Deep Dark Blues

Chapter 23- Berumda

A single tear drop rolled down her cheek.

Reed didn't even feel the tears, only becoming aware once the water droplets hit the crumpled paper sheet.

She didn't sob...

She didn't gasp for air like she would once the sorrow was too much to bear...

This was different... Hollow... As if her own mind couldn't comprehend the emotion behind the tears.

Was it sadness? Guilt? Fear?

Reed didn't know, merely letting the tears wet the paper.

Family? Wife and a son?

Bryan was a man people loved and cared for... He wasn't a reclusive loner like Reed.

Drip.

Drip.

The tears seeped through the paper sheet, activating the dried-up ink.

Bryan had a family.

Bryan had a life that waited for him.

Bryan wanted to get back.

Drip.

Drip.

Bryan didn't exist anymore...

Reed jolted up, hands pushing the papers and documents away. She practically ripped the "To- do" list from under the pile of pictures, her grip creasing the paper. She scanned the text once again, eyebrows pulling down.

Data books.

Records.

Sorted by colour.

She chucked the list away, scrambling to her feet with Bryan's letter still in her hand.

Those people... They came here to research... They all had left their lives behind...

And all of this would be left forgotten. Unearthed, as if the ocean had swallowed the crew whole. Reed knew this wasn't true... Saying the researchers were lost or calling it an accident would be a lie.

She couldn't let them be erased... She couldn't let that happen.

She owed it to them.

With a sudden sense of urgency, Reed began to scour through the piles of papers and data, opening file after file. With her goal set in her mind, she opened cabinets and skimmed through notebooks. Every valuable piece of information she found, every clue, a letter or a diary she would take with them.

She chucked another notebook away.

Not this one...

She accidentally toppled the stacks in the cabinet while trying to pull out a blue file, the contents spilling onto the floor like water from a floodgate. She paid little mind to the chaos she had created, her mind zeroing in on the task at hand.

Another file opened.

Another book closed.

Another piece of paper dropped to the floor.

She still clutched Bryan's letter stubbornly, the paper practically sticking to her gloved hand.

Another file closed.

Another book opened.

Another piece of paper was lifted from the floor.

Ryan said they had to gather all the useful things. This was her share. She would not back down.

Reed opened a pink notebook, her eyes sliding across the random page.

Bingo.

It appeared she had stumbled upon the infamous record book, dates and entries staring at her from the checkered pages. Reed promptly slid the letter into the book, pressing it against her chest while she continued her search. She would take as much as she could find...