Tears Mean Weakness

Chapter 4

"I didn't lie. I just didn't state the truth."
I shone my torch on the wall clock. 3:05. The chances of Blair coming back now were slim to none. I needed to use the bathroom, but I couldn't bear to get out of the bunk. After lying for a while, I got up anyway, and climbed down the ladder. I didn't dare try to jump in case I woke up any of the others.
The bathroom was cold and the showers were dripping. I used the bathroom, and washed my hands with icy cold water. Just before I left the bathroom, I looked over to the end shower - Blair's shower. There was shampoo bottle caps all over the floor and cellophane wrappers from soap littered the drain. Blair had clearly planned to be gone for a while.
I kicked the lids on the way out of the bathroom. They slid all over the floor. Sighing, I got on my hands and knees and began to pick them up. Yawning, I piled the caps into a bundle, and put them in the waste paper basket.
I pulled the cord, turning the bathroom into darkness.
The shack was still silent, except for the occasional soft snore. I stared at Blair's bunk. It didn't look as though it would stay 'Blair's Bunk' for very long. If Blair didn't come back, the next kid in line would come and take his place.

I got on my hands and knees and looked under the bed for no particular reason. Last time I had looked under there it was empty, and Blair had gone. This time was no different - it was empty. Except...
There was a piece of paper lying over the other side of the bunk. I shone my torch on it. One side was blank, just clean white paper with a black mark or two. It looked slightly crumpled, as though it had been scrunched up and flattened back out again. I reached out and grabbed the cold paper. As I read the text on the other side of the paper, my heart nearly skipped a beat.

RETURN TICKET
DESTINATION: New York
VALID UNTIL: October 12th 2015

It was a plane ticket. A return ticket home. When Blair left home, his mother must have given him a ticket back home, in case he couldn't cope. I was wrong Blair wouldn't be lying alone somewhere - helpless. He'd be on his way to the airport. The airport wasn't far from here. I breathed a sigh of relief until I realised that Blair wouldn't get very far, not without a plane ticket.
I stood up and looked around the shack, still clutching the ticket. I wasn't sure what to do. I could have woken up the whole shack, tell everyone. But that would lead us to disagreement again. I could wake up Austin or Rowan, but both of them would say the same thing: to leave it to Sergeant. I looked among each of the boys, trying to decide. Who was closest to Blair? Who had gotten to know him best? Then I decided.

"Harley! Wake up!" I whispered. I shook Liam impatiently. He stirred a little.
"What?" he groaned. I hit him with a pillow, until he sat up.
"What are you doing up, Jacobsen?!" he said rubbing his eyes. I pulled myself up until I was sitting across from him.
"Never mind that," I said. "It's about Blair. I know where he is." Liam looked at me suspiciously.
"Jacobsen, Blair's a long way away by now. He's gone too far now," he said.
"No," I said. "He won't get very far without this." I held up the ticket in front of Liam, and shone the torch on it. He read it, and looked back at me, shocked. I clicked the torch off. Before either of us could say anything, someone moved.
Will sat up in his bunk and began to walk down the ladder, heading to the bathroom. I ducked so that he wouldn't see me, and hoped that he wouldn't look towards my bunk as he walked along the room. As soon as the bathroom door closed, I turned to Liam.
"I'll be back in a minute," I said. Trying to be quiet, I hopped down the ladder and tiptoed across to my own ladder, and climbed back up to safety. I waited until Will fell back asleep, and then looked back at Liam.
"What should we do?" he whispered. I didn't know either. There was no way we could get the ticket to Blair without being caught. I wasn't entirely sure how Blair escaped the compound in the first place. I was definitely more Soldier material than Blair was, and I knew I wouldn't be able to make it out. Something wasn't adding up. I shrugged at Liam.
"Nothing we can do," I said. "Not until we find out some more about where he's gone." Liam nodded in agreement.
"We should probably get some sleep," he suggested.
"Yeah," I said, lying down. "I'll try."
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I woke up, still clutching the plane ticket. The shack was boiling hot as the sun streamed through the window, landing directly on my bunk. It was 6:00 am, and I was first awake. Breakfast was at 7:00 on Sundays, which meant I easily had another half hour of sleep. However, I couldn't go back to sleep, I had to work out where Blair had gone, how he got out and how I could get to him.
I got showered, changed and tied my hair up into a high pony-tail, to keep the hair away from my neck. Outside was boiling hot, and sunscreen was definitely needed. The storm had really cleared the air.
I wore light blue shorts and a casual t-shirt the compound had provided; plain white with my name on the left. (100 trainees, they needed a way of identifying you.)
As I sat in the edge of Rowan's bunk, I pulled on my white sand shoes. I bumped against Rowan, waking him up.
"Why are you up so early," he groaned, shielding his eyes from the sun.
"Sorry, I want to go running," I lied. He turned back over without comment and went back to sleep. I folded up Blair's plane ticket and put it under my mattress. I contemplated on taking it with me, but it was the only proof of where Blair was heading, and I couldn't afford to lose it. (I just hoped no-one looked under my mattress in search of sweets.)