The Insiders

Chapter 34

Chapter 34- Bryce

We will die, but Amy will live. The words repeat in my mind as we walk back to our room. She can't be killed by the serum while we can be. Most men would feel dread and grief about this news, but then again I'm not like most men. I'm overjoyed about this news. Amy has a better chance at surviving this war. The rest of us still have a slim chance. Thomas and I seem to be okay with this, but Sharlene and Coren aren't. They've been inseparable since Steve told us why we had been separated like this. The group we had been in were the ones who would be killed by the serum no matter what. The other group has a chance. Some of them it's slim chance, but it's better than ours. I'm just anxious to find out how great Amy's chances are of living. I feel a tap on my shoulder.

"We're not going to go back to the room for a while." Coren speaks on behalf of himself and Sharlene. I nod. As I look at Sharlene I can tell she's barely holding onto to her tears. I quickly turn away, knowing how much she hates being seen as weak. Sharlene and Coren walk away as tightly together as they can. Thomas and I are alone walking back to our room. I've never noticed how long this walk is. Maybe because Amy and I always walk together and every moment with her is fast. Too fast.

"I don't think we've ever just been one on one with eachother." I try to strike up a conversation.

"No we haven't." Thomas replies. He won't look at me. I wonder why?

"That's interesting." I say. What else am I supposed to say?

"How?" He asks. I feel like I'm years older than this guy not just a year.

"Well, we've been here for how long? We've shared a room all this time. We're in the same group, but it's never been just us." I explain myself.

"It's probably because you're always with Amy." He says. At first I think he's angry, but then he laughs so I laugh with him. Once our weak laughter dies down we don't say anything else. Jesus this is a long walk. I wonder how long Amy's going to be. She should take longer than I did I'm thinking.

"Ten weeks, five days." Thomas interrupts my thoughts. I look at him with the most confused face ever and for once his turquoise eyes look back. He laughs at me as if what he just said was obvious.

"You asked how long we've been here. Ten weeks, five days." He further explains himself. I take a moment to realize that he's right. Well of course he's right! He has the gift of knowing.

"Anyway, I'm going to walk around for a bit by myself. See ya back at the room." He says as he turns the right corner. I wave good-bye. As soon as he begins to walk away I sprint to the room. Not the normal human sprint. My sprint. The one that's faster than a cheetah. When I finally reach the door, I smile. Now that made the walk faster. I open the door and walk in. It's weird to see such a big room, empty. I shut the door behind me. I sit on my bed until I decide to take a shower.

The hot water is soothing on my tense muscles. After dropping several woman shampoos, conditioners and God knows what other woman shower things,I find some shampoo that doesn't smell like coconut or lavender. I scrub through my hair. I wash away the terrified, sad and nervous faces from today with the soap that slowly flows down the drain like a river. I spend a while slouched in the water. Just standing there. Thinking. Thinking about Amy. She's all I ever think about. I wonder if she's okay. God I hope she is. This can't be easy for her. Not after Joy. A chill runs down my spine as I remember Amy's face when she saw her sister. How broken she was those next few days. I've tried time and time again to erase those images from my mind, but it's hard. I love her and I've never seen someone so hurt. I feel like I can hear her cries. They're fresh in my mind as if they're real.

My head snatches up as I realize they are real. I quickly turn the water off, grab a white towel and wrap it around my waist. I whip the door open but stop in my tracks as I don't see blonde hair, I see hair as black as night and the darkest eyes I've ever seen.

"What the hell are you-" I yell but I stop as the girl turns around. It's not just any girl it's my girl.

"Amy?" I ask as quiet as a whisper. She fully turns around. Her face is red and blotchy with tears and my eyes did not deceive me, she has black hair. I quickly go toward her and wrap my arms around her. As soon as her tiny body hits my bare chest she begins to sob.

"Sh-sh-sh-sh," I whisper to her. "What happened?"

"The serum." She begins to shake. I wrap my arms around her tighter.

"You don't have to talk about it." I breathe into her ear. She begins to pull away.

"No, we should. At least so you know why my hair's black now." She laughs, wiping away her tears. I smile back. I can't help it. Her beautiful smile is just so contagious. We walk over to our bed and sit down. She stares down at her fingers, intently twiddling them around. I wrap my fingers around hers to get her to stop.

"Well, you know that my group was the group that would-" She stops, not wanting to finish the sentence.

"Yes I know that." I coax her to continue as I push her hair away from her face.

"We took a small dose of the serum. Just so we knew what it would be like." I shiver as I think about how risky that is. Even a small dose could kill some of us. I kiss Amy on the forehead knowing how hard that must have been to do after what happened to Joy.

"My gift is light. The serum causes your power to work against you. Therefore my light turned to-"

"Darkness." I finish her sentence.

"Yes," She continues. "That's why my hair is black and my eyes are this colour."

"That's all that happened?" I ask, letting my hope rise.

"No," She lets go of my hands and stands from the bed. "I couldn't produce light anymore."

Amy stares at her hands as if they're not hers.

"It sounds stupid to think that that had the most effect on me, but it did. Light is part of me more than ever before and having that ripped away from me, it was surreal." I would stand up from the bed, but I know she's not done.

"I had some really dark thoughts too. Scary ones that I don't even want to think about anymore." I take that as my cue to stand and hug her from behind. It's a good thing. I can't stay away from her for long.

"It's over now." I whisper to her. She turns around in my arms and almost automatically we kiss. This must look weird. I'm kissing a girl with black hair and dark eyes. If it wasn't for the magnetic pull I have towards Amy I wouldn't know it was her I was kissing. I pull away first for air but then stay there when I see something.

"Amy, go look in the mirror." I tell her. Her eyes go wide in panic as she runs into the bathroom.

"My hair and eyes changed back." I hear her say from the bathroom.

"Bryce! You scared me! Why would you do that!" She laughs.

"For the record I think you're beautiful no matter what." I comment as she comes back to me. Once she's close enough, I wrap my arms around her waist as she wraps her arms around my neck. We begin to sway around in the middle of the room. It quickly turns into a dance without music.

"Ten weeks." I say as I bring Amy up from a dip.

"Ten weeks?" She asks, completely lost.

"We've been dating for ten weeks." I spin her around.

"Happy ten weeks." I smile.

"Happy ten weeks." She giggles back.