The Last of the Old Ones

Colin

Chapter Ten

A few days after Amber arrived, I could tell she was becoming kind of restless (her transition was not the smoothest one that had been made); we all were filled with the dreaded anticipation of the Blank Faces and if they were planning anything. Amber was hit the hardest, I could see it in every shifty glance of hers, especially when I wasn't with her, even Astrid had noticed how she was constantly looking over her shoulders. My parents could see it as well and were concerned; they wanted me to check on Amber and see how her transition was going. Not to mention, I genuinely cared how she was doing, and my parents' concern was a good reason to act on it.

I found myself outside her door and after a deep breath, I gave it a soft, quick knock. Amber opened the door, her round blue eyes full of sorrow and conflict. Oh, what I would give to take her pain away. I used my parents as an excuse to be there, "Hey, you disappeared earlier, are you okay? My parents wanted me to see how you were taking all this." I spoke. She looked stressed out and I couldn't help but feel like my failure as a protector had placed that burden on her. She opened up to me and told me how overwhelmed she was with all that had happened in the past few days, and I didn't blame her for feeling that way. I buried that urge to hold her and tell her everything would be okay that was becoming increasingly pesky in my brain. The truth was, I didn't know what was going to happen, my father and mother were taking turns locked up in the surveillance room, watching for any Blank Faces. I'd barely seen my parents since Amber's arrival, and they had still noticed the inner turmoil she was battling. She all but begged me to go on a walk to get some fresh air with her. I had told her my parents would not want her out and about alone with everything that had happened, despite the Blank Faces seeming to have withdrawn from the area. The pleading look in her eyes had made me agree to go with her, it wasn't the spending time with her that needed convincing, it was the fact that her security was in question.

Amber said she wanted to head to the pond nearby, so we didn't go too far but far enough that we could be away from the house. I texted Dillon to be on standby in case anything happened before we left the house. The walk was silent between us, but the sounds of nature filled in the gaps. The lack of conversation was not awkward by any means, but I had to shove my hands in my jeans pockets to keep from the urge to put my arm around her as we walked. Never in a million years would I think I'd want to pursue the girl I was meant to be guarding. Mixing work and play was not a good idea, was it? Although, if it was expected we would be together in the end due to the fact that we were the last two of our people who could reproduce. Too deep of thoughts for a walk to forget our problems, I shoved those thoughts away and focused on scanning our surroundings.

Once we arrived, we sat in a private little nook that Amber used to find refuge in when things got tough. She began to tell me stories of the family she had thought was her own. After a while, our conversation died, we just enjoyed the peaceful night. I stayed on guard, looking for any out of place shadow in the dark.

Before I knew it, Amber was fast asleep next to me, the great willow tree behind her and the edge of my shoulder the only things holding her up. I scooped her fragile looking frame into my arms and carried her back to the house, being careful not to wake her. Her heartbeat echoed into my own chest. She looked the most peaceful and calm I had ever seen her; I didn't want to be the one to ruin that. I opened the doors as silently as I could, by this time everyone had retired to their rooms, and most were asleep by now. I laid Amber gently into her bed and pulled the covers up around her. Amazing, how beautiful she looked without even trying; I smiled to myself ever so slightly. I hooked her IV up to a new iodine bag and kissed her forehead. My lips tingled against her skin.

I headed out of her room, thinking about the conversations we'd had and how she made me feel. It was strange, I had always been the lone wolf type, but Amber gave me this feeling that I had known her my whole life and that I always needed her close. I barely even knew her; how could I possibly feel like this? I laid in bed, just thinking about how crazy the past few days had been and how it was nice to have a relaxing night tonight. I lazily reached over and hooked up my IV and fell asleep shortly after.

The announcement for breakfast woke me the next morning, I unhooked my IV to clumsily change out of last night's clothes and into a soft old pair of blue plaid pajama pants and a white v-neck shirt. I headed out of my room to wait for Amber and walk her to breakfast as I had since she'd been here.

She opened the door mid-yawn and rubbing her tired eyes. I laughed quietly and just smiled at how good she looked just waking up. She smiled back and said, "Thank you for last night, I needed to get out. I never realized how much I took being outside and my home for granted," Amber blushed as I looked down and rubbed my arm, wishing I could pull her into my arms instead. She missed her adopted family, and we had taken her away from the only thing she knew. "Don't take that the wrong way, I love it here and appreciate everything you and your family have done for me, I'm just still coming to grips with everything and there's so much I don't know about myself or our people..." She trailed off. I could tell she felt guilty for feeling trapped, she was so hard on herself and making herself mentally spiral. I did not know how to stop it though; I could only be there with a hand when she needed me.

"No problem, it was nice to get out, I'm so used to just being here all the time and I could use that more often when the Blank Face activity goes down some." I told Amber, linking my arm with hers to walk to breakfast. "Today should we go swimming?" I asked, thinking about how to occupy ourselves today, "or we could watch movies if you want, we have all kinds, scary movies, funny movies, history movies, whatever you want." I added thinking about the collection of movies we had downstairs.

"How about we just relax and watch movies today?" She asked and I nodded, "we could get some candy and popcorn and have a slow day." Amber added smiling.

"That sounds good, we have a popcorn maker downstairs and a candy cabinet too, downstairs is a labyrinth, I'll have to show you around down there sometime, but that's another day." I told Amber as we walked into the dining hall. We ate our food like normal, making small talk throughout to fill the silence. We talked about how she loved scary movies but also found movies about history oddly interesting. I thought about how I'd like to show her the history movies about our people, she felt out of the loop, and I didn't blame her, so I wanted to help.

I looked at Amber, feeling like I had known her my whole life, which in a way I guess I had. She was a spitting image of her birth mom and had the spirit of her birth dad. They had made such a huge difference to our protection. I had known her briefly as a child, until she was about four, before her parents had to make what I assumed was the hardest decision of their lives: giving away their only daughter for her protection but that was when I was only eight, I didn't really pay attention to her then, let alone have a deep conversation with her. Anyone could tell her parents were pained by the decision afterwards, but they never let that get in the way of their job, which of course was protecting the old ones and helping us have as normal of lives as possible. Honestly, the program had created a home for us that was like a glorified boarding school with a lot more freedom.