The Unexplained

Chapter 5

-Cas-

I hang my head as I sit in my cell, miserable and in pain. I twitch as I feel a shock go through my body again, too exhausted and weak to cry out again. Those horrible, sharp shocks...but I am not the one enduring the true torture.

The door clicks and I look up weakly. I see Austin step through the doorway and shut the door behind him. He walks over to me with a blank expression, then leans against the wall next to the corner I'm sitting in. "So you're enduring the same pain she is?"

I flinch again as another shock goes through me, and I hang my head again, not saying anything.

Austin sighs and looks up at the plain white wall again. "Listen, I don't want to hurt you, okay? Please just ta-"

I am suddenly up and have my hand on Austin's throat, squeezing it and pressing him against the wall. For the moment, I've forgotten all about my pain. "Shut up, bastard."

His eyes widen. "Excuse me?" he says carefully, his voice hitched a little because of his hand.

"You heard me!" I shout in his face. "What the hell happened to you?! You were a good kid last time I saw you and now you're encouraging them?! I thought you believed in getting everyone out of here! What happened to that Austin?!"

Austin doesn't even flinch at my yelling. Instead, he frowns. "I realized that instead of fighting and getting hurt, I could fight and get better...increase in power and in my rank of authority here. And now look at me. Everyone looks at me in fear."

I sneer. "Well not me," I spat. "You know that I can defeat you in a fight anyway...even with the abilities you have."

He says nothing. He knows I'm right.

Another shock goes through me and I cry out as I stumble backward, away from Austin. I fall to the ground and hang my head.

Austin chuckles. "That was pathetic..." he says.

I growl. "Just stop hurting her! Haven't you done enough?!"

"She keeps talking back to us, ignoring our orders. She's getting her punishment."

"She'd be insane by now!"

He starts walking toward the door. "She'll return to normal eventually."

"Not without me, Austin. She needs me!"

"No," he says, "you're only saying you need yourself..."

I flinch, not doubting that he's right, as I know he is. God, I hate him...but he's so different now...

He puts his hand on the doorknob, then I flinch again and turn. "Austin wait."

He turns to look at me. "What is it...Cassiel? If that's even your name now?"

I flinch at his words again, then I look back up at him. "I heard about what happened...to Phe at the tournament...what's going to happen to her?..."

At first, I see his eye twitch, as if the topic annoyed him. "You know, I don't know yet. The commander called me to his office, but I decided to come and visit you first. I better be going." He says with a full voice, very different from the boy I used to know. "I'll see you around." He says as he leaves the room.