The Normals | ✓

T W E L V E

Downstairs, I can hear the kettle boiling and the clanging of dishes. Lyra must be cooking. I look around Arden's room as he composes himself and try to bite back anything that could make him mad at me again. The room is bigger than my one at the Core, and neatly arranged. A mirror hangs on one wall as well as some photographs. He has his desk, where I'm currently sitting, and a recess in the wall which holds shelves of clothes. There is a comfortable-looking blob thing in one of the corners that I think is supposed to act as a seat, and two glass doors in the wall that lead onto a small balcony overlooking the street below.

Arden sniffs and wipes his face with a tissue. "I don't think my situation can get any worse at the moment, so could you tell me about what it was like on Pacifica? Please?"

"Well, what do you want me to tell you?" I ask.

"I don't know. Why you decided to escape. Why you came here absolutely traumatized."

Now it's my turn to sigh. "You already know most of it, though. I didn't like the way I was treated at the Core so I decided to escape with my... friend. And then we crashed a plane, slept under some rocks, got chased by a pack of robots, got drenched by the rain, slept in an abandoned building, jumped on a moving train, and got here. What more is there to say?"

"Friend?" Arden asks.

I laugh nervously. "I don't know what you want me to say."

"What happened to him?" he asks, leaning his elbows on his knees.

"Uh, he died?" I swallow the lump in my throat. At least saying the sentence doesn't immediately make me break down like it would've done a week ago.

"Tell me more about him. What was he like?"

I bite my lip, trying to keep my mouth shut. Somehow, talking about Sniper in front of Arden makes me nervous, and I know that if I tell him one thing then it will all tumble out of my mouth and I won't be able to stop. I look back at Arden, who has an expectant look on his face. But the more I try to stay quiet, the more I feel the need to talk to someone about everything, and before I can stop myself, I open my mouth and tell him everything. How when I met Sniper, he came off as cold and quiet and cool and I didn't want to be around him. I thought he was just another popular kid that would ignore you unless you spoke to them first. I tell him how as we worked together more and more as a team, I found that we made a good pair. Our skills worked together and we were always able to tell what the other needed. I even tell him how I knew I was feeling something other than friendship when I had seen him outside of our classes one day and my heartbeat had literally doubled in speed. Yes, it's possible.

I tell Arden everything I had kept to myself for the longest time, even telling him briefly about the orange-haired girl I had liked when I was younger. His face scrunches up slightly at this and he looks very confused about it but he doesn't interrupt me. I tell him how while we were planning our escape from the Core, there would be moments when I wanted to pause time and just stay with him, and how that feeling is even stronger now that he's gone. I tell him about the plane crash and the night in the glowing cave, but I don't tell him about the night in the abandoned building. I want that memory to be mine alone.

When I'm finished, Arden leans back and thinks. He doesn't say anything for a long time. I watch him watch the ceiling, and I can't help comparing him to Sniper and all the other guys at the Core. Arden is different from them, evidently. His skin is so much smoother, his build so much more balanced. We had to do some exercise at the Core, but not many people did more than the bare minimum of what was required. Sniper, Bear, Captain, and I did, but I didn't know many other people doing the same. While many of the guys -- and girls, and those who are a bit of both -- were thin, with weak-looking arms and stomachs that could barely do a sit-up, Arden is the opposite. He notices my gaze and smirks. "I do a lot of heavy lifting at the train stations."