Hello everyone! Before I start I would like to make a small preamble: this story is written in the original Italian and this English translation was made by an artificial intelligence, I hope to be able to correct any mistakes, if not I ask you to be lenient.

Enjoy reading and let me know what you think, readers' opinion always helps me to improve my work!

New day, new chapter! I have been very inspired lately so, since you have waited so long for the previous chapters, I will post as soon as I have a chapter ready. I hope you will enjoy it

Mini

13. Dr. Milbury

Charles

He was afraid, he knew what was waiting for him, he could not stop shaking as he followed Dr. Milbury toward the car.

"Everything will be alright," he told him as he drove toward the lab, "You don't have to fear anything."

The doctor's words sounded reassuring, but Charles knew full well that he was lying; nevertheless, he could not fight it; he remembered all too well what had happened when he had tried to rebel.

The laboratory was located inside a newly constructed building, Charles now knew the way by heart, and soon, after walking down several corridors and down many flights of stairs, he found himself in the room where Dr. Milbury was conducting experiments along with Charles's stepfather, Kurt Marko.

The room was located underground and was also soundproofed. There were several control panels and, in the center, a metal crib with straps at the wrists, waist and ankles, on which white robes had been laid.

"Let's not waste any more time," Milbury said, "Charles, change and lie down on that crib."

Charles approached and, despite his fear, obeyed.

As soon as he was stretched out an assistant of Milbury's arrived and immediately began to tie him up, tightening the straps until it hurt; soon afterwards came Marko, who spoke to him in a voice that should have been reassuring, but instead sounded frighteningly disturbing.

"If you are good you will not suffer," he told him, "You will have to obey, Charles, you will have to do what I tell you if you want the pain to end. Now," he continued, rubbing his hands together, "we're going to work on telekinesis in stressful situations. See this lever?" he asked, approaching the control panel.

Charles nodded.

"Very good. Now I'm going to activate it, you're going to have to be able to reposition it so that the machinery is turned off."

Charles clenched his fists, trying to push back his tears, but his eyes were now glazed over, which did not escape his stepfather's notice.

"STOP IT!" he shouted, slapping him in the face "You need to focus, you don't have time for these bratty tantrums. Now, let's get started."

Marko turned to Milbury, then approached the lever. Charles would have liked to ask what would happen, what mechanisms would activate the mysterious machine, but he could make no sound, just watched Marko's arm move to activate it.

As soon as the lever was fully down a dull, annoying noise was heard, Charles was trembling with fear, not knowing what was in store for him, but soon the anguish was replaced by pain: blades had appeared from the crib on which he was lying and had begun to wound him from underneath, he could feel them tearing through his skin and penetrating his muscles; although he was aware that Milbury had no interest in killing him and was not seriously injuring him, the pain was so great that he feared he was going to die.

His eyes were squeezed shut with exertion but he could not hold back a cry of pain, an excruciating scream that grew louder and louder; the blades had steadied themselves but had immediately begun to turn in on themselves, exacerbating his suffering. He screamed for a time that seemed endless to him, then the pain was so blinding that it left him breathless and voiceless.

With difficulty he managed to open his eyes and focus on the lever that he had to manage to move by telekinesis, he gritted his teeth and with an immense effort he managed, slowly, to lower it, every centimeter was gained with pain and sweat, Charles felt that his head was about to burst when, he finally conquered that last centimeter, lowering the lever completely.

Another clank, the machinery stopped for a moment, then started up again, but this time the blades withdrew, causing him more pain.

"See?" asked Milbury, looking down at him, "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Charles did not answer, ignored the doctor's words and focused solely on his body, on the pain he was feeling at that moment. The same assistant who had tied him up came over to free him and helped him sit up.

Milbury and Marko had their backs to him, neither of them helped him, so he had to submit to the assistant's further torture.

Charles could feel the blood coming out of his wounds, and his clothes, which had previously been white, were full of red stains and stuck to his skin. Without any grace they were removed and the assistant began to medicate him, using a disinfectant that made the wounds burn even more.

Jean

She was out of breath; the experience had shocked her. Although Jean had imagined she might find something terrible, but what she had seen in Charles's mind was beyond her imagination. She turned to Erik, who also looked tried, and even Raven, lying beside her, clenched her fists.

