Rain pours outside, making the roomy garrett seem warm and safe. Thunder rumbles and the windows are awash with the downpour, making them appear almost opaque. "You can't hear a word I say, can you?" Aaron states.
An exhausted Idris replies,"Not really," She folds her arms and rests her head on the table. Aaron rests his hand on her shoulder.
"Idris, what's bothering you?"
"Why do you care?" She looks up at him, scrutinizing his every action.
"You are my friend, I'm allowed to worry about you." He moves his hand away, partially hurt by her tone.
"Are you turning soft on me Moon?"
"It's not a weakness to care about people Idris."
"When has caring about people ever done anything for me? My parents and Adelaide left me-"
Aaron cuts her off, Idris' expression getting progressively more agitated. Idris gets up and stands at the window, her arms crossed over her chest. "Idris, shutting people out isn't going to change anything. People leave, it's part of life."
"I just don't want to feel that sort of pain," Idris whispers. Aaron stands up.
"What's wrong Idris?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing."
"Damn it Idris I am allowed to worry about you," Aaron states, his voice rising in volume, "I don't know if I can get through that conceited head of yours, but I care about you." She turns around and leans her back against the window, crossing her arms.
"I know that Aaron. I just-" Rosaline bursts through the door, silencing her.
Rosaline catches her breath, her face flushed, even though she is drenched from head to toe. "They got Lemaire's girl," she blurts out.
"What?" Aaron asks for clarification. Idris stares at her, eyes wide.
"The group leading the attack on Lemaire's house found her. They're holding her as some sort of hostage." Rosaline inhales and crosses her arms, "A suicide mission, if you ask me."
"Where are they holding her?" Aaron asks, Idris covers her eyes with her hands.
"On the outskirts of town, in one of the old abandoned factories," she replies. A image of a dimly-light room filled with the humming of machines flickers in Idris' memory, then fades away.
Idris walks toward the hooks on the opposite wall to the windows and grabs her worn leather jacket. She is almost out the door when Aaron calls out, "Where are you headed?"
"Out," she replies, pulling up the fabric hood of her jacket, and descending on the creaky wooden staircase.
Aaron turns to Rosaline and quickly states, "I'm sorry I have to go." Rosaline waves dismissively and Aaron runs after his friend.
"Idris," Aaron calls, almost shouting over the sound of the pouring rain, catching her forearm. She glowers. "Where you headed?"
"To the edge of the city."
"Oh my god, is this all over Lemaire's daughter?"
"She has a name that doesn't link her to that monster of a women," Idris replies, pulling her arm out of his grasp. "She's innocent, and I could have warned her about this-"
"You have no way of knowing that."
"Do you honestly think a teenager could have anything to do with what's happening in the streets right now?"
YOU ARE READING
Outcasts
Science Fiction"In the twenty second century civilization has crumbled from war. From the ashes rose a new society of the survivors, but it is worse than ever before." Idris Summers, a truculent nineteen year-old, is part of the lowest class of society, which is g...
