The Differents | ✓

T H I R T Y - E I G H T

I didn't even know what the lady on the TV screen was saying -- the sound was muted. But as soon as the question was put out there, it just made sense. All of a sudden, the years at the Core weren't just chasing some invisible status, but rather chasing a place in this society. It was surprising how much these people resembled the students at the Core in their last few years. The same perfect features, the same unshakeable calm. All of a sudden, I felt less like a refugee in some old abandoned building and more like an intruder in the home of a perfect human.

But that didn't make sense. There were people in the streets where the video was being taken. There was no one here. And almost all of the buildings were in some kind of state of decomposition. The Normals wouldn't live in such a state, and it was obvious that they didn't either, judging by the buildings in the background of the TV footage.

"It's possible that this is an old video," Sniper said, his voice sounding shaky. "Maybe this was before the virus. Did they have videos in colour before then?"

"Sniper, look at them," I said, taking the remote from his hands and placing it on the small coffee table. "They're perfect. There's no way humans that advanced died during the virus. There's no way."

"But..." He spread his arms and gestured around us, out the window. "...but there's no one here."

"Not here, no. But there's an entire world out there. There must be other people somewhere, right?"

"Is that what we're gonna do then? Find these people?"

I shrugged. "Well... why not?"

"But what if something happens? What if they're in touch with the Core? They must be, don't you think? If all the Differents and people who aren't perfect get sent to the Core then they must know about us and are maybe even looking."

I put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay. We can stay here for as long as you want, provided we can find food. And then we can maybe go search for some people?"

He sighed. "Okay."

It had gotten dark pretty fast with the rain clouds covering the sky, and by the time we turned the TV off, we were left with only the weak evening light from outside streaming in. I felt my way over to our bags and the bed (which was now free of dust thanks to pillows being thrown at it), and looked for something to eat. I didn't feel like doing much else so I kind of just left everything where it was and crawled under the blanket with the first box of food I encountered.

After a while, Sniper joined me. He fumbled with the lamp next to the bed, which emitted a warm yellow glow, and opened the little notebook I had taken off the Mask. Together, we took turns writing in the notebook. We wrote one entry together and then two smaller, more personal entries. Sniper said it was so that the readers could "really feel like they're inside our heads".

By the time we had stopped writing, it was dark outside. The lamp elongated the shadows of the furniture in the room and didn't do much to brighten anything further than a few metres, but we left it on. Now that the room was almost completely dark, it made the outside seem fairly light, and the view was actually quite beautiful. Of course, I would've been able to see more if it were a clear night, but the view of this abandoned city with its quiet streets and empty houses was eerie and calming at the same time. Although after a while, eerie won over, so I rolled over and went to go hug Sniper.

"Can you see colour when it's dark like this?" he asked.

"No," I replied. "Only the colour of the lamp and the stuff it shines light on. I guess this is how it feels to be Normal."

He was silent for a few minutes, running his fingers through my hair. "What happens if we don't find anything?" he asked quietly. "What happens if we leave this building tomorrow and find no one at all? And that everything here is just completely abandoned and it's been weeks, months, probably years since anyone's ever come here? And if we somehow do get off this godforsaken island, then what?"

"Well, we know that someone has at least been here in the last few months, anyway," I said. "Think about it. It's springtime, and grass grows the fastest in the spring. If nobody was here, why would the grass be so short?"

He stammered. "Maybe it's fake?"

"It doesn't matter. That big, fancy building on top of that grass was completely intact when almost all the rest weren't. Someone must be keeping it together, no?"

"Okay, well what if that person is someone we don't want to mess with? What if it's the Masks and they run everything from here? We could be walking straight into their trap and not know it."

"Then we run. As fast and as far as we can."

"But what if we really don't find anything? We have no idea where the Normals live or even when that video on the TV was filmed. It could have been years ago and by now they've all moved underground or to space or something, and they've left us here alone. What then? I don't want to live my life searching for something I know I'll never find. I want to live a good life, and die knowing I've done something good and I've changed someone and made a difference."

I thought for a moment. He was right. What if there really wasn't anyone, or anyone we could find at least? What would we do if we had the entire of the rest of our lives to ourselves? The sheer amount of time that could possibly be overwhelmed me.

Sniper sighed and held me tighter. "I just... I don't want to die knowing I was completely free with no restrictions and never acted on the opportunities right in front of me."

If I hadn't been looking at him before, I was most certainly looking at him now. I was almost completely sure that that comment he had just made had some sort of underlying meaning to it, but all I managed to get out was, "What did you say?"

The corner of his mouth lifted into a smile. "I don't know. What did I say?" The hand that was playing with my hair moved to the small of my back.

"Okay well if you're going to avoid my question I guess I'll just fill in the blanks then." I shrugged and pulled his head down so I could kiss him. I felt him smile and his other arm circle my waist, so I kept going. I suppose he was right about acting on the opportunities life throws at you. One never really knows when their last day alive could be, and so you just have to make the most of the moment you're in.

To be honest, I had no idea what I was doing. I just kind of yielded to my intuition and let it lead. I'm not exactly sure if Sniper knew what he was doing, either, but neither of us complained.

I can't remember how long we were there, but when the lamp blinked out, it startled both of us. All of a sudden we were left in the dark, with nothing to see by except for the faintest glow of light from outside. It had stopped raining and the clouds had parted just enough for a tiny sliver of moon to peek through. Still, it didn't do much.

Sniper stilled, breathing heavily. "What happened?"

"I don't know," I replied, trying to catch my own breath. "Maybe you accidentally turned off the lamp?"

He tried the switch. "Nope. Power's gone out."

"What?" I untangled my fingers from his hair and sat up. "That's weird."

"Maybe something happened to the wires outside? The rain maybe?"

"It's stopped raining."

He sighed and sat up as well. "I think I saw one of those electrical panels in the hallway. I don't know much about them but maybe I can figure out a way to get the power back."

I smoothed my hair and felt around for the top I had been wearing over my undershirt. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"I think I'll be alright," he said. "I have a flashlight somewhere, so if I can find that..." Something clicked and a beam of light appeared next to me, lighting up way more of the room than the moon had. Sniper set it down on the bedside table and pulled his shirt back on over his head. "If I'm not back in the next five minutes, come looking for me, okay?"

"Okay," I replied, still processing the last five minutes.

"Maybe we can finish this later," he said with a smirk, and made for the door.