Battle Scars

Chapter nine; Nova

Spencer glares at me for what feels like eternity while I scramble to figure out a plan from where we are. Then a slamming sound disturbs my thoughts making all three of us turn toward a man in a extremely clean white coat.
"So you are here for a concussion is that correct?" The man says but no one responds. He looks at us impatient and angry now. "Who is the patient?" He says slightly louder than before. Both Filos and I turn toward Spencer without saying a word. The man walks to her and says nothing while he begins to examine her.
After about ten minutes of examination the man turns to me and Filos again.
"Alright she has no concussion so can you tell me the real reason why you are here?" He now asked us in an irritated tone.
"These idiots panicked and made up a story to get us through here and now they don't have a plan. So could you kindly explain what the hell this place is for?" Spencer's voice says from behind the man. He moves so that he can now see all of us and begins to answer.
"This was a terrible excuse to try to get into a mostly open campus." He starts, " once the war started we turned this school into a training facility for the military and also part of it is for locals to get treated for their injuries. So if there is some where you need to go please let me know so I can finish this and get to patients who need my help". Spencer just laughs at us rubbing in the fact that we over reacted.
"Is there a place to find people, because this is the last known location my brother was in." I ask the man.
"Yes there is just go back to the main desk and ask the lady for directions, and let her know that you were sent by Jerome." He then sweeps up his things and vanishes as fast as he appeared.
"Ok so I guess that was stupid and we should just get going then." Filos says to break the uncomfortable silence.

We are now back in the white room and the lady looks back up at us and sighs knowing that we messed up when we first got here.
"What now." She says as we walk up to the counter and recite what the man told us. "Oh you are looking for film building, that is near the parking garage. You will find it." She spat and then continues her work with clear disgust.

We walk all the way across the campus now feeling like complete idiots, except for Spencer.
"I really hope he is here, because I don't know what we will do if he isn't here. I miss him so much." My voice cracks as I explain this to my friends. Spencer just looks at me and then stops making us follow. With out a word she leans in and hugs me really tight.
"We will find him, I promise." She swears without the slightest flutter in her voice, then quickens her pace, silently. Both Filos and I stand there for a few seconds watching her walk, then quickly rush to her side.
We finally walk up to the building. Filos holds the door open for us and we walk in. As we enter we are greeted with a giant wall full of worn out dusty movie posters. I stand gazing, dreamily at them in awe remembering back when I was 13 and my mom would take me to the theaters every Friday to see the latest film. My mom did that every week up until one year before the war. I'm still wonder if it was our country's growing threat that made her stop, or something else entirely.
Spencer interrupts my thoughts with a loud whistle. I turn to see her standing at an entrance to my left with a sign that reads "personal information". I jog over and follow them down a long corridor that was decorated neatly in signs with specific directions. As we move swiftly down the hall, I wonder which door my brother hides behind.
Beyond the neatly marked door, sat a nicer looking man with thin framed glasses and a small man bun sat atop his head. "Can I help you?" He said all perky.
     "We're looking for my brother Rice Poppy" I say, matching his uplifting tone. He flips through a binder filled to the brim, organized alphabetically  I assume.
     "Go to the A building, thats were we house the staff, and go to room 730. Have fun!" We follow his directions, once again across campus to the 'A' building now. Completely silent, we all walk to the elevators, placed strategically in the entrance of the building, and press the button for floor 7.
     "Room 712... 714... 716... 718... 722... 26... Here 730" Spencer mumbles as we pass each room in the corridor. Some doors were open, and we could see people racing around their rooms as they struggle to get ready for the day. Others were shut tight. My hands tremble from excitement as I knock on the hard wooden door three times. I hear footsteps thump across the old floor getting louder. At this point I can't really tell if the thumping is footsteps or my heart. The door makes a clicking noise as it is being unlatched. Slowly the door opens and there he is standing In front of me. My whole body tingles, I can't move or speak, I feel tears forming.
"Hi" I say softly and trembling while trying to take in every bit of him from his brown hair to his brown eyes, the fact that he grew a lot since I last saw him.
"Oh my god Nova." He whispers quietly while tearing up. Finally I lean in and hug him which as much force as I can hoping that I wound ever have to let go. "You have grown so much, you have no idea how much I have missed you." He mumbles in my hair with a slight giggle. I pull away from the hug very slowly. He is here right in front of me and I can't stop smiling.
"You have no idea what I've been through go get here." I tell him as we begin to walk in his room.
"Well I have time so let's chat." He tells us as he locks the door behind us and then sits down at the small counter in his dorm kitchen.