In My Time of Dying

Chapter 13

                                                                                Chapter 13

                                                                         "Literature Lesson"

A week had passed since my life had been uprooted.

I hadn’t slept for days.

We were all on edge, not yet used to our new surroundings. Lucca and his parents were placed in a room that was five minutes from my own room, which I shared with Kahlan and my mother.

After the first hour in what was called “lockdown”, we were allowed out of our rooms, but not out of the building. It took a lot of probing and eyelash-batting from my mom but one of the guards finally told her what was going on.

I took in my surroundings as we listened to the man talk it a quiet, agitated manner. The floor was white, so white that it made me feel sick. Even the hospital at home hadn’t been kept this clean.

“…threat of secret weapons of unspeakable nature.”

My head snapped up to scrutinize this man and his words. Perhaps Lucca and I had witnessed something bigger than I had originally thought.

My mother began to shake, from her artfully styled hair to her black leather shoes. Kahlan put a hand on her shoulder to offer reassurance.

My head began to spin and I blinked repeatedly at the three of them. Was it possible that after all that had changed and the precautions that had been taken were for nothing?

“Where did they relocate everyone else?” My mother’s voice was strong compared to the rest of her.

The man’s eyes travelled up to the ceiling and then back down the wall. I could have sworn that he was rolling his eyes at her.

“They were moved to other buildings around the city. This used to be an apartment building but it was remodeled a few months ago to be used for situations like this.”

He excused himself but didn’t move. We took the hint and returned to our room. I was already looking forward to seeing Lucca again later.

It was later that evening that there was a knock on the door. My mother was currently out of the room and Kahlan was taking a nap.

After a moment of hesitation, I got up from the chair I had been previously reading in and pulled open the door.

At first all I could see was a chest. Feeling extremely stupid, I craned my neck so that I could look into this monstrously tall man's face.

My mouth dropped open into an 'o' when I realized that he was my age. Hair flowed onto his forehead, messy and an odd color—it seemed to be brown but shown black. His jaw was set as he looked down at me and his eyes seemed cold. All in all, he frightened me.

"Hello." he said, his voice a strange sound. It wasn't deep but it seemed to reverberate deep within his chest.

I fought a slight shiver at the overall appearance of this strange individual; he was gorgeous.

"Um, hi." I awkwardly tried to shift my weight so that I didn't look as frozen as I felt. Instead I ended up looking stupid.

"May we come in?" Irritation leaked into his voice and I jumped backward as though he had electrocuted me.

Only as two others shuffled in behind him had I realized he had said we.

A woman who was approximately the same age as my mother followed closely behind the boy. She was tall, almost as tall as I was. Her hair was beautifully braided and gray seemed to have just begun blossoming at her temples. She was nearly as stunning as her—I presumed—son.