Subject-59

Chapter 4

Poking around at my food with a fork I sighed. My mind was continuously straying back to the encounter I had a few days ago with s-32 and what I had seen in that hallway. 

Nothing about that situation made sense, and it's been keeping me awake at night.

One moment there was a bloodied body laying on the ground in a pool of blood, and the next it was gone. I Even watched  S-32 walk right through the puddle, leaving a trail of bloody paw prints. 

S-32 was also acting strange. He hissed and ran away when kerian walked up… I've never seen him turn aggressive like that before. Being a specter, he can't be harmed by much and he often likes all people so why did he suddenly flip like a switch?

Sighing again I grabbed my coffee and took a sip only to nearly spit it out because of the severe bitter taste. 'What the hell? I just dumped several packets of sugar in this and it's still undrinkable!'

"Ava!" a voice called out to me. Looking up I saw jade coming over to my table cheerfully, and watched as she sat down across from me.

"hey Ava did you find s-32 like you wanted?" I looked at jade unamused and set my coffee down.

"you mean after you neglected to have him placed back in containment and let him freely just roam around sector five?" Yes, I found him.

Jade winced before giving me a pleading look. "I didn't mean to, you know I don't like cats, they are scary… he purposely follows me around and rubs up against me like he knows too!"

I shook my head and crossed my arms. "Jade, he follows everyone and he just wants attention, I can assure you there's not a single hint of malice in that cat." 

She proceeded to pout, laying her head on the table. "it's still scary… so did you get him back in containment?" she stared at me intently.

Why does it seem like she already knows the answer to that question?...

"n-no… I didn't get the chance."

"why? Did something happen?" Jade's playful mood seemed to disappear as she became more alert and was listening closely to what I had to say. 

"i- was going to take him back to containment but something else had drawn my attention away from him. Then Kerian came up and s-32 got spooked and took off."

"what did you see?" jade asked in a serious tone, taking me by surprise.

She's more interested in what I saw then the fact s-32 got scared off by kerian? Shouldn't his strange behavior be more concerning? Jade is acting a bit strange. Should I even tell her?

I hesitated for a moment, looking at my coffee in deep thought. "i-...it was nothing, I thought the lights were flickering and it startled me a little. You know me, I'm not a huge fan of the dark…" 

Hearing this surprised Jade a little but her serious tone was quickly replaced by her happy and cheerful one as she smiled. "See now you can't blame me cause you did it too! You didn't catch him because you were afraid of the dark, I didn't do it cause I'm afraid of cats! Therefore you can't scold me for not doing my job!" 

"I guess you're right…" I admitted defeat to make her happy. As she went off on a rant talking about max, I couldn't help but zone out and turn my attention back to my cup. The dark liquid almost seemed black in color, and held no reflection, giving me an uneasy feeling. 

Why do I feel so unnerved? Like there's a shadow looming over me? 

"traitor" a subtle voice breathed in my ear. I nearly jumped out of my seat from fright as I looked back at the source of the voice but there was nothing.  The hair on the back of my neck was standing on end and my heart rate had increased dramatically from the fright. What on earth was that?