-" he started to say. But I instantly slapped his hand away and moved as far back into the cage as I could get, which wasn't that far at all.
"Don't you DARE touch me with your disguisting traitor hands" I hissed, rage starting to take over my reasoning a bit. He brought his hand back towards him and looked at me as if my statement had stung. He then sighed and this set me on edge.
He's so calm...why is he so calm?! I thought as I clenched my teeth.
"I wish we were still on the ship. You didn't mind me holding you then" he said as he reminesced.
It took all of my will not to try and bash my way ouy of the cage like I did before.
You promised yourself that you would stay calm and and wait. Don't let him antagonize you so easily, I told myself as I tried to steady my breathing. "I hope you die a lonely man and burn in the depths of hell and feel the pain of the many people that have suffered by your hands" I said while glaring at him. He just smiled at me, as if my words meant nothing to him.
"Baby, as long as you live on this Earth, I wont die. We're connected by a strong bond of love. You just can't see it yet" he said.
I made a barfing sound, but he wasn't paying attention to me anymore. He stood up and looked at Melody with a fierce look on his face.
"Remember, don't kill her. Hurt her just enough so that she'll willingly come to me so that I can heal her wounds" he said to Melody. She swiftly glanced at me and sent me a look that I couldn't really comprehend before looking back at the jerk and nodding. "Bring her out" he said to the Erasers. They obeyed and started to push me out the door after Melody walked out of the room with my bag. I looked over at Jake through the cage. He smiled back at me and I growled.
"You're one sick, twisted person. I hope you fall off a cliff and splatter" I said. He only chuckled and waved at me.
"Ciao, love. Hope you do well" he said before I was rolled into the hallway. I crossed my arms and just began glaring at nothing in particular.
I can't BELIEVE that I thought he was cute, I fumed to myself in a disguisted tone.
.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.^"^.
I found this chapter excrutiatingly funny, but I always like other people's opinion.
(Like I said in the spoiler in the previous chapter, for those of you who were toying with the idea of Jake and Ember, please don't kill me via reviews XD. It was seriously too good to resist making him the sexy bad guy with an odd obsession lol).