Overdose

10. The Executioner

Yvonne wouldn't talk to me, but it didn't bother me that much. She had her business and I had mine. However, I didn't have much to do. Since I was staff, I didn't have to do the same things the other prisoners had to do, like train.

However, Xander wasn't very focused on the training. He was obsessed with doing more and more experiments. It seemed that his failures in the Containment Unit didn't teach him a lesson. Multiple times he had come to me, angry that The Master wouldn't support his plans to do more experiments on the prisoners. I didn't say anything supportive to him. I didn't agree either. The only person who really supported him seemed to be Caesar. I'd say Caesar was following Xander like a lost puppy, but Caesar seemed to be as sadistic as Xander.

It had been about a week since Yvonne had stopped talking to me. I was avoiding Xander, not interested in hearing him complain about The Master, when I found myself on the roof again.

All I could think about was a name Yvonne had said. Tristan. Why was that name stuck in my head? What was so important about some kid named Tristan? I tried getting the name out of my head but I couldn't. My head had been in a daze ever since Rachel had called me Evan.

I sat on the edge of the roof, looking down. I couldn't see the ground, only the spikes on the gate. The moon seemed to be illuminating them.

I thought about jumping.

It had been a while since I thought about suicide. I stopped thinking about it long after I had been brought to The Facility. Suicide is how I got there. So why did it seem to be the only way out? But I couldn't do it. If Yvonne was really planning on breaking out, and all went well, I would be able to see my family again. I would see my mom, my dad, and my brother. Tristan. It felt so weird, that name being in my head again. I was ashamed that I could even forget it. I felt like I had let him down, forgetting about him. But not having anyone to disappoint was the only way I was surviving in The Facility. The only person who expected anything out of me was Xander, and I'd be damned if he thought I really cared about how he thought of me.

I didn't have many responsibilities in the Facility besides making sure no one was breaking the rules, and it had been a while since I had to punish someone, which I was thankful for because punishing people was not my favorite thing to do. But for some reason, I couldn't tell if it was because I didn't like doing it, or if it was because I was starting to become bored.

Xandar didn't give me a radio, so I didn't have to listen to him yelling at the staff. I just had me, the roof, and peace and quiet. Time to think about things, like how I'm gonna figure out how to make Yvonne work with me. Also how she was planning on breaking out.

As much as I wanted to help, I also knew what would happen if we got caught. At the time though, I didn't really care. I was just going to stay in the Facility and do what I needed to.

I went back down the ladder and started walking to my room.

"Ah, Executioner. How are you today?" A staff member, Dr. Evelyn, asked.

"Fine." I kept walking. Dr. Evelyn followed.

Dr. Evelyn was here before I got here. She was older than most of the staff, and was one of the few who weren't evil.

"You've been a little down these past few days. I wanted to see how you were doing." She smiled.

"I'm doing fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Why do you care? All the staff cares about is turning us into their personal army." I rolled my eyes.

"That's not at all what I'm here for!" She protested. "I want to help you with your powers."

I stopped and looked at her. "What do you mean? I don't have any powers."

She stopped too. "Don't say that. They just might not have manifested yet."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm just like all the other prisoners in here. We don't have "superpowers" or anything." The expression on her face changed. "Xander has been doing experiments on us to try and give us some."

"There are people here who don't have powers? I'm confused. This Facility is here to help people-"

"This Facility helps no one. The Master and Xander have just been running a fancy

torture chamber. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed." I walked away from her, leaving in her in the brightly lit hallway.

When I got back to my room, I took my shower and got into bed. I took the book I was reading, The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, and flipped to one of my favorite stories. The Masque of the Red Death. Xander had given me the book when he put me in this room.

"Consider this a housewarming present." He had said.

I considered it taunting.