Childish War

Chapter 6

I settled among my enemies for the night. Tatum and I took the bed, while Author camped out in the chair he was sitting in during the day. Lance slept soundly on the floor with his jacket pulled up over his face, barricading me from the door. Callum had snuck out of the room after the others had settled down for the night and was still nowhere to be seen three hours afterwards. The silence brought in new comments and pleas from my new, unwelcomed friends.

"Kill them!" They begged, "Do it while they sleep!"

It had been fairly easy to ignore them in the daylight when everyone was talking, but now it was pure torture.

"You're not their ally, right? You should kill them and escape while you have the chance!"

I glanced over to Tatum, who slept soundly; a soft breath escaping her lips every now and then. She put up no barrier between us, as if voices weren't trying to convince me to slit her throat on the spot. It would be so easy.

"Do it!"

I forced my eyes close. Just go to sleep, I told myself to no avail. The Night Owl lifestyle had taken its toll on my sleeping schedule. Around this time, which I estimated to be around one in the morning, I was usually wide awake. But now, I was positively exhausted after an unfortunately eventful day spent awake.

"Booooring," The mechanical voice complained.

"Then go away, please," I mouthed, careful not to make any sound to wake Tatum. This caused the voice to erupt into a choir of refusals. I opened my eyes again and sighed, choking back a few tears.

How could a mother subject her daughter to this constant harassment? I know my relationship with Lauretta is less then affectionate, but she'd always been a very neutral figure in my life. Only now do I realize she may be as bad as Father, who orchestrates this entire mess of a war. But then again, she's never done anything to shield her children from it; a guilty bystander.

I sat up in the bed slowly, swallowing saliva that had been accumulating in my mouth. Now is not the time to be emotional about this, I lectured myself. We've been over this already. Yet here I was, doing anything in my power to prevent my face from becoming a wet disarray of tears and snot.

She abandoned us.

She abandoned me.

Why couldn't she love me?

As the sniffs became more frequent, I sat up in bed. Careful not to make it squeak, I shifted to the end of the bed.  Even if I was careful to not make sound, the mechanic voices were still making a ruckus so I didn't know whether I was successful or not.

I looked back at Tatum to make sure she was still sound asleep. Confirmed. I sighed a breath of relief and lowered myself to the ground. I tried to map out the maze laying between me and the door in the dark, but unlike owls, human eyes only have so much capacity for night vision. This would be a do or die, shot in the dark escape.

The carpeted floor squished silently under my feet. Silently, I hoped the wood underneath would be as forgiving. Pushing my weight off of the bed, I lowered my body to the floor. I muted a whimper, cursing myself for being so sensitive.

"Last chance to take them out." The robotic voice gave me a redundant reminder. I shook my head, trying to focus on the journey ahead of me.

I crawled my way across the room, each step seeming more significant than the previous. I only stood up to step over Lance and finally to open the door. It must be god given luck that both processes went over without a hitch. With all the delicacy I gathered during the escape, I closed the door behind me.