Will and Nico

Part 6

NICO

It's dark again. A dim red light. Sharp pain. Screams. I bolt up in my bed. It takes me a moment to realise where I am. I check the time. Two am.
I know there's no point in trying to go back to bed, so I get up, get changed. I feel weaker still. I know I need to sleep but I can't. I won't.
I'm reluctant to go to the dining area now, just in case Will is there too. But there isn't much to keep me awake except coffee, so I go anyway.
I sit at my table and watch my coffee pour itself. It's black, strong. I don't like the taste but it keeps me awake.
'We've got to stop meeting like this.' A voice from behind me. I don't turn around and first, just brace myself for conversation.
'Hi.' I say. I keep it short.
'You left yesterday.' He invited himself to sit at my table. A cup of coffee emerges in front of him.
'I had stuff to do.' I say.
'Oh, stuff. Right.' Will nods, 'the problem is, you're kind of a big name around here. And I know for a fact you're lying.'
'Then I'm lying.' I say, bluntly. He watches me carefully. I don't like it. He seems too invested, too interested.
'I'm sorry.' He says, 'I should have found out more. I shouldn't have assumed. I'm working up to twenty hours at a time. I wasn't as on top of it as I should have been.'
'It's fine.' I say. And I mean it.
'Everything you've been through...it's insane. I remember when you left camp. When you were younger...'
'I remember.' I say. It was when I'd found out Bianca was dead.
'I would hear these...I don't know. These crazy stories about you. I don't know what was true, but if even half of it was-'
'It's probably true.' I say, looking up at him, finally.
'I can't imagine.' He says, 'I have no idea what it's like. But I'd like to help. I think I can. I'm good at this sort of thing.'
'I'd like to think so.' I say, 'you are in charge of the infirmary.'
'Right.' He says, smiling, 'can you come by later? We don't have to try anything for sleeping, just to get you started on some of those injections. And I should probably take a look at that cut on your back.'
'What?' I ask, having told no one about the cut, 'how do you...?'
'I saw you get it. In the fight.' He explains. I grind my teeth a little. I don't like him knowing about me. But I nod.
'What time?' I ask.
'Well if you're not doing anything now?'