Hide (Sequel to RUN)

Chapter 3

Maki noticed that Lekia hadn’t said anything for a bit. He sneaked a glance over at her. She would have at least made a snarky comment by now. That was the norm for every other time they bumped into each other. 

“Lekia?” he asked in surprise when he didn’t see her immediately. He looked down automatically and saw her. How he saw her nearly made his heart stop.

She was curled up in the fetal position, shaking violently and clutching her head as if it was causing her great pain. 

Maki grabbed her shoulders, shaking her body, “Lekia, wake up!” He had no idea what to do. Commander Lansing had told him about her episodes when he had confronted him and deemed him harmless. But the Commander had only warned him to be careful about what to say around her, not what to do if she ever had one. 

Shaking Lekia wasn’t working. In fact, she only shook harder and began to mumble something in her delusions. Panic filled Maki’s head. 

The commander, he thought, having a moment of clarity. He hadn’t seen him in the hallway afterwards and he hadn’t been with Lekia. The only place he could be was…

“Courtroom,” Maki whispered, picking Lekia up in his arms and standing. Lekia was stiff as a board. She simply stayed in the fetal position as if she was going to be like that forever. 

Maki started to push through the crowd, Lekia’s stiff body beginning to shake. He bounced her in his arms as he jogged, trying to get her to wake up. 

“Come on, Lekia,” he muttered, keeping his pace even. He couldn’t draw any attention to himself. If he did, they’d notice Lekia. 

Maki pushed through the last of the crowd and arrived at the courtroom doors. He literally kicked the doors open as he ran in.

“Commander!” he shouted, his voice cracking. Neil looked up from his conversation with the prosecutor. Even from half-way down the aisle and running, Maki could make out his eyes widening as he started to run to meet Maki halfway.

“Put her on the ground!” Neil ordered. Maki stopped in his tracks and gently placed Lekia on the floor in front of him. She was still as stiff as a board, but now she was twitching and sweat was gathering on her upper lip.

“What’d you say to her, Maki?” Neil asked, trying to get Lekia onto her back unsuccessfully. 

“I don’t know, we were just talking! I didn’t say anything about Aaron!” Maki exclaimed, hovering his hands over Lekia’s body. He had no idea what he could do.

“Specifics, Maki!” Neil yelled.

“I was just telling her that I wanted to be the one she confided in!” Neil froze.

“I just wanted to be the one,” he muttered. Lekia let out a short yelp like a dog. Maki looked down just in time to see her body seem to fall apart. Her limbs lost all their stiffness in a huge wave, and she went onto her back. 

“She’s reliving the first time she was raped,” Neil’s voice shook as he made the statement.

“How do you know?” Maki asked.

“‘I just wanted to be the one’,” Lansing quoted. “That was what Aaron said to her just before he raped her for the first time.” Maki’s brain made the connection to the video, where he had heard that exact phrase only minutes before. How could he be so stupid?

“Here we go,” the commander murmured, shoving his hands under Lekia and sitting her up quickly. The effect it had on Lekia was actually pretty creepy. Her eyes opened like one of those toy baby dolls, going wide. Her mouth was frozen in an ‘O’ shape, silently screaming.