Jaden Baker

by Courtney Kirchoff

  “Hello?” Jaden said, frowning.

  The newspaper folded in on itself.

  “Seth?” Jaden asked.

  Seth did not smile in response. He folded the paper, set it aside.

  “Hello, Jaden,” he said.

  Jaden crossed his arms. “What are you doing here? Where have you been?”

  Seth pointed to a chair, signaling Jaden to sit. “I’m here to help you,” he said. “If you want it. I’ve been here the whole time. You forgot about me. You had Libby,” he said, and Jaden thought he heard bitterness.

  “Where is she?” Jaden said, remembering she was in the hospital. Why was he in her house without her?

  “I don’t know,” Seth said. “Things have changed, haven’t they?” he asked, leaning forward. “She’s made you different.”

  “She’s made me better,” Jaden answered. “Is she still in the hospital?”

  Seth smiled sadly. “Aren’t you going to ask where you are?”

  Jaden looked around. It was obvious where he was. “I’m here, at Libby’s house. But she’s not here. Where is she? Is she okay?”

  Seth paced the room. “We have a serious problem, you and I,” he said.

  “What’s that?” Jaden asked. “You still haven’t told me where she is.”

  “I don’t know where Libby is. I don’t even know where you are. This is not Libby’s house,” he said, waving his hand around.

  “Then what is it?” Jaden asked. “You’re supposed to have all the answers.”

  “I’ve never had all the answers. I help you find them. But you’ve really done yourself in this time, my friend. You don’t remember what happened?”

  Jaden shook his head.

  “Think back. You were in the hospital, you finished talking with Dalton, and were coming back to see Libby,” he said, and this time Jaden was certain he heard bitterness. “What happened next?”

  Jaden thought. He was walking back to spend the night with her, to watch over and keep her safe while she slept. Christine, his half-sister, had attacked them. Dalton filled in some blanks, and Jaden was almost to her room, when Madrid walked out of it first.

  “Madrid was there,” Jaden said, standing up.

  “Yes he was.” Seth grimaced. “He has you now. You’ve been under his control for a long time. Months, maybe. You’re just now starting to come back.”

  Madrid was dead, how was it possible?

  “He was never dead. He tricked you. You allowed yourself to be tricked so you could have a life with her. I warned you about this kind of thing. Now he has you. They’re doing things to make the control even stronger than before.”

  “Like what?” Jaden asked. He felt sick.

  “Reinforcing what they’ve already done. Strengthening the bonds. You’re more a slave now than ever. You’re in deep, Jaden. Everything you worked for over the past ten years is gone, all for a woman.”

  Did Madrid have her? Was Libby safe? If he wasn’t out there to protect her, who was?

  “Where is she?” he asked again.

  “I don’t know!” Seth yelled. “Didn’t you hear what I said? You’re trapped again, locked tighter this time. You wouldn’t be in this if it wasn’t for her. Libby led to your recapture. You went along with her and now you’re here, stuck in your own head! Wake up!”

  “It isn’t her fault,” Jaden said. “I’ve lived for her. She’s my purpose.”

  Seth’s face was brutal, ugly. Beastly. “Fine,” Seth snarled. “Then that’s it. You’ll live for her as a slave, and the people of Archcroft will make you do things you don’t want to do. Life as you’ve known it is no longer. You’ll be trapped here, in your head, in moments like this for the rest of your life. You’re property now, hardly human. That’s what she’s done to you. You’ll never see her again.”

  “No, that’s not true.”

  “It is. They have you.” Seth’s face smoothed. He came to Jaden, put his hands on each shoulder, squeezed them. “The only way out of this is me. I can help you.”

  “How?” Jaden asked. “You’re stuck here, too.”

  Seth smiled for the first time. “I’m not. I can help, you have to let me.”

  Jaden cocked his head to one side. “How can you help me out of this?”

  “You have to trust me,” Seth whispered. “When have I ever let you down?” He clapped his hands on Jaden’s face, grinning confidently. “Let me help you out of this. I’m the only one who can.”

  When Madrid had Jaden the first time, Seth had been there to keep him company. He sang to him when he was alone. Seth helped him escape, told him how, kept him alive for ten years. Seth always helped him.

