Resist

6

I woke to voices the next morning. Eden was speaking at the door. “He has been acting different, have you noticed?”

“Yes and I have no idea why,” Gavin's voice answered.

“Well it’s been ever since-” Eden cut off abruptly as I sat up, the mattress creaking and alerting her that I was awake.

“Good morning Essie!” she called cheerfully. I smiled, my mind busy wondering who and what they had been talking about.

“Oh Essie’s up?” Gavin poked his head around the door as he pushed it further open to enter the room. “I’ve got good news, we have a room for you.”

“Thank you!” I gushed, excited to be leaving this ward behind. As much as I liked Eden, I couldn’t take the smell of medicine and cleaner for another night.

“There are two girls staying there now, both around your age,” he continued. “They’re very sweet and are very excited to meet you. I told them we would convene over breakfast today.”

“Sounds great!” I tried to hide my nerves about meeting girls my own age. Before Xavier I hadn’t been one to make friends easily and had just a few close ones. When the coup de e’tat happened, I had lost them as well as my family; to this day I didn’t know if any of them were alive. Over half the citizens of London had died in those first boughts of terror. I wasn’t optimistic that I would ever see any of them again.

“Were due there in an hour,” Gavin continued, pulling me from my depressing thoughts.

Walking down to breakfast with Gavin, we chatted idly about the way things worked amongst The Recovery. I was learning a lot about their way of life.

We waited in a short line for food. I was astounded as we walked down the buffet; there was oatmeal porridge, sausage links, cheese, some fruit. There was more food on the tables than I had probably eaten since I had been on my own!

“Do you guys always eat this good?” I asked, astounded.

“Only the day after a raid. The boys got back late last night with a whole wagon of food being brought in from the countryside,” Gavin explained. “The first day after a raid is always a really, really good day.” He laughed a little, a slightly stiff chuckle.

After we had filled our plates, Gavin steered me across the room. “The ladies are over at that table,” he told me, motioning. They were sitting across from each other at the table. One had beautiful blonde hair, the kind girls killed for, and a pretty face. Looking at her, a girl couldn’t help but envy her natural beauty. The other had long dark hair, darker than my ordinary brunette. Her back was to me so I didn’t see her face until we sat down. It was very round, but her cheek bones very high, giving her an instant look of exoticness.

“Hi, you must be Estelle,” she greeted me. “I’m Vanessa, but call me Nessa.”

“Hi Nessa, you can call me Essie.”

“And I’m Sicily,” the blonde introduced herself.

I greeted her too. They both seemed nice enough.

"Can I just say that I love your hair,” Sicily added. I didn’t think anyone had ever complimented my hair before in my life but I took the compliment all the same.

I thanked her and we continued talking as we ate. I found out that neither of them fought at all, they both preferred to help The Recovery in different ways; cooking sometimes, sewing, and repairing equipment others. “We do a bit of everything around here so we don’t get too bored,” Nessa explained.