A Pretender Story
part VI
by Evanescent

"My God," Sydney whispered as he closed the DSA player, "They killed Jarod."

"Sydney, what are we going to do?" Broots whispered, "Syd? Syd!" he turns away from the DSA player to look at him as he turned abruptly and walked quickly out the door toward the direction of Jarod’s cell.

*****

Jarod’s Cell
1600 Hours

Jarod was sitting at his desk absorbing a file for his next sim when Sydney burst through the door.  Without a word, Jarod looked up from the file to his intruder, "Hello Dr. Green, " he said.

"Jarod, do you know who I am?" Sydney asked.

"I’m sorry Dr. Green, apparently you have mistaken me for another one of your subjects.  My name is Michael, and although I was told that I bear a strong resemblance to the other pretender, I assure you, we are not the same man." Sydney didn’t say anything, he looked into Jarod’s eyes to search if there was still anything left of the Jarod he knew, but there was no intensity, no tenderness in them like the Jarod he used to know would always posses in his eyes.

"No Jarod, don’t you understand, you really are Jarod!"  Sydney cried

"I apologize Dr. Green, I am not Jarod.  I felt sorry for the death of your pretender, but that does not mean I will act as a replacement for the one you already lost—"

"Jarod,--"

"Dr. Green, let me repeat what I just said, I am not Jarod, the Jarod you know is dead, I am Michael.  Now if you don’t mind I need to—"

"Jarod! Listen to me!" Sydney yelled, he grabbed his shoulders so that Jarod would look directly at him, "Raines had lied to you, you are Jarod, don’t you remember who you are?"

"Apparently you need to be told again that I am not Jarod.  And yes, I do remember who I am, my name is Michael, the Centre adopted me and took me here when I was still a baby."

"Raines lied to you Jarod, you were stolen! You were stolen by the Centre!"

Silence filled the room, after a few minutes Jarod replied calmly, "No, I’m not, my parents were killed on the way back from the hospital, I was the only survivor.  Now if you don’t mind, I have more files to go through before my next sim." Turning to his files, he brushed off his mentor’s hands and went back to what he was doing as if Sydney never came through the door at all.

"Jarod," Sydney made one final attempt to reach out to him but suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked up and saw that it was Willie.

"I’m sorry Dr. Green but I’m afraid that Michael will need his full concentration for the sim that he’ll be performing tomorrow so would you please step out of the room." He replied, with a triumphant gleam in his eyes.  Sydney narrowed his eyes but knew he could not do anything right now.  Taking one last look at Jarod, he walked out the door and back into his office.  He needs time to think.

As Willie followed after Sydney and closed the door behind him, Jarod remained as though he was still going through the file yet what Sydney said echoed in his mind, "Raines lied to you Jarod, you were stolen! You were stolen by the Centre!….. You were stolen by the Centre!…….the Centre……..the Centre….." Shutting his eyes briefly, he opened them again and resumed his work.

****

The Centre
1700 Hours

"So how did it go?" Broots asked as he saw Sydney walk through the door

"He doesn’t know me anymore Broots, I couldn’t get through to him.  He is a different person now, there’s no kindness, no compassion in his eyes, we have to think of something or we may lose him forever," He said, walking over to the desk and picked up a file.  It read SL-30 – Alterations on the front cover.  He opened the file and was surprised to find a picture of Jarod on the front, he read rapidly through the file and after a few minutes he closed it and set it back to the desk, shocked. Broots walked over and picked up the file and started skimming through it, his reaction caused him to drop the file and scatter it all over the floor.  Broots hurriedly bend down and started picking up the papers, he was about to pick up the last piece, the picture of Jarod, until a pair of long legs in high heels in front of him stopped him, he looked up and into the eyes of Ms. Parker.

"Ms. Parker," he whispered, "You’re back."

Wordlessly she bends down and picked up the picture, holding it up, she asked, "And what were you going to do with this Broots?  Put it under your pillow to sleep with at night?" She snatched the folder from him and read through it, after a few seconds she shut the folder and threw it on the table, causing the papers to scatter, again. Broots ran to the desk to pick it up, "Syd, what are we going to do?" She asked, her voice filled with pain.

Sydney looked at her and whispered, "I don’t know Ms. Parker," he fell silent, as Ms. Parker looked over at Sydney, she realized he looked 10 years older, the last couple of days had really taken a toll on him she thought.

Suddenly the door flew open and Mr. Parker walked in, "Angel! Glad to have you home honey," he envelopes her in a hug, "I was surprised when you called me, I didn’t think you would have barely any strength to open your eyes let alone make a phone call," releasing her.

"I know. Daddy, could you please go and put Jarod into Sydney’s custody?" She asked, Mr. Parker raised an eyebrow, pretending to be confused, she rushed on, "Because Sydney knows Jarod more than anyone else—"

"Oh that. Well, yes angel, you do have a point there. However, Raines know how to break a man more than anyone else at the Centre," he replied, he was curious to find out what kind of feelings his daughter have for this man before agreeing to her proposal.

"He already broke him," Ms. Parker nearly shouted, Mr. Parker looked at her in alarm, "Raines changed him into a psychopath, just like what he did to Kyle but with better results.  His name is Michael now." She grabbed the file from Broots and handed it to her father.

Mr. Parker took the file and quickly read through the pages, after a few minutes, he shut it and turned to Sydney, "All right Sydney, you will regain custody over Jarod, or Michael, or whatever his name is now." He replied, then turning to his daughter, he said, "Now that should be payment for the man who saved your life, after what he did, I think this is repayment enough."

"What?!" Ms. Parker whispered.
 
 
 

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