mercy ; peter ballard

5. s p r i n g f e v e r

[REDACTED], 1979

young eleven was sent to the rainbow room to redeem her extra earned time. everyone else had been sent to their respective rooms. peter and bea walked to the elevator to return to their floor. she pressed the button to the floor and the doors began to close.

"hold the door," brenner commanded two orderly. one of them forced his foot in between the elevator doors, causing it to open up.

"take the boy," brenner demanded, turning around. he began to walk towards a training room.

the orderly seized peter by his arms and began to drag him away. bea knew where they were going.

"wait! no!" peter shouted, reaching towards bea. she grasped his hands, following them out of the elevator.

"peter!" bea replied as two more orderly came up behind her, grabbing her arms. "no! let go! please!"

"beatrice!" peter cried, trying to escape their grasp. it was no use. it was four against two and none of them had their powers. his hand slipped from bea's.

"no!" bea says, trying to grab his hand again. anything to keep him from leaving her. peter kept fighting. "don't hurt him! please!"

"take her to her room." the men began to drag her away from him.

the orderly took her back to the elevator, their grip not budging. she slumped over, falling to her knees. they finally let go. her arms fell into her lap.

she stares at her hands. her face was stained with tears.

"burn in hell," she mutters to the orderly.

they ignored her as they waited for the elevator to arrive on her floor. sure, they felt for her. her lover was being tortured a few floors below her, but they couldn't do anything without risking themselves.

the elevator stopped and they escorted her to her room. the only good difference bea saw between being a subject and an orderly was the facts that they could leave their rooms whenever and they weren't constantly tested.

this was different. they knew she would try to help peter so they made sure she didn't leave her room until they were finished with him.

his pleads echoed the hallway. all the children's rooms were soundproofed but all around the laboratory, his screams were heard.

"please!" he screamed.

bea covered her ears. she felt guilty. she was angry she didn't try harder and kept him safe. her eyes teared up again.

he fell to the floor, legs giving out from the shock. he scrambled to the wall, trying to get away from the men but they just followed him. with every shock, he groaned and grunted in pain.

"please, please!" he pleds, not wanting another hit.

the men didn't stop. brenner watched as peter was shocked over and over again until he was sufficed. peter stopped moving, exhausted. the men stopped shocking him and dragged him out by his arms.

his body went limp. all he wanted was to rest and to see beatrice. he wanted the pain to end. he let them drag him to his floor.

he saw the guards in front of bea's room finally leave after seeing him. they threw him into his room, not bothering to check on him. he struggled to pull himself onto his bed. he held his sides where they aimed for the most.

"ah," he groaned, holding his sore torso. he leaned back into his bed.

the men reported back to brenner. beatrice peaks out of her room, checking for guards. it's all clear. she quickly leaves her room, opening peter's doors. he pushes himself up on his elbows.