Her Compound

Chapter 13

I fell asleep approximately an hour after Zack had left me and woke up nine hours later to the sound of the door opening. My body immediately bolted upright and I quickly shook the tired feeling out of myself as I watched Willow and Matteo enter the room with their shoulders hunched and their eyes down, both of them avoiding the top bunk on the right side of the room.

Logan's passing really punched a hole right through all of us. It didn't help that we now have the empty, quiet part of the room, reminding us that he was really gone.

I watched Matteo and Willow sit on Matteo's bed before looking at Zack who was still standing by the door, waiting for me. He nodded beside himself and motioned with his eyes for me to join him. I glanced at Willow and Matteo before standing up and walking towards the door that Zack was holding open.

As I passed my two friends, I could feel Willow's confused eyes bore into me, but I ignored it and walked out of the door, joining Zack who closed the door behind me.

"Where are we going?" I asked him, looking up to his light eyes, hoping he would tell me.

He smiled down at me and took a backwards step in the direction of where the cafeteria and training room was. "I'll show you."

I brought my wrist up to look at the time: 7:37 pm, and then glanced towards the door I had come from before deciding to follow Zack down the hall. I really didn't want to spend any more time in that room without having Logan's happy, goofy energy floating all over the place.

I had felt so trapped while I laid there trying to fall asleep. My eyes kept wandering over to Logan's bed, hoping that he would pop his head over the side and he would smile down at me and tell me that everything was okay, but that never happened. I eventually curled up and rolled over to face the wall, my breathing slowing down to a steady, slow rhythm as my eyes drooped closed.

I looked up at Zack as we rounded the corner. "Are you going to tell me what you're showing me?"

He let out a small chuckle as his eyes met mine and he shook his head. "It's a surprise."

"I hate surprises," I quickly said as I looked over my shoulder as I watched the girl we had passed disappear further down the hall.

"Well, first..." Zack stopped in front of the cafeterias' open doors for a split second before walking into the somewhat busy room.

I huffed a breath and looked longingly down the hall we had come, not wanting to go into the cafeteria, and then quickly pushed it down and followed Zack. I caught up with him quickly and we walked through two of the tables all the way to the other side of the room without bringing any eyes to ourselves.

"Where are we...?"

Zack smiled down at me as we came to a stop in front of the door and glanced over my shoulder before turning the knob of the door and gesturing into whatever was on the other side. I quickly walked through before I turned around and watched him slip through after me. Once the door had closed behind us, I turned around to face the large kitchen.

Many different appliances were along the wall on the far side and there was a large table in the middle of the room where I assume all the food was prepared. Luckily the room was completely empty of people, except for Zack and I.

Zack passed by me and then turned around and walked backwards, his eyes not leaving my own. As soon as he made it to the drawers on the left side of the kitchen, he opened one and looked into it as he rummaged through its contents.

I started walking towards him. "Are we even allowed in here?"

He glanced over his shoulder and stared at me, his face turning thoughtful, but I could see his eyes gleaming with mischievousness.

"No, but no one has to know," Zack said with a wink. He then turned his attention back into the drawer as he searched it some more. "Besides, my mom's kind of the boss here, so we're in the clear, and if, by any chance, anyone catches us, the worst that could happen is we'll get a talking to and told not to do it again."

I stopped just where the edge of the table was in the middle of the room, the side closest to where Zack was, and then leaned against it, my lower back pressing against the edge.

"Have you sneaked in here quite a lot?" I asked as I looked over my shoulder to the bowl of apples at arms reach of me. My stomach growled quietly and I reached over and picked one of the red apples, immediately taking a bite out of it.

Zack glanced at me before closing the second drawer he looked through and opened another one. "Sometimes."

"So," I said a moment later as I looked around the room again after swallowing another bite of the now half eaten apple. "Was the kitchen what you were wanting to show me?"

Zack, who had crouched down as he searched the lowest drawer, stood back up with two things in his hands and kicked the drawer closed with his foot while he turned around to face me.

"No, I just had to get these."

He tossed me one of the things that were in a plastic wrapping and I caught it easily, turning it over and over as I inspected it.

"A cookie?"

"It's not just any cookie," he said as he took a step closer to me and pointed at the round piece of cooked dough in my hand. "It's a chocolate chip cookie."

My eyebrows immediately shot up and I forced the look of pure shock onto my face. "No way! A chocolate chip cookie?"

"Yeah," he replied with a laugh that brought a smile to my face, and I too broke out in a short laughing fit.

This moment felt amazing. It made me momentarily forget the crushing feeling that I had felt after seeing Logan, one of my best friends, die.

It made me slowly become whole again.