“Look, I know you need help…but you’re asking the wrong person. I don’t know if your ‘fragile’ little pea-brain can remember, but I was never as patient as you were.”
“I don’t care…I said that before. I expected you to be a little…resistant. So, I took the liberty of borrowing something if you did…” She reaches in her pocket.
“What are you talking about?”
“Does this look familiar?” Out of her pocket she pulls out a small square-shaped holo chip. The moment I realize what it is I lunge for her, but she holds it over the small trench and I freeze.
“This isn’t funny Madison. Give me the chip…”
“I know, and you deserting me isn’t funny either…” I feel my eyes switch to their bright green, blinding her. “AZURITE WOULD YOU TURN THEM OFF…?”
“IT’S NOT MY FAULT! NOW GIVE ME THE CHIP!”
“Oh please, you can survive without it. You still have that pin thing.”
“NO I DON’T OKAY!? NOW GIVE ME THE FREAKING HOLO CHIP ALREADY!”
“WILL YOU HELP ME!?”
“NO!” she holds the chip out further and smirks.
“I’m gonna drop it, I swear…but if you help me, it’ll be safe, back in my pocket.”
“YOU’RE SO—Ugh…f-fine! I’ll help you! But if you have some…withdrawal or something, don’t blame me…” She squeals and puts the chip back in her pocket. “By the way, if anything happens to that chip, you’re going to end up in the trench, tied up, in the cold…just saying…” She looks down, as if she’s trying to make sure I’m not joking—which I’m not. “You might need this…I mean, it’s yours technically…pink’s not really my color…” I throw her old sleeping bag at her.
“Well…thanks but…wait can I ask you two things before we go to sleep?”
“Whatever…”
“Well…first of all, where will you sleep, and second of all, why did you keep this? I mean…you didn’t know I would come back.”
“I have my own sleeping bag, and I didn’t keep it, I found it back at our old camp sight…satisfied?” She nods, “Good, now go to sleep.” That last part may have been a lie, but she believed it. As useful as my Servie body is, I hate some of the new features at night. My eyes are too sensitive to light in the morning, and my ears hear everything in the woods next to us. The smells aren’t too nice either. It takes over twenty minutes for Madison to finally lay still and find a comfort spot. I hear her humming slightly. “What are you doing?”
“Thinking…”
“What would you be thinking about?”
“What I was like before…”
“Of course…”
“What was my favorite color?”
“You liked black a lot…but you liked really dark purple and red…”
“Hmm…thank you…” I want to stop, it is all she asked for, but I can’t hold myself back when I let all of my words spill out in front of us.
“You loved the hideout; you were extremely smart, pretty, and strong, you used to call me ‘Az’, and I called you Maddy, you hated me for taking Michael from you and you’re the one that killed him, you love anything athletic and-and…” I want to keep going, tell her everything I used to know about her, but when I see how shocked her face is, I shut my mouth and turn away. I feel myself falling asleep, but seconds before I do I hear her voice.
“Hey kid, I remember the cakes…” In my head a memory flashes of my first day at the Hideout, in the city, eating my first slice…
YOU ARE READING
Equals
Science FictionAzurite is a fourteen year old girl, only wanting to be like everyone else in her world--equal. That is, until the day she's supposed to become a fifteen year, and is instead chosen by the city's leader, Judge Maria to go out into the world alone t...
