Devotion (John Seed)

2. The Power of Yes

The deputy woke up, struggling to open her heavy eyelids. She lifted her head up and slowly adjusted her sight to the dim light in the room. Her vision was blurry but she could make out a figure of someone sitting in a chair opposite her. Then her hearing came back to her, the sound of muffled screaming and struggling...and whistling coming from somewhere out of view. Rook tried to move but discovered that her wrists where tied to the arms of a chair and her ankles where tied to the wheels.

Once her vision had fully returned she looked over at the sitting figure opposite her, on the other side of the room. Her eyes widened when she saw Hudson bound in the same way she was, but unlike Rook she had duct tape covering her mouth.

Rook was about to speak but a man walked in front of her carrying a tool box and whistling to himself. She knew it was John Seed. He ignored the two women as he placed the tool box down on the table and dusted off the surface. He pulled a few things out of the box and placed them on the table, feeling the deputy's gaze burning into his back. Once John was finished setting up his table he sighed and turned to the deputy with a smile.

His smiled faltered for a moment when he noticed her hair was hidden under her grey beanie and her face was hidden by the dirt. "My parents were the first ones to teach me about the 'Power of Yes'. One night, they took me into the kitchen and they threw me on the ground. And I experienced pain after pain after pain after pain" he started his monologue and slammed is fist down on the table, making Hudson jump and cry out. "And when I didn't think I could take anymore, I did. Something broke free inside. I wasn't scared. I was...clear. I looked up at them and I started to laugh. All I could say was...yes" he told his story, the origin of the 'Power of Yes', looking directly at the deputy and she wondered why he was telling them this.

"You're insane" Rook spat, only now realising how dry her throat was. John sent her a disapproving glare as he tried to control his temper.

"I spent my entire life looking for more things to say yes too" he told them but it seemed as if he was only talking to the deputy. John walked over to the woman before quickly leaning forward and ripping her shirt open, examining the newly exposed flesh. His eyes lingered a little to long for Rook's liking so she thrashed against her restraints. He smiled to himself and shushed her as he pulled back from her, both of them still hearing Hudson's cries. "I opened every hole in my body and when those were filled. I created more" he explained as he prepared the tattoo gun, turning it back off and laying it down on the table beside the deputy.

"What does that even mean?" Rook asked in frustration, thrashing against her restraints again.

"Shut up!" John snapped, screaming at the woman...who instantly went quiet while Hudson cried out again. Once John had calmed himself down he got back to the point. "It was Joseph who showed me just how selfish I was being. Always receiving. Always taking. The best gift isn't the one you get, it's the one you give. And giving takes courage. The courage to own your sin. To etch it onto your flesh and carry it's burden and when you have endured...when you have truly began to atone...to cut it out like a cancer and display it for all to see. My god that's courage" he smiled charmingly and almost soothingly at the deputy.

Rook stared at the man with wide eyes and she was speechless. When she looked back the sadistic nature of his words, there was a tragic story of a man who truly believes that he is guilty for being the victim. Rook shrugged it off, he might not have been guilty then...but he is now. Even though he was telling her his story, he told her nothing. There were still questions to be asked.

"I will teach you courage. Teach you how to say 'yes' so you can confront your weakness. Confront your sin. You will swim across an ocean of pain and emerge...free. For only then can you truly begin to atone"  He spoke, his voice getting louder and he kept getting physically angrier.

"Well...that was all very dramatic, I see it runs in the family" Rook smirked, noticing how Hudson widened her eyes and shook her head. Warning her not to provoke him.

"Are you mocking me?" John asked gravely as he slowly approached Rook, maintaining a strong glare on her.

"I haven't decided yet" she responded, trying to swallow her fear.

"You will go first!" He exclaimed, his voice a mix of excitement and anger. "I think it is only proper that deputy Hudson goes back to her room. Confessions are supposed to be private...intimate...after all" John's gaze focused on Rook as he grabbed the back of Hudson's chair and started rolling her out of the room. As he pushed her, she cried and screamed behind the duct tape. "I'm not here to take your life. I'm here to give it to you" he whispered as he shushed her. "I'll be right back" John winked at Rook before pushing Hudson out of the room.

"Can't wait" Rook mumbled to herself as he shut the door. She tried to move the chair towards the open door, towards the stairs, but she couldn't get it to roll across the floor. The chair kept shaking and she gave up, sure that the only outcome of her attempt would be the chair falling over. Resulting in her being stuck and embarrassed, still to endure John and the atonement.