Midnight Grey

Chapter 15 Forced Colleagues

 "Do you possess anything decent to wear?" I keep walking up the stairs, until Austin grabs my arm.

He moves close enough to me that I sense the heat from his body radiating onto my own, "Are you serious?" The closeness of his body, the warmth, plays a trick on me. Part of me wants to lean in, embrace him, with his arms wrapped around me.

In that moment, his expression relaxes from puzzlement to utter amazement. And like that our eyes lock, our breathing halts, the moment lingers, stretches. It stays like this until I gain my senses and break free.

I yank my arm away and step up a couple of steps to distance myself from whatever part of him was tempting me to do the insane. "Yes, I'm serious." My voice is harsh but holds an airiness underneath like I've lost some of my breath.

He blinks back at me as if the encounter made his mind as blank as mine from what or why that just happened. I clear my throat trying to compose my dignity, "I think when you are doing something professional you should dress the part. We need to make sure the board thinks we are being serious about this and they won't with you being dressed like that!"

He corks an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yes." My response comes out rushed like a hiss on solid ice.

Austin lips curve in a devious way, a wicked confidence swells in his eyes. My nerves frizzle as if I'm already being burned by the fire.

I turn around unable to face him anymore and continue with my way up the stairs. Even with my storming up, he catches up behind me with the heat from his body on my back.

What happened? Why did I feel....that way?

We reach the top of the stairs and formaldehyde fills the air like a rotting corpse is lying around in the hallway. I pause not wanting to go forward with the thickness almost like a fog.

Austin moves past me with his face crinkled. His face appearing as revolted as my own. "What did someone die?" Austin says as we reach room 355. The odor grows to a level where it's hard to breathe, or at least want to. "You've got to be kidding me." He says opening the door with hesitance and disgust covering his face.

The lab is the source of the stench.

The room is a decent size lab with black tables which stretch in columns out to the sides of the room. At one of tables, in the middle, the sizzling of chemicals draws in our attention.

A tall and lanky boy with short dark hair is standing in silent concentration as he performs an experiment. He is holding a lab flask over a flame with a pair of metal pliers. The tube has a green substance inside that is sizzling with bubbles.

The boy quickly moves the flask and pours the contents into a tear drop shaped one. He eases a string rod thermometer inside and even with the protective goggles over his face I spot a satisfied smile.

"Hey!" Austin starts, but the guy holds up a finger which strangely enough silences Austin.

The boy squeezes up a chemical with a pipit and carefully squeezes out a soldiery drop into his concoction. He then stirs the solution with a metal rod. When it turns blue, he drops the rod and with more excitement than I've seen from a chemistry experiment says, "Yes!" as he holds his arms up.

He turns to us like we are finally in the room. He has a pale complexion which shows this is a person who spends more time in the lab than outside, "Thank you for waiting and if you would let me put this stuff up I'll be right with you and tell you where everything in the lab is, correct?" I nod and he smiles back. Austin sighs folding his arms and turns his head away from the boy.