For A Star To Fall

Chapter 22: Torture

Chapter 22

There was a loud thump when Aaron lifted his foot a little and slammed it onto the table, as if making noise would make a difference in the pain he was going through. And it was a lot of pain--Jordan could tell from the way his fingers were curled into claws now, digging the nails into the hard grey metal of the table surface. De. Valin frowned chidingly down at him and moved closer to press down harder on his chest. "Stay still," he said, sounding like a dad that was scolding his kids. "I already went out of my way to keep you restrained, Aaron, and I won't have you ruining this now. You may be my first successful subject, you know. It will be a great honor for you if this works--which it will most likely do."

Aaron snarled at him, but it was a half-hearted sound that did not actually make much of a difference, especially since he was still gagged. In fact, Dr. Valin smiled a bit when he heard this, just warm, rather affectionate upwards tilt of his lips, but not unlike the one that Jordan usually received from him. Jordan shuddered. It was weird seeing something that he was so familiar with and even fond of, etched into a face that he had seen before but now realized that he never truly knew.  Suddenly, Aaron twisted his right hand and did something that made Dr. Valin screech in pain and jump backwards. Jordan was not totally sure what Aaron had done, since it was on the wrong side of the table, but he just assumed that he had turned his arm so that the palm of his hand faced Dr. Valin and dug his fingers into the flesh of his abdomen, basically clawing him as best as he could. 

In front of Jordan, Emyle muttered, "Yes, fight him, Father!" Jordan gritted his teeth and pulled her a little more backwards so that he could see the laptop screen clearly. She was acting queer, but that might only be because he had never seen her interact with her dad before. Besides, he did not actually know her that well, so it did not matter. He supposed that Aaron was doing rather well compared to Katherine--maybe Dr. Valin's serum had really turned out better and he had made some progress? Well, if you consider groaning and banging the table an improvement compared to screaming and dying. But, yeah, at least Aaron didn’t look like he was dying this time. 

Was there a chance that Dr. Valin's crazy serum could work? Jordan wondered. There was a possibility, and Dr. Valin had even said it himself.  But it was an absolutely mad idea! The lives of who knows how many people had already been sacrificed for this insane cause, and Jordan really did not want to see Aaron get listed in with that bunch of poor sods at all. The worst part would not be the dying part. No, it would that period of time when he had to watch Emyle deal with it. Sure, she probably would not show much, but it would hurt much more than she thought now. Jordan wondered what would happen if she let out everything and just gave up that stupid control that she most likely thought she needed to have. Would that bottled-up emotion just come tearing out of her? Like a tsunami or an earthquake, and just break down every single darned wall that she had put up inside her? Or would it do the opposite? Would it come trickling out, slowly and manageably, but never quite going all out?

Jordan shook his head indignantly at his thoughts. When did he start caring so much? Emyle was just some chick that he barely even knew--heck, they only went back less than two days. So what right did he have to think about her personal problems? She would probably just solve it on her own in time. Yep, that's what she would do, Jordan agreed with that particular voice in his head, the one that he liked the most because it kept him out of trouble--well, most of the time. Still, Jordan did not think that it was normal to hear voices inside his head. Sure, in the occasional book they existed to give the character doubts and stuff, but agreeing with the voices kind of made him feel mad and—

The harsh, high-pitched sound of flesh hitting flesh pierced the air. His gaze immediately focused itself on the laptop screen before him. Dr. Valin's hand was still poised in midair and he was breathing hard, his face turning an alarmingly deep shade of red. Aaron shook his head, and his dark hair fell into his eyes, obscuring the expression in their grey-green depths. His cheeks were bulging out slightly because that piece of cloth was still stuffed in his mouth and there was already a red, hand-shaped mark forming on his cheek. Dr. Valin drew in a sharp breath and passed a hand over his face, so that it travelled slowly from his forehead all the way to his chin.