Dark and Light: The Island

Chapter Fifteen

(Sorry about the long wait, guys. I've been up to a lot, and I just haven't been writing my novels and such lately - probably because I've been writing lots of 'transformative pieces' for A2 English, basically fanfiction, about 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles' by Thomas Hardy and I'm working on another based on 'Apologia Pro Poemente Meo' and 'Dulce Et Decorum Est' by Wilfred Owen, which is fun. So yeah... I already have up to *ALMOST* the end of chapter sixteen of this novel written, although this is all still in wonderful first draft mode. I really want to finish this novel, but it's at over 50,000 words already and we're not even half way through. Go me! It'll be the size of an ordinary book when it's finished (for once). Anyways, I'm rambling, so thanks. Bai!

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Chapter Fifteen

Location: District 19, The Island

The bathroom was, thankfully, devoid of all human life, and I made sure that I locked both of the doors before turning on the shower and stepping out of my clothes. How awkward would it be if someone walked in on my having a shower? I would never be able to live down the shame. Not to mention the fact that Nathaniel would tease me for weeks.

It was a nice relief to step under the steaming spray from the showerhead. I managed to let all of my worries and my troubles seep down into the plughole as I washed. I scrubbed my hair with what looked like Kes' shampoo (it was in a pink bottle and smelt like grapefruit. I would have to get my own when my tokens came in; I usually had apple scented shampoo at home) and after a good fifteen minutes, I stepped into the warm fluffy towel and shut the water off. After drying myself, I pulled on my clothes and dumped the damp towel into the washing basket with the other clothes that needed washing and padded into Nate's room.

It was dark and there was a soft orange glow that came from around the edges of the metal sheet that stopped any bullets from raining in on us. I peeked around the edges like I had done earlier in the day and saw that there were gigantic floodlights focused on each of the houses, making sure that nobody snuck out of their houses past curfew, probably. I had no intention of doing that, and I wouldn't see why anybody else would, either.

It struck me as odd that the Island, which was full of the people that society had shunned, was more free and relaxed than the real world, where everybody was controlled in all aspects of their life. I couldn't imagine there being Trials on the Island, somehow. They wouldn't fit in. And weren't all Unspeakables just people who had fought the system in their own way? Granted, murdering eighteen people like Silas had wasn't such a smart or ethical way to fight against the government.

"Are you getting in or what?" Nate asked, and I jumped. I had been thinking so hard that I had just been standing there, looking at the window with what was probably a vacant expression on my face.

"Sure. Sorry, I was just thinking," I replied as I crawled into the small bed. Yes, I was definitely going to be saving up for my own bed. The damn thing was tiny.

"What were you thinking about?" he asked sleepily. I pulled the covers up to my chin and shivered at the coldness of the sheets.

"Life in general. Probably something that I shouldn't be thinking about just before going to sleep, to be honest with you."

He chuckled and brushed my hair off the pillow so that he could move.

"That sounds like you. I had fun today. Not sure what I think of your friend Chloe, though. She was a lot more hyper than I thought she would be."

"She's not usually that hyper, to be honest with you," I admitted. "She's usually kind of bitchy and cold. The only reason she said she wanted to be friends with me in the Detention Centre was because she said that she wanted my protection on here."