pretend I was somewhere else. Someone else. Some
The tension between the two men heightened as Keanu thrust his pointer finger into Meyers’ face. “Just leave her alone!”
Smirking, Meyers responded with a move of his own. Smacking Keanu’s hand away from his face, he stuck his face into Keanu’s and asked with a venomous tone. “Or what?”
“Enough!” Agent Evans yelled, his brow furrowed in annoyance as he approached the circle of agents. “I’ve had enough of you two! Take her inside!”
With my arm around Keanu’s shoulder, I hobbled back into the building. Weeping and bleeding, I was led back to my cell.
“Get the medic to clean her up.” Agent Evans ordered a nearby agent. “Pretty stupid move, Miss Tiponi.” He added as he turned to me. Nodding my head in agreement, I winced as the entire right side of my face ached in protest.
Keanu seated me on the cot and then sat down beside me, his arm still around me.
A line of drool escaped my swollen lips as I quietly mumbled. “Jessica?”
“She’ll be fine.” Leaning his hand against one of the walls and dropping his eyes to the floor, Agent Evans looked far more stressed than usual.
“Agent Evans?” My voice was that of a meek child. “Is Jessica…like me?”
Barely moving and not looking up, Agent Evans answered while still staring at the floor. “No.”
Hesitating, unsure as to whether he’d tell me the truth, I finally decided to ask the one thing that would change everything for me and my future.
“Am I…the only one?”
Sensing the depth of my question, Keanu squeezed my shoulder gently.
Sighing deeply, Agent Evans turned to face me. His eyes serious, he looked me square in the eyes as he responded. “Not anymore.”
The medic dabbed my seeping wounds with a small piece of gauze, moist with antiseptic. Stinging as it cleansed the oozing cuts on my lips, cheek and forehead, I waited impatiently for him to finish.
Agent Evans had left the room, refusing to elaborate on his last statement. What did he mean that I wasn’t the only one ‘anymore’?
I decided to probe Keanu for information after this guy was done cleaning me up.
Keanu leaned against the wall in my cell watching the medic like a watchdog. He’d always seemed protective of me, but suddenly he was extremely diligent about it.
“Okay, that should do it.” Pulling off his gloves and throwing them in garbage along with the blood-soaked gauze, he nodded at Keanu as he knocked on the door for the guard to let him out.
If Keanu hadn’t been parked so close to the mirror, I would’ve immediately rushed to it to see just how bad I looked.
Inhaling and exhaling sharply, he rubbed his face with his hands. The stress on his face could be read like a road map. Dark circles under his eyes and an expression of worry etched on his face, I sensed something was up.
“Just tell me what’s wrong.” I pushed him, tired of the games. “I can tell something is wrong.” Glancing at me momentarily, he appeared to be having some internal debate.
Maybe he was deciding whether he should—or could—tell me some awful news. Maybe
I suddenly had an awful vision.
My dead body splayed upon a cold metal table in a morgue hidden deep in the belly of the military base. Masked agents slowly and methodically dissecting me. One piece at a time, cutting away the flesh and bagging it for testing.
A specimen.
To them, I was worth less than a dead frog preserved in formaldehyde, to be torn apart by immature biology students in high school.
Shuddering, I pulled my knees into my chest, hoping it would erect some protective force field around me. Apparently sensing my distress, Keanu moved from the wall and sat beside me. With my head tucked down and with my hair shielding me like black satin curtains, I cried softly. I felt his large hand begin sliding up and down my back, comforting me.
“Please…please tell me what’s going on.” My body wracked with sobs as I whimpered my plea. “Are they going…to kill me?”
“I…don’t know.” His voice hovered just above a whisper.
Fear and anger surged through me suddenly. Whipping my head up from its cowered position, I pushed his hand away from me and came unglued.
“Why!? Why me!? What harm can I do by existing!?”
Standing up and pacing the small cell. I ranted, then cried, and then screamed for what felt like hours. Keanu simply sat on the cot with his head hung and listened.
Finally, I stopped. Whether I’d worn myself out or I’d released all the anger within me, I just stopped. Weary, I walked to sink and cupping my hands, drank several handfuls of water. The cool liquid was gratefully welcomed by my physically and emotionally drained body.
With my hands on either side of the sink, I looked at myself in the mirror.
A stranger looked back at me.
Once a vibrant, healthy young woman, I’d become a mere shadow of my former self.
What was once a shiny, thick head of hair now hung lifeless on either side of my face like a black frame for my sallow cheeks and sunken eyes.
Sad eyes. So very sad.
Eyes that used to fire with the shade of amber topaz had faded to a tarnished brass.
Silence smothered the tiny room. Closing my eyes to the monster staring back at me in the mirror, I asked one last time.
“Tell me. What do they want from me?” Clutching the sides of the porcelain sink, I braced myself for the answer.
I heard him sigh as he got up from the cot and approach me. Placing his hand on the small of my back, I was surprised that I’d become so dead inside that his touch didn’t even affect me anymore. Leaning his large body against me, I was confused when he began to pull my hair away from my face with his hand. With his lips only millimeters from my ear, he whispered.
“Not here.”
Turning his head and looking to a far corner of my cell, I followed his gaze. Tucked deep into the intersection of the walls was a tiny black circle. I frowned and tried to make out what it was, this tiny black thing nestled into the corner like a tick. Taking a sharp breath in as the realization struck me.
“I’m just taking her to the showers to clean up.” Keanu informed the guard as he led me out of my cell.
“I’m not supposed to…” The guard clutched his machine gun close as he eyed me.
“I know, I have permission from Agent Evans.” Keanu lied, continuing to move us away from the cell. Leaving the confused guard behind, Keanu walked quickly toward the showers with me following closely behind.
“In here.” He said, turning just before the shower entrance. Opening a door to the right, and guiding me into a small, dark room which appeared to be a janitorial closet, he turned to me and whispered. “We should be safe here.”
After a few seconds, my eyes adjusted to the darkness. A glimmer of light from the crack at the bottom of the door dimly lit the room.
I’m sure my eyes looked just wild with confusion. I was still reeling from the fact that my cell had been bugged! I’d spent ninety-nine percent of the time alone; did they think I was going to talk to myself?!
Then it struck me.
