Pleuvoir | Eric Coulter

Labing-walo

E r i c

I sense it before I even enter the room.

The fear radiating off them in waves, the horrified glances they shoot my way. They are scared. Afraid. My eye twitches, they should be.

Making sure that my face is blank of emotion, I stand in the middle of the waiting room, giving them all a hard stare. No one meets my eye, except surprisingly, the girl who took care of me last night. Karoliina.

I raise an eyebrow, and she quickly ducks her head in apology. A chuckle threatens to escape my lips, but as always, I keep my mouth shut and not do anything.

"Today we'll be starting the second stage of initiation." My pose is rigid as I walk around the room, "You'll be facing your fears in a simulation."

At that, whispers erupt from the initiates. I roll my eyes. "Shut your mouths!"

Silence falls over the room quickly, and I smirk. "The only way you'll move on and finish the simulation is to either face your fear or calm your breathing."

"What does breathing have to do with--"

"Watch out, Nose." I snap at the brunette haired boy, "If I wanted to deal with nosey shitheads, I would've went to Erudite."

He cowers back to his friend. I scoff. What a pussy.

"Four is not around because he is called in Intelligence," I pause, "So I have no choice but to train you fuckers today. If one of you annoys me, I'll push you off the Chasm. Understood?"

Nods are the only visible signs that they did. I smirk, that was one of the few advantages of being a leader, at least for me. The power you have on other people can be exhilarating. That serves as a distraction from the pain most of the time.

"Edward, you're up."

∞

She's the last initiate for today.

"Karoliina," The name rolls off my tongue smoothly, "Time to go in."

She stands slowly, deliberately prolonging her movements. I grit my teeth in annoyance, "Move fast. I don't have all fucking day."

She does, and she quickly walks into the simulation room. I trail behind her, keeping my arms crossed and my eyes narrowed. The girl saw me when I was in my weakest, she already has leverage over me. I can't let that happen again.

"Sit down," I instruct, gesturing to the chair on the middle of the room. She obeys without saying anything, and for once I feel a sense of tranquility. No noise. No ruckus. Just quietness.

I hook up wires on her before clicking and typing  away on the monitor. It makes a beeping noise, and I take that as a signal to ready the syringe. Walking towards her, I stare with my usual blank look, "Brush your hair off your neck."

I ignore how her hand shakes as she gently puts her hair away. I ignore how she gulps in nervousness. I ignore how her eyes are wild with uncertainty.

When I stick the syringe into her neck, she freezes and holds her breath. Her eyes close tightly, and her fists clench. I took the syringe out, placing it on the small table beside me.

"Either you face your fear or calm your heart rate," I say monotonously.

She nods and fists her black jumper in her hands, "O-Okay."

When she starts dozing off, I switch my attention to the monitor. Her fears will be my leverage.

∞

The pain in her eyes is... strange.

At least, for me.

Karoliina has her face buried in my chest, her hands tightly grasping my black jacket. She is sobbing, occasional hiccups echoing in the room. My hands are placed on her hair, unknowingly smoothing it out as she cried.

It's been five minutes of this, and in those five minutes of crying and comforting, she and I were silent. No words. No utters. Nothing.

My heart is in a frenzy, beating so fast that I feared it would leap out of my chest. I don't know why I'm feeling this way. Maybe because I'm comforting a girl I met last week. Maybe because I've never been in this kind of situation. Maybe because I see Annie in her.

My grip on her hair tightens. Annie.

Silence still dominates the room, and we stay like that for another five minutes. No words. No utters. Nothing.

And it felt nice.