Selected

Thirteenth

Dinner was quite as per usual. Addeck didn't show up, Hal seemed to be on thin ice with her mother, and Vox and his father were still gone. Mrs. Bly had elaborated that there was a mistake that one of the technicians had made that needed to be fixed immediatly. They were probably going to be gone all night trying to fix the problem. But other than that, no one spoke. I picked at my food, not really eating it. I took one last sip of my water before placing my napkin on my plate. "May I be excused?" I had learned that it was always polite to ask before getting up.

Mrs. Bly nodded and I got up from the table and made my way back to my room. I had had enough with the silence and had to get out of there. I pulled out the Search Engine and sat in bed, propping some pillows up against he headboard.

"What would you like to search, Emmary?"

The whole machine talking thing still freaked me out, but I continued on. "Clinson Vaughn."

The screen changed to bring up a list of links to all the information on Clinson Vaughn. I decided to click on the link to his biography. It brought up the same picture as before, a man in his late forties with brown hair and soft brown eyes. There was just something peculiar about him, something I couldn't place. He looked so familiar, and yet I didn't know why. I started to read about Clinson Vaughn, the only son to Nadaleigh and Blithe Vaughn. He joined the guard at the age of 18. He was now a Colonel stationed in an undisclosed location. I read about his career as an officer in his home sector until he got promoted to Captain and served in Sector 3 until he was transferred three years ago. This timeline showed that I would have never crossed paths with him, unless that undisclosed location happened to be Sector 16F. Which I highly doubted.

I looked through news articles that had mentioned his name, but didn't find anything that would have connected him to me in any way. He lived in Sector 3 for majority of his career but moved away long before I had arrived. But there was a nagging feeling that I had known him, that I had seen him before. Something.

I sighed and set the Search Engine aside and picked up my book. I was half way finished with it and was hoping to get the chance to get another before I did.

I woke up a few hours later to a pinging sound. I frowned and sat up, I must have fallen asleep while reading. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the clock, it was well past midnight now. The ping sounded again, I had never heard that noise before. I looked over to see it was the Search Engine. I picked it up to see I had a notification. I tapped the message and the woman started talking to me again.

"One of your searches has been updated, would you like to read about it, Emmary?"

"Yes."

At my word, the screen changed to bring up a news article on Clinson Vaughn. It was his obituary. He had died in battle serving his country. I was in a state of shock. This man that I had learned so much about in such a short time was now dead. I didn't know him, at least not really, but I had felt a little connection with him. It was upsetting to see that he had passed. I turned off the Search Engine and placed it on the night stand.

I suddenly felt very thirsty and decided to help myself to a glass of water in the kitchen. As I descended the dark stairs I saw a light turn on from a hallway I had never been down. I had assumed it was Mrs. And Mr. Bly's bedroom. There was a muffled noise coming from the room. I continued on my way to the kitchen. I opened a cabinet, grabbed a glass and filled it with water.

Mrs. Bly entered just as I had finished the glass. "Oh, Emmary, dear. You startled me." Mrs. Bly was in a silk bathrobe with her hair in a tangled mess. I had never seen her like this. She was always so put together, never without her makeup.

I smiled at her, "Sorry. I was just thirsty."

She shook her head and grabbed a glass. "It's quite alright. I couldn't sleep and thought a glass of water would help."