The Way It Is

no escape

True to his word Britt never left me. Some people might have found it odd, or overwhelming but we had lived together in smaller spaces for longer periods of time. We didn't have anything to hide from each other. Well, except the obvious. Not sure if he had figured out I was an energy bender or not.

I still haven't asked him about his telepathic abilities either. It just doesn't seem important at the moment.

What is important is the fact Ufrik is MIA at the moment. I haven't heard or seen him in over three days. It makes no sense.

I am still weak, not entirely recovered from my time spent coma toast. However, I am improving quickly. The doctor is impressed. She hadn't expected me to be so strong, I guess.

However, from previous experiences getting injured and being bedridden, my recovery does seem remarkably fast. Today is day four, and I almost have my full strength back. Now, if I could just get my stamina back, I might be able to figure out how to leave this tin can.

After being grounded for so long, I had begun to feel planet deprivation recently. If I am not careful, I could get Terra-Fever. Aching to be on the ground again so bad that I start to hallucinate. Unfortunately, it happens more than most people know. Some species are more prone to it than others.

This is the first time I had ever felt it. We went through extensive testing and training in the Armada Academy. I had been in the top five of my class every time. I don't get ground sick.

If I am brutally honest, it's not that I just want to be on the ground again, though. What I really want is to go back to that forsaken planet of death. What in the blazes is up with that?

"Fresh leaves from Makaruga. I know it's your favourite." Britt shoves a warm metal cup into my hands, breaking me away from my self-analysis.

"It's the only tea I will drink, you mean." I can't help the snort. Britt is a man of few words, but when he does speak, he always manages to twist whatever it is into a positive.

Doc had moved me to a small room just down the hall. One of several apparently reserved for recovering patients. I had a couple of neighbours, but everyone kept to themselves. So far.

Britt had let himself in and, after pushing the tea into my hands, sat down in my only chair beside my little table. He had spent every night so far sleeping on the floor beside me. At least he'd taken the blanket I'd given him.

We haven't discussed my kicking him out of the Compounds. Somehow it had just been accepted as done and over with. Yet guilt still ate at me.

I had asked him how he got here, though.

It turned out when Armada did their last sweep of Earth, they had found him. He hadn't gone far from the Compounds. Made sense. Smart man.

People had even been smuggling him food. It made me feel even shittier, but he assured me that everyone had been watching me too closely and had I been the one to help, it could have caused an enormous uproar. He felt I had, had no options.

It made me question the rules, though. Couldn't we have just quarantined him? He hadn't been the only one to be thrown out either. Had anyone else survived? Is their more unjustified death on my hands?

"Stop it. Drink the damn tea and think of something green, Zea!"

How did he know that I am stewing? He always could read my face like a map to my soul. Everyone else either feared me or hated me, but right from the start, he'd seen through it all. And somehow, because I usually am not that insightful unless I open my Eye, I had been able to read him too.