The Parables

Griffin - Precinct Seven

Griffin - Precinct Seven

"Are we nearly there yet?"

My question hangs in the bitter air as a barrier between myself and the sentry. He doesn't answer my question. He doesn't even flinch. He just continues to drive the car down the track through the countryside. His grip on the steering wheel doesn't tighten nor does it loosen. His eyes don't turn to look into the rearview mirror; they just carry on staring straight ahead through the window screen. It's as if I haven't said anything at all. All that remains is the awkward silence. The silence that has tried to be broken by my random query but still remains perpetual.

"I said, are we nearly there yet?" I repeat, this time, with a more forceful and louder tone.

"I've been instructed not to speak to yer or answer any of yer questions," the sentry says monotonously.

"Why?" I sit forward, my lips creasing into a frown. "Oh, wait, can't you answer that?" Sarcasm drips from my voice like a leaky tap and I can tell the sentry senses it. His body stiffens and he grasps the steering wheel tighter, as if it were trying to break away.

"I just ain't," the sentry says quietly, but at the same time, loud enough to cause an impact.

Sighing, I lean my head against the glass window. My mind keeps flickering back to Mother and Father and Adne and Texa. Unless Father takes extra shifts, no more money will be coming into the household so Mother may be forced to ration. Adne won't be able to focus on her schoolwork and will instead be stressing over me. I know this will happen in light of the fact that while I was waiting to hear if I'd landed a job at the copper mines, Adne was so worried I wouldn't get the job that she couldn't concentrate at school therefore her grades started dropping. When Mother eventually found out about it, I'd just received news that I'd secured the position so there was nothing she could do about it. Unless Mother is watching out for her 24/7, Adne's grades will start declining again.

Texa. I smile at the thought of her. Her gorgeous raven hair. Her mischievous green eyes. Her gentle laugh. The taste of her love for me when she kisses my lips. I can almost detect the scent of her lavender perfume, the one I purchased and gave to her for her Natal Day a couple of months prior. She wears the perfume most days and I pray she wears it whilst I'm gone. It'll help her remember me when I die in the Labyrinth. I'm not expecting to survive and I doubt she or anyone else expects me to either. But whilst I'm gone, I won't be her shoulder to cry on. If her Mother's health deteriorates, she won't have anyone to confide in or cry to or even laugh with. A tear slips down my cheek as the poignancy of how much I mean to Texa strikes me and that I'll probably never see her again. Scratch that. I'll definitely never see her again.

"What yer thinkin' 'bout, son?"

Glancing up, I see the sentry looking at me through the rearview mirror. His eyes stare at me in a somewhat compassionate way. But sentries aren't compassionate. They simply carry out their job impassively with their deadpan faces and banausic demeanours. They couldn't care less how it affects us. At the end of the day, they just want their wages, regardless of the cost. However, I'm somehow drawn into answering his question.

"Have you ever said goodbye to someone you love, and deep down, you know you're never going to see them again no matter how badly you pretend you are?"

The sentry is quiet for a moment. "Is this 'bout that girl of yers?" he asks me. "Yer know, the black-haired 'un who were in that room with yer?"

"How did you know?" I query, slightly skeptically.

Shrugging, the sentry sighs. "If I were yer, I'd treasure every memory I 'ad with her and keep thinkin' 'bout them so that when I die, she'll be the last 'un I think of. And for yer question, nah, I ain't ever done somethin' like that."