For A Star To Fall

Chapter 19: Healthy and Unharmed

Chapter 19

Aaron was breathing hard as he lay on the cold surface of the steel table, his chest rising and falling in an even faster speed than before. Jordan could see that his hands were clenched into tight fists, his fingers curling and digging into the flesh of his own palm. He strained against the leather bands that held him down on the table, looking like he would most likely give anything to leap out of his current position and sucker-punch Dr. Valin in the face. Jordan knew that in this kind of situation, violence was definitely not uncalled for. Heck, Jordan was not even related to Emyle by blood, and he already felt like beating Dr. Valin up. Or defending him. He still was not really sure what he would do. It was like Dr. Valin’s friendly, open face kept reappearing in his mind’s eye whenever he wanted to do something that he knew he would probably disapprove of. It was idiotic and dumb and stupid because if the videos were anything to go by, Dr. Valin seriously was some kind of monster in human form.

“HOW DARE YOU, DAVID VALIN!” he bellowed, and the thick veins in his neck stood out, casting dark shadows on his skin as he strained at his restraints. “How dare you talk about my daughter like that. She is nothing like you, you vile, disgusting creature! I swear, I shall rip you to pieces with my bare hands, you f-“

The rest of Aaron's raging rant was suddenly cut off and replaced by a sound that was more of a muffled voice shouting something unintelligible from a faraway place than a protective father cursing at the crazy man that stalked his daughter. Jordan watched as Dr. Valin smiled in amusement at the helpless man strapped to the steel table that Jordan loathed so much. He had looked on, unable to warn Aaron or do anything else to affect what would happen in the video. Dr. Valin had opened one of the black cabinets on the wall and taken out a piece of cloth which Jordan had had no idea what he was going to with--until he had bounded over to Aaron in one leap and stuffed the cloth into his open mouth, effectively muffling his voice and cutting him off mid-rant. 

Dr. Valin shook his head and tutted in a sort of disappointment. "No, no, no, Aaron. I told you that I would gag you if you talked too much. And besides, vulgarities will never solve anything that a civilized conversation can."

Jordan tried not to snort out loud. What was Dr. Valin talking about? As far as he knew, a conversation required at least two people interacting verbally with one another, and since Aaron was currently gagged, it seemed a bit of a stretch to consider whatever Dr. Valin was doing as a conversation, much less a civilized one, where the two or more people would act politely and definitely not gag each other. It seemed, as Jordan continued to watch the video, that it was getting more and more difficult to try and understand why Dr. Valin was doing this, or even what he truly wanted to do. 

Aaron shouted lots of other things that Jordan could not hear, or most likely did not want to hear at all, if Emyle's dad had the penchant for profanities that he seemed to have. Then, after a few more moments of this, he stopped, looking like he was panting underneath that piece of cloth he had in his mouth, before banging his clenched fist on the table, causing a loud bam to ring out from the laptop speakers as Jordan and Emyle watched. With that done, Aaron began to strain at the leather straps with renewed force and energy. Jordan winced for him as his wrists started to turn an angry red color--painful welts forming on his skin, caused by the constant friction between it and the leather straps that bound him. 

But then Aaron slumped back down onto the surface of the table, and the look on his face was one of complete and utter exhaustion. It seemed as if all his energy was already spent. Dr. Valin looked at him and tsked softly again. He walked over and patted Aaron on the head, and Jordan heard the soft gasp of pure outrage that spilled suddenly from Emyle's lips as she sat beside him. Jordan could totally relate with her. It was as if Dr. Valin was purposely going out of his way to insult and belittle Aaron, just so that he could rub salt into his wounds. Dr. Valin spoke now. "Aaron, my old friend, didn't I already tell you that you are wasting your energy? Emyle really would not want you to hurt yourself, you know. To hurt you is to hurt her, I understand that much. The bond between a parent and child is always the hardest to break, especially if there is only one parent for the child to rely on throughout her growing years."