When The Light Goes Out

Chapter - 16

It wasn't the best idea to wait up without any kind of idea as to whether or not he would even be up at that hour. The zoo was not yet open and she had three paper bags worth of breakfast along with a tall cup of peach tea and a coffee with no one to share them with. This is just getting sad, she thought. I'm really just pushing myself on him. He doesn't want anything to do with me.

"What are you doing here?" Dennis' voice had the same effect as a bucket of ice water going over her head.

First she froze, a shiver ran up her spine, her voice caught in her throat then she shook her head. Monique jumped up and turned to face him. "I-I... Uhh... I-I brought, um, breakfast! I thought maybe...we could eat together."

The look on his face wasn't making her feel any better at all. "You're not going to stop, are you?"

"No, I'm not," she replied, holding up one of the bags. "Will you eat with me...or am I going to have to eat all of this by myself?"

Dennis shook his head but he didn't say no. She started to walk away when he grabbed her wrist. "Follow me." He unlocked the gates and let her inside. Monique followed him to the far back side of the visitor's area, where a booth was set up. No one was there at the moment and Dennis urged her forward when she lingered too long. She ended up behind him when they reached a door leading down into the maintenance tunnel.

So he's the manager over the maintenance," she thought as she followed him down the tunnel. The space was small, only a couple inches were between her shoulders and the wall but it wasn't completely unnerving. Dennis stopped at the first door and let her into a break room like area. Monique placed the bags and drinks  down on the table.

Now that they weren't walking anymore, the lack of conversation was bothering her a little. She took out the contents of one of the bags and put them in front of him before taking out her own breakfast. A bagel, medium tea and an assortment of toppings for said bagel. Dennis didn't seem any more interested in the actual breakfast than he did at the notion of it. "If you don't like it I got a sandwich in another bag and some doughnuts too," she said.

"No, thank you," he said disinterestedly.

Monique looked around the room as she pinched off pieces of her bagel. It was a small room with a refrigerator and a sink. The table was taking up the majority of the room.The only thing keeping it from reminding her of home was the odd colored lighting. It made the room feel more like a place away from everyday comforts. "So... This is where you stay?"

Dennis nodded but didn't speak.

"Does anyone know you're down here?"

"No," he said with a sigh. "Why are you still doing this? We don't want your help."

Monique looked back to him. "Some of you don't want my help. Why don't you?"

"We already talked about that," he replied. "We're not talking about it again."

"I'm sorry. I don't want to make you upset with me. I just want to help you with whatever you're going through."

Dennis shook his head. "You keep saying that but it's not enough. Dr. Fletcher believes in us too, but we can't involve her either. It's not enough to say that you believe us." He leaned forward onto the table. "You could never understand where we are. It's beyond you  so explaining won't help you."

The look in his eyes sent shivers down Monique's spine again. Whatever he was talking about it just felt like something that maybe she really couldn't understand. "What's going on? I'm not gonna to leave you alone so you might as well tell me."

He sat back again, sighing and rubbing his head. "I can't. No one else is necessary but us. If I tell you, you're not gonna believe me anyway."

"Why not? I'm going along with everything else just fine," she said. "Look, if you tell me, I'll do something for you. What do you need?"

"Nothing."

Again, the conversation was going in circles. He would tell her a little bit then back off again. It was something personally important to all of them, something only they could do and they didn't need anyone else to do it. That could be anything, Monique thought. I still don't know anything! My head is starting to hurt now.

She rested her elbow on the table and set her forehead in her hand with a heavy sigh. "This is really hard for me to do, you know? It takes so much for me just to sit here right now. I know you don't know me but I don't bother doing things if I don't think it's getting me anywhere." Monique looked up, resting her chin on the back of her hands. She couldn't keep the tired look from her eyes. "Something is bothering you- all of you- and I just want to help you through whatever it is. A lot of people have hurt you but I'm not one of them. I'm still trying to be here because I think we will get somewhere. Are you really going to keep telling me I'm wrong after bringing me all the way down here?"

His expression hardened like it had when he first saw her waiting outside. "No. I don't think we need to." He suddenly left the room mumbling to himself.

Monique couldn't even think about what was happening as her head throbbed. It had to be the worst headache yet. The situation was one she had never had to deal with before and her stress levels were way too high. She closed her eyes and tried to calm herself. She couldn't function like that, let alone call herself driving anywhere.

I...I just need to lay down for a minute. Just a minute. She slowly got to her feet, which brought up the dizziness. Her head was swimming now as she stood up straight. Once she felt less like falling over, she made her way to the door and made her way out into the hallway. Dennis quickly walked up to her. "You need to-"

"I need to lay down," Monique mumbled. "Do you have somewhere I could rest for a moment?"

Dennis reluctantly helped her down the hall to another room. Monique kept closing her eyes to lessen the throbbing in her head so she had to trust him to lead her without letting her bump into anything. He unlocked another door and led her into a room. She felt something soft underneath her hand and slowly released his arm in order to lower herself onto the bed. 

She laid down and instantly felt just a little better. "I'm sorry I gave you so much trouble," she whispered. "I just didn't want to lose my friend."

Dennis stood over her with his arms folded and mouth set in a stern line. He still didn't understand why she kept trying to stay, there was nothing for her. She got nothing out of staying with them. "Patricia says that you can stay," he said finally. "She thinks that you could help us...keep things moving smoothly."

Monique let her body relax against the firm mattress. I did it. Maybe they don't trust me yet but they won't push me away anymore. Dennis left her to rest in the room and closed the door behind himself. "I don't like her staying here," he said.

"She is willing to stay with us as long as we behave accordingly," Patricia replied. "Her staying here will make your tasks easier. Just make sure she trusts you but there is no reason to tell her any more than you have to, Dennis."

"I know that," he said. "I'm not sure this is a good idea."

"As long as you do what you're supposed to there will be no issues. Remember why we're doing this and everything will progress as planned."

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A/N: Here we go! I'm not gonna lie, I'm kind of glad that the whole thing has moved on to this point. I just wanted to make sure how Monique ended up in the underground area and why they decided to keep her around was not some lame reason that was really a "just because she's the OC" type of thing. I wanted it to be..."natural", if that type of thing can be natural...? I don't know. It probably still seems that way anyway.

Thank you for reading and even more for reading my paragraphs after the chapters too :P