Hello, I'm back (for now at least), and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
As I sprinted
through the dim glow of the red emergency lights, I listened for the sound of
Heathcliff and Wolfgang's footsteps behind me. Hearing nothing but silence, I
slowed down my pace. My legs wobbled, and I placed a palm on the steel wall,
steadying myself.
My fingers pulsed
where it pressed up against the wall, fluttering with exhaustion. I tried to
suppress my ragged panting by taking deeper, slower breaths, but my lungs
struggled for more air and I gave up on trying. I let my hand slide down, and
my head dropped as I stared at my shoes.
"Every time
you do something alone, you end up getting into trouble," echoed
Wolfgang's voice in my head.
My breath
hitched.
"Theo,
you're being irrational."
My fists
clenched.
"End up
getting into trouble."
I looked up into
the dimness and started running again.
"Being
irrational."
Feet pounding,
head whispering, I ran down the slowly winding corridor.
"Trouble."
I came across a
ladder ingrained into the wall, leading up to a hatch labeled M.D 2. With
shaking hands I grabbed each rung and hauled myself up.
"Irrational."
Turning the
latch, I push the hatch up and lift myself through. The halls were silent with
emptiness, and I silently ran down the hallway.
"Trouble,
irrational."
Warmth, wet
saltiness. Was I crying?
"Trouble,
irrational, trouble, irrational."
I was crying.
"Trouble,
irrational, trouble irrational trouble--"
My running turned
to trudging steps as the red lights blurred into hazy dots and my steady
breathing turned into quiet sobbing.
"--irrational
trouble irrational trouble IRRATIONAL TROUBLE--"
I slipped into a
utility closet and I cried.
I cried about
everything. Over being kidnapped. Over Kyle strangling me. Over Wolfgang
getting shot to save me. Over losing Grandfather and almost losing Kyle. Over
losing Kent when he betrayed us, betrayed me. Over the thought of possibly
losing everyone else. Dennis. Wolfgang. Heathcliff. Charlie. I cried over the
sheer absurdity of everything and how helpless I was in the midst of it.
Wolfgang was
right, I knew. From everything I could tell, anytime I acted on my own, I just
put myself and often everyone else in danger. And despite knowing this, I put
my own pride and ego first. I just wanted to protect everyone, but that became
so twisted.
I remembered a
scene from my childhood at that moment. There was Heathcliff and Wolfgang, and
we were all at my house while our parents and grandparents had their talk.
Wolfgang and I were 6 years old, while Heathcliff was 8. We were play acting as
usual, going over the same scene for the hundredth time.
"I'm the
prince!" shouted little Heathcliff, a big grin on his face, brandishing a
toy sword. "And I'm going to save the princess!"
"And I'm the
fierce dragon!" replied Wolfgang, roaring and growling with delight.
"The princess is mine, and you'll never get to her in the tower!"
I was the
princess of course. Every day we met, before we started playing, they placed a
crown on my head and insisted that I wear this purple sparkly tutu. Every time
I picked up the toy sword, they took it from my hands. Every time I put the
dragon costume on, they told me to put a dress on instead.
"You have to
be the princess," they insisted. "You have to be rescued." I
hated it.
"I just
didn't want to be the princess anymore," I muttered to myself.
"Theo?"
whispered a voice quietly from outside the closet door. "Is that
you?"
I froze up. I
sniffled a couple of times, wiping my face with my sleeves.
"Charlie?" I paused. "Yeah, it's me."