  “Okay,” Jaden answered. “I trust you.”

  Seth took a deep breath. “I’m glad. I’m doing this for us, Jaden. For freedom.”

  “I know,” Jaden answered.

  “Good,” Seth whispered. He stepped away from Jaden, dropping his hands from his face. “I have to do this. I don’t take pleasure in it.” Seth’s hands balled into fists.

  “What?” Jaden asked.

  Seth punched him in the face. Before Jaden could defend himself, Seth struck him again, and again, Jaden falling to the floor. “I’m sorry,” Seth said, hitting him repeatedly, harder. “I’m so sorry!” Seth said, and with one last direct hit, Jaden’s eyes closed.

  Seth stood, staring at Jaden’s sleeping body on the floor. He was out cold. Seth shut his eyes and listened to his breathing. This was it. It was time to wake up.

  When his eyes opened, he saw a light above him. Bright. He squinted, put his hand out to block it. The hand was scared, some of the joints knobby. Seth sat up, flexed his fingers. The action wasn’t as smooth as it should have been, but he remembered why. Jaden hadn’t listened to him, and more punishment was inflicted.

  Seth breathed in the real air. The smell was stale. A real smell. He was in a small room, padded with ice blue. Scrubs again, and socks instead of shoes. That’s what he wore. Gathering his legs under him, Seth stood, wobbling.

  There was no clear exit, no doors, no alcove for an elevator. The ceiling was high, unlike the last facility. This wasn’t the same place. The one thing all three had in common was the observation mirror set in a wall, where people could watch. Seth smiled at his reflection.

  A new, stronger, thicker collar was around his neck. He hadn’t noticed it there before. It flexed with his movements, when he swallowed and turned his head from side to side. The edges of it were soft to touch, and when he squeezed the collar between his fingers, the material receded, then fluffed back into place. He felt around it, hoping for a clear breaking point, but couldn’t find one. It didn’t matter.

  Seth held his hands out, palms facing the collar. He had to try psychokinesis, he so wanted to experience what it felt like. Just as he was ready to blast the collar from his neck, an excruciating shock of pain crackled his skin, sent pulses of agony down his body, and Seth was on the floor, howling.

  It was over. He rolled on his back, breathing hard. So that was pain. It was something he’d wanted to experience, but now that he had, he didn’t want to feel it again. The collar had to come off. Like the last one they’d put around Jaden, it powered on before PK could be used.

  There were ways around everything.

  Jaden had always given into pain, had let it win. Jaden always lost. Seth was not Jaden, they were separate people. Lying down so he wouldn’t fall, Seth tried again.

  The pain caroused through him, but the collar burst off and the pain was gone. Easy. Seth rolled onto his stomach, balanced on all fours, and pulled the collar up and out of his spinal column, then from around his neck. Then he stood, a little shaky, but steady.

  Fingers touching the walls, touching the world, he walked the perimeter of the room, feeling the soft padding, the friction it caused on his fingers. At the mirror, Seth drummed the smooth, cold surface. There were people watching him now, and one was familiar. Seth fogged the window with his breath, drew a smiley face, grin
ned at the people behind their mirror; they thought it was unbreakable. Nothing was unbreakable. Seth had proved that already. He felt their hearts beating fast.

  Seth had no idea just how powerful Jaden was. The feel of this body, taught and trained, was nothing to the incredible ability of the mind. Even if his eyes were closed, Seth could feel the room’s every boundary and crack, control the hearts of the people behind the mirror. Jaden never rejoiced in killing, though he saw it as sometimes necessary. Seth was curious.

  Unencumbered, he reached out for the mirror. It shattered with music. The shards of glass did not fall to the floor, they spread through the air, as if under water, drifting in all directions. Incredible.

  There were two men in the observation room, the third had left. Seth plucked two sharp pieces of glass from the air, aimed them, squinting one eye as he looked at the men. Blowing air through his lips, the glass blew through the air like bullets, and struck each man in the heart. Like puppets whose strings were cut, they collapsed to the floor.

  Seth strode toward the now open room, when part of the padded wall slid into the ceiling. He saw it from the side of his right eye. He waited for something to happen, for a team of men to come in with tranquilizer guns, coming to their deaths.

