Shatter

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Chapter Seven

Three came back.  Four left.  Four came back.  Five left.  Five came back.  Six left.  Six came back.  Seven left.  Seven came back.  Eight left.  Eight came back.  Nine left.  Nine came back.  Ten left.  Ten came back.  Eleven left.  Eleven came back.  Twelve left.  Twelve came back.  Thirteen left.  Thirteen came back.  Fourteen left.  Fourteen came back.  Fifteen left.  Fifteen came back.  Jaison was next, and due to be taken any day now.

He healed quickly.  In the few, what I assumed to be weeks, he was completely back to normal.  Other than the short hairs that were growing from his skin and the amount of weight he had lost, he looked exactly like he did the first day he came in here.

I learned that Jaison despised talking about his life before he came here.  I asked about his mother and his father and about school and life outside of four walls.  I asked if people still cut their grass and if mothers still gave their children lemonade.  He would just get this cold look on his face and tell me to “piss off”.

In turn he annoyed me by asking about my punishments and my tallies.  I would give him a cold look and tell him to mind his own business.

Most importantly, in all the time that we were stuck in the same room, Jaison never touched me.  Not once.

“Sixteen,” a nameless guard yelled.  Jaison visibly tensed.

“Here,” he answered.

The guard was at our door in a matter of seconds.  Jaison’s suit fell through the rectangular window and onto the floor.  His eyes connected with mine as he picked it up off of the floor.

“No peeking, princess,” Jaison warned me.  I rolled my eyes.

“Try not to die,” I fired back before I turned around and faced my wall.  Jaison chuckled.  I could hear him moving behind me.

“Alright assholes, come get me,” Jaison called to the guards.  I could hear them grumbling to one another before they threw the door open.

One of the guards ran to where I was and used his booted foot to push me into the bed.  The other guard slammed Jaison into the wall, causing him to grunt in pain.

“Oh, sorry asshole,” the guard hissed into Jaison’s ear.  Jaison was smirking as the guard pulled him off the stone wall.

“Try not to miss me too much,” Jaison called to me over his shoulder.

The guard released me and slammed the door shut, making sure to lock it.  I shook my head at Jaison’s comment.  That idiot was going to get himself killed.

***

It wasn’t long before Jaison came back.  His teeth were gritted in frustration but his eyes were dark and sad like he needed to be saved.

“Jaison?”  I called softly.  He ignored me, sliding down the wall after removing his suit and changing back into his old clothes.  “Jaison,” I tried again.  He placed his crossed arm on top of his knees and lowered his head in the opening.  I tiptoed off the bed and sat in front of him with my legs crossed.  “Jaison.”  He snapped his head up.

“What Mel?”  He asked using the nickname he had given me over our time together.  There was no teasing gleam in his eyes or cold expression.  He was just…empty.

“You okay?”  I asked.  He gave a short laugh in response and got up.  I leaned away quickly to keep his hand from brushing my arm.  The bed squealed behind me, letting me know that Jaison had lied down.

“What do these marks mean?”  Jaison asked, completely dodging my question.

“What did they do to you?”  Jaison smiled.

“I’ll tell you what, princess,” he said, his eyes connecting with mine.  “You ask me any one question and I’ll answer it honestly, as long as you’ll answer mine.”

I narrowed my eyes at him in disbelief.  One question?  I had thousands of questions.  It never occurred to me that he knew about as much about me as I did about him.  This was a great way for me to find out something about him, but what would he ask me?  Would he ask about my gift?  He had been wondering about my tally marks.  If he asked about my experiments then he would find out about all three.

“Do we have a deal?”  Jaison asked, raising an eyebrow.  I tried to read his expression, but he was blank, completely unreadable.

“Fine,” I responded, “but you ask first.”

“So you can make your question better than mine?”  He accused.  “I think not, princess.”

“My name isn’t-“

“Ask your question,” he demanded, cutting me off mid-sentence.

“Fine.”  I racked my brain to find the one thing that I wanted to know more than anything about Jaison.  His gift?  Too obvious.  His punishment?  Too un-personal.  I was still thinking about what to ask, even as the question left my mouth.  “What was your mother like?”

“Shit, way to go straight for the kill, Mel.”  He ran a hand through his hair and sighed.  “She was great.  She was obsessed with gardening and cooking, loved Italian food.  The only thing she loved more than her flowers and her Italian food was my dad.”  His voice was bitter at the end.  His teeth were gritted and his eyes were pale green stones, letting me know that the problem wasn’t with his mother, but with his dad.

“Well how did you-“

“No, no, no princess,” Jaison chided me.  “One question only.”

“My name is Melinda, not princess.”

“Okay, Mel Bell, it’s my turn,” he announced.  I held my breath in anticipation.  “Are you glad I’m here?”

“Wait-what?”  I asked, confusion consuming my being.  He could have asked any question in the world, but that was the one he chose to ask?

“You have to answer honestly, so no lying to me, princess.”

“First human interaction in years, yeah, I’m glad you’re here,” I confessed not feeling at ashamed.

“Great, now you know about my mom and I know you have a massive crush on me,” he said, folding his hands behind his head.

“What?  Who said anything about me having a crush on you?”

“Don’t deny it, Mel.”

“Whatever Jaison,” I said.  My eyes floated over to where he was sitting on the bed.

I couldn’t help but note how much I adored this side of him.  The easy-going, teasing, playful side of Jaison.  This version of him was so much easier to be around than the cold, guarded version of himself that he wore so often.  Moments like this were when I forgot about where we were and what I was capable of.  When Jaison was like this, I could just be normal.

“Hey Jaison,” I called out to grab his attention.  “Why didn’t you ask about my gift or the tallies?”  He gave an uncommitted shrug.

“I figured you’d tell me when you were ready.”  His eyes drifted closed as I leaned back against the stone wall, prepared to take to floor for the second time since he arrived.  “Besides, Mel,” he added after a moment.  “Curiosity killed the cat.”

I gave a short laugh.  He didn’t know just how true that was.

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