Resist

14

I woke the next morning to Nessa shuffling about the room getting dressed. I sat up in bed and stretched, reaching my hands high above my head. I hadn’t been able to sleep well, my thoughts unsilenced as they thought about Jack’s strange behavior; and not only that from the infirmary today but from overall. He had always shown moments of great kindness and sweetness but closed off soon after and shut down that part of him. I couldn’t make sense of it and neither could my dreams as they portrayed two Jacks before me, one smiling sweetly and one scowling aggressively, as they strolled in front of me, headed down opposite forks in the road as I stood, confused, where they split. 

So now I woke, still unbelievably tired, to start my first day of training. I could already guess it wouldn’t go well.

“Morning,” Nessa said, not looking at me. She had been cold since our argument in the kitchens, not even speaking to me last night as we settled in for bed. At least she had warmed up a bit more now, not that I really cared; I was still upset with her.

“Good morning,” I told her dryly as I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood. A tremor ran down my spine; today was the day I would start training and I was beyond excited.

“Go back to bed you two,” Sicily groaned, one eye popping open to look at me as I opened the window curtains. “Why are you up so early anyways?”

“Sicily, we have to be in the kitchens in half an hour,” Nessa explained, exasperated with our roommate.

“Ugh,” Sicily groaned, rolling over and burying her face into the pillow ensnared in her tired arms.

I sat down in the chair, lacing my boots slowly as I thought about today; it could either go terribly or wonderfully. What if I was horrible and the guys didn’t even want me to go into the city with them to raid? What if I was so bad I was a liability?

As I laced my second shoe and set my foot back on the floor, gentle snores drifted to my ears; Sicily had fallen back asleep.

“Damn it,” Nessa swore under her breathe as she noticed Sicily sleeping too. She strode to the bed and swiftly yanked back the blanket, pulling it from the bed and to the floor.

As I reached the door and turned the knob, I heard Nessa aggressively demanding, “Get up!” and stifled a giggle; it was funny because Sicily could never seem to wake up in the morning but I knew Nessa’s extra frustration at her this morning stemmed from our abrasiveness after the argument.

As I wandered down the hall, I realized I had no reason to get up so early; there would be no one in the weaponry at this time before breakfast and I didn’t need to be on the cooking shift like the other girls. I stopped in the middle of hall, wondering where I was even headed.

Coincidentally, I must have stopped in front of room 202. I was looking ahead out the window at the end of the hall, it’s curtains barely parted to reveal the brick building next door, when I heard my name.

“Morning Essie,” Bower greeted cheerfully as he left the room to my left, fresh clothes in his arms and a towel over his shoulder. He must be headed down to shower.

“Good morning,” I replied. I liked Bower, his laid back attitude and easy going ways were something anyone could get along with well.

He left the door cracked as he walked away down the hall before disappearing into the stairwell.

Then the door swung open beside me, the rapid movement catching my attention. I turned to see Jack standing in the doorway, wrinkled black clothes adorning his body. He looked like he had woken up just a few moments ago.

“Hey,” he said. His tone was not exactly inviting but it held a certain amount of warmth for me. “I thought I heard Bower talking to you.”

I didn’t know how to handle Jack anymore, he had been cold again after our experiences in the foyer. I had no idea what kind of basis we were going on anymore. I decided to assume a friendly one was safe.