Outside

Chapter 15

"His name was Tom." Occi says. She smiles in a melancholic way, and I can tell instantly how close the two of them must have been.

Drew puts his arm around her, and she wipes her eyes, which have become slightly misty.

"He hated the system more than anyone." She continues. "When I asked for volunteers for the mission, his hand shot straight up. I had to pick him. He was the best suited for the job." She rests her head on Drew's shoulder. "Now I wish I didn't, since he died out there."

"I remember that day." Kyan says. "They interrogated every child in the building. No one knows what happened."

"Well someone killed him." She replies. "And whoever they are, I will find them, and they will pay for what they did."

I swallow. My heart is beating so fast I feel like I'm going to pass out. If Occi found out that it was me who killed him, there's no way she'd spare me. I'd be dead before I could even say I'm sorry.

"Tom was the one who looked after me while Occi was at work." Drew adds. "He and Occi were like parents to me. I was only nine when he left."

As if they couldn't guilt me enough.

"I..." Kyan begins, his face pale and his eyes wide. "I'm sorry all of this happened to you two." He says. "That's terrible."

"There's no need to be sorry. You two had nothing to do with it." Occi tells us. "I miss him, though. He... he and I were really serious. Talked about getting married once we fixed the government and could actually do it. He found... he used some scrap metal and melted this dumb ring he used to propose to me. It was one of the things that kept us fighting so hard. If things could be fixed, we could legally be an actual family." She fiddles with something on her finger. The ring. She kept it all this time. I try to keep myself from shaking, but it's no use.

"What... what was he like?" I ask.

"Tom was... Tom was a mess like the rest of us. He was an Opulent citizen before getting exiled. Had loving parents, a younger sister... a good life. Him and his friend had snuck his parents alcohol and got drunk, and he crashed the car on the way to drop his friend back off at his house. His friend died, and he was exiled for taking his life."

"Drunk...?" Kyan asks.  "I'm confused."

"Ah, you don't have alcohol in the Aequa, that's right. Just... ignore that part, I'll have to save that explanation for another day." Occi stumbles out a half-answer. "But back to Tom... he was a good guy, but like you, Kyan, he had bad anxiety." She explains. "Worse, actually. When he was stressed, all logic was off the table. He didn't have normal panic responses. He'd yell, throw things, threaten people... he'd always feel really bad for it afterwards and apologize, but it didn't keep him from crumbling under stress and acting impulsively. His fight or flight always chose fight."

"Do you think that happened the day he broke in?" Kyan asks. "Maybe he went crazy and went on a rampage and a guard found him and killed him." He attempts to shift any blame off of me.

"I mean, it's not impossible, but if so, why would the Aequa claim to have no idea what happened?" Occi responds.

Drew interrupts. "I just... I never understood how no one knew what happened. They have a security camera in every room."

"That was our mistake." Occi answers. "We turned them off so that no one would see what we were doing. I guess our attempt at secrecy ended up being our downfall. All we saw- and all they saw- was right before and right after the incident."

I hold back a sigh of relief. No one saw. There's no proof. I think to myself.

"All we know is someone in the Aequa killed him, and we will find them. And when we do, they'll face the same end as he did, but I'll make it as painful as possible." Drew says.