The Outside (#wattys2016)

The Week part 1

     We finished lunch silently, but I spoke up just as we were finishing. "So, I'm free to do what ever I like during the week, right?" He nodded. "As long as it's inside the Dome, yes." Confused I asked, "The Dome?" He nodded again. "It's the building. It's called the Dome." "Very original name." I commented, considering the whole building was a dome. I knew from the dreams. And I knew we were here from the bad feeling I got from it. Right then, I got my first one. My first shiver down my spine. The first bad feeling I had gotten in a long time. I decided to go talk to James.

     Will lead me through the hallway and down a couple flights of stairs. James was sitting on a bed against the wall looking at some old book. I joined him and Will left us alone. "Hey." I said. James looked up. "Oh. Hey." He said without and put his head down again. His voice sounded sad. "Is something wrong?" I asked him and read a little of the book he was reading. It went something like this:

Then, I remembered Leslie was still here. She looked me strait in the eyes. "What the hell have you done?" She yelled. "We have no home, no food, no anything and were on the outside of everything we have ever known!"

     It all sounded too familiar to me. People with nothing, on the outside of everything. But I knew the story all too well. "James." I said. "What is this?" He closed the book right away. But that just gave me a chance to see the cover. 'The History of The Outside.' "James." I said again. "How did you get this?" He finally looked up for good. "Your dad gave it to me." He said. "Right before we left." I thought about it for a second. "So that's how Anna caught you. And that was what you were carrying in that little backpack." I said, sort of amazed at my memory. James nodded. "I was supposed to give this to you while ago, when we got to the Inside, but..." We got separated. "I know. It's okay." He handed me the book. It wasn't that big, but it was heavy, so I put it down on a nightstand next to the bed. "It's written by the founder of the Outside. It's like a diary of something, but it's pretty good." Right then I though James had forgotten that this wasn't just some story, but our history. This was more than a story. Why was he enjoying this? "James, this isn't just a book. This, this is our answer! This is what actually happened. This goes into details. It's not just some fiction story, James. This is real." I knew why he forgot, though. It's so easy to forget when your not really the ones in danger. They, the founder and the girl Leslie, they were in danger, but still wanted to write about it. Maybe it helped him, I thought, writing helped. I had never known; I had never tried. I took the book and left to go read it somewhere.