Beyond Our Control

Chapter 35

 Jess guides her back to her room after what seemed like eternity of walking. They stop in front of the metal door, which to Kenna, looks exactly like every other door here and she wouldn't have known that it was her and Lina's without Jess telling her. She wondered exactly how he, or other people here, kept track of which is which.

"So I guess this is it, huh? Last time we're seeing each other?" Kenna smirked, trying to loosen the mood a little.

Jess's lips don't crack into a smile like she expected them to. "Don't joke like that, this is serious."

Her smile fades. "Sorry, I'm just...scared, that's all."

His eyes wrinkle gently just the slightest bit. "I know, what we're doing is risky. But it'll work, just relax and we'll meet here with everyone gathered together."

And the question she's been thinking about comes up again. "What about Faye? I need to know she's alright. We have to bring her with us, Jess, we have to."

Jess looks around the hall, avoiding her eyes. "She's not coming with us."

Kenna doesn't understand, who is he to say she can't come?

She lets her glare hang on him. "Why can't she?"

"Because..."

She waits, drawing in shaky breaths.

"We're running out of time, I got to go."

"Wait what? But you didn't——"

Jess is already running down one of the halls before she could finish her sentence. "Remember our plan, meet here!" He calls back to her.

She watches as his sleek blonde hair disappears into the distance.

Looking down at the sphere contact receiver in her hand, she sighs and tucks it into one of her ears just like how Faye had always worn it. She could almost feel her, her Faye. The skin of her ear touching the contact receiver that Faye had once did the same with. Her eyes closed, she imagines Faye, smiling and laughing about something she had said, something she did that made her laugh. Kenna smiles, and when she reaches toward the imaginary Faye, it all disappears as she opens her eyes with reality hitting her hard in the head.

She shakes her head, trying to get the image out of her. Now is not the time for that.

She knocks on the heavy metal door, the movement sending pain up her knuckles for several seconds.

The sounds of Lina's footsteps approaches and the door opens, light from the inside leaking out into the dark grey halls.

Her caramel bangs pokes out, her lips curling up into a grin. "I was starting to wonder if you were never going to come back!" She pulls the door wider to let her friend in.

The door clicks shut as Kenna walks toward the inner part of their room, pacing slightly.

Lina eyes her up and down. "Where did you get that blazer? I mean not to be offensive or anything, but I think it doesn't look so nice on you. I think it's the size, this one looks a little big, don't you think? Here, I can go look in the closet to see if there's one that will actually fit your skinny bones." She grins, giddy in her voice as she heads toward their walking closet.

Kenna doesn't care about some stupid blazer, but she also had no idea how to start this. Exactly what she saw in that lab, it was terrifying, how is she even supposed to explain everything?

Lina comes back out with a black blazer, smaller than the one Jess gave Kenna.

"I thought black would look nicer, but if you prefer white, I can go get the white one. Here, hand me that white blazer you're wearing right now and try this one on, we'll see how it fits you this time." She makes her way toward Kenna, ready to take off the blazer for her.