Domgre

23

"You were great! The tears were so..." Evie looked up from her place in the chair. She'd grabbed the most comfortable clothes she could find, a hoodie and sweats, she couldn't be bothered to change into anything else. "Evie?" She nodded and Khaira opened her arms the same way she had at the pool. The pool. The crying started all over again. She hurried onto her bed, letting herself cry into Khaira as she held her, rubbing her back as she lie next to her.

She didn't remember falling asleep. She woke up to Khaira still holding her, Isaac at the end of the bed. He looked over at her and nodded to Khaira who quickly noticed she was awake too. She held out a water bottle to her, "Drink." She did, handing it back to her half empty. She didn't feel like getting up. Instead she settled back in. Her sadness wasn't gone, not by a long shot, but her crying was over. She was in Khaira's arms. They could keep her safe.

She was not safe for long. A knock at the door prompted Khaira up, Isaac retreating behind the divider. Khaira came back a moment later after exchanging a few words. "Inaki wants to see you." So she went and saw Inaki. Alone. She looked at the door, expecting to see her handler. She didn't. She turned back to Inaki, he didn't look happy.

"Can I ask you why?"
"Why what?"
"Why now? What happened between you and her? The old one too?"
"What?"
"Evie."
"Inaki."
"I already know you killed them. I'm just curious as to why."

The room was silent. It felt heavy in her chest. She turned to her hands, moving her fingers about silently for a while. Inaki was patient, he waited. She had nothing to lose. "They hurt us." He ran his hands through his hair. "I knew about Elijah, that's why he was reassigned." She probably should've held her tongue but her anger took over again. She needed to run. To burn off this energy. For now, she aimed it at Inaki. "You assigned him back to other kids?" Inaki looked away. If she didn't know better, she'd have thought he was ashamed. "I'm sorry. But Mya too? What happened?"

Evie didn't want to remember any of it. Not the yelling. Not the hitting. The water. Watching Khaira struggle. The look on her face when she'd moved to kick her. But she told him anyway. One last time. "She hit Khaira. Yelled at her. Then in the pool she nearly drowned her. She was yelling at me when I was trying to get Khaira to catch her breath and when she grabbed me, Khaira brought her under. It was an accident until it wasn't." He sighed but he didn't look angry. She couldn't kill Inaki too. That would be unforgivable. The handler's deaths could be covered up. "You should've come to me." She had known better than to do that. Her handler was always present when they met and asking to talk alone would raise suspicion. Ending it that way was better in the long run. "I didn't know what to do." He sighed again. She wished she was back with Khaira.

"Again I'm sorry. But it was nearly time for her to retire anyway, you've outgrown her. She got too attached. Too hungry for power. For perfection. I never should have assigned Khaira to her but she was the only competent handler I had left, at least I thought she was. Damn." Outgrown her? She was part of the first and only batch of this experiment so she didn't know exactly how it would go but she didn't ever imagine leaving her handler. Inaki must've picked up on her confusion. "Handlers were never meant to be permanent. They were meant to train you to be the best you could be until they believed you were ready to go out on your own. Speaking of which, I'm going to need those files back. Is there anything else I should know?" Of course he knew about the stolen files. They'd been taken a day after she'd requested to see the other ones. Evie nodded but she didn't leave. Inaki raised an eyebrow.

"My friend Isaac," He paused, he knew almost everyone on the compound from cooks to guards to soldiers, that didn't mean he could remember them immediately but if he saw them he knew who they were. "The orphan?" She thought about what Khaira had said. She'd mentioned his father dying but she didn't know about his mother. Surely there couldn't be many Isaacs here. "Yes. I would like him to leave his duties to accompany me and Khaira." He looked amused. She thought about how Isaac had come to Khaira, bloody and scared. She refused to let it happen again. "Oh? And what would his job be?" She thought about it for a moment. "To keep us company." He shrugged, "He's working odd jobs now. If he's up for it, sure. I'll talk to him later, but form what I hear, he doesn't say much." She didn't feel like correcting him. She was dismissed shortly after, hurrying back to their room until she arrived on Khaira's bed.

She rolled over her to get back in her spot, back to the wall, holding onto her arm. She was here. She was alive. She opened her eyes to see Isaac staring. He quickly looked away to stare at Khaira who shook her head. She must've interrupted something. She didn't bother asking, instead settling in. She found herself tired in every waking moment since the pool. So tired.

"Hey, uh, why don't we go train?" Evie opened her eyes. She'd fallen asleep in her bed. She looked for Isaac on the floor but found it empty, "Your bed." Khaira answered the unasked question. She nodded and looked at her. "You hate training." She shrugged, "You usually run once a day. You haven't since your ex-handler and you've been sleeping a lot since," she looked away. Evie sat up, "I have to go bring those files back to Inaki." Her eyes went wide and Evie quickly remembered she hadn't told her what had happened. She recounted events as best she could and collected the files. Inaki wasn't in yet so she left them on his desk and moved to the kitchen. She grabbed three plates that'd been set out for breakfast and returned to the room where Khaira and Isaac were sitting on the floor.

"I'm sorry about your handler." Khaira shot him a look he didn't see. Evie just nodded and she found Khaira looking at her. You okay? She mouthed the words silently, Evie nodded again. Tired. She tried to stay present for the conversation but as soon as she was done with her food it was back to bed. Tired.