Amidst Our Broken World

Chapter 10 (Part 1) - Sympathy

While Peter had been instructed to take Eleven to the Rainbow Room for her reward, I was to bring the rest of the subjects back to their respective rooms.

As we walked, I noticed everyone was talking amongst themselves except for Two. His head was hung, and he stared at the floor angrily. I began to feel bad for him the more I watched his disappointment from the corner of my eye.

The subjects all returned to their rooms along the way, leaving Two and I by ourselves in front his room, which had been the furthest from the Test Room. 

Despite his intimidating demeanor, he was still just a seventeen year old kid. Judging from his mood, he must have been mad at himself for losing at the end after maintaining such a perfect streak. I pushed away the judgemental thoughts of him being Eleven's bully, and decided to try and see him for the troubled teenager he was instead. A teenager who felt embarrassed and sour about losing to some eight year old.

"Two." 

He raised his sullen eyes to meet mine as I addressed him.

I smiled sympathetically. "You did a really good job today."

When I saw that his expression didn't change, I added, "Don't be so hard on yourself. You may not have won at the end, but it was only because you were tired. I know you're very talented, and you put in a lot of effort. And I can tell that Doc- Papa was proud of you already."

The stout boy stared at me for a while. I couldn't quite read his expression, but I kept on smiling despite the slight awkwardness. Finally, he gave me a nod and went into his room.

Not knowing whether or not my comments helped make him feel better, I decided to just let him be. Well, at least I tried.

I was just heading to the elevator as I was officially done with work today, when I spotted Eleven wandering the hall nervously. Shouldn't she be in the Rainbow Room? I tiptoed ahead slowly to what she was looking at, and as I got closer, I began to hear what sounded like screams coming from within the walls on my left.

Not wanting to startle the child, I stopped a distance away from her, listening to the recurring shouts of pain accompanied by hums that sounded like that of electrocution. Before I could wonder who was in the room, the door on the other side of the wall bursted open, and the girl ran off from the scene.

Silently, I peered around the corner to find an incapacitated Peter being dragged out of the room by two other orderlies. My hands flew to my mouth before I could gasp or shriek in horror at what I had just saw. Tears ebbed uncontrollably from my eyes as the dreadful sight would not disappear from my mind.

What happened to him? Was he being electrocuted in there? Is he dead? Questions rolled around uncontrollably in my head, sending me into a complete turmoil, barely allowing me to continue walking straight towards the lift.

Somehow, I managed to reach my room. Sitting down in front of the mirror, I composed myself upon seeing my disheveled appearance and went to take a shower.

Like every other shower I'd had in my life, the feeling of the warm water running through my scalp, across my face, down every inch of my skin allowed me to really think. 

Curiosity ate away at me. Why would Brenner have Peter killed? What could he have possibly done wrong? I needed to know. To understand. But first, I had to confirm whether Peter had truly died. I couldn't just jump to conclusions like that so baselessly. What if he had only been unconscious when he was being taken away? Then there was only one place I could find him: the infirmary.

There was a huge chance that I was going to be stopped or even forbidden from visiting him at this hour, what with all the tight security around the lab as well as the scientists who were busying away with their compiled research. So I decided I would sneak out at midnight, once all the lab personnel had retired to their homes outside of the lab in order to find Peter.

It felt like forever before the lights were out. Although having a room door without a lock allowed constant lab personnel surveillance, one of the benefits was being able to easily sneak out at night.

The ceiling lights were all off, and I didn't bring a flashlight with me, so I tried to remember the way backwards towards the clinical wing of the lab. Feeling around in the darkness, I became sensitive to everything around me. The cold tiles beneath my bare feet, the soft fabric of my pajamas against my skin, the smoothness of the walls under my fingertips.

I found my way to the stairwell, the only compartment of the orderlies' floor that was lit, and began my descent toward the ground floor. Peeking out of the window on the exit, I checked to make sure there weren't any security guards nearby. The door creaked quietly as I opened it and slipped out onto the floor. It was dimly lit but much easier to see in than the orderlies' floor had been.

After a few more turns down the halls, I finally reached the clinical sector. Thankfully, the double doors were unlocked, though I couldn't fathom why they would have a reason to lock it in the first place. 

I glanced around the medical beds near me; they were empty. Taking a few more steps down the row of beds, I finally found a partition with its curtains drawn. It had to be Peter. I walked briskly towards it. Please let it be Peter.