When The Storm Comes (When We're Older alternative ending)

clear water

*trigger warning towards the end of the chapter*

Mae

The sound of old guitars echoed in my room as I turned up the volume on my radio. They were playing a song I'd heard a few times before—it was simple enough that I could memorize the words quickly.

With my hands behind my head, I stared up at the ceiling and quietly whispered the words to the old song. My foot tapped to the beat of the drums, and I closed my eyes to further immerse myself in the feeling.

This was my favorite song. Although, I hardly knew any. I'd only had the change to listen to the radio a couple of times, my testing had interrupted my relaxation. But for some reason Ava decided tonight that I could be finished with testing and lessons earlier than normal. When she told me, I walked back to my room with a smile on my face.

"In spite of all the danger..." I sang, moving my arms from behind my head to pretend I was playing the guitar. "In spite of all that may be..."

"I'll do anything for you, anything you want me to, if you'll—" The sudden sound of a loud sob caused me to press pause on the stereo next to my small bed.

The walls were thin here in the WICKED facility. I could often hear sniffles coming from my neighbor on the right side, and I felt awful when he had to endure the noise of my distressed wails after I'd gotten back from testing every now and then. But the sob had come from beyond the wall to my left—a little louder because of the vent that was placed near my sink.

The crying continued, and I sat up in my bed, swinging my little legs over the side of the mattress as I stared at the vent, hoping that by some power I could make it stop with my brain. Ava always said I was different; I guess she wasn't talking about telekinesis.

I sat there for a few more moments, listening to the crying. It sounded like it was in between wailing and whimpering, meaning that part of this person's tears were probably from pain, the whimpering was because of sadness.

This person had to be new.

"Oh, for Pete's sake..." I turned around again and covered my ears, trying to block out the crying. Stuffing my face into my pillow only seemed to muffle the sound slightly. At the volume he was wailing at, the entire hall could probably hear him.

There were new kids almost every day now, or at least that's what I've observed. Sometimes they let me watch what they did to the new kids upon their arrival—I watched a kid get a new name once. They changed his name from Steven to Thomas. I stopped wanting to watch after that.

I felt kinda bad for this one. I didn't know whether my other neighbor cried like this when he first got here because I was in the middle of having needles stuck into me. This is the first time I'd heard someone other than me cry like this.

I groaned and got to my feet again. "You're gonna wake up the whole hallway."

Grabbing my stereo, I made my way to my sink and crouched down. The crying continued, and I sighed again, setting my radio on the cold tile to grab the vent. I'd opened many vents in my time in the WICKED facility—none of them getting me into anything but trouble. Thankfully this person was right next door, and I knew how to open a vent quietly enough to where the guards wouldn't suspect a thing.

I glanced at the large metal door before pulling the vent open and coughing loudly to mask the sound. I looked again when the vent was separated from the wall to make sure nobody was coming. The crying stopped as I grabbed my stereo and climbed into the newbie's room.