The Rainbow Maker's Tale (42 page)

What made him different?

Since their first attempt to
remove me from
my room
, they had not bothered again.
Instead, they had returned with a table and chairs…and restraints.
So here we were…my interview…there had been so many faces now, so
many questions, I had no idea of how long I had been here.

The pair in front of me turned
toward the door in unison, responding to some unheard command I
guessed. It looked as though I was getting a change of company…

A few seconds later the door
opened, revealing the two guards who now stood permanently outside
my door and a third familiar figure. In silence they swapped
places, so that I was left only with the commander when the door
slid shut.

Beneath the table my fingertips
pressed together so hard, it felt like I was crushing them into one
another. Ever since he had battered me the first time, the leader,
who sat opposite me now, had spent every waking moment we were
together trying to goad me into lashing out at him. So far I’d
managed to resist the intense temptation, but only just. With my
hand shackled beneath the table and my feet bound, it would not
have been a smart move on my part, but it was tempting – so
tempting.

I’d been beaten several times –
although there was only this
man
and one other in his team
who seemed to have a proclivity for violence – and I had sense
enough to know that if he wanted to, they could easily kill me. I
still couldn’t understand where their strength came from, all I
knew was that there was something much more dangerous inside them,
something I feared more than pain or violence.

Was he inside my head?

I couldn’t tell. I felt like I
was blocking them but I couldn’t be sure.

“I’m heading across to the
Family Quarter in a few minutes, Balik. Cassie will be with me by
the end of the night – she can’t keep hiding…unless she’s dead that
is.” He grinned, enjoying the discomfort I was unable to hide when
he spoke of Cassie. “Are you sure there isn’t anything you’d like
to tell me about you two? Maybe something filthy that only the two
of you know? I know how you kids can be – driven by your hormones
and instinct…”

I turned away, looking down at
the table in silence.

“Come on Balik! You don’t need
to be shy any more – not with me – we’ve spent lots of time
together haven’t we? Surely that counts for something.”

I stayed quiet, knowing that
this was just the beginning.

* * *

On and on, round and round. And
round. Question after question. No rest. No peace. No respite. My
head was spinning giddy and all the words began to overlap with one
another until I believed that I might actually be going crazy.

“Stop talking, stop asking me!”
I cried out.

It didn’t help. The questions
still came and as I bit down hard on my bottom lip, I realised I
was talking. Words were pouring out of my mouth, even though I
wasn’t thinking about them and couldn’t concentrate enough to
understand what I was actually saying. I tried to stop, clamping my
bound hands across my mouth, terrified that I was really voicing my
thoughts, terrified of what I might give way.

Think of something else.
Think of nothing.
Think of nothing at all.

I began repeating these words
over and over in my head to block out the other voices. Hundreds
and thousands of times I said them, until finally my mind closed
down and the world stopped spinning.

* * *

I woke up with a start, my head
bobbing low on my neck and startling me awake. Everything was stiff
and sore: my neck, my hands, my head… There was nowhere on my body
that didn’t ache from being bruised and battered, or from sitting
in the same position for hours on end.

Looking up I found the
commander was still with me.

Had I slept for long or just a
minute?

A second thought occurred to
me: was it sleep or had I been unconscious again?

Sitting here – staring at each
other in silence – was worse than the incessant questioning. Even
though I wasn’t going to answer his questions, I couldn’t help but
wonder why they had stopped.

I hated it here so much. Oh, to
get away. Far away, to a place I had never even seen before –
anywhere but here with these creatures.

Even if I couldn’t get up and
physically leave the table, I could escape a little couldn’t I? I
let my eyes glaze over, staring unseeingly at the blank grey wall
and imagined.

Cassie…Cassie…

I could see her in a school
lesson, chewing on her lip nervously before giving a
presentation…so self-conscious, not aware of how beautiful she was…
At the park, lying beside me in the grass, eyes closed, skin pale
but luminous…smiling to herself at some unspoken thought… Kissing
her…

I smiled despite myself when I
remembered how easily Cassie would blush when we drew near. She did
make me laugh. More memories: my heart swelling inside my chest
when I recalled how it felt to have her touch my skin and press her
body to mine…

That’s right, I coaxed myself,
just drift away from here and think of Cassie, safe and alive.

“Balik.”

I heard my name, but it sounded
a long way away. And it wasn’t Cassie speaking and so I didn’t
really care.

“Balik!”

The voice was more insistent
now. I opened my eyes and found myself staring at a grey wall.
Thick fingers gripped my face and pulled my gaze towards the face
of a man. Blinking a few times, my vision cleared and I recognised
the commander. I knew where I was again.

“I’m leaving, Balik. To find
Cassie, just like we discussed.”

Discussed?

Had I talked to him about
Cassie? No! I wouldn’t have. No – Cassie had only been here with
me, inside my head. She was just a picture now, a beautiful memory
from when I’d felt something wonderful…felt something other than
pain and confusion.

“There are Medics coming to see
you. They need to do some tests to find out what’s been going wrong
with you, and then…well, you don’t need to think about that
really.”

My stomach lurched and I rocked
forward, heaving. Nothing came out of my body, despite the spasms
gripping me and it was a long while before I got my breath
back.

“It’s a good thing we’ve not
been feeding you isn’t it – that would have made a real mess.” The
commander leaned in, grinning at me. “Who would have though that
you and Joel were such good friends? You seem very upset that he’s
dead. He liked your girl you know? He liked Cassie
a
lot
.”

His words dredged up images
from my brain that I wished I could destroy.

