Breaking Through

Love

Claire awoke the next day, the sun just beginning to peek from behind the horizon, faint rays of light shining through the window and dappling her skin and bedsheets. A barely visible yet insistent pink glow managed to work its way through the cloud cover, giving the dreary landscape an unusually ethereal coat of paint. Her eyelids fluttered and she shifted slightly, rolling across the grimy mattress as she stretched stiff arms into the air. Gingerly, she lifted herself out of bed, a robe over a pair of hand-me-down men's pajamas. The heavy wooden door creaked open as she stepped out into the darkened hall, tip-toeing down the stairs and into the expansive courtyard. Dew clung to the grass, the droplets cooling her bare feet as she walked to the fountain in the center. A steady trickle of water stubbornly dripped from the spigot, landing in the stone basin and slowly stagnating under the early morning sun. A rustle in the grass behind her, and Sydney was slipping out of the college and over to her, grinning blearily.

"Beautiful morning" she said as she approached Claire, her hair sticking up and feet without protection from the elements. "I- I didn't actually get to say this last night, but... I'm so glad I found you again. Or rather, that Ronnie found both of us. I guess when we finally got through, we ended up in different places, because I was only a few blocks from here! He found me getting some food for the other kids, just passing along, and I tried to take a bit that he dropped. Caught me in no time flat and brought me back here; I guess he'll help just about anyone out of they need it and they're young enough to be illegal."

"You got off lucky..." Claire said, smiling wryly. "I've no idea where I came out, but he ended up sticking me with a needle and lugging me back here. And the whole time, dodging cars and being abducted by strangers, the only thing I could think about was seeing you. It was like I couldn't process everything, all the noise and color and everything going on, so I just focused on something I knew. Someone I knew, someone I-" her voice broke, and she looked down embarrassedly. She couldn't say, but she couldn't hold herself back, she couldn't keep quiet. And so, letting go of control and giving in to a more primal instinct, she wrapped her arms around her friend and kissed her. Sydney stiffened and relaxed almost simultaneously, reaching up to hold the girl who had so passionately embraced her. Claire's lips and fingers seem to become hypersensitive, sending what felt like a surge of electricity from her hairline to her toes.

After a blissful eternity they broke apart, both laughing and reeling from the experience. Claire stumbled back into the fountain, placing a hand on the rim to keep from falling. "I love you" she declared, looking Sydney in the eyes. "I love you, I really do, and you have absolutely no idea how many times I've wanted to tell you. I just- from when we were young, all the other girls would always talk about getting butterflies in their stomachs around boys, pushing them around and teasing them to show how they felt. I never got that feeling, those butterflies, except when I was around you."

Sydney nodded, face still split into a beaming smile. "Do you remember..." She paused to let out a bark of laughter. "Remember that first time we met, when Yorke caught us both up a tree, outside past out curfew? We knew the whole town and beyond when everyone else had hardly made a journey beyond their backyard. Damn near inseparable ever since..." She leaned in again, closing her eyes and relishing the anticipation. Claire followed suit, leaning the same way and rebounding off of Sydney's forehead with a resounding thwack. The two broke into a fit of giggles, Claire toppling back onto a bed of purple flowers.

"Hm, early risers. Guess we've got something in common" came the heavily accented voice. Ronnie was posed in a doorway, lighting another one of his rolled-up papers.

"What? You- How long have you been there?" Claire sputtered indignantly, quickly picking herself up and brushing dirt from her pajamas. The lanky boy shook his head slightly, exhaling a ring of smoke.

"Listen, love is very hard to come by around here. In my opinion, I'm as lucky to have you and the other refugees as you are to have someone putting a roof over your heads. Companionship is rare, but love, God... That's somethin' special. If you two are in love, I'm not planning on stopping you from doing whatever you want. Just appreciate it while it lasts." He stared at the weathered stone wall of the doorway before snapping back to reality, taking another puff of smoke before dragging the heavy wooden door open. "Now c'mon, I've got something to talk to you about."

They were led into the dining hall, a gloomy affair lined with portraits that had lost its last shred of stately grandeur long ago. "Now, obviously, the college is a fine place to stay when you're first getting your bearings here under the Union Jack. However, supplies are not permanent, the surrounding walls are not permanent, and I am not permanent. That's why, lately, I've been trying to find a more permanent solution. I've been gathering information from local libraries and hacking a few databases to dig up as much information on each refugee as I can. Then, I try to reconnect them with their parents."

Claire's stomach seemed to twist and contort inside her, bringing on a sudden wave of nausea. Caregivers barely ever mentioned parents to their charges. The concepts of birth and parenthood were explained, but never in detail, and any discussion would inevitably end in the fact that towns were for children and caregivers only. At that point, Carson would pretend to be cross about her not thinking of him as a parent, and that would make Claire feel guilty enough to not ask for a while.

"Now, while you were asleep, I did some digging, and I found that Claire's parents have a flat down at Saint Katharine's Docks. Pretty middle class, your dad's in banking and mum's a journalist. Probably nice people, reunion would go great." He recited the facts with a rapid-fire certainty, as if he had rehearsed them in order to present the news to the girls in the best way possible.

"Now, Syd. I'm really sorry to say that I couldn't find anything on yours, which probably means they're a lot higher up than Claire's. Government agents don't have records, it's sort of a privilege you have when you're the one that writes them. I don't usually do this..." The last bit was whispered, and accompanied by a dramatic pause. "I don't usually do this, but I think it would be feasible for me to bring you to Claire's parents, and we might be able to convince them to let you stay on as well. I'll give you a cover story on the way there, you'll be relatives or family friends from one of the Free Nations." The two girls were rooted to the spot, both a bit dumbfounded. If there had been one fantasy more unachievable than escaping their town, it was actually meeting their parents. "Alright, get on then, pack your things. We're off to the docks!" Claire turned in silence, walking purposefully back to her room.

"I'm scared, Syd" she mumbled distractedly. "What if they don't want you to stay, or even me? They probably won't want anything to do with me, they'd be criminals if the kept me in their place..." Sydney reached down and squeezed her hand, offering up a look of reassurance.

"I'm scared too" she admitted, still smiling. "But where else can we go from here?"