** DAMON CARBONE POV **
We arrived in Colombia around midnight, and Jason's lavish party was tomorrow night, so we had some time to go to our rental house for the time being. Ghost was adamant that we stay somewhere that wasn't tied to either of our names, so we rented a house for three days. My blonde beauty said she wouldn't stay in a house without floor to ceiling windows, so I found a house that was completely made of glass, and visible from the outside. It was secluded, and had a perfect view of the beach beside us. I was overjoyed when she told me she loved it, and even gave me a genuine smile. The sight made my heart flutter.
I walked past her room and was relieved to hear that her shower was still running. I quickly walked over to my room and locked the door. I grabbed my duffle bag before I entered the bathroom, and locked that door as well. I sat down on the toilet, and grabbed the journal from my bag and quickly started to scan the pages.
Day 365
001 came back today, she was gone for a while, maybe a few months. She seemed... different, and just kept staring at me with her eyebrows furrowed. Everyday we would always get another roommate, due to the fact that every roommate that we've had so far has just...died. Either they couldn't handle the torture sessions, or they died down in the basement. One of them even went insane...267 was his number I think. He was here for a month before he grabbed a gun from a guard and shot himself in the head, guess he thought death was better than being here.
...and I'm starting to think he's right.
Day 384
As usual, we were taken from our rooms, and separated. I've come to realize that everyone receives the same torture sessions, and they were preformed based off of how long they've been here. I noticed it when I saw one of our new roommates with the same cuts on her arms I had the first week I was here. The room they took me to was different than the one I was use to. It was all white, and smelled sterile, like a hospital. They strapped me to a chair, and injected me with some sort of red liquid. It burned my veins, and I felt as if my entire body was going to combust into flames. I kept screaming, and yelling, trying to get them to stop, but they kept increasing the dosage. I remember flatlining for a bit... until they shocked me back to life. I couldn't help the sting of disappointment I felt when I heard my heart rate return...
They should have let me die.
Day 401
The injections continued... and our roommates kept dying during their sessions. I didn't even bother to make conversation with the new ones anymore, they were just going to die anyway. Whatever they're injecting me with, they keep upping the dosage everyday. It makes me feel... numb. Painfully numb. As if I can't feel anything. No sadness, no despair, no fear, nothing at fucking all.
Day 415
They keep injecting me with that shit. I feel like my soul is no longer present within my body, and all that's left of me is just a hallow shell of the woman I use to be...whoever the hell that is. Today they injected me with something else... a black fluid. They stuck it in my arm, and ordered me to cut myself with a knife. I refused, and they injected more into me... over... and over again. It was different from the red liquid. It didn't burn, but it made my consciousness fade. Like I couldn't control my own decisions anymore. Eventually, I gave in to their command immediately, and cut my wrist with the knife on command. I was so numb from the red injection that I couldn't feel anything.
Day 430
Everyday, they kept injecting me more with the liquids, and now the red one doesn't even burn anymore. After they injected me with the black one, they'd always ask me to harm myself. I tried fight it off... it's as if that black liquid possessed me to do things that I didn't want to. No matter how hard I tried... the result was always same.
Day 478
001 talked to me for the first time today. She asked me if they started my injections yet. She asked me how I felt... and I told her I felt nothing. Nothing at fucking all. 001 told me to fight it. That I'd build up a resistance to it, that's why they keep injecting me with more everyday to find out how much my body needs in order for me to stop resisting. She told me to fake it, and do whatever they ask me to do, even if I don't want to, that way, I won't lose myself completely.
Is she... trying to help me?
Day 520
I kept doing what 001 told me to. After they'd inject me with my normal dosage, they'd always ask me to inflict some sort of pain on myself. It was hard at first to fake it, but once I did what they asked, they stopped injecting me. 001 was right.