“You should have seen the
things Joel wanted to do with her…I did.” He tapped his head. “I
bet she wanted it too you know, they probably did all the stuff I
saw in his head when they were alone together on their placement.
It felt more like memories than fantasy, you know.”

“Shurrup,” I slurred, unable to
put any strength into my voice.

“What’s wrong – don’t you want
to hear about your girl, Balik? I thought you liked talking to me
about her.”

I didn’t – I hadn’t – couldn’t
have.

“Or is it thinking about your
friend Joel that’s got you feeling secretive?”

My stomach rolled again.
Somewhere, between the questions and the beatings, I had been taken
from this room and carried somewhere. I knew it was outside the
four walls of my prison, but I couldn’t say where – and they’d
shown me Joel. As an inducement to help me answer his questions,
the commander had shown me what happened to
us
when we
weren’t needed any more. I had been forced to watch as Joel was put
on a table and cut open like an animal. They removed his organs –
the heart most important of all – before piercing him with tubes to
draw out as much of his blood as possible.

Joel had been unconscious when
it happened to him: he didn’t move as blades sliced his skin and
they began to pull him apart. But, the commander had promised me as
we watched, that I would not have that courtesy. For killing his
men he would see to it that I was dealt with properly…

There had been other things
happening in the room: more people working at tables in the
background, with similar shrouded shapes laid out on them. Through
exhaustion and fear I couldn’t focus on anything beyond the horror
I had been brought to see. I watched Joel die. I’m sure that would
have been enough for anyone.

“It would have been easier if
you had just done what you were supposed to Balik: grow up, fall in
love and die – not too much to ask is it?” The commander pushed
himself away from the table, obviously ready to leave. “I will back
with the Medics soon,” he promised, as he walked out of the
room.

Time was irrelevant; in fact,
it did not exist.

All that existed in this world
was confusion and pain. Mostly pain.

The dark veil of
unconsciousness pulled away as I came back to myself. Slight nausea
accompanied the sensation and I knew immediately that I had blacked
out rather than just been sleeping.

I was face down, lying flat on
the cold floor of the room I remembered being in before the
darkness came. Blood had rusted in my mouth – caking my teeth with
a thick unpleasant coating as I lay oblivious – and I could feel a
new tender swelling near my temple.

That would explain the
unconsciousness then.

My hearing ranged out,
automatically searching for current danger in my surroundings
before I opened my eyes. There was nothing. I was alone.

Sitting upright, ignoring the
dizziness I dragged myself towards the nearest wall and slumped
against it. Though my shoulder ached, I raised my fingers to
gingerly examine my face and guess the extent of my injuries. I
found more blood in my nose, although it wasn’t broken. A painful
twinge as I moved my right arm told me that another rib was,
though.

Broken.

I knew – with clear, terrifying
certainty – that it would not be much longer now before I was
completely broken.

As I was contemplating this,
the door to my
room
unlocked: there was a resounding
clunk
as bolts slid back into their housings. The door
opened slowly, disturbing the cool stillness of air in the room as
a tall man clad in black entered. The commander had returned and I
wondered vaguely whether my end would be sooner rather than
later.

The commander was not alone and
I remembered his promise to bring Medics to examine me. Not for my
injuries of course, but to work out why I was a freak. The man –
man!
I spat the word again hating these inhuman beings –
accompanying the commander hung back, staying closer to the door as
he regarded me. Curiosity was the dominant expression on his face.
As he waited, watching me, I realised that this man far out-ranked
the other who had been managing my torturous world so far.

Their faces moved minutely as I
watched them and I could only imagine the unspoken conversation
that was taking place. I turned away to stare at the dark corner of
the room – hating the sight of them – so it surprised me when I
heard the door shut a few seconds later.

Turning involuntarily towards
the sound I saw that only this new stranger remained and the guard
inside the door, my usual tormentor having left.

This is different
. I was
unable to stop myself from being mildly curious at the change in
events.

The man watched me in silence
for a while, not making any move to come towards me. “You can leave
us,” he said eventually, informing the sentry at the door of his
wishes with a dismissive wave of his hand.

The guard floundered, gripping
his weapon more tightly.
They
seemed to hate speaking aloud
and it probably surprised him to be addressed in this way. I
assumed he was unsure of whose orders to follow: the vicious
commander or this stranger, who exuded power purely through his
presence.

My visitor moved his chair
across the room, to sit opposite me. He did not turn to the other
man or repeat his command aloud, but an instant later with a
second, minute flick of his fingers, I was sure that he had
insisted on being obeyed. The guard’s face blanched as though he’d
been shouted at and after a moment of clumsy fumbling at the door
he had wrenched it open and dived outside.

The man sat across from me,
staying quiet. His rather elegant frame filled the minimalist chair
on which he rested and he watched me with a calm expression on his
face. The green eyes gazing at me were mild, but held an
intelligence that felt oddly familiar. A strange thrill shot
through me. It was hard to believe that he wasn’t human.

I felt the thrill once again as
I waited – I would not offer any opening to him – if he wanted to
speak to me, he could
speak
. It was not fear I felt in his
presence – though I knew he was different to the others I had met –
I recognised my own sense of fascination and perhaps a degree of
awe through the haze of my injuries and exhaustion.

Who are you?

“I
am
different to the
others,” the man offered finally, confirming he was already rooting
through my mind. It was the first time since I’d been brought here
that I thought any of them done this.

In truth, I didn’t believe that
I was strong enough to have resisted them: to have blocked my mind
through everything I had been through seemed like it would be
impossible. At the same time, I just
felt
like they hadn’t
been able to get inside my head. Why else would they have spent so
long questioning me, if they already had what they needed?

“And you are not afraid of me.
You are wise for such a young man, Balik.”