Wings: More Than Just Two Worlds

Chapter 12: The Rope?

Project K (Kairi)

Age: 15

Species: Original

"She will recover smoothly," Leo told me in private. We stood in the hall, outside the room N slept in. I watched her through the door's small, square window. "The stitches around her neck will dissolve over time." Leo's hand grazed the scar on my neck, "make sure she's careful. They could tear. Then she'll end up with a scar just like yours." He wrote in his clip board, adding with a slight laugh, "Well not exactly. Didn't yours come from a rope?" I didn't reply. He looked up at me with intrigued silver eyes, "I know it came from a rope. Whether it was your own doing or someone else's remains a mystery to me." My silence angered him. He remarked, "You never like conversing with me... very well." His feet slowly walked in my direction. As he passed my side he reminded me, "You can stay with her if you want, but you haven't met the quota for today's cleansing assignment."

"But we already disposed of all the weak," I snapped. My hands already brought thousands of experiments to that hellish room.

"I don't care; I have at least a hundred new healthy experiments coming in tomorrow, so a hundred need to go," Leo said, stopping at my side, "Don't forget, if you don't... I'll kill everyone. You should feel lucky you and your blended family are case studies. I actually took the decency to remember all four of your names; given each is one letter long. Never the less be... be grateful."

I pinned Leo against the cemented wall, cracking not only the wall but his spine. That monster didn't even feel pain. The wall indented with his body. He stared at me emptily. I shouted in his unexpressive face, "You can send all of them to the decomp room, it's better than having to survive in the pit!" I said surviving instead of living, because to live is to be free, and no one was free with Leo alive. I found it easy to bring experiments to the decomposition room, I felt like I was saving their lives by ending them; as ironic as it may seem. It just twisted my stomach in knots knowing I had the power to choose if someone lived or died. I mean who am I to play God?

Leo's spine cracked back into place while he calmly smiled, "Let me put it this way. If you don't, I'll put project N in the decomp room... alive. Because of her healing abilities she will spend what remains of her life in a constant state of pain as maggots eat through her flesh. Now... do you really want to let that happen to such a sweet girl?"

I growled, "Alright, I'll do it. I'll dispose of one hundred more! Five hundred more! But if one starved maggot even gets near N there'll be hell to pay!"

His head tilted sideways while his smile grew, "That's the spirit," he said tapping my cheek lightly. Suddenly, his feathery wing swung around, pushing me to the floor. He dug his gold boot in my neck until I couldn't breathe. He warned, "The next time you undermine me don't think I won't end you're life. Learn your place. This is your only warning."

His feet continued in the same direction as before, clicking with the white, square tiles. One hand waved to me as I rose back to my feet catching my breath. He remembered, "Before I forget, let the others know I'm permitting my children to meet all four of you. When I depart from life I want to know my work will be carried on in trust worthy hands, so I need to educate my children properly."

V suddenly came running down the hallway in the direction of Leo, shouting cheerfully, "K! K! Is N okay! Ha Ha, that sounded funny!" She forgot to acknowledge Leo. He kicked out his long leg, tripping V instantly. She fell on her side, skidding across the smooth floor. Her small hands crawled across the white tiles towards Leo's feet. "I'm sorry I forgot to-" his gold boot met her doll like face. Three of her teeth fell to the floor like dice in a casino. Blood followed quickly after.

Leo left us with the last stringent words, "The world doesn't care about the weak. Everything weak suffers and everything weak dies."

I helped V up to her feet. A normal person would have asked her if she was alright. A normal person would have also felt pain, but she experienced pain far greater in her life. A kick in the face felt like a paper cut to a normal person. She said with a slight slur as her jaw relined itself, "How's N?"

I popped her jaw back in place, growling, "She's fine, be careful next time will ya?"

"I will," she sulked, looking down at the ground.

I took a knee holding on to her shoulders; we were now the same height. I smiled, "Hey." I lifted up her chin, grinning, "Sometimes I forget things too and I even end up getting a dose of Leo's wrath. I'm only hard on you because I care about you."

"I know," she giggled, hugging me. V always treated me like a brother, maybe because I treated her like a sister. In retrospect she was the closest thing I had to a sister. N on the other hand was a different story, a story that took over my lungs and became every breath I breathed.

We entered N's room; it was the same room Leo used to perform tests on us as kids. The animal wallpaper was faded, and the usual comic book stack was tattered. I must have read each comic book a hundred times, hoping one day I would be able to see Cyrus again and talk about our favorite heroes. N opened one eye, then closed it, smiling, "Hey V, shouldn't you be watching the pit? The experiments got a little crazy after that one nearly cut off my head."

"My brother said he would do it. I wanted to make sure you were okay," V grinned, gliding her fingers gently across the stitch keeping N's neck in tack. She asked, "Is that how K got the scar around his neck?"

"No," I replied sternly.

V's eyes widened with curiosity, "How did you?"

"V, we've talked about this before," I reminded her, growing annoyed. Why is it recently she keeps asking me? I don't want to talk to anyone about it. I keep telling her.

She questioned, "Was it a knife? Maybe a bad fall? OH a rope-"

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO ASK?!" I snapped at her. Her eyes begun to water. Shit. I attempted to apologize, "look, I didn't mean-"

V ran out of the room, bursting through the locked doors. The four inch thick doors flung off the hinges, indenting the titanium wall across the hall. Before I could run after her, N's hand took hold of my wrist. I always liked seeing her light skin tone against my tan skin. Though she smiled, in her eyes I saw displeasure, "Let me talk to her, you know she's sensitive."

When it comes to my past I hated talking about it. I've known N the longest out of anyone yet not once have I told her how I got my scar. My scar did come from a rope, but how could I man up and tell them at one point in my very young life I was weak enough to put a rope around my neck?