𝑫𝑬𝑺𝑶𝑳𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵 𝑶𝑭 𝑶𝑩𝑳𝑰𝑽𝑰𝑶𝑵 . Tobias Eaton

•·.· 7 ·.·•

The serum wears off five hours later, when the sun is just beginning to set. Tobias shut me in my room for the rest of the day, checking on me every hour. This time when he comes in, I am sitting on the bed, glaring at the wall.

"Thank God," he says, pressing his forehead to the door. "I was beginning to think it would never wear off and I would have to leave you here to ... smell flowers, or whatever you wanted to do while you were on that stuff."

"I'll kill them," I say. "I will kill them."

"Don't bother. We're leaving soon anyway," he says, closing the door behind him. He takes the hard drive from his back pocket. "I thought we could hide this behind your dresser."

'That's where it was before.'

"Yeah, and that's why Peter won't look for it here again." Tobias pulls the dresser away from the wall with one hand and wedges the hard drive behind it with the other.

"Why couldn't I fight the peace serum?" I say. "If my brain is weird enough to resist the simulation serum, why not this one?"

"I don't know, really," he says. He drops down next to me on the bed, jostling the mattress. "Maybe in order to fight off a serum, you have to want to."

"Well, obviously I wanted to," I say, frustrated, but without conviction. Did I want to? Or was it nice to forget about anger, forget about pain, forget about everything for a few hours? Even if it just passes, as all things do.

"Sometimes," he says, sliding his arm across my shoulders, "people just want to be happy, even if it's not real."

He's right. Even now, this peace between us comes from not talking about things—about Will, or my parents, or me almost shooting him in the head, or Marcus. I'm not very good at telling people how I feel. But I do not dare to disturb it with the truth, because I am too busy clinging to it for support.

I thought about the disc in my pocket but then remember on the agreement I made with Marcus.

"You might be right," I say quietly.

"Are you conceding?" he says, his mouth falling open with mock surprise. "Seems like that serum did you some good after all...."

I shove him as hard as I can. "Take that back. Take it back now."

"Okay, okay!" He puts up his hands. "It's just ... I'm not very nice either, you know. That's why I like you so—"

Out!" I shout, pointing at the door 

Laughing to himself, Tobias kisses my cheek and leaves the room.

That evening, I am too embarrassed by what happened to go to dinner, so I spend the time in my room facing the regret of my actions from earlier.

Now that I was alone, hopefully for the night, I take the disc out from my pocket and I stare at it.

I stand up from my bed and set it on the ground again and replay the hologram.

I was starting to lose track of how many times I replayed the message. My dad still looked the same age but from what I remember his eyes didn't seem as tired as what they are now. My anger for his absence and death had vanished in less than a day, but I was left feeling more confused. I don't know which feeling is worse.

"I need you to be aware."

I didn't replay the hologram again, I shut it down an put it back in my pocket. However, from the number of times I played it, I could still hear his words echo through my ears.

He is my father, but I don't know him.

Despite my difficulties here at Amity, I couldn't put it past them that the time we have been here has been nothing but peaceful. But how long will that peace last? When will erudite attack us? Find out where we are and try to take us.