Moira

29.

He hummed lowly, seemingly pleased by my question as his head tilted only several inches away from mine.

City lights illuminating the otherwise dark apartment enough to notice the glistening in his eyes, a few strands of hair blocking the otherwise perfect view of them before my own eyes flickered down to his lips.

Only for a moment, but long enough to notice how soft they seemed despite the harsh light coming from outside. Long enough to notice how close they suddenly were. Long enough to notice the way his smile deepened.

Long enough to notice it's been too long right as my eyes darted back up to meet his.

A hoarse laugh rattled through his chest, then, before he brought a bit of distance between us and sat on the floor, back against the window and arms propped up on his knees.

I mirrored his action silently.

Head gently falling against the window behind us, a soft sigh escaped his lips as he closed his eyes; head tilted upwards when he spoke.

"When did they appear?" He simply asked, not bothering to look at me or anything else as the question left his lips as monotone as every word he spoke.

"Today."

"Wrong." He opened his left eye to throw a glance my way. Noticing my attention already on him, they closed again swiftly. "They've always been there."

I snorted humorously, shaking my head almost in disbelieve at the nonsense coming out of his mouth.

"Surely I would've noticed them before if that were the case," I mumbled, hoping he'd drop the act and tell me what he actually knew.

He rolled his eyes as he sat up, throwing a knowing look my way before turning to face the window, sitting cross-legged in front of it now. Brows knitted together tightly in confusion, I eyed him suspiciously first before turning around myself, sitting on my legs and waiting for him to say something.

"Do you see that?" He asked, eyes steadily pointed outside. His finger pointed towards something, similarly to the way I had pressed against the window earlier.

My eyes followed his own line of sight as I tried to figure out what exactly he was pointing at. Though, all I saw were tall buildings and a few illuminated windows inside of those buildings.

So, when I shrugged — shaking my head while doing so — he turned towards me with a questioning glance. Eyes trying to follow my own gaze that was still pointed towards one of the many buildings outside.

With a sigh, he scooted over to me, knee touching mine before his right arm was casually resting around my shoulders. His left hand reached for mine, gently raising it to point at the spot with my own hand.

Breath tickling my ear as his head almost rested on my shoulder, he instructed, "Close one eye and tell me what we're pointing at."

I did what he said, of course, following my own finger and the direction it was pointed in. Tilted a little upwards, my gaze lingered on the roof of a building a little bit higher than we were.

Nothing seemed to be particularly strange about it, a few solar cells on top of it, the rest of it the stoic white color to match Arcan City; a few antennas pointed towards the sky, some of them seeming more sturdy than the rest.

"The roof?" I questioned, my voice no more than a loud whisper, and still not quite sure what exactly I was supposed to be looking at.

He nodded, the gesture making his nose brush against my ear, chills running down my spine and my cheeks tinting a light pink he, fortunately, couldn't pick up on.

"Yeah, the roof," He hummed lowly, taking a deep breath before letting go of my hand and retracting his from behind my back as he sat up straight again. "Seems normal—" He began, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "—is actually a transmitter."

My brows furrowed as my head snapped in his direction. The hint of a smile on my lips disappearing when I saw his serious expression.

"You can't be serious."

He ignored my comment. "It's not as bad as it sounds at first, though; it's still—" He thought about his words for a moment – "quite bad." His head still turned towards the front; he continued talking. "Subliminals. Ever heard of them?"

I shook my head.

"Messages that appear to our subconscious mind only, existing only below the threshold of our consciousness. They affirm the same things you can read on the posters and more. Kind of like... a way to ease you into The System."

His voice was monotone, his face blank.

My eyes darted around the buildings, scanning the walls above and below us and finding more and more of them as he spoke.

I quickly shook my head — in disbelieve this time — closing my eyes before they snapped onto him. My head spun, the feeling similar to the last time I drank with them. My breath had picked up just the same, and I felt just as sick now.

"That doesn't explain why I can see them now," I argued, strict in my belief he was obviously lying, though entertaining the idea to see where he was going with this.

"You've always seen them," He explained. "Just never noticed them. Your brain was too full with their... propaganda lulling you in. And, well, the clover is outside of their range—"

"—The what?" I quickly interrupted, getting caught up on the unfamiliar name rather than anything else he had said or was going to say.

"The house," He shrugged. "It's what my father called it." His brows furrowed slightly before he shook his head to rid himself of the oncoming thoughts. "It doesn't matter," He clarified. "You've been spending quite a bit of time out there recently, must've been enough time away from The Signal to clear everything up a little."

His finger tapped my forehead lightly as the last words left his mouth, head tilting in interest as he observed my reaction carefully.

Squeezing my eyes together tightly to rid myself of my spinning surrounding and the upcoming dots blurring my vision, I took a deep breath before exhaling just as loudly. Eyes still closed, I muttered, "I don't think I'm feeling too well," into the black abyss before my eyes.

-

Some of you might not be pleased with this LOL but I'm going to stop updating daily for now and instead focus more on the quality of the chapters. I feel like the quality of my writing has become a lot worse and I'd rather give you quality over quantity without stressing myself out like crazy!

Updates will still be very regular (maybe every second or third day?) and each chapter will be longer than they have been up until now. This way I can properly figure out my storyline and just make this book overall better. <3

Make sure to follow me on my Instagram silksel for sneak peeks and new chapters!

I hope u can forgive me ljkghfgd

See you. <3