Chapter Six
I sigh heavily and roll over in bed. It’s pitch black, the middle of the night, but I haven’t been able to sleep. Grabbing my pathetic excuse of a pillow, I attempt to batter it into a more comfortable shape before I slump back down into the mattress where I heave another sigh.
“What?”
I ignore the voice, turning over so my back is to the second bed. Sigh again, just to make sure my displeasure is all too clear.
“Bree, what?”
“Nothing,” I mutter. I kick out my legs and try to get comfortable, but it’s no use. I’m never going to relax enough to pass out, not with him in the room.
“Go to sleep,” Kendrick snaps.
Like it’s that easy. I huff, loudly.
“This is so ridiculously over the top,” I tell him.
I’ve told him that at least eight times already, him and Brunton, but it clearly needs saying once more.
Now it’s Kendrick’s turn to sigh. From the silence that follows I gather that’s going to be his only response. His breathing, loud in the dead stillness of the room, starts to deepen, telling me he’s close to dropping off. Oh no, if I’m not sleeping then he isn’t either.
“I mean, it’s not as if we’re going to sneak off in the middle of the night. Millie’s scared of the dark for one thing. And we don’t want to sneak off. She was just bored earlier. Honestly-,”
“Bree!” Kendrick snarls. “Knock it off.”
“Well,” I grind out, not quite done with my little rant. “I just don’t see why Brunton had to separate us.”
“Captain Brunton,” Kendrick admonishes me, “doesn’t need to give you a reason.” There’s just enough stress on ‘you’ to tell me that there is a reason, but I’m not important enough for Brunton to share it. Although Kendrick, of course, is in the know. I stick my tongue out at him in the darkness. Smug git.
I’m irritated at the fact that Brunton insisted Millie and I be separated, bunking up with a soldier each. But what’s possibly more annoying is the fact that she’s sharing with Everett whereas I’ve been lumped with the lovely lance corporal. I can’t decide if Brunton devised this evil little scenario to punish me or Kendrick, who, it turns out, had been given the task of keeping an eye on us and keeping us out of sight, both of which he had failed spectacularly at.
Suffice to say the atmosphere in the room has not been exactly friendly.
I shift position again, twisting until I’m lying on my back staring up at the ceiling. I gaze up at the grey shadows streaking in from the thickly encrusted window. A thought that’s been niggling at me rises back to the surface.
“Kendrick?” He grunts to let me know he’s heard. I take this as an invitation to continue, even though it probably isn’t. “Why was Brunton upset that Millie told that man her age?”
There’s quiet for a moment. It’s too still, I can’t even hear Kendrick breathing. I can all but hear the cogs turning in his brain. That makes me more curious. Then he exhales loudly.
“Just go to sleep, Bree.”
That’s it, I’ve been dismissed. I scowl up at the ceiling but don’t bother pressing my point. He’ll just ignore me now. I don’t sleep, though. Can’t. And it’s not just Kendrick’s presence, though that’s disconcerting enough in itself. I can’t let go of the idea that Millie having told those people how old she was, was a big mistake. It was clear in all their expressions, but I’m completely fathomless as to why. I mean, she’s almost fourteen, what’s the big deal? I’ve no idea, but I can’t let the question go, and I can’t sleep.
