Line of Fire (A Stitchers Fan Fiction- Book 1)

Chapter 11: One Last Gulp of Air

She emerged from the dressing closet, her face blotchy with tears and her posture low and meek. Kirsten never imagined this day would come to this. She never wanted Cameron to be in danger because of her hair-brained actions about wanting to catch D.D.S. before he did her. If only she didn't lead him into this situation. Everything would be the way it should be, Cameron alive, in perfect health, not a scratch on him. She usually never worried about anyone but herself, but something clicked between them when Liam attacked Cameron. She didn't feel just a sense of protection for a friend, but a sense of deep hurt and heartbreak. Was this- No, this couldn't be where she thought this was leading.

"Hey, Kirsten. Earth to Kirsten!" Liam shouted in her ear, stopping her thoughts abruptly. He grabbed her forearm and whipped her around to face him. Kirsten bit her tongue so that she wouldn't whimper from his grip. She kept her gaze at the ground and squeezed her eyes shut hoping that he would just vanish out of sight if she waited long enough.

"Come on Kirsten, don't be a prat. I'm an old friend, I won't bite." He said in a very forced sweet voice. Kirsten's body was as rigid as a nail board as Liam tried shaking her, but suddenly stopped and whispered menacingly in her ear.

"Fine, be that way you little twit." He pushed her away from him forcefully. She stumbled backwards and rammed into the stitch tank, disturbing the smooth glass-like water surface. Liam took tow long strides towards her and grabbed her shoulders against the tank. Kirsten's breathing was heavy and adjusted her gaze towards him with great revulsion.

"Now that's the face I've learned to love. You're lucky your daddy is here to save you now, if it were just me, I would've gotten some justice for that rejected proposal-"

"That's enough Mr. Granger. And don't expect a pay raise if I even see a scratch on my sample." Daniel Stinger interjected in an abnormally calm tone. Kirsten's ears picked up at once when Daniel described her as a sample. Usually a sample is what the they call the person she is stitching into. She peered at Daniel, who was grinning profusely at her.

"If you're looking for a 'thank you,' you're not going to get it." She sneered as Liam reluctantly released her from his death grip. Kirsten breathed a sigh of relief while rubbing her now red and aching arm.

"I'm not looking for anything Miss Clark, or should I say Miss Stinger." Daniel said slyly.

"You shouldn't."

He chuckled wickedly as he walked up to her. Kirsten eyed him warily as she began to back away slowly from his approaching form. He stopped gruffly and stared at her.

"Kirsten, I'm not a rabid pack animal!"

"Are you sure? You might want to check." she retorted.

"Look, can we just do this," he said ignoring her last comment, "the sooner this is over with, the better it is for everyone." he glanced at the monitor above her head still displaying Cameron's limp form strapped on the table. Kirsten followed his eyes and could feel tears moistening. She swallowed and fixed her eyes on Liam and Eli who were standing in the corner watching vigilantly with their hands behind their backs like bodyguards. Without another word, she strode over to the fish tank and mounted the staircase. Once her right foot was submerged in the frigid water, she immediately went back to her first stitch, with Cameron acting like a tool and Maggie smothering her about joining the Stitchers team.

Kirsten sharply inhaled as a single tear fell and hit the water below and took that memory with it. Daniel took his position up and the control panel and began to test the controls. They looked exactly like they did when she was 8 years old. The white silvery walls were the same dingy shade, she was at the mercy of Daniel at this point, but the only thing different was the tank size. Was history repeating itself?

Kirsten waited in silence for Daniel to tell her that the time came to stitch. She forced herself not to look at Cameron's monitor for fear of breaking down again. Finally after about 5 minutes of waiting, she twisted her head to face Daniel.

"Aren't I supposed to get a com-link or something?" Daniel looked up with a devious grin etched across his face.

"Com-links? Oh, you won't be needing those." he said and returned to manipulating the controls. Kirsten turned back around in her seat and leaned back against the headrest. Even though she remained silent, her mind clicked with suspicion.

Just then, two solid metal doors clamped around Kirsten's midsection, restraining her from moving. Kirsten screamed loudly and began to violently squirm.

"DANIEL!! THIS WASN'T PART OF THE PLAN!!" She screamed desperately. Daniel walked over to the tank and looked up at her with a smirk on his face.

"I asked you to stitch into one last person for me, and it looks like that last person is yourself." He grabbed the electrode harness off of a nearby wooden chair and thrusted it onto Kirsten's head. Almost immediately, images from Kirsten's childhood that were long forgotten flooded her brain like a much needed rain.

She saw her mother dying as she watched from afar, Daniel screaming at himself and throwing objects, one being a small chair that slammed into Kirsten's head turning everything black. She then saw herself clutching her favorite teddy bear and giving it to her mother as a birthday present. The smile on Jacqueline Stinger's face then turned sad and cold. The scene shifted to a hospital room and young Kirsten painting her mother's nails. And then she saw young Cameron from the stitch, in his blue flannel pajamas and comforting her. She remembered now, she remembered him, her mother, she remembered it all.

Finally, the sharp pains of the memories now injecting themselves back into Kirsten's train of thought stopped for a split second. Kirsten didn't remember closing her eyes, but she soon found herself struggling in blood red water instead of the pure water just a second ago, or so she thought it was a second. Kirsten tried to catch Daniel Stinger's eye, this time pleading for it to stop. Every-so-often, a memory flashed in her mind making her wince.

"DANIEL PLEASE!! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?" she beseeched.

"To show you your true past, present, and future."

Kirsten exhaled an outcry of pain as the murky water now reached her throat. Now memories of the Stitch lab, Cameron, Linus, Camille and Maggie buzzed in her brain. Camille hugging her after giving her those expensive shoes, Cameron dancing with her at the rave, Linus cracking a joke to her, and Maggie scolding her for a terrible stitch. They were all there. Was this how she would die, at the mercy of her memories?

She couldn't hold out any longer, the water now filling her mouth and nostrils. She knew that it would not help, but she had to let someone know her guilt.

"CAMERON!!! I'M SO SORRY!!" She screamed as the water now was dousing her dangerously. She took one last gulp of air before darkness engulfed her and her breathing slowed, her vision becoming hazy.