Victory for the People

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Ava's POV

It has been a day since the public execution of Lucifer Griffin, it's been quiet since then. I have been giving Collin his space because I know killing Griffin took a toll on him. He didn't know what killing someone would feel like, and now he's realizing how horrible it really is.

I should talk to Collin, to see how he's doing. Turning on the water, the cold hits my face as I rinse my face off and dry it. Man I forgot to shut the window last night, great. Now I am going to have bugs in my room.

Looking out the window before I shut it, I see Griffin's office window. Shaking my head, I close my window and get dressed and head out to find Collin. Walking down hallways on the way to Collin's room, I hear heavy breathing from the training room.

Going into the training room, Collin is practicing. I walk over to him and put a hand on his shoulder so I could get his attention. He turns and looks at me, sweat dripping down from his forehead.

"Yes?" He says while wiping away his sweat.

"What do we do now?" I ask leaning on a table. He stands there for a couple of minutes thinking. He places his hand on his chin.

"Did the officials move his stuff out of the office yet?"

Why does he want to know that, I don't keep up with them. They can do whatever they want to his office.
"I don't know, why don't we go check" I got off the table and started to walk toward Griffin's office.

********

We walk into his office and look around. The officials haven't been in here yet. Walking inside, Collin goes to his desk and starts looking through the drawers.

"What are you looking for, Collin?" Not moving at all, I look at him, trying to read his body language.

"I'm looking for anything that can give us clues to help reverse what he did. Or anything that he was hiding, either one will work." Collin says while bent over looking though some paper he found in one of the drawers.

I start looking at the books on the bookshelf, the books seems so old, the pages soft and frail, ready to rip at the slightest tug. I open book after book, looking to see if any where like the first one we found, cut open in the middle. None were like that, but even so, it still felt nice to hold a book again. To feel something familiar. Walking past each bookshelf, I kept checking the pages. Nothing. I walked around the desk where Griffin sat.The chair he sat in was empty, and seemed like he had never sat in it. I remember him letting me sit here when I was little. Collin moved from the desk, then to the bookshelf to see if I missed anything. I watched as he began skimming through the pages of the ancient books.

Sitting down, I ran my fingertips over the wooden desk and fuzzy placemat. I flicked on the desk lamp and began opening the drawers to my left. Papers, pens, files, and reports. Nothing interesting seemed to live inside the ink of each paper so I decided to leave them be. I began opening the left drawers, finding the same things. I lifted reports, hoping to find anything of what Collin wanted, but nothing seemed to be turning up. I dropped the papers back into the drawer and heard a hollow thunk. I looked down, moving the reports on top of the desk. I didn't seem to notice the cut out square in the bottom the first time, and I guess Collin missed it too. I used my fingernails to lift the layer of wood, and underneath was another book. I picked it up, looking down at the hard back book. A chill ran down my spine and I looked up, almost as if to make sure Collin wasn't watching me.

Collin's mark was showing prominently from his lighter skin color. I stared at it before bowing my head to look back at the book, the red cover bearing the same mark. I lifted the cover and felt the pages, all of them new and crisp. I turned the pages, every single one was blank. There was no writing, no pictures, nothing. Every page was just a blanket of white. I flipped another page to look at the final page, but this one had writing on it. Black ink in old, scripted writing.

'Doors from the past

Unordinary, you are to all

the key opens at last

In the end only answer one call

A choice to end all days

Society, to preserve or raze'

"Society to preserve or raze?" I whispered, my voice gentle and quiet.

Slowly my eyes began to grow, and it slowly began to set in. Griffin wasn't talking about raising society. He wasn't talking about saving us, he was talking about destroying it. I looked up, Collin now facing away from me. His back turned to me, I stared at him not realizing I'm watching him. Realizing what Griffin said clicks in my head. I continue to stare at him and my thoughts leave my mind.