I Coming Home | Inspired Hiddlesworth/Thorki Fanfiction

Filing Cabinet | Chapter Three

Word count: 1,320 words, 6,832 characters
Warnings: None
POV: Chris

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I quietly snuck out of bed, closing the door behind me. It was dark through the halls, with only my phone light to guide my way. I stayed silent as I made my way down the hallway, my boots landing softly on the concrete flooring. I glanced around, reading the numbers of the rooms that gleamed on each and every door. I followed them until the end of the hallway, and then the dining hall. I scampered over to the back door, which I suspected housed the locked cabinets with everyone's files inside. 

I tapped on the door handle, and then pressed my ear to the door to listen for an alarm. Nothing. I slowly twisted the handle a bit more, finding it to be locked. I sighed and tsked through my lips. I was ready to give up, so I turned around to go back. As my light panned back over towards the hallway it landed on someone, and I jumped, snatching my swiss army knife from my pocket and flicking out the blade. 

"Shh! Shh! No, it's me! It's Tom!" The man hissed, holding out his hands to get me to put the knife down.  I sighed, feeling my heart hammering in my chest. I flicked the knife back into its case and shoved it back in my pocket. I lowered my phone light so it wouldn't shine in his eyes.

"What are you doing up?" I ask, watching as he softened up and lowered his hands. He pressed his finger to his lips to silence me. I must be speaking too loud.

"I should ask you the same, is the door locked?" I nod, feeling uncomfortable that he already knew that. He nodded, slinking over and pulling something out of his pocket. He filled with the door handle for a second or to before standing again and opening the door. 

"Uh, thank you," I mutter, stepping through the door. I was right, there were several filing cabinets, each with labels on them. Our teams. 

I walked over to my teams filing cabinet, sliding it open and staring at the files. Tom entered behind me, looking around. He approached me from behind, looking over my shoulder. 

"My file won't be in there, please don't read it if you do find it." We locked eyes, his were pleading, but they held up their confident facade. I nod, feeling curious, but I followed what he asked and didn't look for it. I snatched everyone's files and looked through. 

Cassie has a son named Scott, her husband died before he was born.
Joker was a detective when he was young and helped a drug bust in a gang, and was abandoned in the streets when he was seven.
Daniel dropped out of high school to surf when he was 17.
Mark has three kids and a wife who loves him.
Runner lives alone and was in a car crash as a kid, which paralyzed him for 6 years.
Rick has a fiance who is expecting their first daughter.

I picked up my own file, reading through it as I was genuinely curious about. Tom took it gently from my hands to look at it, and I held my phone light up to it, as he didn't seem to have a torch. 

"You have a daughter?" He muttered.

"Yeah," I nod. "Her mother and I aren't together anymore." Tom continued to read, for a strangely long time. I was considering grabbing it from him but he handed it back to me before I could. I decided to open it and read through myself. 

All of a sudden we heard someone walking down the hall. I slapped off my phone light and Tom jumped forward, snatching the file from me and throwing it back in the cabinet, we shut the door and locked it. Holding my breath, I searched for any light in the darkness to see. Nothing, blackness. All I could hear were the footsteps and the sound of my breath. Tom wasn't even making any noise. Now I can tell why he was a spy, it's like he's not even here.

We waited for the footsteps to fade away, holding our breaths. I started to move towards the door handle, but a lighter appeared an inch in front of my face. I glared past the flame to meet the eyes of Tom, compelling me to stay silent. I stayed where I was, waiting for him to open the door a minute later. So that's how he found his way around without a torch.

He unlocked it with ease and went back to the filing cabinet, reorganizing it to what it was before, and stepping out of the room. I followed close behind, making sure to step lightly.

"Always wait a minute or two, just to make sure they're gone, and you need a softer light, your phone will give you away," Tom said in a hushed voice. I nod, not knowing how to get back to my room without a torch.

Tom flicked the lighter back off and simply slinked away, leaving me with only the trickle of moonlight to guide me down the hall. Within seconds he was gone, just a shadow amongst shadows, completely invisible. I listened through the quiet, trying to hear his footsteps, breathing, anything, through the sound of the waves hitting the ship outside.

I simply turned around and headed back to my room, counting the doors and feeling my way along the walls. I only turned my phone light back on when I wasn't sure if a door number. I finally found my door and opened it silently, cursing the rusty hinges.

Shutting the door exasperatingly slowly behind me, I climbed back into bed and kicked my shoes off. Rick stirred slightly as I settled down, but didn't wake up. I wrapped myself in my thin sleeping bag and hugged Eveleen's teddy bear.

My thoughts were filled with that man, the way he seemed to know how to speak with his eyes. How he could get in my head without trouble. How silent he was, it's almost like he assent even in that room with me when the man approached. I felt like an amateur compared to him. Well, he is a spy, I reassured myself, feeling guilty for comparing myself to him. I hugged the worn out bear tighter, wishing for those eyes to disappear from my mind.

They were the only thing I could see. A chilly blue, green and brown flames licked in a thin rim around his pupil. They were frightening but enchanting. I thought about my own eyes, a soft, baby blue with darker details. I've been told they look like an ocean, but not the good kind, the sort of ocean that looks peaceful, but it's actually hiding a sea monster that could wipe out all of Canada's coastline workers.

I focused instead on the files I had found. Everyone here seemed to have such a normal life, nobody could have read that and guessed they had probably all killed tens of enemies and don't feel any remorse for it. But I do. Sometimes it keeps me awake at night, those two men that had run at me on my first big fight. One had a knife, the other a Barton on the end of his shotgun, which had run out of ammo. They had both run at me at the same time, but I shot one in the head before he could get to me, the other had just tried to stab me with his tiny pocket knife. I had dodged him and lodged a bullet right in his heart.

I shudders at the loon of light drain from his eyes, and I just focused on what the ocean sounded like. It was peaceful, and it slowly lulled me into a sleep that I was very grateful for.