The Girl and The War

Chapter Twenty Three- Kayla

  I woke up the next morning in my bed. My dad has carried me there after hours of shameful crying. My eyes were so puffy and swollen, I could barely open them. I walked out my fridge and put ice cubes on them, to help the inflammation. My dad had already left for work, but not without leaving me a note:

Kayla,
Had to go to work, I made breakfast and stored it in the fridge. Hope you are feeling better this morning. Love you.

-Dad

   I ate my breakfast bitterly. Finding, instead of sadness over what had happened last night, rage. I was so mad, at Sam for telling me he liked me then going around and kissing Margo, and at myself for being to blind enough to have not seen that coming. After breakfast, I played around with Moby for awhile until I decided to go find my dad, for some company. When I walked to his office door I heard voices inside.

"What do you mean your I.D is missing?" My dad said.

"It's gone sir.. I have no idea what happened to it it was in my pocket one day and the next it was gone. I thought maybe I misplaced it, but it's no where in my suite." Lieutenant Jackson said.

"You understand how important it is right? That is one of the only ways to leave the base, and if someone gets a hold of it who shouldn't, they could use it against us, maybe even allow rebels in. How could you be so irresponsible!" My dad said.

"I think I might have an idea who took it sir, not for sure anyways, but that girl who was with Watts last night, the redhead. She...she was in my room a few weeks ago." Lieutenant Jackson said. He was talking about Margo.

"I don't even want to know why she was in your room Lieutenant Jackson, but the only thing that girl is capable of is being a whore. Go find it." My dad said. I heard Lieutenant Jackson make his way to the door, so I quickly knocked on it so it wouldn't look like I got caught eavesdropping. The door opened.

"Oh, hello Ms. Polemen." Lieutenant Jackson said to me. He was staring at me in pity, obviously aware of what happened last night.

"Hi." I mumbled brushing past him into my dad's office.

"Oh hi daring, how are you feeling today?" My dad said as I took a seat.

"Fine. I'm just bored, thought maybe you wouldn't be too busy." I said. He folded the files on his desk, and shoved it into the cabinet behind him. I just caught the name on one of them. Charles Reed.

"I'm never too busy for you my dear." He said smiling. "I know you were very upset about last night-"

"Charlie?" I asked completely ignoring what he was about to say. He glanced back at the cabinet then at me.

"Oh yes you met him before I forgot. He left the base yesterday, no longer wanted to serve I guess. So he was marked as an Abandoner." My dad explained. I thought about how Charlie had been so upset when I had talked to him. How he had told me to go to the south wing where I had caught Sam and Margo. Where I had caught them standing at an entrance to a dark Staircase.

"Dad.." I said, once again disregarding his previous statements. "Are there places in the base I haven't seen before?" I asked carefully.

"I doubt it my dear, you have been here for so long, I mean I'm sure there are some suites you have been in, but I'm pretty sure I have shown you everything." He said. "Is something wrong dear? You look a little pale, did you eat?" He was lying. He knows I had never seen or been down that staircase before.

"No nothings wrong dad, yes I ate, I guess I'm just a little tired after last night." I responded. "I think I'm going to go try to get a nap in." My dad eyed me suspiciously.

"Why did you want to know if you haven't seen everything at the base before." He asked. I stood up and pushed the chair I was sitting at in.

"I guess I was hoping there was something new around here for me to explore, take my mind off of what happened last night." I lied giving him a half hearted smile. He looked relieved.

"Well maybe we can build something new for you. Maybe a library?" He said. I smiled and kissed him on the nose.

"Sounds good dad, I'll see you for dinner."

"Alright dear, get some sleep." He said as I walked out the door. I headed back to my suite where I preceded to pace for a few hours. A little after lunch time a knock came to my door. I half expected it to be Lieutenant Streeter who I hadn't seen all day. When I opened the door, I was unpleasantly surprised by Sam and Margo.

"What do you want?" I growled at them, getting ready to slam the door. However I didn't get a chance because Margo forcefully, pushed the door back open and stepped inside, Sam quietly going in behind her. "Hey, get out!" I shouted at them. I reached for the pager on my table, planning to alert my dad or one of the Lieutenants but Margo reaches for the pager and shoved it in her pocket.

"We need to talk Kayla." Sam said

"I don't want to hear anything from you Sam, if anything you should be listening to me, because when my dad finds out that you two showed up here He's going to-"

Margo slapped me across the face, hard enough that I fell back onto the hard concrete floor. I rubbed the sting out of my face in shock.

"Margo!" Sam said angrily.

"I knew this was a bad idea Sam, she's already ready to snitch on her dad to us." Margo snipped at him. Sam ignored her and turned back to me.

"Kayla, I know you are pissed at us, especially at me, but you need to listen to what we are about to tell you." He reached his hand to help me back up from the ground, but I slapped it away standing up on my own.

"What the hell is going on?" I asked him. Sam glanced back at Margo then turned towards me taking a deep breath.

"Meet us tonight at the same staircase you went to last night at 0100. I will explain everything to you. But you have to promise not to tell your dad anything. Please Kayla do not tell him you are going there." He pleaded. If he had asked me to meet them anywhere else, I would have, but I knew that my dad was hiding something from me, something down that staircase. I knew I needed to figure out what it was.

"Fine." I told him. "Not because you asked me to, but because I know something is going on here." I said. He nodded his head then glanced back at Margo. Neither one of them said anything to me. Margo eyes me for a minute. Then nodded at Sam.

"We will meet you then, don't be late." Margo said. Then the two of them left, leaving me with a pit in my stomach.