Listed: Book One of The Listed Trilogy

Chapter Ten

Task

I feel like fainting, like letting the world slip away so that I won't remember the message. But I can't faint, and the words stay on the screen, black on a white background.

My breaths are shaky and unsure, as though my lungs could falter at any second. I take a deep breath, and look at Laila, who's on her own laptop.

"Laila?" I say. She turns, and looks over at me.

"What?" she asks.

"Can you come over here?" I ask nervously. She stands up, and begins to walk over. I watch her as she comes to stand next to me.

"What's up?" she asks.

"Look at the screen." I say shakily, gesturing at the screen. She stares at it.

"Athena, there's nothing there." she says with a frown. I stare at the screen in disbelief. The screen is black, the words lost.

"What? I swear, there was a message right there just a second ago!" I exclaim, staring at the blank screen. Laila scoffs.

"Alright, then, what did it say?" she asks.

"It said, 'Remember that we're watching'." I explain. She furrows her brow.

"Why would it say that?" she asks. I shake my head.

"I don't know, maybe it had something to do with what I looked up earlier?" I ask more than say. She nods her head slowly, then faster.

"If I'm right, and the government is hiding something about the Listings, then that would make sense." she says, rubbing her chin. "But that wouldn't explain why the screen went blank, if the message was even there." I frown.

"It was there, I swear. Maybe they turned the screen off because they didn't want anyone else to see the message." I say, and Laila looks like she's processing the information.

"I guess that would make sense, but the government can't just hack into your laptop, can they?" I shake my head.

"I don't know if they can. It would make sense if they could, because they are-"

"Laila Sauer to General Babcock's office, Laila Sauer." a female voice interrupts me over the intercom.

Laila's face turns white like a ghost, and her arms hang limply at her sides. She looks at me, and swallows. She turns, and walks towards the door, closing it quietly when she leaves.

I stare after her, at the closed door. I want to follow her, I have a strong urge to. But I know that it would be stupid of me to do so, because if Laila is in trouble and then the find out that I was following her, she'll be even deeper in trouble.

I sigh, and stare at the black screen.

"It's something about the Listings." I whisper to myself. "It has to."

Laila returns, her face even whiter than when she left.

"What's wrong?" I ask her, swinging my legs over the side of my bed.

She doesn't reply, but opens the drawers in her desk, and takes the contents out of them. She takes out her laptop, and carefully sets it down next to her hairbrush.

"Laila?" I ask nervously, taking a step closer to her bed. She sighs.

"They moved me to Facility 5." she mumbles. My mouth hangs open, and I stare at her.

"Why?" I ask. She shakes her head.

"I asked the same question." she says. "She said that it was none of my business." Laila looks at me, all of her things in a small black duffle bag.