SYNERGY

Man, or monster? 23.

"Violet!" I grabbed her shoulders shaking her, "Violet wake up!" Her eyes snapped open.

"Is everything okay? You were yelling in your sleep, well more than usual."

She sat up, "I just saw Kip, he was getting taken away to the facility outside the grounds, he didn't look good at all."

I ran to the door, "damn! It's still locked!"

"Astrid, it could have been just a dream," she said trying to calm me down.

"When is it ever just a dream with you?" She looked down, she knew I was right.

"There's no point in worrying. I'm sure you can ask Mr. Walston about it later." I knew she was right. But I couldn't escape the panic I was feeling, I knew I would have to wait until morning, I went back to bed in defeat.

It was a couple hours until morning. I decided to skip breakfast and go straight to his office. I really didn't want to be in to same room as that ass, but I needed to know if everything was okay. I took a deep breath walking in.

I took a seat across from him and put my feet up on his desk, he seemed pre-occupied with some paperwork and pretended not to notice.

Finally, he stopped what he was doing and looked at me, "everything alright?" He was obviously playing coy.

"No, I'm afraid not, you see I have been getting extra training with Kip every morning since I've arrived and for the past week he hasn't shown up, now I think that's rather rude."

He glanced at my feet on the desk, "Mr. Ainsley is on a hiatus to train for a mission."

"Oh, is he now," I questioned. "Funny he usually lets me know whenever he's leaving, is there a reason he was unable to?"

He smiled at me sweetly, "is there any particular reason why you care?"

Answering my question with a question, he had to be hiding something.

"I just think he's a stand-up guy," I said looking at my nails pretending to be bored.

"Nobody has ever shown interest in Kip's well-being before. I guess I didn't think to let you know why he wouldn't be training you the next couple of weeks, my apologies." He picked his pen back up and continued writing, "is that all you need, I'm rather busy." Conversation over.

I didn't say another word just scoffed sliding my feet off his desk making sure a bit of dirt fell off them in the process and slammed the door on the way out. I knew it was an immature thing to do, but I didn't care. Our conversation was pointless anyway, He's nothing more than a sadistic liar.

**************

The next day Kip woke up face down on the cell floor. It was the same cell he was in last time. He knew because of the chips on the concrete floor were in the exact same pattern. He was in a strait jacket, which he hated. Being constricted made shape shifting uncomfortable, he sighed. He was positive, he was pumped full of mood stabilizers, his thoughts were all over the place. The next couple weeks would be therapy sessions and evaluations. He would need to speak to Mr. Endwell once a day to practice stabilizing his energy. At that moment Mr. Endwell walked in. He was wearing brown pants, a grey patterned sweater, and the same old sandals he always wore. Kip wondered if his feet ever get cold.

"Speak of the Devil," I smirked.

His face dropped, brows furrowing together, "oh, Kip."

"Don't oh Kip me," I sneered.

"Can't we get this strait jacket off of him!" He called into the hall.

Dr. Mendel walked in. He had fresh bruises on his neck.

I smiled at him.

"Are you sure?" He said his voice shaking. "I don't think he's stable yet."

"I can feel the amount of lithium you pumped into him. I doubt he would be able to overpower me," Mr. Endwell stated pulling something from behind his back.

Hamlet: a 1st edition copy of Hamlet; I eyed it greedily.

He held it out in from of me, "I'll give you this if you promise to behave."

"I promise sir," I said right away. That book would be a prize anyone's collection.

"See," he said to Dr. Mendel. "He can be reasoned with now take it off."

He took a deep breath before getting near me. I continued to smirk at him as he loosened the straps to pull it off. I lifted my arms up quicker than usual to stretch, he jumped back wide eyed and backed out of the room not taking his eyes off me.

Mr. Endwell pulled a chair up in front of me and sat down. "I don't know why you have to mess with him like that, do you find it funny you almost strangled him to death?"

"If you give me the book, I'll answer your question."

"Oh no you don't! You're not in the position to be in charge right now. We do this my way or no book."

I huffed narrowing my eyes at him.

He smiled at me, "I want to get you back to normal and out of here Kip, this is not you."

"How do you know this isn't who I am. You of all people know what I've done, I just killed a slug yesterday with no hesitation. I would have killed them all and I don't feel any remorse doesn't that bother you? Maybe I'm this way because I don't feel bad, I can't be fixed."

He sighed, then held his hand up spinning it around slightly to create a vortex of energy that stretched around us.

"We only have a couple minutes before this will stop working, with this barrier they can't hear anything were saying."

I leaned in closer, what was this about?

"Astrid came by Mr. Walston's looking for you. I saw her walk in and listened in on their conversation. I think she knows something's going on and is worried."

I sat back on my hands, "so, I don't care about her."

"You may think you're a monster Kip, but your aura has changed since she's arrived, it's shifted I think that's what triggered this episode. You have the type of energy that must have routine and balance. If you want to be there for her, you need to get this under control the last thing you want is your hands around her throat next time."

I swallowed hard; I knew he was right. I've been trying to act normally this whole time, so I can be there to help her. I want to protect her, but all I've done is put my own mental health and her at risk. The fact that my energy shifted made so much sense it probably happened when she reflected me trying to energy manipulate her. If I had gotten help from the get-go instead of letting my mental health deteriorate this far this could have all been avoided. I could have seriously hurt her without meaning too. I grabbed my stomach trying to keep myself from throwing up.

I felt him put his hand on my shoulder. "It's going to be all right we can get this under control. I will help you and by the time we're done you'll be stronger and more in control than ever and I will do more check ins with you to make sure this doesn't happen again."

"Okay, I'm willing to work with you," I submitted.

A smile spread across his face. "Her birthday in two weeks let's get you out of here before then."

"Sir, what's the date today?"

"Jan 14th," he made a quick motion with his hand and sucked the air bubble back in. He was eye level with me his face saying, this is between us and handed me the book before getting up to walk out.

A surge of endorphins ran through me as I held it in my hands. Smiling, I sat down on the chair he left and began to read.