"Raven," he called to her in a whisper, "You can wake up, I managed to get into his memories, I don't have enough information yet but now I don't need your help anymore.

Raven trembled, overwhelmed with emotion, then opened her eyes and looked at her.

"Please continue," she said, "By seeing these memories I have begun to understand many things about Charles, things that were unknown to me until now. I want to continue."

Jean nodded, indeed the presence of Raven's memories would help her a lot.

"As you wish. Let's continue."

Raven nodded and closed her eyes, Jean glanced at Erik, his eyes were still closed and his face wet with tears, last she looked at Charles, he still seemed to be deeply asleep.

Charles

After unlocking the first memory it was like a river in flood, fragments of memory began to pour out of Charles' mind, overwhelming Jean, Raven and Erik and while they watched those memories as spectators he, Charles, still looked deeply asleep.

The tortures Milbury perpetrated on Charles were increasingly brutal, increasingly cruel, testing his powers of telepathy and telekinesis by subjecting him to ever-increasing stresses. Jean suffered knowing what she was making Charles relive but she had to continue, she had to seek information about that torturer. She tried to go further, to be more selective, even helping herself with Raven's memory, she found that memory she had mentioned that morning.

Charles and Raven were in the house, they were alone, sitting on the carpet between the armchairs and the sofa in front of the fireplace, he must have been about twelve years old, she was ten. As was often the case Charles was reading, Raven was drawing beside him a beautiful butterfly. The room was bathed in silence, but suddenly Charles put down his book and stood listening, worried, which Raven noticed instantly.

"Is someone coming?" he asked " Is coming ... him?"

Charles had become serious, remained listening, then shook his head.

"No, it's not him. There is only our mother ... I don't understand, she looks sad and scared, but ..."

At that moment Sharon entered the room, walked up to Charles and hugged him tightly.

"Marko died this morning," she said, "I'm sorry, Charles, I'm sorry for everything you've had to go through! Can you ever forgive me? I promise no one will come here again, no one will come here to take you away, Dr. Milbury will never hurt you again!"

Charles had returned the embrace with transport but on hearing those words his expression changed, he had become serious, focused, so much so that he did not notice that Raven had overwhelmed him with a hug.

"Charles! Charles!" he cried, "Are you happy? Dr. Milbury won't come for you anymore!"

Charles did not respond, he let his mother and Raven embrace him then slowly wriggled out of that grip, looked Raven in the eye and, with a strangely eerie smile, asked:

"Dr. Milbury? Who is he?"

Raven and Sharon looked at him in amazement, unable to understand the meaning of that answer, then everything froze, time seemed to stand still, only Charles, who was sitting on the floor at that moment, stood up: his eyes were shining with tears, his face deformed with pain, he looked up, addressing Jean directly and Raven and Erik indirectly.

"Please, that's enough. That's enough."

Two hours had passed, Jean had continued to search Charles's memory without success, not realizing that he, in the meantime, was waking up, by the time she realized it it was too late, even Charles had become aware of all those memories they had just seen, she opened her eyes and saw him, the face of that suffering child was the same as the young man who was lying in front of her, he was begging her to leave him alone.

Next to him Raven had already taken a seat, she was holding his hand trying to hold back her tears, her lips were trembling from the great emotion and the presence of words she wanted to say but felt she had to hold back at that moment.

Charles slowly sat up, he was incredibly serious, he seemed to have no emotions, and this startled Jean.

"Charles ..." she called him, "You've seen it all ..."

He nodded.

"It wasn't easy, now I understand why I had decided to repress those memories but, as I said, I'm an adult now, I've lived long enough to overcome them."

Jean felt uncomfortable, he seemed convinced and she would have liked to approach that topic more tactfully, but she decided to be pragmatic.

"We haven't found anything useful," she said, "I'm sorry, but we'll have to keep looking."

Charles shook his head.

"That won't be necessary," he explained, "You have been searching since my first meeting with Raven, I knew Milbury at least two years earlier, but it is not the memories about him that we need to focus on. Milbury worked with Kurt Marko, my stepfather. Having unlocked the memory opened Pandora's box, now I have access to my entire past ..."

Charles ran his hands over his face to wipe away his tears and made to get up, but Jean prevented him by laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Charles, please," Jean called him back, "You shouldn't get up like that, you need to be more careful."

"I'm fine," he replied, "I'm fine." he repeated, "I think I found something."