I don’t know how I feel about God, being born and raised an agnostic, but I couldn’t help to see that there was some truth behind what Charlie was saying. We always managed to find our way to the upper hand, and I don’t know if it’s because of some higher power or just sheer luck, but this luck shouldn’t be wasted with me crying inside a closet.
I didn’t want to be helped, not the way that Wolfgang and Heathcliff wanted to. That meant being protected, sheltered. But here was Charlie, offering help not out of his ego or a sense of duty, but because he genuinely wanted to support someone like me. And I knew if I didn’t want it, he would take no for an answer. We were equals, and that was that.
And then because of him, in the middle of what I think was a minor panic attack, I was able to laugh a bit and maybe even come out of it feeling alright.
He still surprises me. In a good way.
“Theo? Is that really you?” came a different voice. Dennis.
“Charlie, you might want to move, I’m going to open the door,” I whispered. Then loudly to Dennis, “No, definitely not, this is just a random stranger in the closet that sounds exactly like Theo.” I wiped away the last of the tears and opened the door slowly.
Bathed in the red light, it was hard to see their expressions, but I think they were pretty happy to see me. They were a bit ruffled, with Charlie’s hair sticking up in weird ways and Dennis’s clothes rumpled, but otherwise they looked in good condition. I could feel both Dennis and Charlie look at my face, which was probably a little worse for wear.
Instead of saying anything about it, Dennis reached out and ruffled my hair. “I’m glad you’re ok.”
I batted his hand away and smiled at him. “I’m glad you guys are ok too.”
“Where’s Heathcliff? And Wolfgang?” asked Charlie. “Weren’t they with you?”
I paused. “They were, earlier. We…parted ways after coming up with a short plan.”
“Ah, so you do have a plan,” said Dennis, then after a pause, “of course you do. Let’s hear it.”
I took off my glasses and wiped them with the hem of my shirt. “Knowing Grandfather, he’s still in the control room, since strategically that would be the best place to be to mess with the submarine and the Dragon’s men can’t risk destroying anything in that room. So I was headed there to see what I can do to help, and hopefully figure out a plan to escape the submarine with Grandfather. I sent the other two to find Laura and the rest, since the Dragon has probably left them alone to deal with Grandfather.”
“That’s great, we were just headed to the control room too before we found you!” said Charlie excitedly.
“Great minds think alike, I guess,” said Dennis.
“I wouldn’t exactly call your mind great, Dennis,” I said, playfully punching him on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s go.”
I took a few steps before I realized something. “Do you guys know which way is the way up to the control room?”
“Well, we just have to follow the spiral,” said Charlie. He peered into the darkness, looking at both ends of the hallways. He pointed to the right. “That way, it’s inclined upwards and curved to the left.
We started jogging down the hallway.
“A spiral, huh?” It seemed like an inefficient system to me, with so much empty space left in the middle, but this was designed by a guy who thought pure black hallways was a good idea. Did he never think of a blackout situation?
“Yep, it makes it pretty easy to find your way around, as long as you don’t go into the narrow side passages,” Charlie replied.
Hopefully that meant it would be easy for us to find the control room and not easy for the Dragon’s men to find us.
We kept running in silence, reserving our breaths. Of course, Charlie seemed completely unfazed by the amount of jogging we’ve been doing all of today, but my legs are starting to feel shaky again. I looked over at Dennis, and he was panting pretty heavily. Out of the three of us siblings, he was the least inclined to do any form of physical exercise of his own will, and it was pretty obvious.
“Need a break?” I asked.
He gave me a side glance glare, then started sprinting ahead.
“Hey, don’t get too far ahead in case we run into anybody we don’t want to.” I ran up behind him and grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him back. He stumbled a bit, and then slowed to a stop, doubled over.
“Maybe…I do need…a short break,” he panted out.
“Your fault for pushing too hard.” I leaned against the wall. “It’s also your fault that my legs are killing me now.”
We stood quietly, Charlie waiting patiently for us to recover a bit.
“You know what?” he said, breaking the silence. “It’s been really quiet in here.”
We all paused to listen for any noise. Other than the mechanical humming of the submarine, there was nothing.
“You’re right,” said Dennis. “Normally, you’d be hear something the closer you get to a battle scene. Especially if we’re talking about Grandfather facing off henchmen.”
“But it’s been completely silent,” I finished off our collective thought.
What did that mean? Was Grandfather alright? I’m sure he was able to handle it on his own but…
“We better find out what’s up,” I said, and stood up. “You ok to go?” I asked Dennis.
He straightened up and smoothed down his shirt. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Let’s go.”
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