Freedom Workers (boyxboy)

Freedom Workers part 3

Shia and I lay together for a long time that night, talking quietly, with soft kisses in between.

                After a while, Shia fell asleep. My head was nestled in his shoulder, his arm tucked around me. I lay awake, the darkness pressing on my eyes.  My thoughts drifted to the two guards from this evening.

I loathed them.  The skinny one with the horse-like teeth and the short one with the evil sneer. An image of the guards lying, cowering, on the streets, with the very same injuries they had given me floated to the forefront of my mind. I shook my head.

“No point fantasizing, Tem,” I whispered to myself, and closed my eyes.

“Shia! Tem! Hurry! Get up!” I blearily opened my eyes. Leila was shaking us vigorously, her face pinched with anxiety. I blinked, glancing at the window. It was still dark out.

“Leila, the Counting’s not till just after dawn,” Shia mumbled.

“Council called us early! Emergency meeting!”

I leapt out of bed, Shia following. We frantically pulled our clothes on, checking each other to make sure everything was in order. For a brief moment, our eyes met.

“I don’t know,” I said, answering Shia’s unspoken question. “Something bad.”

He sighed, and then, without warning, grabbed me and pressed his lips to mine. I clenched my hands around his neck, stretching up on my tiptoes.

Shia pulled away, his eyes dark and jaded, analyzing me. I looked away, knowing what was written on my face.

I knew.

I knew something bad was going to happen to one of us. I knew it like I knew my shirt was white- simple, clear, and unavoidable.

“Tell me.” Shia’s voice cut through my thoughts, low and serious.

I sighed. “Something will happen.” I looked up. “To one of us.”

I’d always had this ability. When I was younger, I only felt things that would happen to me. But as Shia and I grew closer, he cropped up on my radar as well.

“What is it? Focus, Tem.”

I closed my eyes, thinking hard. Images, blurred and hazy, raced through my mind. Eventually, my thoughts settled on one dim picture. Two men, one tall, one fatter and short, laying on the ground. As the picture became clearer, I saw that the two men wore guard’s uniforms and both seemed to be hurt both of their lips were bleeding… subconsciously, my hand drifted to my lip and traced the cut there.

“Oh…” I breathed, my voice hitching.

“Tem, what-“Before Shia could finish, his mam burst into the room.

“Come, you two! Or we’ll be thrown in the Gand!”

We ran out of the room. As we dashed down the hall, I caught a glimpse of myself in the dusty mirror. My eyes were literally glowing, with a light all their own. And they were nowhere near merely dark anymore- the green and violet were bright and pronounced, clear as day.

We ran down the stairs out of the building. When we reached the Square, Shia and I ran to our spots in the Messengers squadron.  Guards were patrolling all around us, so we didn’t dare speak.

We stood in terrified silence, not a soul moving so much as a finger in the entire square, save the guards, for more than twenty minutes.

I noticed a short Thirteen shaking uncontrollably in front of me and pressed lightly on the back of his jacket to quiet him. Shia’s pinky circled mine and held tightly.