Retrospect

Sixteen

"Go fish," I said, making Ana draw another card from the pile with an exaggerated sigh. We had been playing the game Murl had told us about for around an hour and I could see Ana was growing tired of it. I was surprised we all had survived this long without anything to do except pick up old cards and either give them to someone else or set them down.

Murl explained he had gotten the cards from when he was cleaning out a Butterfly Shop one time. They seemed pretty old and he had wanted to rescue them to keep for himself. I never knew why he chose a card game when he could have picked out any other more useful thing at the Shops. Except, I guess it was coming in handy at the moment and it had done its job of keeping Murl, Ana, and I preoccupied for a while.

Alvin and Rich had been talking together for some time in a deep discussion. Unfortunately though, I couldn't make out what it was about but it seemed pretty serious. After half an hour, Rich dozed off and Alvin was left to find something else to do. The time ticked by slowly and gradually everyone grew drowsy.

Everyone listened to Reeves' every order, even if it didn't make any sense. We could have been working on a plan to get into Hale or at least been talking about what the next step was. Instead, Reeves and Rich were asleep, Alvin had resorted to fiddling with a candy wrapper, and Ana, Murl, and I were playing Go Fish.

Miles had been in the other room the whole time. It was unusually quiet in there which was a little worrying, so I started to wonder if he had found a way down the skyscraper successfully without falling to the ground. Although, after Ana drew yet another card from the pile, the door creaked open and Miles rushed out as silently as he could, sneaking a look at Reeves passed out on the couch. He was heading over to the entrance just as Murl looked up from the game at him. "Where are you going?"

Miles shushed him and was about to leave when he paused, then turned around and hurried back over to Murl. "I'm going out, what does it look like?" he whispered.

"Yeah, but-" Ana started.

"Shh!" Miles interrupted.

Ana rolled her eyes and lowered her voice. "Yeah, but where?"

Miles smirked. "If you come, you'll see," he answered. His eyes fell on Ana and Murl and spun around, reaching the entrance of the room again. The door opened for him without a sound and he slipped out, gone just like that.

Ana got up, brushing off her hands on her pants. "Well, I guess I'm going out too. There's no point in staying here and I'm sure Reeves won't wake up for a while," she said, stretching and trailing after Miles. Murl looked to me and began collecting the rest of the cards.

"I hope you don't mind if I leave the game too. I won't be able to stay sane for much longer if I'm in here," he explained. I nodded and got to my feet. I knew exactly how he felt and it was about time Reeves realized that sitting around would get nothing done.

Once Murl had packed up the game and put it back, we snuck out the door, careful not to wake Reeves. Alvin waved goodbye and we left through the door that flew open before us. We hadn't caught up to Miles and Ana in time to catch the same elevator ride, so we had to wait for it to come back up. On the way down, in the cramped elevator box, Murl crossed his arms and sighed.

I looked to him and frowned. "What's wrong?"

Murl shook his head, shifting his weight to his other foot as he faced me. "Everyone," he started, trying to find his next words, "everyone just isn't the same anymore. Ana, Reeves, Alvin, Rich... They all talk about Hale but they never really do anything." The elevator beeped and he continued. "You, Miles, and I are the only ones who are actually willing to come up with a solution around here and stick with it. I don't know, maybe I just notice it but-"