Counterfeit

-fortyone--

--fortyone- PLEASE  LEAVE  SOME  COMMENTS  !!  !!  !!  !! 

EVERYONE WAS HAPPY to see MiKinley and I back to our usual selves at breakfast. Well, everyone except Ava, who still hadn't managed to put her differences with him, aside. Their bickering picked up almost instantly, and both Thea and myself had to remind them to tone it down at least five times before we were all dismissed until lunch. 

Charleston was across the room from us standing by the entrance. Along side him was another guard who observably scanned his eyes across the room to ensure everything was in order, but not Charleston; his eyes were only on my table. 

I hadn't managed to see him after my talk with MiKinley, but I was hopeful to be able to do so at some point in the day. I almost felt the urge to approach Patrick and ask if I could meet with Charleston, but then I remembered that we didn't need to hide when we spoke to each other, only if we wanted to touch. 

I was frightened, though. I knew I had grown accustomed to not being able to make contact with anyone, but the minute Charleston was in sight, old habits seemed to return to me like waves to a shore. I was afraid of reaching for him in front of people, and I was anxious that someone would catch me, but I was even more terrified of Charleston being taken away again because I didn't know if I could bare to live through that once more. 

So far, I had been able to control the habits - remind myself not to get too close to people, and never to say too much. The other evening at supper I had unconsciously sat too close to Patrick, and for a moment I couldn't breathe thinking that a guard had seen us. If it wasn't for the thick, red tape which divided everything - divided benches into sectioned seats, areas into personal spaces, and distance into limitations, then I would always be worrying over the margin between myself, and everyone else.

Everywhere, if you looked for one, you would always find a reminder of the rule: friends laughing yet sitting apart from each other, people walking into cabins in rehearsed lines, hands always by ones' side. For the first time since being here, I began to understand what we were: prisoners, of a sort. Our only crime: being Insusceptible.

Breakfast soon ended and we were all dismissed to occupy our day in the limited opportunities we had. I took my time leaving and motioned for MiKinley to follow me outside. 

We stopped several yards away from the entrance to the Mess Hall, and I waited until everyone passed us before I spoke to MiKinley. Charleston appeared in sight, but I gave him a look which required him to wait until I had finished with Kinley. 

He followed my eyes and saw him hovering by the doors. In an instant, MiKinley seemed unsettled. I turned to him before he could interject. 

"You don't have to trust him, but you do have to trust me."

He listened and sighed heavily, his eyes flickering back and forth between Charleston and myself. 

"I do trust you." He promised me. I could tell that it was taking him a lot of courage to say what came next. "Just be careful around him. I don't want anything bad to happen to you." 

"It won't. But thank you, Kinley." 

He gave me a reassuring smile as he granted me his acceptance of leaving with Charleston. I was hesitant and I looked back over my shoulder at him, before joining Charles and following him wherever it was he was taking me. 

"Good-morning Pip." He greeted me, voice deep and raspy.

"Charleston." I murmured, smiling over at him. 

He waited a few moments before asking me the question that invaded all his thoughts. "How did it go? With MiKinley?" 

I took a deep breath thinking of where to start. "It actually went really well." I told him, still feeling a little surprised whenever I thought about how smoothly it all went. 

"Yeah?" 

I nodded. "We talked. And it was nice because we both got a chance to hear each other, you know, more than just listening to the words the other had to say." 

"So it's good with you two now?" 

A smile crept up on my lips as I answered him truthfully. "Yeah. We're good. He still isn't your biggest fan, though." I joked, earning an amused laugh from Charleston. 

"Guess I'll just have to try harder." 

As our laughter died down, our path came to a stop. I looked up at the building before me; we were back at the Grey Range. 

I was excited to be here again: it was where Patrick and Ava had taken me when Charleston returned, the place where I had my first touch in 9 months. The building offered me endless promises of aliveness, yet it also required a certain amount of secrecy to enter. If Charleston was taking me here, then it meant that he wanted to talk to me about something. My guess was that it was something I was never supposed to know about. 

"Charleston, why are we here again?"

His answer filled my heart with relief - felt like ice to a burn. 

For some reason, one I couldn't understand yet, his declaration came with a weight of anxiety that I could see the effects of as it rested on his shoulders quite instantly. It was as though he knew something bad was about to happen, even after the best news I had received in months.

"You're get to talk to your family today, Pip. You get to see them."

-fortyone--

I'm gonna try and have one of these up for every chapter, now!

Happy birthday Dylan! I luv yah, I luv yah cutie. 

My cousin is getting married today!!

-

Christ has set us free.

Galatians 5:13