  Joseph Madrid came instead, holding his remote control that got this body in here. Seth whipped it out of Madrid’s hand and held it in his own.

  Seth examined it. “How interesting,” he said. His first words. The sound of his voice was thrilling. “I wondered how you had so much control. So this is what controls the brain? Those wires just turn him on and off. Fascinating.”

  Madrid’s eyes were wide in fear. It pleased Seth, and he wished Jaden could see that face, feel that heart thrumming like the beating wings of a hummingbird.

  The remote, held in the palm of his hand, broke apart. Dismantled itself. “Problem solved.”

  “You’re not Jaden,” Madrid said, snapping his fingers.

  “No I’m not,” Seth replied. “You shouldn’t be so surprised. You suspected me.” Seth watched Madrid’s fingers, wondered why the snapping.

  “Where’s Jaden?” Madrid asked, backing away, toward the entrance he’d come through.

  “Why do you ask?” Seth said. “Did you have more torture in mind?”

  Madrid shook his head. Seth wasn’t going to let this man escape, not after what he’d done. He deserved pain and punishment before death. Powering on his mind again, Seth grabbed Madrid and flung him across the room. The thud into the padded wall wasn’t as loud or as forceful as he’d hoped, but that didn’t matter.

  Groping at his neck, Madrid slid up the wall, his eyes wide, face growing red. Seth selected a long, sharp, knife-like shard of glass, and held it in his hand, twirling it to see his reflection.

  “I warned you twelve years ago that you couldn’t control me,” Seth said, and Madrid slid down to his level. “You wouldn’t listen. You had to torture Jaden to make him do what you wanted. I’ll return the favor.”

  Seth slid the glass along Madrid’s stomach and up to his chest, cutting through his shirt. Seth ripped it off and threw it to the floor.

  “Is this reminding you of anything?” Seth asked. “If only I had a rod to beat you with. You’ll find I’m quite adaptable, though. The glass will work.”

  Madrid flipped around, his stomach against the wall, his arms spread wide.

  Seth let his anger and sense of injustice consume him, inviting Jaden to watch as he cut his enemy, administered the pain deserved. Standing back so as not to go too deep, Seth gripped the glass and swept it across Madrid’s exposed back. He didn’t scream as loud as Seth would have liked, so he did it a few more times, finally getting the decibel he desired.

  “Now,” Seth said, grinning, “we have to establish our relationship.”

  A beeping sound came from behind him, and Seth turned to see what interrupted him.

  It was a robot with a computer monitor rigged to the top of it. As it rolled closer, the monitor powered on. Seth watched.

  Dr. Sam’s face appeared on the screen. “Release him,” Sam commanded, his voice coming out of a speaker strapped to the robot, which rolled on track wheels like a tank.

  “No,” Seth replied.

  “Keep watching the screen.” Sam reached forward and pressed a button, and the feed changed.

  A man wearing black, with a mask over his face, held a frightened woman to his chest, hand over her groaning mouth, a knife to her throat.

  “Libby!” Jaden said, his image reflected dozens of times in the floating mirror shards. But Jaden wasn’t really there, he watched from the sidelines.

  “Calm down,” Seth said, feeling the edge of the glass in his hand, making sure he still had control. “I said I’d help you out of here, we have to do this my way.”

  Sam’s voice came back, though the feed of a terrified Libby with a knife to her throat was still there. “Release Madrid or we kill her.”

  Seth laughed. “She’s the only leverage you have over Jaden. You won’t kill her.”

  There was a moments pause. “You’re right. We can cut off her nose to prove we’re serious.”

  The masked man put knife to Libby’s nose.

  “Seth, no!” Jaden screamed. “Stop!”

  The masked man lowered the knife—Libby’s eyes were wide.

  There was a solid minute of silence.

  “Seth,” Sam said, a lightness to his voice, “Jaden knows we’re serious. Drop the glass, release Madrid.”

  Seth turned to Jaden, angry that Jaden was heard by others. It shouldn’t have been that way. Seth had never been heard when Jaden was in control…“They’re bluffing,” Seth said. “You have to let me do this, it’s the only way to get us out of here.”

