Children of the Dead

12| She Was Yours to Protect

One Year Ago

Her smile is so vibrant. She's always laughing, always happy, despite our situation. It's just me and her, me and Adaline. She stands up from her place on the ground, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder.

Her jumpsuit is a few sizes too big, drowning her arms. She walks over to the bookshelf and plucks a deck of cards from the shelf.

The box is clean and fresh, the cards stiff and unused. "You up for a game of poker?" Adaline holds the deck up, waving it in her hand.

"What are we going to bet with?"

"Favors," she scampers back to me. I nod my head in silent agreement, and she excitedly deals the cards.

"I hope you know I'm gonna whoop you," she taunts, "I've already got my favors planned out." We start to play, and just as she had said, she is "whooping me". Her tongue peeks out from in between her lips as if it's trying to help her. I laugh.

"What?" she smirks. I shake my head and continue to play. "Uhh this place is awful, you wanna bet how long it takes us to escape?"

"Don't say that," I sigh. "Holloway can hear us you know."

"So? Does it look like I care?" she huffs. "Holloway is too much of a coward to continue on with any of his threats."

•••

A loud crash wakes me up. I bolt up quickly, running out into the recreation room when I notice Adaline's absence. Panic climbs up my throat. I rush into the bathroom.

"Adi?" I whisper. Crickets. The panic is in my skull now, twisting my thoughts into a horrible monster.

The bookshelf is now knocked over, books and games scattered all over the floor. I hear a yelp, a holler, a cry for help. Adaline shrieks and I catch her foot flailing in the air out of the corner of my eye.

She's gone, round the corner. I start to chase after her, my bare feet slapping against the hardwood. They're taking her, why are they taking her?

"Adaline?!"

"Cash?!" I hear her voice cry out. "Ugh let go of me you-"

The door slams closed, the room becomes silent and I stand confused about what just happened. Panic has made itself comfortable in my head, but it's changed, morphed into something worse, something that has no name.
I stay wide awake, pacing around the room waiting for her return.

I know she won't be back for a few hours, but I need to know she's okay. The sun rises, bright and bold and hopeful. Everything I'm not. I'm folded into myself, squeezed into a corner, crippled by my fear.

I stay in my same place, close enough to the door that I can hear when she returns. I keep telling myself that she'll be back any minute, but those minutes soon turn into hours. Every second is agony.

She's always been so stubborn. I know one day she will do something stupid and reckless. I know someday she'll be taken away forever, I just hope, pray, beg that today is not that day. The sun shines in my eyes as it falls slowly.

The sky fades from brilliant blue to a dim orange. Still I wait. I wait to hear her voice, to see her face contorted by anger. I'm utterly and completely miserable here waiting.

•••

It's been four days, each one blending into the next. There's been no signs of Adaline or anyone else for that matter. I haven't heard from Holloway at all and the guards have yet to return. My thoughts are cruel and intrusive. You could have done better.

She was yours to protect. It's your fault she's gone. One more day passes, along with my last shred of hope. The rope has broken, and I'm falling. Falling fast and hard and it's terrifying but I deserve it.

I look up at the window, watch the clouds float past. They're so happy, so free. I envy them, I hate them. She was my ray of sunshine, my blue sky, my happy cloud. She was the only person on Earth who understood me, and now I've lost her. I've lost my mind too.