WhiteScratch

A Heart to Heart Before the Unknown

I sit up and gaze at the area surrounding me.  Jake is on my left side, on his knees with an arm around my waist. I look into his eyes and say, "What's wrong?" as I chuckle a little. He looks at the ground and just barely whispers, "It happened again."
"What happened again?" He breaks his gaze with the ground and looks at me. 
"You were out for exactly 12 minutes again. I don't know what it means but I don't like the look of it. How do you not even realize?" He asks so confused. 
"I don't know but I don't think you have anything to worry about. I'm fine."
"Maybe now but who knows what could happen the next time or the 4th and 5th times."
"You don't even know if it'll happen that much." I say trying to calm him down.
"No, I don't but I don't want to find out." He says as he starts to raise his voice a little.
"Jake, I..." he cuts me off before I can say anything else by slamming his fist on the ground and standing up. I jump back as tears start to form in his eyes and slowly drop out as he says angrily, "No Rachel, I don't want to hear it! I just want you to be safe! I want to be able to protect you and it seems like ever sense we got out here, I've been doing the exact opposite of that! I don't want to hear how you're fine now because at the rate things are going, you won't be for much longer!" He backs up and drops to his knees again, covering his face with his hands. 
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean.." He gets chocked up on his tears and I go to him. I take his hands in mine and look at him sincerely. I tilt his chin up gently and kiss his cheek as I try to talk as calm and as sweet as I can.
"I don't understand what that feels like, at least yet and I'm sorry. I know that's all you want to do and I'm sorry I am not being as careful as I should be. I'm sorry I keep putting you in the worst positions possible." He looks deep into my eyes and I can feel him grasp my hands a little tighter. 
"You can't be sorry about any of that because you can't control what happens out here."
"I know." I look down at the ground and then he stands back up, pulling me with him. I hug him as tightly as I can, trying to be comforting and it seems to work. I feel him un-tense as he hugs me back and takes hold of my hands again. I look at him and he's smiling for what seems like the first time sense we left home. This makes me smile in relief.
"That's what I've been looking for." He says and I blush just a little. 
"I can say the same for you." He puts one of my hands down and points with his head toward North. I nod and he picks up his bag with his free hand, still holding mine in his other and then we continue walking again. As we start to walk he asks me, "Are we looking for something in particular to give us some direction?"
"Just anything that seems unnatural."
"Gotchya." He says and points his gaze ahead. He seems to be in caution mode and I can't blame him at all for that. 

We continue walking for quite a few miles. We make small talk and laugh a few times. It ends up being a great time with no danger, thank God. It always nice to get a break especially on planet WhiteScratch. 
We continue walking for a few more miles before I spot something shining in the sand a few yards away. I stop walking and try to study it as best as I can without getting too close. 
"What do you see?" Jake asks.
"Look to your right..." I say as I point in that direction. "Do you see it?" 
He stares for a few seconds before he spots it. 
"Oh yeah, I see it. What do you think it is?"
"I don't know but lets go check it out!" I start to walk forward but Jake gently pulls me back and says, "We shouldn't walk in there blindly to the dangers that could be present." I agree and he motions for me to stay behind him. We start to walk toward the glimmering thing slowly and as we get closer, it looks to be like its a metal door. We get to be a few feet away from it and then we stop to look it over. 
"What the heck is this for?" I ask, studying it. It has to be the most giant thing I've ever seen. Towering at least 20 feet above our heads is, in fact, a metal door. It has no handles, just a little pin pad to the right of it on the stone wall. 
"I have no idea but I don't have a good feeling about it." Jake says confused but alertly. He keeps me behind him and we walk toward the pin pad. It is a clear but green screen with a white rim around it. Number buttons and a small circle appear on it as we inspect it. Jake tries a few codes but none of them work so he lets me try but before I can even touch the screen, it scans my face and says in a very robotic voice, "Access Granted". Just then the ground beneath us started to shake as the gigantic doors slowly crept open. Me and Jake ran backwards trying to get clear of the doors before they crushed us. When we were a safe distance away, we turned back to watch as the doors slowly came to a halt, revealing a vast darkness beyond. 
"No freaking way are we going in there." Says Jake sternly.
"We have to. What if there are answers in there about everything? What if there is a cure formula in there Jake?" I say as I stare at him intensely. He drops his gaze to the ground once more before bringing his head up to look at the sky. He rubs his face with his hands and looks back at me with a weird look, as though he is thinking. He grunts and says, "Fine, but I don't like this at all. Stay together and stay careful." He says seriously.
"I know." I tell him. He opens his bag and takes out his flashlight before reaching his hand out to me which I take immediately. We walk slowly forward and into the area beyond the doors. The doors slowly close behind us and the atmosphere suddenly changes. Its very quiet, very still, and very very cold. Jake sighs and says, "What did we just walk into?"
"I don't know but I'm starting to feel that you were right. We shouldn't have come in here."