Nothing

Chapter 18

"My parents..." Maris started to explain, "They got a letter from SLOW MOD saying that our family was personally selected to be apart of a... "public study" is what I think it said..." She trailed off, lost in her own memories.

We had moved from the bathroom and were now sitting on Maris's bed. I had told her that she didn't have to explain to me what had gotten her so upset, but she insisted. She said it would help her feel better.

She picked up with her explanation again, "At first my parents were excited, they thought it was a great honor. That was, until they read further into the letter and saw that they were to send one child to SLOW MOD for the study. It was a choice between me or my older brother, Caleb." Her voice broke and her brother's name came out in a broken whisper. "Caleb and I had never really been the closest of siblings, with him being four years older, but neither of us wanted to choose who got to go and who stayed." She had been playing with her hands in her lap, but looked up when she started, "My parents chose, quickly. They went into their room, had a short discussion, and came out to tell us who they had decided to send. They..." Maris's eyes filled with more tears, "They chose to send me. It only took them five minutes to decide, and they decided to keep Caleb and send me away."

I wrapped my arms around Maris as the tears started to fall. "I was always their trouble child, always getting into trouble at school. I could never get along with the other kids, but Caleb could. He was my parents' first born and a social butterfly. What more could my parents ask for in a child? Everyone loved him, so I guess that's why they sent me here. They thought they could get rid of me, their imperfect child. Maybe they thought I wouldn't come home."

"Maris," I comforted, "Your parents weren't trying to get rid of you. They love you. I'm sure they thought you would be happy to get the chance to go to California."

She sniffled a few times before turning her big green eyes back on me. "But..." she seemed lost, like she was battling something she didn't want to believe, "They were all smiling when I left. Mom, Dad, and Caleb... they were happy."

I took her hand in mine in a gentle squeeze. "They were putting on a front so you thought they were happy, but in reality they didn't want to see you go."

Maris didn't reply as silent tears slipped down her cheeks. She seemed to make peace with this.

I looked around the room, wondering where our roommates, Jessi and Isabelle, were. Their beds were made and nothing hinted that they had ever been there.

The door banged against the wall as it was roughly shoved open. Isabelle stood in its empty frame. A loud crash and harsh voices echoed in from outside as she said, "You got to see this," and disappeared as quickly as she had come. Maris, tears and sad thoughts forgotten, grabbed my hand and pulled me with her as she rushed from the room.

Two guards were dragging a struggling man down the hall, away from us. Elijah stood in the doorway of his room. His chocolate eyes were wide, shinning with fear and blood trickled from a small cut on his lip.

Isabelle dashed across the hall and squeaked, "Elijah? What happened?!"

Seemingly dazed, Elijah blankly stared down at Isabelle, who was several inches shorter than me. Her small hand latched onto Elijah's shoulder and she gently shook him. "What happened?" she asked again softly.

"He's in shock," a familiar voice from the night before spoke up the hall. All attention in the hall turned to the newcomer. I recognized the young teen's voice, but not the face that accompanied the voice. It was the guard that had stopped Kaden and I last night on our way to Kaden's wing. Kaden had said his name was... Tyler? Tyler! That was his name!

"But why would he be going into shock?" Isabelle asked with a perplexed look, "He looks like he just saw a ghost."

"Or a dead body," Maris mumbled under her breath beside me.

I stayed silent, not wanting to draw Tyler's attention to me in case he remembered me. If he did, Kaden and I could be in the same situation we were in a few hours ago. I don't either of us wanted that.

My gaze swept to the shocked Elijah. His pupils were dilated and his breathing was shallow. He did look like he was going into shock. Maris saw this too.

She strolled the three feet to Elijah and drew back her hand. Her hand flew forward and connected with one of Elijah's tanned cheeks. Maris had slapped him. Elijah's head snapped to the side from the force of the slap.

Isabelle's startled gasp rang around the hall. "Why would you do that?!" She asked in a incredulous squeal. She shoved Maris out of the way and laid a hand on Elijah's now red cheek. Staring deeply into his dark eyes, Isabelle hissed in Maris's direction, "He's. In. Shock! You don't slap someone who's in shock."

Maris turned a defiant gaze on the smaller girl, "I just did, didn't I?" A heated glare was her only reply.

Thinking that these two had just become the new Ryan and Kaden, I pushed between them to Elijah. His breathing was more labored now and his eyes still held a cloud of fear. "Elijah," I whispered softly to him, "Are you okay?" He gave a short nod, so I continued, "Did that guy," I motioned in the direction that the man had been dragged, "hurt you? Is that why your lip is bleeding?"

Elijah nodded again and croaked out, "He just snapped..." Elijah's already labored breathing got worse as he seemed to think about what the guy had done. "We were all just hanging out, joking around and talking about who was going to make it to the end of the tests... and he came out of the bathroom. His face was filled with rage and he started punching and kicking Garrett. He didn't stop, even though we were scrambling to pull him off. I was so scared..."

Everyone in the hall was captivated by Elijah's retelling of the events. I glanced at the newcomer, Tyler. I saw him quickly look away when I looked his way. He was watching me. Why? What was he doing? Why wasn't a guard of SLOW MOD doing what his job entitled: guarding?

"He killed him..." Those three words drew my attention back to what Elijah was saying. "None of us could pull him off of Garrett and... he didn't stop until Garrett's heart stopped beating."

The hall was engulfed in an eerie silence. Nobody knew what to say after Elijah said this. The only good thing about this was that Elijah no longer seemed to be in shock, instead he was very much aware of his surroundings. A light blush arose to his face and splayed across his cheeks. I don't think he liked being the center of attention.

Tyler quickly took over as the lead attention holder when he said, "Okay, everyone go back to your rooms. Lunch will be served shortly." People begrudgingly started making their way back into their own rooms.

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A/N

Hey Nothingers!!!

It's almost Thanksgiving (in America :D). What are you guys thankful for? Just leave it in the comments! I love to hear from you guys ;)

I cannot believe that this story, aka. NOTHING, has 824 READS!!!!!!!!! Anybody ready for a celebration?? Cause I am :3 *FIVE SECOND DANCE PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!! *5...4...3...2...1!! Okay, okay. Everybody get out!!! NOW! Yes, that means you too. OUT! *everybody rushes from the room as they try to get away from the crazy woman* (*wink wink* Vark gave me this idea)

:) :D :P :3 :O ;D ;3

You know you love me...

~Alexis :3