We Are Broken ➳ Falling Skies

≼ Chapter 17 ≽

I was shaken awake and I opened my eyes to see Hal. I groaned.

"What do you want?" I asked. "Don't I still have time?" I rolled on my side letting out another tired groan.

"I want you to come with me. I want to talk to Anne about something."

"So, why do I have to come with you?"

"Because I think you'll want to hear it. It's something Ben and Jackson were talking about this morning with Caden and Matt." I sat up looking around the room.

"Where are they?" I asked.

"I think Maia took Delaney back to her teacher or to go somewhere and I'm not sure where the boys are." I sighed.

"Fine, let's go then."

I got up and grabbed my gun off the hook, slinging it around my head, letting the strap rest on my shoulder and hang across my chest. He pulled me out of the room and we walked down the hall towards the med-lab. We stopped at the doorway, waiting for the current patient to come out. After a couple minutes, they walked out and Hal pulled me in.

"Our turn?" He said, walking in.

"Were you guys waiting out there?" She asked.

"Yeah. You got a sec?" He asked. She grabbed a tray of medical supplies picking it up to move it. Hal and I followed.

"Just. The stress level in camp's hitting 10. I've seen bumps and cuts - you name it. You guys all right? You aren't sick at all, right?"

"No," I replied at the same time as Hal.

"We're fine. It's just, uh... Um..." Hal started leaning on the counter, Anne had set her stuff down.

"You can think of me as your doctor if you want. Anything you guys say stays between us," she says sitting down on a stool looking at us.

"It's Ben... and Jay. Something is up with those two," Hal started.

"Well, they were unharnessed only two days ago. Give them time to readjust," I suggested.

"No, it's not that. It's different. I can tell," he said. "I mean, I know what they've been through, or most of it, I don't want to say all of it. It's not that, it's like - Ben isn't acting like himself. Have you noticed anything with Jay?" Hal looked at me. I shrugged.

"I don't know, I haven't been around either of them much. But I mean, he does seem a little off or a little more touchy and sensitive and a little rude. More than he was before," I added.

"How else are they acting differently?" Anne asked.

"Well, this morning they did two sets of 100 push-ups, without breaking a sweat like it was nothing. I mean Ben could barely do 10 before he was taken."

"We don't know what they had them doing all those months," Anne told us.

"No, I know. It's just, uh..." Hal said, pacing a little. "It's hard to explain it if you didn't know him before."

"Jay was like the big jock and Ben was his little sidekick kind of deal. They were a tag team almost. They helped each other out to get everything covered," I noted.

"Yeah... Ben was my bratty little brother. You know? My bratty little brother that was twice as smart as me but also twice as dumb when Jay was manning the reigns."

"But now they're like..." I started but paused, searching for the right word.

"Like grown-ups?" Anne pitched in. I shook my head.

"No... they're just... different kids now," Hal sighed.

"It's like we know them still but we don't. Like Jay is my twin... we've always felt this connection to each other like we understood each other all the time. But I don't feel it anymore. It feels as if we were never connected like we aren't even twins anymore," I feared.