In White Robes

Chapter 2 - Words

A gunshot rang out across the air, clear even above the wail of the siren.

I still couldn't see much outside my door. No matter how hard I twisted my head, how close I got to the glass, I could only see the red walls and the group of Concealed. I wanted to see what they were after, wanted to know if it were a threat to me.

"Ave," I yelled, craning my head toward the deer. He was still curled up against the wall, ears still covered. "What's happening? What are they after?"

He shook his head and yelled back: "Whatever it was, it was fast, because they're still running." I turned back to the glass. The Concealed's numbers had thinned to the point where the hustling group was no longer in my sight. One more passed the door, and then another, and then they were gone but the red lights continued flashing.

The siren stopped. Even though I could hear again, my ears rang, pained from the lingering effect of the too-loud sound. I looked at Avery again. Our deathly quiet room returned to its silent state. The lack of sound was almost sad.

"They had their guns, didn't they?" Ave asked. I thought it was pretty obvious.

"They always do." There was nothing more to see outside the door. Only the red lights penetrated the empty facility air now, and they had no noise to accompany them. It was an uncomfortable thing to be surrounded by such oddities.

Avery stared at me for a long while, his sad eyes peeking into my heart like he was reaching for answers. He came away with none, and I only shared the connecting gaze with him, offering no answers I didn't even know existed. I stood there, stationed quietly at the door and he sat on the other side of the barrier, still balled up by the wall.

After a moment he began to stand up and come toward the glass. When he reached it, he pressed a hand against its thin frame. At that moment I realized just how much I wanted him. How much I wanted him to hold me, for him to plant his lips on my forehead as gentle and soft as he would in my dreams.

But in here, we were merely roommates.

We weren't meant to have a connection. We weren't meant to feel safe. We were meant to feel trapped. I did not know why, but the Concealed—they hated us.

"Come," said Avery. "Come here." I obeyed, stepping away from the door and going to the barrier, standing across from him so that I mirrored him. We stared into each other's eyes, hands on the glass in hopeless yearning for one another's touch.

"Kay," he spoke my name softly. His eyes trailed off to the floor, losing contact with mine and I desperately wanted them back on me. "I think I . . ."

He hesitated, withdrew his hand from the glass. He was keeping something from me and I wanted to shake the answer out of him so bad that it started chipping away at my patience.

The words I wanted to hear never came.