Electric

chapter thirteen

"What do you know about Parker?" I ask Ty because I know if I ask Josh he'll make fun of me. We're running side by side at the end of the group with the sun shining bright and warming my skin. Ty glances over at me.

    "Not much. That guy is so unapproachable and toxic. He reminds me of a gun, you know?" Ty's running distantly as if lost in though. "He says nothing but when he does speak, he's either yelling or snapping orders. Just like a gun is silent until you pull the trigger and then you can't stand it because it's so lethal and can do such callous things." The last part throws me off.

Callous things?

    "What callous things has he done?" I try to sound uninterested but I fail. The topic of Parker is just so fascinating. Ty describes him completely different than I would. Parker has never yelled or snapped at me. I've never seen him do anything bad besides shoot a gun at me which I'm still pretty mad about. And how is Parker toxic? Intoxicating, maybe. But not toxic.

    "Just take what he's doing to Miles, for example." Ty states as if I'm supposed to know. I stare over at him.

    "What's he doing to Miles?"

    "You don't know?" Ty questions and I shake my head resisting the urge to roll my eyes. I wouldn't be asking questions if I knew. "Oh, Miles says that Parker really hates him for no reason so he has Ryder following him around all the time. And he makes sure that Miles is never left alone with anyone. That's why Ryder follows him, to make sure he doesn't stray off with somebody. That's just one of the many things Parker does that's vulgar for no reason. He once made Mike do a hundred pushups for taking a fork out of the cafeteria."

These don't sound like very bad thing. And, I'm sure that there's a reason behind the whole Miles thing. There would be no point in having a man on probation out of hate. It's a waste of time and effort and I know Parker is smarter than that.

"That's it, Ty? Putting a guy on probation and making another guy do a hundred push-ups?" I confirm as we approach the courtyard. Ty glances sideways at me before plopping down in the grass. I do the same and run my palm over the rough shards as I wait for his reply.

"Well, I guess there's another time but I didn't want to scare you." He confesses and I perk up. Here we go. I need something to help me hate Parker. I used to hate him but lately I've been having a hard time. I've always believed he was a monster but I'm starting to realize that even though he oversaw my torture sessions that doesn't mean he liked it. Hawkins seemed like a pretty horrible guy. I can't imagine having him as a boss. So if watching me writhe in pain everyday was a part of his job, there's nothing he can do about it.

"Please, I doubt it will scare me after what I've been through." I retort and he shrugs as if saying 'what the heck, she wants to hear it.'

"He shot a soldier." He tells and I stare at him in shock. Parker would not shoot one of his men. "Yeah, the guy went outside for a run and Parker ran after and shot one of his legs. The guy fell and we were all watching as he started crawling. It was so pitiful and Parker was so cruel about the whole thing. He went to the soldier and grabbed his badge before walking back inside and closing the door behind him. The soldier had no choice but to crawl to the outside gate and wait for someone to let him out. It was the most despicable thing I've ever seen a human being do to another human. Parker looked so...bored doing the whole thing too."

"Did someone let the soldier out?" I ask in disbelief of the story. There has got to be something else Ty doesn't know about the story. As much as I want to hate Parker I don't accept that he would do that without being provoked.

    "Yeah, actually, Parker let him out." He finishes and I shake my head at this. That totally contradicts the whole story. If Parker is so horrid, why would he then release the soldier himself? If Parker was, in fact, a cruel person he would have had the soldier figure out a way to get himself out.