Faults

Chapter 43: Aydin

I awake with a jolt when I realize something is poking me in the chest. It's more than poking, far more painful than poking. I open my eyes to see Taylor standing in front of me, his lit fingertip pressing into my solar plexus.

When I try to move away from him, I realize that I'm bound tightly to the chair I'm sitting in. I feel my skin burning under the pressure of his finger, sending a horrible tingling sensation through my chest, followed by numbness from the heat. Squirming in my seat, I try to move at least a centimeter away from him.

Eventually, he removes his finger and Christian steps up in front of me. "Maybe you'd like to know why you're here." He turns to Taylor. "Should we tell him?"

Taylor nods and Christian speaks again, "All you are is bait. But of course, you will die in the end. It's just how things go. Once your beloved Archie gets here, you get killed. He's next."

My eyes widen and begin to well up with tears. "No, please! Don't kill either of us."

"Do you think begging is going to save your life?" Christian asks.

"Anything is worth a shot when your life is on the line," I reply, my voice a mere whisper. "I don't want to die."

Christian frowns. "You're depressingly optimistic. Taylor, what do you say we break that part of him? We don't want any hope left inside of you, Aydin."

Taylor stands beside me and grabs my right arm, burning it. I shriek as the heat begins to increase its intensity. Christian chimes in, "How do you like the added heat? I think it's quite an improvement. Thank the gods for Dolorem Ipsum." As Taylor grips my arm tighter, I try to take my focus away from the pain. I attempt to focus on whatever Christian was just talking about. Dolorem Ipsum? What is that?

I don't get a chance to ponder it. Taylor takes his other hand and lights three of his fingertips, just like he did before he scratched my face last year. The imminent fear of it happening again is immediately instilled in my mind. "No, no, no," I murmur just before Taylor brings his hand down, giving me three, almost identical marks on the right side of my face.

The only difference is that this time, the agony I'm experiencing is far, far worse. His sharp, flame-tipped fingers sliced through my eye, burning it, leaving me screaming in pure anguish. I try to reach up to cover my face with my hands, but I'm quickly reminded of the ropes when they scratch against the insides of my arms.

I whine in pain and keep my right eye shut, sure that opening it would do me no good anyway. Denying the urge to cuss both of them out due to the excruciating pain, I just let Taylor continue to torture me. There's no use in struggling, there's nothing I can do. Not even sending them commands would help. Neither of them are holding weapons. I'm at a loss.

And just as I think it's all over, Christian hits me with an awful headache. Yet, the mystery of Dolorem Ipsum still nags at my brain. My head hurts too much for me to figure it out, but it's all I want to do. Actually, all I want right now is to be put out of my misery.

Why can't I just die now?