Lapis Lazuli

12 - Eternal Ember

12 - Eternal Ember

The surprise on Billfort's face was immediate as she spins around just in time for me to reach her. Her quick reflexes stunned me for a while, but the thought was immediately pushed aside as we both fell on the bed, my arm pressed against her neck the only thing keeping the small distance between us.

"What the hell's wrong with you?!" Her shocked expression was paired with her eyes that widened infinitesimally.

I tried to keep my composure. The image of the glowing neon green light from her back occupied my mind, and quickly I pushed myself off of her and reached for her arm.

She was quick--or maybe I was too distracted with the alarm that blared in my head. Her right hand immediately shot out to slap my hand away. She pushed herself into a sitting position, her green eyes wide on me as she glares at me with rage. "Get the fck away from me!"

"There's something in your back."

Her expression toned down into a look of confusion, her eyebrows knitting close together. "What?"

"Just--" I waved my hand in a hurry. "Just turn around, will you?"

Before she could process my words or even try to defend herself again I reached for her arm, pulling it to the opposite side so that she was quickly forced to turn around. I shifted to the side and reached for the hem of Billfort's shirt to lift it up, hoping at the back of my mind that it isn't what I think it is.

And there it was. A scar the shape of a rectangle and the size of a credit card. The 4  lines weren't normal-looking skin marks. They all glowed in bright neon green color, as if someone drew it with bright highlighters. The scars making up the shape were obviously procured by a laser-bladed tool, one of the organization's surgical tools that seemed more than familiar even for me who has only seen it once---during the operation of implanting the chips in us.

I glared at the permanent mark just a few inches from the waistband of Billfort's jeans. The scars glowed even in the dark, a distingushing characteristic of any scar with a chip compartment underneath its enclosed skin. What's different though, was the neon green light it emitted.

"What is it?!" Billfort spun around and stared at me in anticipation. I looked back at her in confusion, still in the process of sorting out my thoughts.

Glowing scars like that are only seen on anyone who has been experimented by the organization. Why does she have it on her back?

"What have they done to you?"

If it was possible for her eyebrows to get closer, it would most likely be now. "What?"

"Your back," I waved at her. "You have a scar."

"Scar?" She immediately reached for her back, her expression changing after a second. "Where did I get this?"

"It's not an ordinary skin mark."

She stared back at me. "I don't understand."

I ignored her confusion. "Can you remember when and where you got that?"

She shook her head. "I didn't even know I had it."

I forced my eyes close, heaving out a sigh in hopes of calming myself down as I pressed my thumb and my middle finger on my temples. As if it should make things better, seeing Billfort's scar only made matters more confusing.

"Do you know what this is?"

I turned away from her, heaving out another sigh and hoping that it could take my problems away too.