Lost

21

Beatrice Prior, July 5th, 11:56pm, 2015 (finally)
"Christina" I knock on the door, frantic. Al can't notice that I'm coming here, he can't, "Christina, please-"
The door opens, Christina on the opposite end, her hair is frizzy, and she rubs her eye with her free hand.
"Tris, Are you okay?" She asks, groggily.
"I need to stay here tonight" I beg, "Please"
She sighs, "Tris, you need to get your own place. Move away"
"You know I can't, Christina"
I say, hoping she'll let me in soon. Al has ears like a wolf when it comes to me. She sighs again, "Come in. There's some ice in the fridge"
"Thanks"
I walk towards the fridge, and when I open it, it's practically empty.
"Where's all the food?"
"Someone robbed my house, and I didn't feel like getting a credit card replacement" she says, jumping back into bed, "Oh, wait, no, the ice in the freezer"
"Yikes" I say, shrugging off Tobias' jacket, "Getting robbed sounds pretty intense"
While she speaks, I run my hands over my rough arms, "It is. Well, I wasn't there. It would've been more epic if I was there, because you know, I did stunt training"
"I know" I say, wrapping paper towel around the ice pack I took from the freezer.
I hang Tobias' jacket.
Tobias.
His jacket.
I already miss him.
"Woah, it was bad this time" she says, staring at my arm, as I walk over to her.
"Felt bad" I say.
"What did you do?" She asks, her eyes glued to my arm.
"I busted my friend out of jail, and offered for him to stay for a night"
"There's nothing wrong with that" she insists.
"To you" I say, "Not to him"
There's a pause.
She speaks again, moving to get a closer look at my wound.
"Are those burns?"
I wince, "Yes"
"Tris, this is getting out of hand. You need to report this, or break up with him"
"I don't know" I say, "I-"
"Don't you dare say you love him, because this isn't love" she explains.
"I wasn't going to to say that. I was going to say that I think I might" I clear up. I think of Tobias. May be we could be like old times, with Al out of the picture.
"You should. I'm tired of seeing markings on you that you don't deserve"
The burn stings when I press the cold ice to it. It stings almost like I was feeling the initial pain all over.
The words Christina spoke seem to stick with me.
Markings I don't deserve.
But Al made its crystal clear that it's what I deserved. I didn't scream because he wouldn't let me. He pressed my skin to the hot stove, my fist clenching, my face hardening.
"What did he do to deserve a place here?" Al said, his face red with anger, and tears spilling out of my eyes, "He's a thief, and he doesn't deserve a room. Neither do you, you worthless piece of trash, but I'm a generous soul"
His whispers echo in my ear, as I clean off the burns, that would scar my arms.
"Can I have some sleeping pills?" I ask. Ever since Al started this, whatever it is, I couldn't sleep at night. The sleeping pills helped me to fall asleep without a single nightmare.
"I don't have any. Sorry."
I lay on the couch, and stare at the ceiling. I shut my eyes occasionally, but without the sleeping pills I'll have nightmares. So that's how I end up.
Asleep.
And strangely, I dream.
A dream.
Of Tobias.

Tobias Eaton, July 5th, 2015, 7:23am
"Woah, when did you get back?" Zeke asked, looking straight at me.
"Twelvish" I say, laying on my stomach, my voice muffled through the pillow, "I'm tired"
"But Max needs you"
"No he doesn't. Tell him I'm sleeping" I continue.
"You're not. Get up" Zeke says.
"Zeke"
"Four, your acting like a child. Get your lazy ass out of bed or Max will demote you"
I groan, but find myself awakening at Zeke's demand.
I trudge from bed, and Zeke waits, yelling, "Hurry up!"
"I'm coming" I say, placing by combat boots on, "Just got to...done"
I couldn't help, as we walked towards Max's office, thinking about her. Tris.
She seemed more shy around Al, giving me a sick feeling to my stomach. The way he treated her, just in front of me, made me know something was wrong with that relationship.
I enter Max's office, a beat up old room, and he speaks, "I'm impressed. I didn't know you had a bailer"
I fold my arms, "I don't. It was an....old friend"
"Well. Thank that old friend, when you get the chance. I have a new mission for you. There's a writer in town, named Beatrice Prior"
I immediately widen my eyes.
"Is there a problem?"
"No..." I drift off.
He holds my state for a second longer, then continues reading off my assignment.
"She is said to have a safe of jewelry, however, it's locked. We have a stethoscope for you to use, and we know how great you are with computers"
I hardly heard his instructions. I was busy wondering if I could actually pull this off, while keeping my friend.
May be I could refuse-but I never refuse an assignment. But if she caught me stealing from her it would be the end of me-all of my waiting wasted.
I clear my throat when I realize Max had stopped speaking, making it seem as if I had something in throat.
"Sorry" I say after a few coughs.
He doesn't respond to my remark, and instead continues reciting his instructions, "We intend for Zeke to be our distraction, but Uriah wanted to instead. Cool?"
I nod, "Cool"
But it's not cool. Ruin my reputation or my friend?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So. What happened last night?" Zeke asked, as soon as I exited Max's office.
"It's not important"
"You got back past curfew"
"No one obeys the curfew"
"You do.You have nothing to do past the curfew"
"You don't know that" I defend, "I do....stuff"
"If it's drugs...." Zeke warns.
"Zeke, it's not. I just-never mind" I say.
"Stop acting like a teenage girl, Four" he says, bored.
"Well. Fine. A girl"
He raises his eyebrows, "So you finally got over Tris, eh?"
"No" I state truthfully, "Jeez"
"Are you sure you're not on your ladies days?"
"Zeke!"
"Sorry. My god, what's up with you?" he says, eyebrows drawn to the center of his forehead.
I don't respond, and instead turn around and walk away.
I glance at the clock as I walk away from Zeke.
8:00.
Instead of going to breakfast, I break away from the compound, heading straight for Tris' hotel.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I find her in the lobby, before I could even reach the front desk, I saw her, sitting at a cafe table, staring at a book- something uncommon these days.
I slid in the seat across from her, and she looked up, and smiled.
"Oh, hi"
She placed a bookmark in her desired page, gently shutting it, "I didn't expect you to be here so soon"
"Well, I couldn't wait" I say.
Her smiles fades, staring out into the distance.
"Oh. Did I say say something?" I ask.
"No" she says, and I crane my neck in my chair to see Al walking out of the lobby, into the streets. He didn't even notice us.
When I turn back to her, that cheery smile is still on her face, and she's playing with the sleeves of her white knit sweater.
"I have your jacket" she says, "I just left it back there"
"That's okay. Keep it as long as you like" I say.
"Thanks" she says, "I was thinking. I kind of want to see where you live"
She smiles, "Not in the creepy way"
I chew on my lip. I was about to say may be. But it changed to an immediate no, after I remembered my mission.
"I'm sorry. It's just not possible right now"
"May be later?"
"Well. It's a top secret organization with a top secret location, were over fifty wanted criminals hide. It's not exactly something I'd show on the second day of meeting a person"
She nods, "I completely understand. We all want our privacy"
I'm so glad she understands.
"Want a tour of New York? I'm a local, it would be cool if you could get a tour from the best" I suggest, since the awkward silence had filled up the blank space.
"Yeah. That would be great" she says, smiling.
We both stand up from our seats, and she stuffs her book in her purse.
The purse I could be stealing from.
I wince, dragging my eyes away from her purse.
My bandit habits are getting to me. Don't look at the purse. Don't. Don't.
"So, where to first grande tour guide?"
"One of my favorite places. The Empire State Building"