Decipher | Watty's 2017

XCVIII. Chiliad

Chiliad

/ˈki-lē-ˌad, -əd\

noun

a group of 1000

It was a few weeks later when all of us finally willed the strength to move about the colony and out of our rooms for the first time since Janice's death. When my eyes met Calum's dark one's, I noticed how the bags around his eyes had immensely grown based off of his sleepless nights. His hair that was once meticulously cared for was now shoved all over the place as though he couldn't care less how it looked.

Something about his demeanor felt off. The normally happy man that always brought joy to the rest of our group was no longer with us. My thoughts seemed to lead to only one conclusion as I sat down on the sofa with Luke in the room where we usually hung out. Calum, the one person I had promised Janice that I would protect, was looking as though he were drowning in sorrow, which only brought immense guilt down on my body.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked suddenly, breaking me out of my silent reverie as I stared at Calum with sorrow filled eyes. I shook my head to signal yes, but Luke didn't seem to accept it as his arm slung around me and pulled me closer. He whispered soothing words into my ear as he told me that I was able to trust him with anything, but I knew that I couldn't entrust this information in him.

Knowing Luke's protective nature, I knew that this would not blow over well with him, which led me to stare in Calum's direction during the whole two hours that we sat in our assigned seats. The boy across from me never once peeped his eyes up to stare at any of us as we all shared stories of Michael, trying to hide our emotional distraught over the past few months.

It was obvious by the way his curls kept falling in his face and he refused to push them back that he was in a different state of mind. Nothing seemed to allow him the ability to move past his crippling depression. I narrowed my eyebrows at this, knowing that it was the same reaction I would have if Luke and I were to ever split up.

As I kept my eyes trained on him, I failed to notice the young brunette girl walking up to me until she pulled on my shirt sleeve. Only then did I allow the young girl to find a seat on my lap as she attempted to start a conversation not involving the war or battle strategies with me.

"Tell me about Janice," she demanded softly; however, even with her tiny voice, Calum still picked up on the woman's name and his eyes shot up, staring at Riley as though she were his savior. Riley never noticed the look though, only stared at me with intrigued eyes as I took a deep breath and prepared the only symbolance I would ever give as a eulogy to the fallen girl.

"Janice was a hard girl to take when you first met her," I began, looking into Riley's eyes at first to make her feel more comfortable with what I was saying, but as I went on, I began noticing Calum's pleading eyes and took the chance to address him about the woman he truly loved. "She just walked straight up to me on the first day we met at the lab and said that she wanted to be friends." Calum smiled slightly at this, pleased to know that I knew the same girl as he did.

"She never really changed as she grew up," I explained, Riley giving me a slight grin as she nodded her head wildly. I figured that she just simply loved the story, but in hindsight, I thought that maybe she was excited because she knew she had captured Calum's attention despite his sad eyes never looking up before.

"She was still that bubbly and sensitive girl I had always met in y first year at the lab," I assured her, looking at Calum as well as I said that, knowing that he would find solace in the fact that I still believed that Janice was a good person, despite her faults and ill decisions near the end of her life. I struggled to keep my composure as I tried to embrace my feelings in the best way possible.