Scientific Fantasies (Wattys2015)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

A knock at the door had her sighing. For the first time that she could remember, she was tired of her job. She wasn't enjoying it anymore, and she no longer wanted to work at the facility. With a push of the button on her desk, she made the door open, and barely looked over at her childhood friend. She didn't feel up to talking, even to him.

"Nat." His voice was soft with concern. "Is everything okay?"

"No!" she burst out, glaring at him. "Leave me alone, Sam!"

He refused to leave. "No." Instead, he sat on her desk, pushing her papers out of the way so he didn't sit on them. She didn't particularly care.

"What do you want?"

"To talk to you, silly. Do I really need a reason?" He tugged her hair. "Come on. What's wrong? You've been weirdly quiet ever since the female died. It's been weeks!"

She just shrugged, staying quiet, and he heaved a sigh. "Fine, don't talk to me. But you used to, Nat. What's changed?"

She couldn't answer him. She couldn't tell him what she'd done. Although she hated keeping this from him, she couldn't tell him.

"I can't tell you," she whispered.

He let his hand rest on her shoulder for a moment, and the urge to bury her face in his shoulder was almost overwhelming. But she couldn't do that, either. So instead she sat still, waiting for him to speak again. And at last, he did.

"There's some news for you," he finally said, breaking the almost uncomfortable silence between them.

She looked up at him, meeting his dark blue eyes. "What?"

He sighed before he continued. "The military meeting? The professor's organised the date for it. He told me to tell you everything. I don't think he thought you would want to talk to him."

She snorted bitterly, and turned away, getting out of her chair to pace to the other side of the room. "Of course I don't. What is it, Sam?"

He watched her closely. "There's only going to be two of them. He thought that you'd be okay with that, but if you're not..." He didn't finish his sentence, but she just waited in silence, staring down at the bench in front of her. She would wait until she had all the information before she would say a word.

He hesitated, and then kept going. "They're fine with seeing him inside the flight room, or the speed centre, whichever you're more comfortable with. Of course, they're love to see him free flying, but they understand that he's not as well trained as we'd hoped he would be for that." He paused, as if waiting for a response, but she wasn't giving him one. "Nat, say something. Please!"

She didn't know what to say, so she said nothing. He sighed heavily.

"Fine. I don't know what's wrong, Nat. But we've been best friends since we were kids. Tell me something, at least."

She turned her head to look at him, unable to hide the tears coming to her eyes, and quickly looked away. She just wanted to be alone.

"Is there anything else?" she whispered. "I want to be alone, Sam. Please."

"Yes," he said simply, and hopped off the desk to meet her at the bench, standing behind her. "Come on, Nat. Open up. You know this only makes it worse. Come on. You've cried on my shoulder too many times to count. What's one more time?"

"I can't."

"Sure you can."

"No." She shook her head. "I can't. Not this time. Not now. Please Sam. Is there anything else?"