What Keeps Our Hearts Beating

Chapter 3

"I thought you told me she was a recluse."

"She was," Ming replied, whispering at the dinner table as Sandra was pissed that Lacey was not some quiet mouse that was going to be domineered. "But I found out right before I came into the room that she had some trouble at her school, after she was diagnosed. Seems she has some anger management issues that she needs to work on."

"Now you tell me," Sandra threw her hands up in disbelief. She had been caught off guard by this Lacey wearing a peacock woolen hat and looking like she was going to be putty in her hands. But no, she actually had a backbone and everything else was just some pretense in front of daddy. And now Sandra was kicked out of her master bed.

"I need to find some dirt on this girl and fast Ming."

"Why can't you just try to be friends with her? You and her, not so different."

"Yeah we're all dying. Cry me a river and let's make BFF bracelets. I wish Brasen was still here. He would get rid of her for us."
"Yeah, by burning down the manor," Ming shuddered, stuffing his face with mashed potatoes. "Sounds like a great solution to your bed problem."

"What, I was kidding." She said, as Ming continued to stare at her. "We know what a lunatic Brasen is."

"Thankfully I took my hacking viruses with me when the fire alarm sounded. I would have been pissed if he burned my babies."

"Is that the only thing you care about?" Sandra shook her head at her friend who now had mashed potatoes covering his lips matching the white hair on his head.

"No," he said wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "I also care about that new girl. Man, I thought Lacey was pretty before but wow she's beautiful when she's angry."

"I am going to stab you with this fork," Sandra lowered her eyes threatening at her friend.

Ming held his hands up defensively, "Hey, I was kidding. You know you're the only girl I care about."

Sandra lowered her fork and smiled. "Thanks Ming. You're a good friend."

"Not the word I wanted to hear after pouring my heart out to you."

Sandra batted her eyes flirtatiously at her friend. "You're the only hacker for me."

They both laughed, the two of them enjoying this friendly flirtatious banter but knowing it would never go anywhere. Or Sandra knew that her heart didn't feel that way toward Ming. He was a good friend and a good ally.

The confrontation with Lacey came back at full force and Sandra mustered the courage to swallow the mystery meatloaf for dinner. Lacey's threat really hit home, though she wouldn't admit it. If she was kicked out of this experiment it really would be the end of any hope of beating this illness. And she didn't want to admit she was afraid.

Raiph came over to their table, carrying his tray of food having just gotten out of his examination with Dr. Weber. "Sorry I was late. More blood tests," he said showing his arm as if to prove why he was late.

"Thanks for the demonstration," Sandra whined. "We don't need to know about every single reason you are late."

"Sorry. After that little confrontation with you and Lacey earlier, I didn't want you to think I was choosing sides."

"I hope you're not as infatuated with Lacey as Ming apparently is," Sandra replied, tossing her fork on the plate so that it clattered.

"What?" Raiph nearly spit out his bottle of water. "You know that dating is prohibited during the experimentation process..."

"Get a grip, Raiph. I didn't say you were sleeping with her," Sandra thought she would vomit from what she had just swallowed. "Besides you are blushing."

"I am not," he winced, trying to cover his face with his textbook. "It's just really hot in here and... I didn't sit with you Sandra for an interrogation."

"Fine, I'll shut up." Sandra glanced around the nearly deserted dining room with the annoying renaissance clock with the naked man and the swinging pendulum in that area. Very appropriate for teenagers, she thought with a sly smile. "Where is little miss angry sunshine?"

"She was seeing Dr. Weber right after I left," Raiph said, very properly cutting his meat with the fork and knife like he was still in some fancy prep school. "She apologized for her behavior." He leaned in closer so that only the other two could hear him whisper. "You know, I hate to say it, but her personality scarily reminds me of....that one we can't talk about."

"We both know you're talking about Brasen," Sandra said a little too loudly and Raiph nearly fell off his chair, and then relieved when none of the guards had shifted at the doorway.

Ming continued typing rapidly on his laptop. "They are nothing alike. At least Lacey talks. Brasen was always reading."

"I would rather she was mute," Sandra leaned back annoyed. "And Brasen at least was good eye candy."

"I thought you were mad he didn't like you," Raiph said, eying her playfully.

"Oh he liked me...he just had a weird way of showing it," Sandra responded coyly, flitting her eyes at Ming and Raiph who both laughed.

Raiph bit on his straw a little too tightly, "Yeah nearly killing you in the fire is his way of saying he loves you. I guess flowers and chocolates are overrated."

She stuffed her mouth grimacing. Brasen had been a mystery to her...like this meat.

"Whatever," she said annoyed. "I like the crazy ones apparently."

Sandra shuddered thinking of Brasen locked up in the tower for those past 3 months. She thought of his cold mysterious sinister eyes, hazel and constantly changing colors depending on his mood. Just as mysterious as him. She remembered him screaming out one night when everyone was asleep. She ran to his dorm, since she was the closest in the hospital and had seen him, strapped down, as Dr. Weber was infusing something into his blood stream. She stood there paralyzed, unable to stop it, not understanding what was going on. This was so different from her check-ups with the doctor. And this wasn't a transfusion. After Dr. Weber left, she rushed into the room and Brasen was semi-conscious. She had been too afraid to take his hand, afraid of this boy strapped to this hospital bed like an animal. But he sensed she was there.

"Take it....to Zoey" He said, pointing to a print out on the table. She spotted that it was a print out of Brasen's blood results on the table and one of the vials of blood.

"Take it," he implored, his hand shaking even more. "Don't let Weber know."

She grabbed the vile and the results and ran out of there, determined to find out what Brasen had to hide. The only thing she could make out was an arrow toward a microscopic cell that had been magnified. "Poison" someone had jotted down. It didn't make sense and she had stuffed it along with one of the blood vials into her sweatshirt pocket, too afraid to even show her friends.

The next day was the fire. Sandra had lost everything that day that had belonged to her, except the sweatshirt that she had been wearing, the one with Brasen's blood stashed inside her pockets.

He didn't want her to die, she knew that. But if he did run away, and his blood was the answer, she would die regardless. Was Brasen as evil as Dr. Weber professed after the fire, justifying his imprisonment. What experiment were they a part of, and were their lives worth it? And what was this secret in Brasen's blood...what was it that was worth him risking it all?