The echo of a whispered curse in a soft feminine voice woke him from the furious red sea in which his mind had plunged.

Strangely enough his full attention immediately turned to her. Not because of the dirty word she’d muttered, or even because it had clearly come from a woman. The last woman that had visited him had left him bitter and painful memories, enough to make him wish for the destruction of every woman on the planet. Better yet, the destruction of the entire Human Race!

In truth he’d known he was lost the first time such thoughts had crossed his feverish, delirious mind. Because it wasn’t just a thought, but a deep burning desire. All his life he’d followed the path he’d chosen, and had done it so with dignity and honor, no matter how bitter it had been in more than one occasion. However, when he’d started to hate an entire Race based on the acts of a dozen specimens he’d known that something inside him had changed forever, something that could never be put back the way it used to be, even if he could, somehow, regain his freedom and leave that place. The madness that now filled him would never leave him again and so he’d decided, long ago, that he’d end his own life as soon as the opportunity presented itself. The alternative was just too shameful, and not only for him, for it would force one of his Brothers to hunt him and put him down like an animal.

In his saner moments he couldn’t help feeling sorry for how fragile the sanity of those that shared his fate was. But, every time his captors returned, hate and insanity took over, and the voice of reason was lost amongst the furious roars that shook every cell of his brain.

And now, as improbable and unbelievable as it was, this female mind seemed to have sensed his.

Although he couldn’t capture her physical image, other sensations flooded his senses. For a brief moment her soft flowery perfume surrounded him and he knew the exact moment she left her car, the weight of her gaze turned in his direction making him gasp.

His mind, lost in darkness and chaos, was unable of the simplest of rational thoughts. All he knew was that she was someone he had never met, since he could remember all those who had crossed his path. And yet it was as if he had known her for a long time. He was painfully aware of the miserable state of his own body, and the fact that, even weak and spent as he was, he had been able to establish a mental bridge with another being with such ease, was improbable to say the least. Normally, even when healthy, such connections were only possible amongst those who had known each other for a long time. And so, unwillingly, only one thought filled his mind, and his heart beat faster when she took the first steps in his direction.

Free from any conscious control and purely obeying his most basic desires, what little strength he had left slid across the shadows and the lock closing the metallic doors gave in, making sure that nothing would stand in her way. He immediately felt the high price of having dared manipulate three-dimensional matter in his weak, debilitated state. And waves of sharp, agonizing pain stabbed his lungs, leaving him breathless, breaking his self-imposed control over the suffering that consumed him day after day. Still his will stood unbreakable, even beyond his own awareness …

Come to me!

The almost silent steps of rubber soles against the cement floor echoed in his mind like a beating drum. He could feel her getting closer, becoming more present, more real. When she touched the door of his prison cell the world around him seemed to stop, everything just hanging very still …

It was as if he could feel the warmth of those hands against his skin, burning him, even stronger than the pain that persistently tormented his body. He wished that that lock would also give in and only when nothing happened did he noticed that his consciousness was quickly sliding away.

His sight lost focus and a red fog made him gasp. The only thing that kept him from falling into the darkness that promised to embrace him and keep him beyond all suffering was the idea of losing the only opportunity he’d ever have of regaining his freedom. He wouldn’t fail for lack of tenacity, perseverance or resistance to the pain consuming him.

Consciously this time, he clenched his teeth, squeezing his fists hard, and took a sharp breath focusing all his will power on that small lock. He filled his desire with all the determination he possessed and, once more, he forced the material world to bend and obey his will …

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