The Normals | ✓

E L E V E N

Hours bleed into minutes which bleed into days and before I know it, it's been over a week since I entered Arden's world. At some point he decided it wasn't worth it to stay mad at me and we fall into some sort of mutual friendship. Acknowledging one another but not engaging more than we have to. Being polite, but not friendly. I spend most of my days with Lyra and when she's not there, I slowly start going through mine and Sniper's belongings, sorting them and packing away his things. It gives me a weird feeling to do so, as if by packing his clothes and belongings neatly back into his bag I'm somehow accepting his death, moving on. I hate the air of finality that comes with it because I know once those clothes are packed away they're probably never coming back out.

I don't understand death. Where do we go after? It must be somewhere, right? In the Old Era, some people believed there was some sort of entity waiting for us after death. There were multiple theories about it, and enough people who believed in it for religions and cults to form around it. Some believed your heart would be weighed against a feather to determine whether your soul would be allowed into the afterlife. Some believed that the afterlife and its gods would come back to Earth one day.

But then there was the Outbreak, and then humans couldn't afford to waste their time on beliefs of a higher power.

Personally, I don't know what to believe. We were never taught about anything concerning where we go after death and now I find myself wondering. I like to think that Sniper woke up in a peaceful field where he has no restrictions, no rules. Where he's free to wander where he likes and where he can create anything he wishes. But I doubt that's the case. With the way things seem to be going, it's more likely his cold body is still lying among the red and blue flowers I left him with, growing paler and increasingly lifeless with each passing day.

I shake the thought from my head, my chest aching. I wish he were here.

Today Lyra teaches me a popular card game the people here play. I don't understand it at first but after a few rounds of her winning easily, I start to get the hang of it. We're about halfway through the fourth round when Arden slams the front door open, heads straight to Lyra and grabs her by the arm, tugging at it and obviously wanting to get her out of the room. I watch from my position on the couch as she shoots me an apologetic look before rolling her eyes and shoving him off her. She follows him upstairs, her quiet footsteps and calm demeanour contrasting with his furious mood and stomps on each stair. After a few minutes, I hear yelling coming from upstairs.

Oh look, Arden's arguing with someone again. And these people are supposed to be perfect?

Lyra comes back down not long after and sits back down next to me. "Sorry about that," she says. "Arden... well he just got suspended from his job."

Regardless of my effort to steer clear of him, I feel a pang of hurt for him. He is, after all, letting me stay in his home. "Do you know why?" I ask.

"He messed up."

I blink at her. Okay?

"Novus shouldn't be capable of messing up."

Did I hear her right?

"He made a mistake while taking inventory of some supplies. Normally that would be questioned but overlooked, but then he tried to make excuses and ended up lashing out at his Instructor. Arden can be... difficult at times, but he's never lashed out at anyone like that. He's never hurt anyone. But somehow he managed to."

"So what's he going to do about it?" I ask. "Is there some sort of consequence apart from him being suspended? Why is he even being suspended? That's stupid."

"When someone makes a mistake, they're suspended from their jobs or education or anything involving the public for a week," she says, as if reciting something learned in school. "During that time, they're supposed to take a break and figure out what they did wrong, and usually at the end of the week a few members of Security come around to check if everything's okay."