Moira

41.

000d, 00h, 00m, 00s

"Amidelle?" A hushed whisper of a voice infiltrated my sleep that night. A continuous, annoying sound right by my ear that just wouldn't stop. "Ami—!" Combined with the vigorous shaking of my entire body, eventually, I snapped out of my sleep.

With an audible groan, my eyes batted open carefully to adjust them to the bright light I expected around me. Though, it was completely dark for the first time in weeks.

So, instead of adjusting my eyes to the light, I had to adjust them to the darkness. And as soon as I did, recognising the pair of eyes right in front of mine, they widened. My breath hitched as I scrambled towards the wall, pressing against it in hopes it might swallow me whole.

"I told you not to go—" Hearing his voice felt like a bolt of electricity shooting through my entire body; it made me inhale a shaky breath, and my head almost explode.

"No—" I shook my head vigorously, hoping my blurry vision would make it seem like he was someone else entirely; maybe snap me out of this nightmare, even.

Because the man in front of me couldn't be Esmond Terran. He couldn't be, and I didn't want him to be.

But the brown curls and full brows; with the dark iris barely even separable from the black of his pupil in the complete darkness the room had wrapped around us, and the light scent of citrus lingering in my nose, it couldn't be anyone else.

And the prospect of it only made me try to get further away from him— was there a way to get further than the wall behind me?

"I told you, didn't I?" He repeated once more. "And yet you still went, and look where that got you." There was a disapproval in his tone as his gaze flickered through the relatively narrow room. And though I'm sure he couldn't see much, it didn't take a genius to know he didn't like the things he did see.

"I'm right where I'm supposed to be—" I hissed back, trying my best to stand up to the feeling tugging in the back of my mind that told me to just let go. "You're the one who shouldn't be here! I belong here, with The System. You—"

My voice faltered as I watched his head tilt, his eyes narrow, and a few wrinkles on his forehead appear — his face falling into one of disappointment or surprise; maybe both.

And he swallowed thickly, acting like he didn't understand the words coming out of my mouth; maybe he didn't want to understand.

I wanted to make sure he would.

"You ruined everything," I roared in a whisper, my finger pointing right at him as a wave of confidence washed through me, and I moved closer to him. Breath still heavy, for the first time since I woke up, I wondered what he was doing here, in the first place.

And as realisation dawned on me, my eyes grew wide as my lips parted. "I'm not going with you, Terran! Forget about it—" The only thing I could think of doing was to raise my voice.

And I let go of my pend up anger, frustration and irritation with the man stood before me, back slightly bent as he was leaned down to level our eyes.

I was angry at him for making me question The System, for being against them in the first place, for getting me involved with him and his stupid propaganda.

Surely it would alarm at least one of the guards if I simply yelled loud enough. "Esmond Terran, I hate—" His hand on my mouth muffled the words about to slip past my lips, an alarmed expression on his face as his head cocked to the side, and he listened into the silence for any sign of someone reacting to my loud voice echoing through the halls.