Empathy Goes

Chapter 5

                                                                                       Chapter 5

Our party of four walked in silence across the bridge. There was an awkward tension between Grace and Simon. Simon desperately wanted to talk about their shared kiss; Grace desperately wanted to get back to the Mall Car as quickly as possible for the express purpose of avoiding that conversation. Hazel, either unaware or uninterested in the tension was the first to speak. "My legs are tired!" she complained.

"Hazel we can't just stop in the middle of a bridge to take a nap. Can you wait a bit longer?" Simon asked.

"Nooo, I'm tired now." Hazel tiredly responded. Grace, Simon, and Tuba looked at each other. Though Grace and Simon were at an incredibly awkward impasse and Tuba was indifferent at best about both of them Hazel is still priority number one for all of them.

"Well, it is naptime." Tuba calmly mused "She does tend to get like this."

"We're too close to the Apex to stop now but Hazel still needs to rest, so Tuba you can carry Hazel while she naps and we'll press on." Grace said. Delegation came fairly easy to her with the Apex and this was no different. Both Simon and Tuba nodded in agreement as Tuba scooped the little girl up in her arms. Grace and Simon looked on as Tuba cradled the girl in a mothery fashion. Simon sported a look of concern on his face.

"Grace we're pretty close to the Apex, we've got to ditch the Null at some point." He quietly commented. Though Simon didn't want to admit it a small part of him knew his concerns over Tuba were less about her being a hindrance and more about what seeing the Apex kids take her out would do to Hazel. Though nothing to that effect was said out loud, Grace understood what Simon's real concerns were; the two were still able to completely understand the other even when no words were spoken.

"Yeah I know, I'm not sure what exactly we can do." Grace's brow furrowed in thought as she understood that at this point any method of separating Hazel and Tuba would be a huge risk. She looked over at Simon who watched her with interest. Grace sobered herself. She was a leader and so was Simon, even without a plan they'd be fine. She put an arm on his shoulder "Listen, don't worry about it. We're Grace and Simon things will work out fine for us. They always do." she said. She did her best to put up a front of confidence despite being utterly conflicted as well. Simon could tell that Grace was obviously creating a facade to mask her complete and utter failure to craft a plan. But for his own sake, and for her's he'd trust her. He gave Grace a small smile before mumbling her words back to her.

"Yeah, they always do." The group entered into the next car one seemingly themed after colors this time. As soon as they entered they were accosted by possibly the world's most annoying Null.

"It's red-o-clock!" The red clock creature explained staring at them. "Welcome friends and future friends to the color clock. You can call me Roy cause I'm your boy." he said with a wink. Grace and Simon shared a look.

"Oh, God." Simon said. If he was tasked with talking to this Null he had no doubt in his mind it would end with him saying some not so kid-friendly words in front of Hazel. Sensing this Grace took the lead.

"I've got this one." Grace reassured him. "Wow that sounds really fun Roy! Can you tell us about the exit?" she said in her voice usually reserved only for getting the youngest members of the Apex to take baths. Luckily it worked as well as Grace's attempts to keep the Apex members clean as Roy responded with,

"Well I can't tell you, it's my job to keep the exit a secret." Roy then awkwardly looked around seemingly desperate to keep his mouth shut before finally saying "You'll have to use teamwork to solve the puzzle! Oops, I've said too much." Exactly the reaction Grace was hoping for. Grace went to examine the exit seeing a large red lock on the door.