NUMB

Day Twenty-Three - Jet

After Elyse passed out, I had a moment where I wasn't sure what the hell I was supposed to do with her. Take her back to her room? Or the infirmary? With everything that might be going on in this place, would it even be safe to take her to the infirmary? But if something was really wrong, if she was sick and needed help, and I took her back to her room, what if she got worse?

I took her to the infirmary in the end. Made up some story about doing a routine check of the dorm floors and finding her on the floor near the bathroom. I don't even know if they do routine checks of the dorms at night. It worked though. The nurse who was working last night looked so tired I don't think she could tell I was lying.

It was too difficult to go anywhere but back out to the gates after that. I had wanted to go back to the dorms and tell Edie what had happened. But there were too many people watching now. Too many eyes for me to be able to slip back into the stairwell.

I've just started my shift for the day. Luckily, I'm on C-P and my shift starts during their lunch break at noon, so I'm able to get a spot in the cafeteria. Edie is easy to spot when she comes in. She's not alone, there's a guy with her who looks familiar. I think he was there that day I had lunch with them.

Edie sees me too and her eyebrows raise, but she doesn't stop to talk to me. I don't try to go to her, because Rhys is working this shift as well today and the last thing I need is he-who-doesn't-speak to be the one who rats me out for even looking at one of the Numb kids. He seems like the type to do that.

So we don't get to talk during lunch. It isn't until their free hour that I manage to get a chance to tell her what happened last night with Elyse. The courtyard is full of Numb mingling about with one another. I catch sight of Edie, alone this time, standing off towards the wall, where the sun is casting a shadow.

"Jet," she says as I approach her, "what happened to Elyse? All I heard was that she's in the infirmary."

"She came to meet me last night. I asked her to," I explain when I see her expression shift to something searching. "We were just talking. Then she passed out. I didn't know what else to do. I don't trust the infirmary, I really don't, but I was worried that if I didn't take her down there, she'd only get worse."

"You did the right thing. I don't trust the infirmary anymore either, but that was right." Despite the words being said with only half the emotion of a Sensitive, they reassure me. I feel less guilty about the whole thing now.

"Have you been in to see her at all?"

"I haven't had any time to go yet. I was planning on doing it now, but the infirmary is so busy I couldn't get in there." She raises her hand to her mouth, like she's about to start her gnawing again. I can't help but look at the empty spaces where fingers should be but aren't. Her hand drops to her side. "Have you been in?"

"Not yet. My shift ends at six, so I'll go in then to see if I can find anything out."

"You'll tell me if you're able to get in?"

"Of course."

///

The nurses won't let me into the room to see Elyse. I've tried going in a few times now and it's like they have this sixth sense for when people are going where they shouldn't. There's not a nurse in sight. Then the second I touch the door, one appears out of thin air to tell me I can't go in there. It's incredibly frustrating.

"Can you tell me what happened? I'm the one who brought her in last night and I'm just wondering if she's okay."

I still can't get over the weird looks people give me in this place when I express any sort of interest in the Numb. They really don't see them as people, do they? The nurse I'm speaking with now, after he lets the muscles in her face relax from the pinched expression he pulled, tells me, "It's just fatigue. This one has a history of insomnia."

"Fatigue? That's it?"

"Yes and she's resting now, so you can't go in there and disturb her. She'll be fine." He pats my shoulder as he walks away, tossing a glance at me over his shoulder as he goes. Like I'm about to slip into the room the second he leaves my presence.

The thought does cross my mind, but I push it aside. Better to not get into trouble while. I'll have to tell Edie about my failure to actually see Elyse the next time I see her.