Day 545
001 told me to do whatever it takes to survive, before we were taken from our rooms. Today they injected me with the same dosage they have been for the past month or so. Afterwards, they took me to a different room. A larger one, with other people inside. They were wearing masks, and were dressed in black. I was instructed to fight back, before I was pushed into a room. I was jumped, and the people in the room started to beat me. It was strange, as if their punches and kicks were in slow motion, and I could dodge them easily. Like I could see and plan out every attack before they made it. I did what 001 told me, and ended up killing all five of them with my bare hands.
Day 567
001 has been giving me pointers with everything, and told me what they'd do to me before we were taken from the room. Apparently, she's further ahead of me in the sessions that they're putting us through, much further ahead. I asked her why she's helping me, why she's preparing me. She told me that I looked familiar for some reason, and that she didn't know why she was helping me, but she just felt the urge to. I was grateful for her though. Without her, I would be blindsided by every session, but having her by my side made me feel...safer. Made me feel like I wasn't alone in this horrid place anymore. Made me feel like I actually had a friend. She was practically my savior and guardian angel in this hell we call a home.
I quickly shut the journal and put it away as soon as I heard the shower water stop. I walked out of the bathroom and tucked my duffle bag underneath the desk in the corner before I walked out of my room. As soon as I walked into the hallway, I saw Ghost standing in the living room with a medium sized package in her hands.
She was wearing a tank top and shorts, and her blonde hair was soaking wet and slightly curly. Her face was free of makeup, and she looked like an absolute goddess. My eyes trailed down to her arms, and I noticed that on her arms, were marks, hundred of jagged scars. She's always dressed modestly, always wearing a jacket or a turtle neck. I didn't even notice them last night because she quickly turned the lights off. My eyes trailed further down to see that her thighs were covered with similar scars, and the sight made my blood boil at the thought of someone hurting her... or ever her hurting herself on someone else's command.
"Angelo sent this for you." She said in an unemotional tone as she tossed me the box which I caught with ease. I looked down at it while I reached into my back pocket to pull out a knife. I opened the package quickly to see that it was a new tattoo gun, the man knew me too well.
"Perfect." I said as I smiled and took out the tool, making Ghost look at me with a raised eyebrow. I walked over to the kitchen island, and placed it down on the marble countertops. I went to the sink and washed my hands as Ghost sat down at the island and eyed the tattoo gun curiously.
"What are you doing?" She finally asked as I dried my hands. She was leaning against the counter with hands resting under her chin.
"Adding to my tallies." I stated as I sat down next to her and took out the white and black ink that were in the package. I plugged in the gun, and placed it on a paper towel I grabbed. She watched me curiously as I took off my shirt, and placed it on the counter and out of the way.
I turned on the gun, and lifted up my arm. I found an open space by my elbow, and started to add the tallies of all the men I killed during this mission to take down Martino. I added at least twenty tallies, filling the space completely.
Ghost watched with curiosity as I put the tattoo gun down, and wiped off the excess ink from my arm.
"May I?" She asked as she grabbed the tattoo gun from my counter while I nodded. She cleaned off the black ink from the tip of it, and used the white ink instead.
I watched as she looked at her arms for a moment before looking down and lifting her shirt slightly so that it was bunched around her waist. I watched with my eyebrows raised as her hand grabbed the waistband of her shorts and pulled it down slightly, reveling the waistband of her red lace panties and the skin of her hip.
She turned on the gun and started to lean back as she pressed the needle into her skin. Her face didn't even flinch or grimace at the needle pierced her skin. I tilted my head as I watched her expressionless face while she focused on whatever she was drawing. After a minute or two, she put down the gun and wiped off the excess ink.
I looked over to see a name that was now tattooed on Ghost's hip:
Kylie Stone
The name was written so it when Ghost looks down, she can read it from her perspective, but to everyone else looking at her, it would appear upside down. It was small, but large enough to see it clearly. Due to the white ink, it was discrete, and you had to look closely to see it.
"Who's Kylie?" I asked curiously as Ghost stared down at the tattoo with a small smile.
"Someone very important to me. Someone who I never want to forget." She said quietly as she looked over at me. Without another word, she covered the new tattoo on her hip, and pulled down her shirt. She stood up, and walked out of the living room without another word.
Is Kylie Stone...001?