Page 160 of Love Me

“Oh, Uncle Caleb. I didn’t know you were so easily offended.”

“Actually, increase the voltage as well.”

Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut.

The woman and Caleb put various dots on my body and head.

Ahead of me, a screen flashes to life.

“You’re about to go through the most horrific pains.”

“Is this my initiation?”

Felix bursts out into a malefic laughter. “Oh, no, that’s for testing loyalty. This is made especially for the ones who think they can outsmart us and rebel against the status quo.”

“Show me Kaden’s initiation.”

He tsks. “She still thinks she’s in command.”

One moment I am glaring at them, the next, an agonizing pain is traveling down my body. I bite down the scream. It’s as if my bones are breaking. Cold sweat bathes me.

“Quite fascinating the human brain. No, your bones are not broken, but you think they are,” Caleb says, sounding proud.

I breathe in and out, trying to stay anchored in reality. The pain is not real. I grit through my teeth, “You’ll never break me.”

He’s about to give the sign for another round when Felix says, “Let her see.”

The screen comes alive. Kaden is in a white room, bound to a gray hydraulic chair, his head wrapped in a metallic helmet. They show him a picture of me. You could see some areas light up in his brain––the love he has for me.

“Her or us, Kaden?”

“Father, she is family.”

“Her or us.”

They might not break me with physical pain, but this might do it.

“Celine.”

I saw his conviction as he said, “I’m stronger with her at my side.”

“She is your weakness. But we’ll cure you of that.”

The video continues. He screams in pain, panting heavily during the few minutes they pause their torture.

I thrash in my bindings, trying to break free to kill them for doing that to Kaden.

“We were just beginning, but he felt as if his body would be tortured to an extreme. On repeat.”

“Her or us?”

The video speeds up so I can watch him being tortured again and again–– three days of hell in just minutes.

Two nights later, Kaden said, “Us.” Not because he betrayed my love or because he had to endure atrocious physical pain, but for me.

When the mental torture ended, they started the physical attacks. They wanted him to associate pain with me, so he’d resent me.

Tears flow down my cheeks while a vicious rage ignites in me, and I let it consume me. Masked guards put him in a casket for hours, then repeatedly beat him with wooden bats before they waterboarded him––not inflicting permanent physical damage.

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