NUMB

Day Thirty-Nine - Elyse

There is not another assembly in the morning. Nobody appears to have even been informed of what happened in the middle of the night. But I saw it. I know what happened.

I spend the morning in my head, alone. Edie tries to get me to talk during breakfast, during break, during lunch, but I cannot stop thinking about the girl at the wall.

How had she managed to sneak out without anyone seeing her? Wardens patrol the courtyard at night and the fence is shut and locked. The windows are barred. There are no other exits.

By the time free time rolls around, the Compound is buzzing with conversation. Maybe people have heard about the girl by now?

I tune into the conversation, only just now realizing that we are not in the courtyard but are standing in the infirmary. Tasha is speaking with Isaiah and Quinn a few feet in front of me. The buzz of conversation turns to a dull roar in my ears and I finally notice that it is the nurses talking amongst themselves, casting worried glances at one another.

Edie sees that I have finally come back to reality and taps my shoulder. I do not feel it, but the movement of her hand draws my attention towards her. She gives me a small smile, tucks her hair behind one ear. "Are you feeling okay today? You've been...quiet."

"I feel fine." I let my eyes wander through the hall again, watching the nurses and Quinn as he weaves his way through them towards the east side exit. "What's going on?"

"I guess there's been four more deaths today." Edie goes to bite on her nails but realizes and tucks her fingers under her arms instead. Her foot wiggles in her shoe. "A girl got out in the middle of the night and the Wardens had to take her down at the East Gate, a Two."

Not how it happened, but I do not correct her. I do not want to think about how I had seen what had happened. "And the other three?"

Edie shrugs, finally giving in and gnawing on the edge of her thumb nail. "They're all suicides, I think. They won't tell us what's happening. The nurses are nervous though, they keep talking about all the drugs they have been giving us." She catches my gaze, her eyebrows pushed together. "I think they're starting to see what Jet and Tasha have been seeing. What we've been seeing."

"That is a good thing, right? If they see that the drugs are doing this, they will stop giving them to us."

"Maybe, I don't know. They haven't stopped doing the pain tests. The rest of the Threes were called in earlier today."

I glance towards the nurses standing in the hallway, see one looking at me and Edie.

"Don't worry, Tasha was true to her word. We got out of it. According to the files, all of us were tested and proven to be the same as we were this time last year." Edie's mouth quirks up in a half smile, her eyes flicker over towards where Isaiah is standing. "I guess it helps to have a friend who is friendly with one of the nurses."

I purse my lips. "I suppose."

"He's helping a lot." She does not say it, but it is obvious she means he is helping her. I can see how having him around would help her with dealing with the emotions she experiences. And I have not missed the way she looks at him.

She likes him.

"Do you think they will keep doing the weeklies? The nurses, I mean." I ask to change the subject.

"I don't know."

As if she heard her name being spoken, Tasha looks at us, makes eye contact with me. The corners of her mouth turn down and she combs her fingers through her strawberry blond curls. Isaiah grins at her before walking back towards us, his thumbs hooked in the waistband of his pants.

"They're worried about you guys. The nursing staff is," he says as he stops in front of Edie. "They're putting two and two together. A few of them noticed that the violence didn't start until after the weeklies started, so they think it might be the new drugs doing it. But none of them want to risk their jobs by not administering them and it sounds like that Sheila lady really lays into the staff when they mess something up. So, they're all afraid of her and don't want to do anything that merits her attention. Unfortunately for us, that means weeklies are still a thing."

Edie groans and chews on her thumb again. Isaiah absently reaches out and pushes her hand down, wraps her fingers in his. Edie's face burns and I get an uncomfortable knot in the pit of my stomach.

"So," I clear my throat, "has Tasha heard from Jet?"

Isaiah and Edie share a look and then Isaiah shakes his head. "Tasha said it's been quiet."

"Oh, okay." I bite down on my tongue to keep from saying something else, keep from sounding like the fact that Jet has not been in contact worries me. He is fine and he will be back soon. "Where's Krysta?"

Edie shrugs. "She's lying low...somewhere. I'm not sure. She's being really serious about this time away from one another thing."

"Sounds like it." I scan over the faces in the hallway again, half hoping to see Jet walk in.

Edie and Isaiah start a conversation between themselves, one I could probably be a part of but I only half listen to it. Instead my mind wanders back to the girl from this morning. She had to have known she would get caught at the gate. She had taken that gun and...

I inhale deeply, focus my thoughts. There were four suicides today. Four Numb who could not handle the sudden change into being Sensitive and decided to end it all. Four Numb who would not be able to get out of here because our plan is not moving quickly enough.

What is taking Jet so long out there?