Rediscovered Love

Chapter 11

Karen's POV
I can't tear my eyes from the slit of window in my cell door. I can't stop thinking about Jeanine and what she might be doing right now. It's illogical because I have no way of finding that out, but I'm not completely Erudite, and being Factionless for a time, has led me to believe I wouldn't need to care.
When a dash of blue fills the slit, I breathe out a sigh I never knew I held. She's here. The knob turns, and Jeanine emerges from white and silver in the same way the moon pushes clouds away from itself. The ends of her lips are up and don't quite form a smile. She resembles the Mona Lisa. There's so much hidden in her face alone, and her lips taunt you with curiosity. Both of you know that you will never guess her secret correctly. Still, you stare at each other for hours on end.
I blink and feel the warmth from my face being sucked away by Jeanine's freezing hands, but I don't feel cold at all. She cups my cheeks with hard palms, but the embrace itself is so soft. My love has a way of making her seemingly faint actions hide intensity.
"Come," She murmurs into my neck as her lips glide across it. "I have to start your chart."
My stomach turns over, but I need to trust Jeanine. She would never do any wrong to me, right? Like a mosquito following a beam of light, I stand when she does and start out of the cell with her. Among all of our turns, I recognize that we're heading to her private lab.
Once we're inside the room, her arm wraps around my side as she presses me to her. "I was thinking of doing a physical," She questions more than states. I groan. "Oh stop it!" Jeanine chuckles before pointing to a treadmill in the corner of the room. "You know what to do."

She's right. We would constantly monitor the physical condition of our lab subjects as we used them. Electrodes and an oxygen mask dangle from the sides of the old machine. A heart monitor stands next to it. It reminds me of the one broken years ago. I wonder if Jeanine knows that I was the one who destroyed it and if she would ever forgive me. If I were in Erudite, I know she wouldn't; I would become Factionless then and there. I turn back towards Jeanine. She places my file on her desk, then proceeds to start towards me. I blink and her sharp scent fills the area around me. Jeanine still uses the same perfume as she did when we were together. She takes a handful of electrodes while I take another and we work towards sticking them onto me. I start on my arms and legs while she does my head. Within time I'm wired to the system.

"I feel like a rat."

"Stop complaining. You wouldn't want to do what I would normally plan." Jeanine turns to her computer, which sits on a small table next to the treadmill. Even though this lab is private and twice as large as the public ones, we only use a small corner of it. "Hmm... I'll have you start at a walk, then increase the resistance every three minutes." Jeanine glances up from her computer as if to receive some sort of approval from me. When I don't say anything, her face just draws into the computer and the rubber beneath me jolts.

~~~~~

The chilled atmosphere of Erudite now makes my lungs burn. My skin radiates with a heat it can feel beneath my clothes. My legs can barely keep up with the sprint I've been doing for what seems like an eternity. I don't know how far I've gone. The data is on Jeanine's computer. However, she now stands beside me with hands held behind her back. "Good," I think she mutters to herself, but I can't be sure. My ears ring and dark spots cloud my vision. "Give it your all." Yes, Jeanine. She really doesn't change between our most physical moments and when she conducts research. Maybe I don't either.

Before my exhausted body can even register my change in placement, the rubber already shoots heat throughout my cheek. I slide onto the floor as rushed tapping sounds before the treadmill slows to a stop. My heart is pounding so hard I wonder if Jeanine can hear it. I just lie on the floor, allowing its cold to cool my body. Jeanine's head pokes its way into my sight. "You're red," She states like it can't be obvious. She turns to her computer again, probably to finish inputting her observations.