Wither With Me

CHAPTER 9 - UNREST

Something he deeply regretted? What kind of question was that? William spent a couple of seconds gazing in confusion at Desmond, who was now trembling and fidgeting even more than before.

"Hang on, what do you mean by that...? Did something happen? Are you sure you're okay...!?"

"W-Well... A-Ah... There's been something on my h-head lately, and I thought... U-Um..." Desmond wasn't really conveying any relevant information through his babbling.

This kind of behavior was completely uncharacteristic of Desmond. He was usually shy and reserved, as well as indecisive. But that looked like a full-blown panic attack, like nothing he'd ever had before, at least not that William knew about. As a matter of fact, he had seen him just before he departed on that day's scavenging trip, and there wasn't anything weird about him. Just good old Desmond, like always. Something was off.

"Hey, you need to calm down." William grabbed his shoulder and looked at him straight in the face. Desmond avoided direct eye contact at all costs. "If you don't calm down and speak properly, I can't understand what's going on. What's gotten into you, man?"

He just kept whimpering and babbling incoherent words. After a while, his anxious eyes finally rested on William's. His face was contorted with some bizarre mix of uneasiness and fear.

'Fucking hell, this guy is terrified out of his mind. What is going on!?'

"I... I got some news about a certain m-matter earlier this d-day... But I, um... I think I need to collect my t-thoughts for a little bit..." he said. He was a bundle of nerves.

"Right... I see..."

"I'll go down a-and rest for a while... I'll see you l-later, Will..." Desmond turned around and started walking away.

"Hey, take care, alright...? You sure you don't want me to go down with you?"

Desmond stopped for a brief moment and seemed like he was about to look back, but he just kept walking. "I-I'm okay... Sorry for d-disturbing you..."

William watched him until he eventually disappeared through the door into the nearby stairwell. He was astonished, he didn't know what to make of what had just happened.

'I'll make sure to keep an eye on him later. I'll have to report it to the others as well. Something about this isn't right.'

In all honesty, he felt like going down and taking care of the issue right away, but the rationing meeting was about to start soon. He figured he'd have a perfect chance to bring up the subject after the meeting was over.

...

William leaned back against the wall and waited. The meeting "hall" was actually the apartment right in front of their storage unit in the fourth floor. The bedroom and bathroom walls had been destroyed in order to turn it into a single, big room. Only one door allowed access inside, and William watched it closely as the rest of the building's inhabitants arrived.

Emma was already inside, checking the rations. Richard and Wattson came in... Then Amanda, who threw him a warm smile as she saw him. He reciprocated, then went back to observing the door. The elderly couple came in at their own pace. Then Elijah, then Daniels... Eventually the kids showed up as well. Everyone came for the meeting, one by one.

Well, almost everyone. Desmond wasn't showing up.

William was nervous. He couldn't stop thinking about the conversation he had with him a short while ago, for some reason. Why the hell did he have such a bad feeling about it? He didn't want to wait anymore.