The Coming | The House of Voices #2

Sixteen - Finally

Finally

Darren:

Darren didn’t understand what Jakob wanted him to do. For four days now, the boy had done nothing but complain about the attitude of his roommate, Sid. No matter how hard Darren tried to explain Sid’s situation to Jakob, the boy refused to listen. He wanted Sid to be friendlier towards him, to be more hospitable.

After having the exact same conversation three times now, Darren was rapidly losing patience with Jakob. Why was the boy coming to him anyway? He was Dr. Larkson’s patient. Shouldn’t he have been taking his problems to her instead?

Inhaling deeply Darren said, “I’m sorry Jakob, but there is nothing I can do to help you. Sid’s still dealing with what happened to his roommate and his friend and isn’t likely to become friendlier overnight. Give him time. He’ll come around.”

It wasn’t exactly the truth, but it was close. Jakob – as well as everyone else in the Institute except for Darren and Kara – was under the impression that Sid was angry with Parish for breaking out of Abercoster’s and felt betrayed by October because she went with him. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. Sid was simply worried about his friends.

In the short time that Parish had been in the Institute, he and Sid had gotten close and developed a strong friendship. If everything worked out well for the runaway, Darren could see him and Sid being close friends. And it was no secret that Sid loved October like a little sister. One year her senior, Sid had been very protective of the girl and had always been around to offer advice. He’d even played the peacekeeper whenever October and Kara were having problems.

It was no surprise that Sid worried about them. Sometimes it felt like he was more concerned about the two of them that Kara and Darren combined.

Jakob muttered a few more words of complaint before finally giving up and returning to his room. Letting out a sigh of frustration, Darren trudged back to his office feeling completely drained for some inexplicable reason. He flopped wearily into his chair and steepling his fingertips together, leaned back in his seat.

After falling into a few minutes of deep thought, Darren eventually dozed off in his chair. Half an hour later, he woke up to the sensation of something buzzing in his back pocket. Dragging himself out of the fogginess of sleep, he fished his cell phone out of his pocket. Frowning at the unregistered number, he hit the answer button. “Dr. Michelson,” he said by way of greeting.

“Hi,” He almost leapt out of his chair when October’s timid voice reached his ears. “Sorry we couldn’t call earlier. We only just managed to get to a phone,” she said.

Right at that moment, Darren didn’t give a damn that the call was a few days overdue. “Are you alright?” He demanded, keeping his voice low.

“We’re alright. Ran into a bit of trouble along the way, but we’re fine now.” She sounded distracted, as if something on the other end of the line had captured her attention. “We were almost found out by Brent and Javier last night.”

He nodded. The two nurses had told him that they’d discovered an abandoned shop where they’d found two discarded t-shirts, identical to the ones Dr. Larkson had described October and Parish to be wearing on the night they escaped. They’d also found two apple cores on the floor. “I heard about that,” he told her. “I’m sorry I couldn't warn you two.”

“It’s fine.”

A moment of silence passed before something suddenly occurred to Darren. Why was October calling instead of Parish? He’d been the one who Darren had made promise to call, not October. She’d been locked up in Solitary when that conversation had taken place. Had something happened?

“October, where’s Parish?” He asked warily, mentally crossing his fingers.

“Oh, he’s grocery shopping,” she said. Her tone became lighter, perceptively less burdened than it had been before. Darren idly wondered what had brought on the change. And then her words sank in.

“Grocery shopping?” He repeated, blinking.

She laughed. “Yeah. We’re staying with a couple of people that believe our story and want to help. He went out with one of them a little while ago because he needed clothes and they need groceries.”

He fiddled with the pen on his desk. “Do you know these people?”

“As well as you can know someone in…” She paused for a second, “three hours, yeah.”

Three hours? They were blindly trusting people they’d known only for three hours? Darren sat up straighter in his seat, every single inch of his body shocked tense. “October, you can’t possibly trust these people after knowing them for only three hours,” he told her. A small part of his brain registered that he was gripping his phone a little too tightly.

“That’s the thing,” she answered, her voice a little quieter. Was one of these people nearby? “We both know that we can’t really trust anyone we don’t know, but there’s something about these guys, Darren. I don’t know how to explain it, but it feels like they’re genuinely trying to help us. I think we can trust them. At least a little bit until we’re completely certain.”

He digested her words. There hadn’t been a hint of uncertainty in her voice. October truly believed that these people they were staying with were trustworthy. And maybe Parish did too, or else they wouldn’t have been staying there. Darren supposed he should trust their judgment. Neither Parish nor October was gullible or blindly trusting. They took their time letting people in. And if they believed that these people, whoever they were, were on their side, then maybe there was a good reason for that.

“If you’re sure…”

“We are,” she assured him. “Besides, we can always leave whenever we want. It’s not like they’re holding us here.”

“Who are these people, anyway? What are their names?”

“That’s not important.”

“October, knowing who they are could help. I could look into them, see if they’re alright.”

“No,” She insisted adamantly. “This is something you’re better off not knowing. Because if anything happens and we get caught, you’re the first person Larkson’s going to look at. Plausible deniability, Darren. I’m keeping their identities to myself for now.”

In the background, Darren heard the sound of a bell ringing. “What was that?” he asked, leaning into the phone to try and hear better. Anything to get a sense of where they were.

“I don’t know,” came October’s unsure reply. Followed by the sound of a man yelling. “I’ve got to go now.”

“No, no, wait. At least tell me somewhere I can meet the two of you; to see if you’re alright.”

“I’ll call you back later, Darren. I have to go now.”

“October, wait—”

The line went dead.