Beyond Our Control

Chapter 19

 The morning gun must've shot her, she thought.

Her head felt painful as hell when the loud bell rang that woke her up. She barely got in any sleep from last night, her thoughts were burying her. The sunlight stroked right into her eyes as she opened them, leaving her blinded for several seconds. When she finally got up to use the bathroom she tripped and fell on her knees where bruises will soon show up.

What a wonderful day.

Getting up felt even more tiring, she could feel her blood trying to rush back to her head as she felt the dizziness drown her out and almost causing her to blacking out.

Finally when all is clear, she tried to forget that horrible start of a morning. Breathing in and out, she tried to find the good in today's morning.

She reached for the door knob and then the door suddenly slammed opened in front of her face. Luckily she flinched away in time, missing only inches from her nose, it could've mashed up her whole face.

And of course, Faye Novak stood in front of her. In miracle, her hair isn't done in that perfect half up and down braid she always wore, it was just bed hair with bits of waviness near her cheeks. She looked somewhat happy and miserable from probably the lack of sleep. Her arms were held up high with a wide teeth revealing grin, she looked like she could hug five people at once.

"Did you really have to slam open my door like that? You were inches away from missing my face." Kenna ignored Faye's embraced looking arms and shoved her aside, heading toward the bathroom.

"I thought you could use a hug, you know?" Faye followed her.

Kenna turned around to make eye contact with Faye from behind. "Since when were you so..." She eyed Faye from head to toe, her face still filled with an hard to acknowledge joy. "You know...cheery. It's weird."

"I just thought that with all that's going on, we could maybe be a little happier."

"Thanks for the thought, but it's only irritating." Kenna opened the bathroom door and managed to slam it in front of Faye's face. At least that felt fulfilling, and now she can add annoying and irritating to her list of Faye's different personality traits.

She now found herself surrounded with people in the chattery of the long breakfast table. It was a relief to hear the chatters, that was one thing that helped take things off Kenna's mind. But it was another when she couldn't stop the yearn to think about Faye.

She tried to fix her gaze at Annika as she ate. It felt easier just to see Annika with her constant talks and smiles. If there had to be a representation of everyone's happiness and joy here, it would be her. Seeing Annika, Kenna realized something. She's not just doing this for herself and Lina anymore. It's for everyone here. Maybe she doesn't want to admit it, but deep down she knows that Dr. Novak will get rid of them sooner or later. Because they're useless to her. And Kenna can't let that happen.

"To Faye!" Annika held her glass of water up high with Gibson.

Kenna glanced over at Faye who was smiling. Not that fake smile. But a real one. One that revealed the soft crinkles in her eyes. One that she didn't bother to have it look perfect even though she already was perfect with the perfect bone structure and straightening teeth. It looked so natural, she looked so innocently happy. It was rare to see it, and Kenna wanted it to stay like that forever. Just that smile.

"Ahh, I can't believe you're eighteen now!" Gibson swung an arm around Faye's neck.

Remembering, it was Faye's birthday today. She completely forgot. Maybe that's the real reason why she was so jolly this morning. Guilt slipped into Kenna, she wished she at least said something nice to her. Did Faye want her to say something? Was she so jolly because she was wishing for Kenna to say happy birthday to her?