NUMB

Day Fifty-Five - Jet

"I'm doomed to be in this bed for the rest of my life," I tell Seth when he shows up.

"Don't be such a drama queen. You're out tomorrow." He sits down on the chair next to the bed, propping his feet up by mine. "Feeling any better now though?"

I stare up at the seam where the ceiling meets the wall and make a thoughtful noise. "Physically, not really. Still hurts a lot. Especially when I inhale too deeply. But I'll get there."

"And not physically?"

I let my gaze drop to him. "I'm relieved. Ecstatic, to be honest. We did it, Seth."

"Yeah we did."

"I wouldn't have been able to do half the stuff we did without your help. Well, okay, most of it. You did a lot of the leg work."

"True, but you were there on the inside. So, it balances it out. I wouldn't have been able to be in there like you were. Seeing it all up close like that."

I make another noise and the conversation lulls for a while. I might doze off for a few because I blink and when I open my eyes again, Tasha is also in the room with us now. She's talking quietly with Seth near the door.

"Care to share with the class?" I ask, my voice more groggy sounding than I expected.

"Hey," Tasha says as she moves to the side of the bed. "I've got some news from the outside world for you."

"Lay it on me."

She sits down at the foot of the bed as Seth sits back in the chair. "They've opened up investigations into all the Compounds because of what happened here. Seeing as how we housed one of the largest populations of Numb, they're looking into if the smaller ones were doing anything else similar. I'm pretty sure they'll cut the whole thing though. Shut them all down."

"That's good, right?"

"I think it'll take a while to integrate the older kids back into the world, but they should be fine. They'll be with their families at least. And the ones who aren't wanted will be put in the system and paired with families who are willing to learn how to keep them out of harm."

"Good," I say. My eyes shut for a moment.

"So," Tasha says, her voice quiet. "I want to apologize for not being one hundred percent with you guys in the beginning. I should have done more a lot sooner."

"You did your best," Seth tells her.

She sniffles and I don't have to open my eyes to know that she's crying. When I do look at her, she's dabbing at her eyes with the corner of her sleeve. "You came through when it counted, Tasha. Don't be too hard on yourself about it. We did it. We got those kids out of there and started something big out here. People are going to see that removing the Numb from society wasn't the best way to go about doing things. And you helped with that."

She nods, but doesn't say anything for a long moment. "I should go. Let you rest."

"I'm out tomorrow," I tell her. "Maybe we can all get together for lunch or something."

"Sure," she says with a smile as she stands. "Seth."

He gives her a little wave and then she's out the door. I look over at Seth and he's picking absently at his face. "Thanks again," I say. "For going along with my crazy ideas all the time."

"You do them regardless, so it's better to go along with you to make sure things like this," he gestures towards me, "don't happen. I told you not to do something stupid."

"It wasn't stupid, it was heroic." We stare at each other for a moment before both of us crack and laugh. "Okay, it was a little stupid."

"A lot of stupid."

"Somewhere in between." I pick at a fraying string on the edge of the blanket over my legs. "Elyse told me that Sheila died."

Seth makes a noise. "Yeah, she's gone."

"Do you know what happened? Elyse seemed a little off about the whole thing. Like she didn't want to talk about it at all."

He looks at me, really stares, his eyebrows drawing together over his nose. "Um, well, Tasha was there when it happened. But I don't know. There was a lot going on up there, you know? She could have seen it wrong or something."

"What happened?"

"Well, according to Tasha," he wets his lips, "you had just been shot. And Elyse, man, I guess she snapped. Went off on Sheila." I remember seeing Elyse standing near her, near the edge of the roof. My mind starts to come up with scenarios even as Seth keeps talking. "They had an altercation. Elyse got the gun away from her and started beating on her. Which is kind of scary, but badass at the same time. Anyway, one thing led to another and then Sheila wasn't on the roof anymore."

"Elyse?"

"Pushed her, is what Tasha said. Right off the ledge of the building."

"Jesus. She didn't say anything to me about it..." Elyse telling me that she was afraid I had died rings in the back of my head. I can't even make myself be alarmed that she potentially killed a woman. I'm more concerned about how she's handling everything, if she's handling it at all.

"She'll tell you about it when she's ready, Jet."

"Is it bad that I'm not put off by the fact that she might have actually murdered someone?"

Seth snorts and pats my arm. "That's what you're worrying about? You've got issues," he laughs. "It's fine. That lady was literally going on a killing spree trying to make a cure, so she got what was coming to her. Just, maybe don't try to bring it up to Elyse until she does first, yeah?"

"Yeah, of course."

The conversation shifts after that. Seth asks, "So what do you want to do once you're a free man tomorrow?"

And all I can think of is how badly I want to see Elyse again.