Depthless: Under The Library

Chapter Twenty-Nine// Alex

Alex’s POV

It was a drizzling Monday evening. From where I crouched, I could hear the sound of soft splashing as the rain falls lightly onto the damp rocky pavement. A blaring horn sounded out through the rain-clouded darkness, making me jump.

An arm slipped around my shoulders and a soft head pressed against my cheek. “Shh… we’re going to be okay.” A woman with a kindly voice whispered in my ear. I detected a note of urgency in her tone, a slight desperation which demanded not to be overlooked.

“What are we doing above-grounds, mother?” I whispered, turning my head to face her. Huddled together under the dismal shelter of the caved in walls, I shivered ever so slightly in my mother’s warm arms, pressing my body tight against her comforting frame. She had long black hair curled down past her shoulders, but that evening, she hid it all up in a messy bun, with a couple of strings of hair framing her face.

My mother shot me a fleeting look, brushing her fringe from her forehead, the mass panic in her eyes unshielded as she continued to stare past my head at the opening--- the opening out of this uncomfortable shelter.

“Does father know we are---“ I spoke, confusion seizing me. I barely had time to complete the question before a small hand clamped down hard on my mouth.

Shocked, I paw at the hand, but mother only presses it harder against my mouth, her skin cold against mine. Her clear fingernails dug into me, the wedding ring on her finger cutting into my lip. I uttered an indignant squeak. At this slight noise, mother slumps and loosens her grip over my mouth, the guild evident on her face. And I could tell it wasn’t just from the slight discomfort she had caused me.

“Why are we hiding?” I whispered in as lowest a voice as I could. “And why can’t father know?”

I looked intently into her eyes, watch her emerald pupils dilate in wild fear. Her lip trembles and she has to tear her gaze from the opening to stare back at me. Even then, the look in her eyes scared me senseless.

Gripping my small face in both hands, she proceeded to mutter shakily under her breath, while I stare at her, terror growing with each passing moment. Every drop of rain, every pitter-patter as the drops fall onto the roof and slide downwards, every slight noise only seemed to further agitate my mother, for reasons she apparently wasn’t sharing with me.

Finally, she seemed to regain what little composure she had lost before, and she lowered her gaze to meet mine. “Look--- Alex, this could be it.” Was her exasperating statement. Her voice trembles with her body, as if she had to remind herself to hold herself up. “This could be the end, I could trigger the end, or…”

She tore her gaze away from me and craned her neck towards the opening, her eyes scanning the paved streets with the crazed intent of a frightened prey. Shaken, I curled up against her. “Wh---what do you mean? Mother, please, tell me what we are doing out here, especially as it is against the rules to break out---“

A warning glance from her shut me up. I didn’t want her fingernails in my face again. “Alex, dear, I promise, you won’t have to come to any harm…” She trails off, chewing nervously on her lower lip. “However, if in the case I don’t make it---“

I take her hand. “Mother, please.” I pleaded, desperate. “Why are you speaking as if you are about to die? Don’t let’s stay here any longer--- let’s go back, mother, why can’t we go back?” I whined, tossing another frenzied glance at her.

“We can’t, Alex.” Something in her voice told me otherwise. There was an edge in her tone, a slight distraught feeling begin to sink into me as I continued to tug on her sleeve, pointing towards the entrance down to Home Sweet Home.