Meant to Be (The Saving Angels 1)

“They will stop you,” I told him.

“On the contrary, I believe they will look at your deaths as a lesson. In fact, they will embrace me as a father. They have felt lost throughout the years, just as you have, but I will help them realize how special they are and how strong they can become.”

I knew he was wrong, and I felt bad for the others. Soon they would have to face this monster also. Mostly I felt sad for Mark and me. We would never have children, and we would never grow old together. He was stripping our lives away from us just like he had with our parents.

“No more questions?” he asked in a mocking voice.

I was silent. There was nothing else to ask. He was the monster I had imagined him to be. I would give him no more satisfaction.

“Well, I see the last part was a deal breaker,” he said with a small laugh. “Think of your part in this as furthering the lives of the others. I think we can continue with the experiments now,” he said as he turned and walked away.

I wanted to protest, to plead with him not to hurt me anymore, but I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. I remained silent as they strapped me down to the same table as before, remaining rigid as they fastened my ankles down. Only when the woman approached with the dreaded sensors did I finally respond. A silent tear rolled down my face. I looked around as best I could with my head strapped down and saw everyone busy at various computers, only Bruno was watching me.

The sensors were placed in different locations this time and I eyed them with renewed panic remembering the pain they caused before.

The first jolt sent a flash of fire through my body.

I was too weak to scream like I had the day before, but I did let out a slight moan. The next round was more severe than the previous jolt and I welcomed the darkness as I once again lost consciousness.

When I woke, I was not in my cell. I was still in the laboratory, but someone had moved me to a different table. I wasn’t wet this time, but my hair was damp so once again they must have bathed me. Looking around, I could see that the laboratory was nearly empty with only one grunt over by the computers. I looked around for Bruno, but he was nowhere to be found. I wondered briefly how Russo had managed to get so many others to help him, but I guess evil wasn’t hard to find in the world.

I closed my eyes; at least they hadn’t locked me back in the cell. Maybe they realized I was no longer a threat. I knew the end was close. My guess is that we had been missing for over thirty-six hours now. I had a small nagging feeling that there was something I had wanted to do, but I was too tired to focus on what it could have been.

I continued to lie there, feeling like I was drifting in and out of consciousness.

The next time I opened my eyes there was a considerable amount of activity going on throughout the lab. Several of the people I had seen the last few days were huddled around one of the television monitors.

“Look at him. His strength it is out of this world.” One of them commented. “Mr. Russo was right, her pain makes him stronger. It’s a good thing that door is steel plated. It’s too bad he’s missing this. Where did you say he disappeared to, Amanda?”

“I didn’t, it’s no concern of yours what he chooses to do with his time,” Amanda said in a brittle voice.

I tried shifting to better hear their conversation, hoping that no one would notice and reattach my restraints.

Luckily, no one even looked my way. I was apparently nothing but a lab rat; something insignificant to experiment on and then dispose of. I knew that would come sooner than later.

I started to close my eyes again, but then I finally remembered a previous idea I had forgotten; Mr. Russo’s ability to read my thoughts. Could Mark and I do the same with each other?

I gnawed on this new bit of information. If telepathy was a possibility could I reach Mark and try help save him at least?

I felt it was at least worth a shot.

I closed my eyes to concentrate, fighting the urge to drift off to sleep, which is what my battered and weakened body now craved.

Now was the time to be strong. Concentrate, I chanted to myself.

Mark, I thought. I know this is crazy, but answer me if you hear this.

I tried again, Mark, please answer me if you can hear this. I repeated it over and over again, to no avail. I didn’t want to give up, but the many hours of being separated from him had just taken too great a toll on me. I’ve never experienced the ache that I was feeling now. As I worked to keep my mind focused, I could hear footsteps approaching the table.

Amanda stood over me, attaching more sensors for yet another round of torture.

I had no strength left to protest, instead only to lie and accept my fate. Strangely though, I felt nothing but soft vibrations. Was this the end? Maybe I was too far gone to even feel the pain anymore.

My thoughts began to dissipate and I slowly drifted off.

This time Mark was already waiting on the beach for me. My heart sped up as I spotted him. I struggled toward him, but the lethargic feeling had followed me into the dream. I reached the still invisible wall that separated us to see Mark looking at me in horror. He raised his hand as if to touch my face.

I watched as his concern was replaced with anger. His fist clenched and struck the wall sending invisible ripples vibrating up from the ground.