Subject 15

CHAPTER 16 - Seth

Samantha, the other classmates, and I, returned to the classroom just in time to hear the bell ring, and I moodily collected my belongings in the mad scramble. When I had picked up my backpack and turned around, I found myself facing Samantha, and she asked, "See you tomorrow?" with an almost mischievous grin on her face.

I turned my head slightly, and a smirk played on my face. "Tomorrow," I agreed. Samantha's smile grew, and she turned around without another word, leaving me to wonder if I had done the right thing.

A thousand emotions played in my mind, but I let none of them touch my Mask. No, I kept my stonewall appearance, but on the inside I was almost dying. I battled myself in wondering if I should continue this... interesting relationship with Samantha or if I should just abandon her and the others to keep all of them, and my own self, safe. All the while, the Knight's words played with my ears, "I will make your life a living hell! I will find you, break you, make you beg for mercy, and I will kill everyone you love, right before your eyes, including her.... And then I will kill you."

The word, "her," rang in my ears long after the bell had ceased sounding in my mind. Her, her, her... Already I was becoming too attached, and that was dangerous. Attachments, feelings, led to weaknesses, and that led to capture... Capture led to torture, and torture led to one of two things: control, or death.

And I wasn't too fond of either.

But at the same time I wondered if I could let them go. Every time I battled with myself the outcome was always the same: I would remember Samantha's blue eyes and her voice asking if I would see her tomorrow.

Raven sensed my turmoil on the bus ride home. She slightly nudged my arm as I sat beside her, and asked with a softness I hadn't heard before, "Hey... you ok?"

I nodded after a pause, then said, "Just wondering if I should do this."

Raven was slightly surprised, and her eyebrows lifted as she asked, "Do what? Continue to go to school?"

I nodded again, not trusting myself to say the right thing.

Raven sighed and gently reached across my chest to grab my shoulder, turning me to look at her as she said, "Seth, no offense, but I don't see why you're having this argument with yourself. You're obviously smarter than most of the other people there, and quite honestly, if it comes down to this, you owe me." Raven looked me dead in the eyes as she continued, "It was my scholarship money you used, and after patching you up twice, I think I can call in this favor. Plus, where on earth are you going to get three square meals a day for free?"

I nodded at that, but turned my head away from Raven.

Raven didn't stop there though. Instead, she moved her hand from my shoulder to my chin, gently turning my head to look at her again. Her hands were neither smooth nor rough, but somewhere in between the two mediums. Her brown eyes softened as she said, "Seth, it's going to be alright. The first day is never perfect. Just stick it out, and you'll see. Just go for one more day."

And in the end I did. I went the next day, and the next, and the next after that, and I saw Samantha the next day as well, and the next, and the next after that, up to the point of where seeing Samantha had become a part of my school day.

Like clockwork, I worked on the same schedule, arriving at the bus stop at the exact moment every day, entering my math class with the same silent expression, watchful of the man with dark eyes, and sitting down to eat with Samantha in the same spot in the cafeteria. Every time at lunch Samantha would sing something under her breath, and one day when I started to lightly tap my fingers with the beat, she smiled at me and said, "Sing with me!"