Silver ||Joel Miller||

I promise I'll never stop asking questions

ELLIE

2017

"Miss Richards..." Ellie walked up to her history teacher at the end of class. She'd made sure to wait until every other kid had left the room, that there was no chance anyone would overhear what she was about to ask.

"What can I do for you, kiddo?" Miss Richards responded as she wiped the board clear of chalk.

"Um... I talked with Captain Kwong," Ellie replied, her voice a little quieter than what she was supposed to speak. But she knew that Miss Richards wouldn't berate her for it. Miss Richards was one of the nice ones.

"You didn't get yourself in trouble again, did you?" Miss Richards asked as she looked down at Ellie, who shook her head in response.

"No, not yet," Ellie said with a smile. It earned a breathy laugh from her mentor.

"What did you talk about, then?"

"I asked if he knew how I got here..." Ellie wrung her hands together as she spoke, as she watched Miss Richards sit down at her desk.

"What did he say?" Miss Richards replied, her soft face holding a furrowed brow. Ellie had always felt comfortable around the woman, but she had never been entirely sure why. Maybe this would give her some answers.

"To talk to you..." Ellie answered as her eyes flicked around the room. Maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe she shouldn't have brought it up. Hell, Riley would likely poke fun at her for even thinking this could mean something.

"Ah..." Miss Richards responded before she let out a sigh. "I suppose you have some questions then."

"How would you know how I got here?" Ellie asked without hesitation. If there was one thing she'd learned, hesitation always ended badly.

"Because I'm the one who brought you here." Miss Richards replied.

It shocked Ellie.

The adults tended to avoid speaking so honestly, so she'd assumed that Miss Richards might have avoided the truth too. Maybe she should have known better.

"You ended up being entrusted to me, so I brought you somewhere you'd be safe. Unfortunately there aren't many options for safety in the QZ, so I had to bring you here." Miss Richards gave a tight smile as she spoke.

"You were entrusted with me?" That felt like a big word to Ellie, one she hadn't really heard before.

"When you were a tiny little baby, yeah." Miss Richards responded. "Before you ask, I couldn't have taken care of you myself. I didn't have the means and-"

"I wasn't going to..." Ellie cut her teacher off before she realised she'd even done it. She clapped a hand over her mouth as Miss Richards shook her head.

"It's okay." Miss Richards reached forward and peeled Ellie's hand away from her mouth. "We're not in class anymore, you can talk to me like a person. Sometimes that involves cutting people off."

"Miss Richards-"

"And since we're outside of class you can just call me Laura. I'm not a part of FEDRA, I'm just a teacher. Inside of class though, definitely call me Miss Richards or the entire dynamic is going to be thrown off." Miss Richar—Laura, cut Ellie off. "How about we talk while I walk you to the dining hall? Wouldn't want you to miss out on tonight's dinner special."

"What's that?" Ellie asked as Laura stood up.

"Boiled everything." Was the half-joked response given. She followed Laura as they walked to the dining hall, slowly and carefully making their way forward while making sure there weren't any listening ears. "So what else did you want to ask me about?" Laura asked, and Ellie didn't have an answer.