Final Truth

Chapter 16: Torture

Julia's point of view:

Immediately after my cries to keep fighting leave my mouth, chaos ensues.

Guards begin to run around trying to shut off the camera, and in the frenzy my chair gets knocked over with my cheek making painful contact with the floor.

Henley begins to curse with obscenities that I never could've even imagined, the only words I manage to comprehend are her orders for the cameraman to shut everything down.

One of the guards comes towards me and pulls out a whip, lashing out on me several times and causing my blood to splatter on the camera that also lies on the floor.

I cry out loudly, the pain so sharp that it practically pierces my soul.

But then, I hear the sound of a gun clicking into place that momentarily distracts me from my pain.

In horror I watch as Henley pulls out a gun and fires at Peter, the bullet lodging itself into his shoulder.

He too, falls to the ground in pain.

"No, stop! Don't hurt him!" I beg, but by this point I know that asking for Henley to spare his life is useless.

"Hurt? HURT?! Oh, you're about to experience the very definition of the word 'hurt.' Someone, I don't care who, take Julia and Peter to the lab immediately! I'll be there in five minutes," Henley orders, her tone of voice promising doom.

The same guard that whipped me comes and lifts me up off the ground, keeping my wrists still handcuffed together as he grabs my by my shoulders and forces me out of the room.

He also grabs Peter on the way out, yanking him by his forearm as Peter clutches his injured shoulder while blood pours out of it.

"Peter...Peter I'm so sorry; I never wanted anyone to get hurt, I didn't want this to happen!" I ramble, but my apologies do nothing to help.

"You did this to me," Peter says, his voice laced with hurt as he looks at me with his eyes swimming in tears.

They still flicker between gold and brown.

"Both of you shut up," the guard orders, reaching the lab and ushering us in.

He leaves Peter in the middle of the room and locks me in the glass case where I undergo testing, then quickly goes back the way he came to leave us in anticipation.

Peter's shirt is soaked with the blood from his shoulder and tears flow down his face, but all he can do is stare at me with the helplessness of a lost child.

I want to run for him, to hold him tightly in my arms and heal him; not just his shoulder, but all the other damage that's been done to him.

"Peter, I am so sorry...I wish I could make you understand...I can't let my citizens stop fighting while they still have the chance to do so. I thought our lives in exchange for their spirits would be fair...and if you were really you, you would understand. I just...I never wanted you to get hurt. I never wanted to hurt you," I plead with him, and his eyes imply that he's trying to soak up every word I say.

"I'm so confused..." He trails off, dropping his gaze.

"I know, God do I know," I answer him, my eyes watering as well as I put a hand up to the glass as if I could touch him.