Chapter 9: "Punishment, Punishment, Punishment"

"What the fuck are you doing?! Release me, Aaron! I said, release me!" I yelled out. But Aaron ignored the shit out of me. I jerked at my arms, trying to break free, but the belts kept me in place.

"Aaron! Let me go. Now." I said with the darkest tone. "Let. Me. Go. Now." I repeated, but he didn't bug. Instead, he walked towards the bloodred curtains on my right side and he opened them. Revealing what was behind them, what they were covering.

I looked at the window that watched over a room. A room full of people. Agents. I looked away from them and tried to break out, but again, the belts didn't bug. "Aaron!" I yelled out again.

I took in a few deep breaths and looked back at the room beside me. I scanned the room. Looking at the agents, watching if I recognized anyone. I didn't. I looked away and scanned the place I was currently in. Looking for the bleached blond asshole who strapped me down to this chair. "Aaron!" I called out again. "Aaron, what the fuck is the meaning of this?! You Fucking Bastard!"

Aaron's creepy laugh echoed through the cold room. "Just enjoy it, Sage. And for your info, this is the punishment John warned you about." Aaron smiled at me while he put on some latex gloves. My blood ran cold, and a lump started to form in my throat. Aaron looked away from me, towards the window that separated this room from the one with the other agents. He smiled at them.

"So, hello, everyone. As you can see, I got a fiesty Agent in a freaking high rank, may I say, called Sage. She's my test subject until we're done. Today you're going to learn how to get information out of your target. Of course, he doesn't want to tell you anything and keeps his mouth shut, so what do we do then?"

"We ask them?" a girl in the front row guessed.

"We just asked them, May. They said no. So, what's the next step?" Aaron reacted a bit annoyed by her stupid answer. I have to say… It was indeed a foolish answer. While Aaron was 'teaching – these agents – who were clearly rookies – I took the opportunity to analyze the chair I was strapped to. I studied the belts that were used to strap me down and hold me in place. I growled low when I concluded that I couldn't escape.

I was stuck.

"Na-a-ah, I don't think so, Sage," Aaron said in a singsong voice. "This chair is actually made especially for you. You can't escape it. You're stuck, Sage. So, if you want to get out, you better do as I say." I stared directly into Aaron's brown eyes, before spitting in his face.

A few chuckles sounded from the intercom that was connected with the room behind the window. The way Aaron could communicate with the rookies and the rookies with Aaron.

"If you even lay a fucking finger on me, I'm going to rip your fucking throat out with my fingernails," I said through gritted teeth.

"Is that a threat, Sage?" Aaron asked while he wiped his face clean from my spit with a napkin.

"No. That's a promise."

"Too bad you don't kill anymore, right?"

I growled at him and tried to grab him by the neck, but my arms were stuck. All I could do was glare at him while he started laughing hysterically. "You see, Rookies? The trick with interrogation is to get under your target's skin. Make them uncomfortable. Make them hurt. Hit them in their weak spots. Sage here is a tough cookie. She can handle physical pain really well. How she handles physical pain… That's really impressive. But… emotional pain… She can actually handle that really good either."

"Then what are you going to teach us with her. Why her?" a stupid asshole from the front row asked, annoyed. He was clearly looking forward to seeing me in pain or crying or whatever he wants to see. Knowing Aaron, I'm going to be in fucking pain. Knowing him, I'll be on the edge of tears. But he also knows what's really a low blow. He knows the boundaries.

"Aren't you going to punish her for spitting in your face?"

"That was fucking hot, man. You can spit on me any day, Lady. Just on another body part, though!" I just rolled my eyes at the lustful remark from one of the male Rookies.

"Let's continue the lesson. You in the back," Aaron said, pointing at a guy with a nerd vibe in the back.

"Me?" the guy asked, pointing at himself.

"Yes, you. Now, what do you think?"

"It's time for torture?" he answered, more questionable than confirming.

"Exactly!" Aaron squealed happily. And with that being said, he used one of his new torture toys on me.

***

My breathing was shallow while I hang entirely limp in the chair. The blood from my broken nose ran down my face and chest. My lip was cut and swollen. A few of my fingers were broken and stood the other way. But most of all… My mind was shattered. Aaron used every little bit of dirt he had on me to break me down. I wasn't stable. I wasn't stable at all. I haven't been since Lux her death.

Blood covered the glass walls. It was dripping down like raindrops on a car window. Blood that came out of her slit throat.

I took in another shallow breath and tried to shake the memory out of my head. I couldn't take it anymore. I hate this. I hate Aaron for doing this to me. I hate John for ordering Aaron to do this to me. I hate this agency. I hate everyone here! I hate my secrets, just like I hate myself. I hate myself more than anything. I hate my life and myself. I wish to escape from this life. Escape from me. I'm not afraid of death. I saw death as my escape. Escape from this all.

… I want… I want to die.

I want to be at peace. I want to feel how it is not to be scared all the time. I want to have peace and to be reunited with her again. I really want to die.

"Okay, that was it for this lesson about torture and interrogation training, everyone," Aaron said before turning towards me and releasing me from this hell chair. "Are you okay, Sage?" Aaron asked me softly.

I stood up from the chair. My legs trembling under the weight of my body. The stitches in my leg had snapped once again. My ribs were bruised. Breathing hurts. Everything hurts. The room was spinning around me, but I stood straight.

"Just leave me alone," I said in a cold tone, before snapping my broken fingers back to the right angle. The sickening sound of breaking bones filled the cold room. I gave a last glance over my shoulder to the space behind the window to see that almost everyone was still there. Watching me.

I gave Aaron a hard punch on his nose with my good hand. His nose broke under my knuckles, and he cried out in pain. I spun myself around and walked out of the basement.

I had an adoptive Father to attack.