The Differents | ✓

T W E N T Y - S I X

His hand in mine sent tingles up my arm but I tried to ignore it. We swam closer to the waterfall and stopped right in front of it, where Sniper let go of my hand and said, "We have to swim through the waterfall for this bit."

I reluctantly agreed, not too keen on getting my head wet, and followed him through. It was slightly disorienting to have so much cold water falling down onto my head and shoulders but at the same time it felt fresh and new and unlike things I had done before. I came out from under the water laughing, wiping the water from my eyes so I could actually see where we were.

The first thing I noticed was that it felt very different to where we had just been. As I was swimming under the waterfall, I had noticed the temperature of the water shift to something a little warmer, and the air here was thicker. My laughs and the sound of the waterfall echoed around, filling the air with the amplified sound of water hitting water over and over again. Once I managed to open my eyes again, I realized we were in a shallow cave behind the waterfall.

"Cool, right?" Sniper asked. My eyes found him a little deeper into the cave, waiting for me. His face was illuminated with a faint turquoise glow. He motioned for me to join him. I swam over, the faint light from outside and the roar of the waterfall fading slightly behind us. He smiled like a kid waiting for a surprise and waited for me to join him before saying, "Okay now look down."

I did as he asked, directing my gaze to my feet, and almost stopped swimming out of amazement. Below us, the entire ground was illuminated in varying shades of blue, green, pink, and purple. Once I stopped swimming so violently and let the water still, I realized the ground was covered in crystals of different shapes and sizes, which were emitting the glow. They looked like they were growing out of the rocky ground and on pebbles no bigger than my toes to rocks almost as large as my entire body. The crystals themselves also varied in sizes and shapes, and covered the bottom of the pool in a beautiful glowing crystal forest.

It took me a few minutes to regain my speech and even when I did, my eyes were still glued to the sight. I had seen a lot of new things since stepping foot outside the Core, but this had to be one of the most spectacular. "What is it?"

"They're just normal crystals," Sniper explained. "but they're covered in a special type of bacteria that makes it look like that. I looked at it on the device. It says the bacteria is bioluminescent, which is what makes it glow. And it only grows in water of a specific temperature range, which is why they aren't outside the cave as well. Beautiful, isn't it?"

"It really is," I said, still amazed. "What makes the water warmer here?"

"I don't know. Maybe an underground heat source or something. But it's certainly made a difference to the things growing here. Outside, the forest just looks like a bunch of trees but in here it's like a totally different environment." He slowly rotated his body around to get a look at the entire cave. "I get the feeling that this place never really goes to sleep, you know? It just seems so... so alive."

I knew what he meant. In a small way, it felt a little like trespassing into some hidden world, so I made sure not to accidentally break any of the crystals that were in my reach.

"Are you getting tired? I'm getting tired. The ground slopes up over there so we can sit down for a bit." Sniper motioned to the back of the cave and swam over. The crystals thinned out a little where he was and once he had reached shallow water, he sat down in a clear patch. I swam over and sat next to him, the water lapping around chest height.

"So far, the outdoors has been way cooler than the Core," I said, letting out a small sigh. "I don't know why they were so adamant on keeping us behind that damn Barrier. I mean, they said they were doing it to protect us, but from what? The only thing we've had to run from so far is them. Ha!"

"And even if there are other things out here, we have guns and we have literally been trained to take on anything," Sniper agreed. "So I think we can fend for ourselves, don't you?"

I nodded. After a few moments of silence, I pursed my lips and decided to ask him a question that had been weighing on my mind for a while. "So, what is it exactly that they did to you? Back in the Core?"

Sniper looked up from the small patch of crystals he had been staring at, looking a little surprised. "Oh, well... it's kind of complicated..."

"Go on. I'm listening."

His eyes shifted around and he seemed reluctant.

"Oh, come on." I frowned. "You want to let go of the Core and the Masks and you want to be free of them, so tell me and I can help you forget that part of your life. And if not forget, then at least let me help you accept it and lessen the weight."

"Alright. I guess you're right. But it might take a while to tell you everything."

"Well, it's not exactly like we have anywhere we need to be," I replied, giving him a small smile for encouragement.

"Well, I started off like everyone else. Not being able to remember anything before I was a handful of years old, my memories always being held in the same bedroom, or when it was in the classroom always the same decorations, just changing slightly as I got older. But from a young age, I felt as if they had set me apart. I often turned around to find one or two of them staring at me and gesturing my way, or I would be given a different assignment than the others. I mean, they taught me about my Differences; how I can see some colours and my attention to tiny details and all that, but it wasn't until I was older that they told me that they thought I had the potential to, I don't know, be a really good fighter or something? Anyway, they started giving me separate classes instead of having ones I got to choose. They only let me keep the essential ones and when I wasn't there or sleeping or eating I was most likely training or learning about training related things. I didn't mind it at first -- it made me feel special -- but after a while, I got tired of it. They were working me so hard every day, and if I failed at something they would make me do it again and again until it was perfect. And I started to question their motives. Like, why were they training me so much? When would I ever need to know how to end a person's life in one stroke? So the more I attended their sessions, the more worried and anxious I got. I tend to imagine worst case scenarios and I was pretty confident they were about to ask me to assassinate someone at the Core when that whole drama over that simulation happened a few months ago. I was allowed some time to take it easy as I healed and it gave me time to think.

"I think it was a combination of a lot of things that led me to want to get away. It was certainly the way they treated me during the training sessions -- as if I was just a person that could be modified whichever way they liked, like I wasn't an actual person -- but it was also just the atmosphere of the Core. All the rules and barriers and like, everyone saying what you are and aren't supposed to do. And even with all that training, I only felt Normal when I was in the midst of it. After I walked out of the gym and back into the halls I felt completely Different again and especially recently, it had started to worry me, with the deadline and all that. I think I just needed to be free of it all, you know? So when you told me that one morning that you were going to get out, it wasn't a big decision for me to want to go with you."

We sat in silence for a moment, me processing his story and him fiddling with some of the crystals.

"I... I honestly am not sure what to say," I told him. "Like, thank you... I guess? For telling me that and sharing your story with me?" The sentence came out sounding more like a question, which made him smile. His smile was so nice; something kind that made you feel relaxed around him. And it always reached his eyes, because if it didn't, he just wouldn't smile. No use smiling if you don't mean it, he would say.

"Thanks for listening. I feel better after talking to someone about it."

I smiled, told him anytime, and kind of just sat there awkwardly. Our conversation, it had seemed, had come to an end. I sloshed my feet around in the glowing water and tried not to look at him.

"Actually, can I ask you something?" Sniper said, turning toward me fully. "You don't have to answer it."

I heaved a mental sigh of relief and said, "Go on, shoot."

"Now that I've told you about my insecurities, I want to hear about yours. What makes you Different?"