Elevators Through Time - Book 1

Part 20: Settling In For The Night

Part 20: Settling In For The Night

Year: 1990

Time: 9:04pm

Location: "Sydney's Tower", Sydney CBD, NSW, Australia.

Level: 60th Floor

Jed brought us down a couple of floors until we reached the area marked: Tower Quarters. I made an interesting remark about how the word 'quarters' made it sound like we were soldiers, and he just said "It suites our line of work. Sometimes we are on the front lines."

Near the entrance of the area, Jed tapped on a screen built into the wall and it displayed the status of the rooms. He selected a vacant one and pressed something which made a key fall into a small dispenser bin which he took and handed to me.

"Room 722 will be yours until you need to get around elsewhere," Jed said as he led us to the room and led us inside, "There is filtered water, a fridge with some pre-made sandwiches, a tv, a desktop computer with internet connection, and two single beds."

Kate and I naturally headed straight for the view through the window.

"Aren't you glad there isn't a balcony from a place this high?" I asked Kate rhetorically. She didn't reply as we both looked down.

"I'll let you two get yourselves sorted. I have some things I must attend to." Jed said, taking a bow like a butler, but straightening up with an amused smiled on his face before he closed the door behind himself.

Kate and I stared at the door for a moment, trying to take in everything that just happened. We then looked at eachother, then at the view.

Kate grinned and promptly sat on the side of one of the single beds, furthest from the window and asked as she patted the mattress, "So, what do you want to talk about this time?"

I laughed and sat on the opposite bed. "Ah, let's just be grateful that they saved us and are here to protect us. Jed and Sydney both seem nice."

Kate raised an eyebrow, "Oh, 'Sydney is nice' huh? But I'm nicer, right?" she pouted.

"Oh I know you are. I'm just giving a compliment to her. There is always room for compliments. You will always have me, Kate, don't you worry."

We had continued talking about our day. First at how we thought Miss Crawford would have been amazed, then about our time at the zoo and how curious the koalas were, then about how we got here by following Jed.

After a while we decided to rest.

It was a long day after all.

Kate felt sleepy first, so she went to her side of the bed, said a short prayer then nodded off and said goodnight. I gave her a peck on the cheek then let her rest.

I lingered for a while and looked out the window, then turned off the light and went to bed.

Dreams overtook my mind. Pictures of electricity flying from Jed's hands, of animals from the zoo and of what we ate while walking around the Quay flooded my mind. This was one of the strangest dreams I had ever had.

At some point in the night I woke up and was keenly aware that something was wrong. I opened my eyes and found that I was about to fall off the edge of the bed... and that Kate was with me with her arms around me.

I heard her mumble something about her mum and heard her begin to cry.

I sat up and cradled her head.

I wanted to put her back into her pillow and let her rest... but it didn't seem right to leave her crying alone like this.

I stayed up for a while, stroking her hair until she stopped crying.

She may have looked like she had gotten over the death of her parents but inwardly she was still hurting badly.

She fell asleep after a few minutes and I settled back to sleep as well. Carefully pulling up the bedsheets over us both as we drifted off again.

I also was still saddened at being the one to actually perform it. I was mentally prepared for it, and years have hardened me, but death (no matter how painless) is still a source of pain for others including me.

I wonder how much pain Kate still feels...