Minutes of silence passed during which my rage grew to such levels that I had to focus on calming myself so my body’s reactions wouldn’t give me away.
Jude, sounding pensive, asked, “You really aren’t bothered by all the lying?”
Jackie sighed loudly enough that I thought there might be a chance she was actually burdened by their awful behavior. “I used to be, at first. Now, it’s just normal. At least we have plenty of good reasons for it.”
“We do.”
“That’s what I think of any time Layla or Brady do something cute or loving. I just focus on thewhyof what we’re doing, then I remind myself it’s probably the only way to get them to do what we need them to do, so …”
So? That was it?
Andwhy, for fuck’s sake, WHY were they doing this?Don’t leave me hanging now, Jack-fucking-ie.
Eventually, Jackie added, “But yeah, I hope this is the last time I have to do this too. It’s going to happen at some point. Everything’s going to eventually line up, so why not this time?”
“It’ll be so incredible to finally get to move on to the next stage, after all this time,” Jude said.
“We’ve devoted the last twenty-plus years of our lives to this. We deserve it.”
Theydeserveit? I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had to work so hard to resist the desire to kick someone’s ass.
“We really do,” Jude said, and I could feel the smile in his voice.
The fucking fuckers!
It was a good thing they weren’t monitoring my vitals now, because they were certainly spiking.
The bed beneath me shook enough to make my limbs, purposely loose, wobble.
Jackie huffed. “What is goingon? How long can it possibly take to immobilize one kid on his own? It’s not like it’s rocket science. I mean, come on already. You juice him or tranq him till he’s out cold. It’s not that complicated.”
I was struggling to reconcile this woman and what she was saying with the Celia Rafferty I’d known growing up. Were the whole lot of them more Hyde than Jekyll?
“Maybe it’s a different one,” Jude suggested. “Magnum’s been bringing new ones in fast.”
“Hmm, maybe. Go find out what’s happening.”
“Why? I’m sure they’re on it. They’re not going to let any of them out on the loose.”
“Because I don’t want to have to re-drug the kids and start over. I’ve already dosed them pretty heavily to make them properly susceptible. If I do it again, they’ll sleep forever.”
Nothing, then Jackie insisted, “Go.”
“The others are right there,” Jude complained. But then I heard the door open and close anyhow.
My bed shook again, this time much harder. My blanket slid across my body as I restrained the natural urge to reach out and catch it before it could slip to the floor.
“What the shit?” Jackie muttered, again making it difficult to reconcile this cussing woman with innocent-looking Celia Rafferty who enjoyed homemaking when she wasn’t in the lab. Was any of it real? At this rate, probably not. For all we knew, in her spare time, Jackie might rock shiny black pleather and ball gags.
Yet another quake rattled my bed, and when it did, Jackie’s voice, pitched to be soothing, suddenly sounded through the headphones in a lulling monotone.
“—preschool with Ms. Gail. Then I attended Ridgemore Elementary, then Ridgemore Middle School, and then Ridgemore High School, where my friends and I are currently seniors. I love the town of Ridgemore and have no desire to ever leave it. It feels happy and comfortable here. I love my home with my parents, Monica and Reece Bryson—”
Ah, so we each had our own individualized brainwashing recording.Peachy.
“—in the Periwinkle Hill neighborhood. It’s the only home I remember. I love my parents and trust them implicitly. With them, I am safe. I trust their guidance.”
How much of this hogwash drivel had my poor, abused gray matter been subjected to over the years?
