TABOO: THE COMPLETE SERIES(13)

I thought I’d lost him that day.

I thought I might never see him.

It was almost laughable!

Life is funny.

And the joke is on you.





JAKE


The first time I woke up I was in so much pain it was like someone had been playing with my insides by cutting them out of my body and then forgotten to put it back in. Apparently, that’s what it feels like to get to the brink of death. I don’t remember much now, but I remember the hazy scene in front of my eyes, people… or maybe one person… was he a doctor? I could see his white garb and there were lights in this room and it smelled like a hospital. My brain couldn’t register much besides the excruciating pain.

“Jake,” I heard that voice but didn’t have the strength to see who had spoken. There was so much noise inside my head, I couldn’t think straight. I felt sick. Nauseous, and my throat was dry and scratchy. I could hear myself screaming but I couldn’t stop. I think I must have tried to get up because the pain got worse and someone held me down. I tried to blink to make out the features… I would have seen them if it wasn’t for that haze. And then that fog slowly lifted, making everything more visible in its wake. I could see where I was, the beige surroundings and the antiseptic stench that always made me nauseous was all around. Someone was trying to keep me down. I blinked again and managed to see the outline of a face that seemed familiar but I couldn’t remember why, so I kept staring at him until it dawned on me.

“You!” I said in between the screams and he gestured for me to be silent.

“Keep your voice down,” he said. But that just made me more confused and anxious and I wanted to get away. “Let me go!”

So, he placed a heavy hand over my mouth to shut me up.

I continued screaming but he grabbed a syringe and the next think I knew, I felt the prick of a needle on my neck. I was panicking but within moments I felt the darkness descending.





TREY


I checked my watch for the hundredth time and time seemed to be slugging by so slow it felt like it was standing still. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was now keeping Jake here for the twenty-fifth hour and I had no clue what I was supposed to do if Mace came to get him because the twenty-four hours he had allocated were officially over.

Jake twisted his body and I was standing right next to him within seconds. When he woke up this time, he was calmer. “Jake?”

He stared at me and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. “Are you okay, Jake? Talk to me.”

“Where’s my brother?” Jake wanted to know. “Where’s Colton?”

All that effort he must have had to do to manage speaking through everything, all the pain and the medicated fog, and he was still more worried about his brother. “Colton’s fine, Jake. He’s not the one who needs help right now.”

“Where’s my brother!” Jake screamed this time and I hoped I wouldn’t have to sedate him again.

“Jake…”

He broke into tears. “Please tell me where he is! Please, let me see Colton! Just once! Please! Let me see my brother! Please, Trey!”

Oh God, I wasn’t programmed to handle this level of distress in someone I deeply cared about.

I could see he was drowning. Hanging by a tattered, fine thread. Anytime now, that thread would give under the weight of his pain and drop him into the abyss waiting for him at the other end of Weldon’s torture.

All I wanted was to save him. “Jake,” I said calmly this time. “I can help you. I can help you see your brother, but this isn’t the way to do it. I need some time. To figure things out. This is new to me too!”

“I just need to see him…” whatever emotions Jake was finally letting himself feel were coming down in the form of a storm. He couldn’t stop crying, I could tell. He was hysterical and agitated and both these things pointed to the severely traumatized state his brain must have been in, an attempt to cope with all that had happened to him in the span of a few days. He needed time to adjust.

But more than that he needed someone to help him through this. “Jake, you will see your brother again.”

“You’re lying,” he cried. “You work for them, don’t you? What is this place anyway!”

“I can’t talk about it.”

“Liar!!”

My heart broke for him.

All I wanted was to take him away, be someplace he could be safe from everything, including me. “Jake…”

“I’ll die here.”

“You won’t die because I won’t let you.”

He still hadn’t stopped being hysterical. “I just want to go home.”

I wished there was a way I could take his pain away but that wouldn’t be easy considering the situation we were both stuck in.

My phone rang and it was Mace, texting me to let me know that he was nearby and coming to pick Jake up. Naturally, Jake started freaking out when he found out. I was without a doubt the worst person on the planet because I couldn’t stop it from happening.

“You’re free to leave this place, Trey. You’re not trapped like us, so why can’t you do something!”

I couldn’t explain to him that physical chains weren’t the only things that could restrict a person, that a guy like Weldon had everyone on a leash. I didn’t think Jake would understand and anyway, this wasn’t the time to discuss my story with Weldon.