Dark Angel (A 001 prequel story)

6 - Lost

Eight was kept apart from the other children.
She seemed not minding it since she was jealous of her little friend. Eleven.
Rose had watched them playing into the Rainbow Room for a couple of hours.
Eight was thirteen and acted like a big sister to Eleven, who was just six.

The clock chimed the hour and she crossed Peter's gaze from the other side of the room.
He signaled with a nod and both they moved to interrupt the girls.
Rose took Eleven's hand, wincing at the sight of the number tattooed on her tiny arm.

"Come, it's time to go".
"Don't take my friend away" Eight said menacingly, standing up and ignoring the hand that Peter offered her.
"Nobody's taking her away. It's just time to go to sleep" Rose said patiently.
Eight slapped the hand that was holding Eleven and replaced it with hers.
"I can do it. I know how it works. It's the same every day".
Rose just shrugged and watched the two girls marching out of the room, following them to make sure they went to their nearby room.
"Do you need...?" Rose offered.
"No thanks" Eight cut her off and slammed the door at her face.
Rose stood petrified, then heard Peter bursting out laughing.
It was such a pleasant sound that she smiled, forgotten of what just happened.

"Children can be so demanding" Peter said, walking back to the Rainbow Room with her.
"I guess I don't have much experience with children, but I'm eager to learn" Rose pulled the cleaning cart and together they cleaned and put everything in order.
"I'm glad we can work together" Peter said when they finished.
"Me too" she said earnestly.
"Are you sleepy?".
She peered at his teasing glance, wondering what he had in mind.
"Not really".
He walked to a table they just disinfected "Can you play chess?".
She nodded.
He pulled the chair and waved at her to sit down.
"Are we allowed to play here?" she asked taking the seat.
He moved to sit on the other side of the table, in front of her "I'm pretty sure Brenner would appreciate if you play a little".
Rose focused on the board, watching him making his first move and making her own.
"How long have you been working here?".
He shrugged choosing his next move "Quite some years".
She peered at him "Can't be too many years. You're not that old. How old are you, by the way?".
"Just reached my third decade".
Rose calculated the difference in their age. Eleven years couldn't be too much of a gap, yet she felt like a silly child compared to him.
"You don't sound so enthusiast. Would you like to find a job somewhere else?".
While she focused on him and his reactions, he focused on the board.
"It doesn't matter much what I like or not" he said softly.
"What do you mean?".
He shot her a hard glance "It's not easy to witness what happens here and then leave and start to work somewhere else. Call it secret. Call it high security".
Rose tried to stifle a shiver. She knew that in order to keep the lab's activities secret, each worker need to be trusted and very discreet when out of the building.
"I say that you grow fond of the children and you don't want to admit it" she teased, trying to lighten the tension she felt.
Peter lowered his eyes with a faint smirk "Call it as you wish. Just remember, not everything that you will see here is real".
Rose snorted "It's frustrating when you talk in riddles. When I can't trust my eyes? When I see you?".
His grin widened "I let you decide it. On the opposite, I don't know what to think of what I see. A young woman who suffered so much, with so much talent, but seems unable to acknowledge it".
Rose held her breath. Was he talking about her? How did he know of what she suffered?
He looked so confident like he knew more than he was supposed to know.
Then she recalled that maybe he just referred to the tragedy that had led her to that building.
"I guess you don't like what you see when you look at me. Nobody ever looked at me as more than just the little prodigy who mastered seven languages by the age of eleven" she moved a pawn a little too harshly and she almost broke it.
"Let me decide it" he said warmly.
She crossed his stare and it was so intense than she wanted to hideunder the table.
"I wouldn't call talent just being a polyglote" she felt so nervous that even breathing was difficult "I'm nothing compared to wat the children here can do".
His lips curled again in his mysterious grin "Maybe I wasn't talking about that talent".
Rose stared back at him, expecting him to say more.
Instead he lowered his eyes and said blankly "You lost".