The Leaves are Silent

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

I rolled my fork within the goo that they called food. Maya was talking absentmindedly to me but there was something in the detail of the goo that had caught my attention. There was something off. Something wasn't right. I was missing something. Something important I had overlooked. Then I realised I wasn't thinking about the goo, I was thinking about the plan. What was I missing? What detail was I not seeing?

"Lily! Lily! Are you even listening to me?!"

"What, sorry?" I spoke as I broke out of my trance looking up into Maya's brown eyes who were staring at me frustratedly.

"What's wrong with you today?" she asked.

My eyes widened as I struggled to think of an excuse to my lack of concentration.

"I-I uhm I" I stuttered, " I'm not feeling well." I closed my eyes, cringing at my own response.

"Really, Lily? How stupid do you think I am? Just tell me what's bothering you."

I sighed and dropped my fork onto my plate and turned so I was facing Maya entirely. Her eyes were studying me, curious as to what was plaguing my mind.

"I feel like I'm missing something important." I said blandly.

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion,

"What do you mean you're 'missing something'? I thought you had everything worked out."

"I thought so too, but then Ian brought me to a part of the camp to see this man who's in charge of shipments. This includes body shipments. Turns out they have a fixed day on when they're bringing bodies out of the camp. Which is February twentieth."

Maya's eyes widened in fear when she realised what this meant.

"They're gonna kill a bunch of us off? Oh crap, what are we gonna do?" she rushed out, panic beginning to set in her features.

"They're not gonna kill us off." I reassured her. Her shoulders visibly relaxed for a moment before I spoke again, "Something else might."

"That's not helping!" she hissed, slapping my arm as she tensed again. "What do you mean something else might?"

"The way they were talking, apparently it was in a way like it was something they couldn't control. Something which they couldn't stop. Something they're scared of......" I began trailing off at the end when I got lost in my thoughts. It was like a riddle.

A riddle that could cost us our lives.

"Why do you look like you've seen a ghost and she looks constipated." Another voice interrupted as a weight sat down on the bench.

"We're all going to die." Maya blurted, her face pale.

"I'm missing something important. What am I missing?" I asked, perplexed.

"Woah," Matthew spoke, surprise lacing his features, "Hold up, what's happened?"

"Ugh I'm not explaining it again." I groaned, zoning out and back to my thoughts.

Apparently Maya must have filled him in because when I looked up again he was looking as perplexed as I was.

"This doesn't make any sense." he muttered more to himself than to the both of us. He snapped out of it quickly turning to face me with a determined look on his face.

"Okay no more waiting around, after our first training session today we all meet in my tent. Deal?"

Maya and I nodded, agreeing with him.