Freaks

48 • requiem

❝breathe, darling. this is just a chapter. it's not your whole story.❞
ｓ. ｃ. ｌｏｕｒｉｅ

___

ＰＥＯＰＬＥ arrive in trickles. They pool into the stream of weary faces, adding their bruised and battered bodies to the stagnant sea of bright tunics.

Time floats by uselessly. The seconds turn into minutes, the minutes near the hour, but nothing changes. Markus, Liu and Willow arrived not too long ago but were promptly ushered to the makeshift clinic for a check up the way Cass and I were when we first arrived.

When a large enough crowd gathers, the staff in charge begin a roll call.

They announce our surnames in alphabetical order. Eighty percent of the time, the call is met with a response; sometimes weary, sometimes sad, sometimes little more than a feeble squeak. The daunting part came when no response came at all. Only silence.

"Emma," Cass says quietly from beside me.

The silence seems deafening at times. The ominous wait for a 'yes' or a 'here' that may never come. After a minute or two passes, they continue the roll call. We are left to reel in the meaning of the unanswered register.

"Emma." Cass calls my name again, more persistently.

They are repeating the roll call again for the third time. Each time they do, the list gets shorter as late-comers trickle into the crowds, answering to their names. As they do, you can hear the audible sigh of relief escaping from the lips of their friends and fellow classmates. Like someone had gotten rid of a lump in their throats and allowed them to breathe again.

I still can't breathe.

"Emma." Cass's voice sounds strained as she calls my name again.

I snap to attention, abruptly turning to face her.

"My hand... you're squeezing it too tightly."

I glance down to our joined hands. Cass's fingers looks minutes away from dropping off, courtesy of my tight grip on her hand.

Alarmed, I pull away instantly. "Sorry," I apologise.

Cass flexes her fingers. An attempt, I assume, to regain feeling back in her oxygen-starved tendons.

"It's okay," she replies passively. Her gaze follows mine to the podium where they recite the register for the fourth time. There are only about a dozen names yet to be answered now. "Has no one spotted him yet?"

I turn back to Cass with worried eyes.

Before I can speak, a set of large arms suddenly wrap around me and Cass, bringing us into a group hug. I twist my head to realise it's Markus.

"You guys are okay, thank God," he says.

If Markus is here, that means Willow...

Willow appears not a moment later, surveying us with worried eyes. "You guys aren't hurt, are you?"

Cass and I shake our heads.

Markus breaks away to observe us properly. The relieved expression vanishes. "Why... So much... Why are you covered in so much blood?"

Willow looks around, then back at us. "Cass, is your mom okay? Where's... where's Logan?"

Cass bursts into tears again. My shoulders droop. She'd been doing so well to hold it in.