Torturous Thoughts

Posted on Wed Jan 26th, 2022 @ 6:05am by

526 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Not All Changes Are Welcome.

The cries from Elliston made time move slowly, like walking backward on a moving sidewalk. She did her best to comfort him when she could, but what could one really say to someone that had just had their hands cut off? Nothing. Nothing could take his mind off of that kind of trauma. All she could do was sit and listen.

Sitting and listening was its own kind of torture though because as she sat, RJ also wondered. What would happen to her? Would she suffer the same fate? She painstakingly thought through all of the possibilities. Surely she could get prosthetic hands if hers were cut off, but could she still be an effective engineer with new hands? How long would it take her to learn to get to use them? Would it hurt her career? Surely, it would be a setback, but her career would never recover if she gave away classified secrets.

Then there was Gavin. What would he think if she came back, different? With missing appendages, or maybe limbs. A small smile came to her face as she thought of his first reaction. His face would be riddled with concern and he’d diligently fix her up. Then he’d probably watch her like a hawk throughout the whole healing process while she worked in the opposite direction and would try to move too quickly. But what about after that? Would he still like her if she was modified and filled with mechanical pieces? How would their relationship change? Could you love someone that was part machine?

It was all too hard to think about. She wanted to bang against the walls until her fists bled, perhaps for the last time. To rip the heart out of the prick that had captured them, if he even had one. She felt as though her entire being would shatter from frustration if she didn’t do something, so with an audible groan, RJ stood up and started to search the cell once more for anything she could use to escape.

Hours passed and nothing. No panel she could open and exploit, not even a stray bolt to use as a weapon. The cell had clearly been expertly checked. A single tear fell from her eye as RJ buried her head in her arms against the cell wall. She quietly sobbed for a few minutes before her father’s warm and encouraging voice filled her head. ‘Anyone can give up, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that’s true strength. Remember, it might be stormy now, but it can’t rain forever.’ A quote that he often liked to cite anytime she or Cam had a hard time.

A small trickle of hope returned to her soul and RJ found a new sense of determination. She didn’t know what the future held or how long this storm would last, and she was still scared to death, but that didn’t mean she had to give in. As long as she was alive she could fight.

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