  Jaden shook his head. “No. They’ll hurt her. They’ll do it. Drop the glass, let him go.”

  “Can you hear yourself?” Seth said, a taste of disgust in his mouth, his stomach churning with anger and a sense of abandonment. “Don’t you remember what he did to you? What Dalton did to you? They deserve this. No one can stop us, Jaden.”

  “They’ll hurt her,” Jaden whined, coming closer to Seth. “Put the glass down, let him go!”

  Seth used the blood tipped mirror in his hand to see Madrid, his bleeding back, then watched the live feed of Libby, knife to her throat, mouth covered. She was the only thing they could use against Jaden, not against Seth. What would he do without Jaden? If something happened to her, would Jaden understand and forgive him in time?

  “You need me,” Seth said to Jaden. “You need me to help you out of here. They’re controlling you with her.”

  “I don’t care,” Jaden replied. “She’s innocent in this. It’s my fault she’s here.”

  Sam’s voice came back over the speaker. “You’re running out of time. Ten seconds and Libby loses her nose.”

  “Seth, drop it!” Jaden said.

  “Ten.”

  “She’s nothing. She’s the knife to your throat!” Seth yelled.

  “Nine.”

  Jaden grabbed at his own hair. “Drop the glass!”

  “Eight.”

  “No, you can’t let them win. Stop letting them control you.”

  “Seven.”

  Jaden’s eyes were wild with panic. “Drop the glass!” he screamed.

  “Six.”

  “NO! She’s nothing to us!” Seth screamed.

  “I love her!” Jaden roared. “I love her!”

  Ringing silence.

  Seth exhaled, his shoulders slumped. “You don’t,” he said, but it didn’t matter. Jaden had chosen. He could only help with Jaden’s cooperation.

  “Four.”

  Pulling back his fist, Jaden hit Seth with all the power, mental and physical, he could muster, knocking Seth backwards, the glass bouncing to the padded floor. Seth made a final dive for it, but Jaden knocked it away and punched him again.

  Jaden crawled off the floor and strode over to Madrid, who had slumped to the
ground. He hoisted him up by his armpits, dragged him to the robot with the monitor and camera.

  “Let her go,” Jaden said, pleading into the tiny camera. “Please, let her go. I did what you asked.”

  The knife came away from Libby’s neck, her chin lowered as the man slackened his grip. Libby’s eyes glistened with tears, her cheeks streaked with them.

  Jaden stepped back but kept his eyes on the screen, looking at her face.

  A team of ten men, ran into the room, all with tranquilizer rifles pointed at him. Jaden raised his hands, trying to show his submission. One of the men put a blanket around Madrid and helped him up, wincing as he stood.

  “Where’s Seth?” Madrid asked weakly, massaging his neck.

  Jaden shrugged. “Gone,” he said, and he knew it was true. Seth wasn’t here. If he would ever come back, Jaden couldn’t say. Seth said he’d always been with Jaden, and maybe he always would be. But he wasn’t here now.

  Madrid breathed hard, his eyebrows pulled down. “Get on your knees. Hands on your head,” he growled.

  Jaden fell to his knees, laced his fingers to the back of his head. He took his eyes away from Madrid and found Libby on the screen. She was crying still, shaking her head in defeat.

  “You do something like that again,” Madrid said, “and I’ll kill her.”

  “I won’t,” Jaden replied, watching Libby.

  Madrid walked to one of the surrounding men and pulled a tranquilizer gun from a holster. He walked to Jaden’s back and pointed the gun at his neck.

  “Say goodbye to Libby,” Madrid said. “You won’t be seeing her again.”

  Jaden held back tears as he memorized her beautiful face, her auburn hair, the way she looked at him. “Goodbye, Libby,” he said, his bottom lip trembling.

  Libby’s feed had no sound. She reached for him and screamed, struggling against the man who held her, but he did not hear her. It was better that way, he didn’t want to hear her sad voice. Seeing her grieved by losing him, that was enough. She would miss him. Strangely, that made him happier. To be missed.

  Jaden heard the soft air of the pistol release, felt the dart hit his neck. His heart slowed to a rhythmic pace and his eyes drooped to a close just as his body weakened and fell forward.