Ended

Chapter 15

This time I dream of the same man in the GIE.
'The prisoners?' He asks me
My voice responds against my will
'Secured. A cute couple, feisty, almost a pity they have to die,'
The man snorts before my eyes 'Good, good,' he says. A cute couple? My true self mentally think What the heck?
The guy steps forwards and kisses me lightly. My consciousness fights against this in repulse, my dreamstate turns sickeningly happy. Once he retreats I watch his hands as they fumble with a card, turning it on his hands repeatedly. 'The others?'
'Again, Secure.'
'Ah, wonderful, off with you now!'
My dream self is severely disappointed  and a little surprised. As I walk out the door he calls to me.
'And Diane!?'
I turn, my heart doing gymnastics,
'Y- yes?'
'The boy, Luke, and Thalia, they will die together.'
I nod nervously, and push open the door.
'Thank you Diane!'

I sit bolt up right, my heart racing. My eyes scan the darkness to get my bearings.
'Thalia?'
'Who-?' My eyes gradually adjust and I see Luke staring at me. 'Where the hell are we?' I ask him.
'That wretched woman threw us in here.'
'The others-?'
'Here,' says Nimble's voice.
Nimble walks over to us, no behind us and sticks her hand through metal bars. We're in a cell! She fumbles around and pushes herself closer to the bar to get more arm length. We watch curiously as she leans her arm painfully sideways and finally finds what she's looking for.
Instantly the lights flood on, shaking Michael and Lili awake with a shrill yelp.
They stare at us and their faces hold a million emotions. First happiness, then sadness, then anger, then fear, then worry. Lili flings herself at her brother and gives me a brief hug, then she starts mumbling 'No, no, no, no,' to herself , her head banging against her hands.
The cell we are in is roughly three meters by two meters. It os windowless, with bars looking out onto a musty corridor, there are two bunk beds, a moth-eaten blanket on the floor and a nasty exposed toilet. I shudder in revulsion,
I reach over for my bag but find nothing.
'They took our things,' Michael tells me. He and Lili slide out of their bunks and drag their feet wearily towards me, Luke and Nimble. They perch on the mattress on the floor and we awkwardly stare at one another. I never would've thought it possible for anyone to look good with bed head bit Nimble looks smashing.
Subconsciously, we sit in a circle, the mood is so tense, so silent you could hear a pin drop in the other room.
After what seems like aeons, Luke breaks the silence.
'Are we in space?' He muses, despair on his countenance. His sister nods mutely, 'How did you get here?' Lili inquires.
So we tell her our story. Luke and I swapping parts. The note, the hotel, the driving, the capture. Even the car and the wicked phone.
'What about you guys?' I say.
It's Michael who recounts it. He described a manic fight scene when the GIE arrived, tranquillisers injected into each of them, Quinn surveying them, Diane coming in, then this cell. He tells us in full gory detail about the fight, the dead GIE workers they killed, the injured.
Then he switches topic and talks about the gravity in the space station.
As he talks I zone out, until all I hear is incessant blabbering.
Michael killed someone. At least he implied that. The thought repulses me, leaving a sick feeling in my stomach. I mull this over, thinking that these GIE people aren't innocent anyway. Anyway, I've committed patricide, I my friends find out what I have done, they will never see me the same way...
'Earth to Thalia, Earth to Thalia!'
I am shaken out of my reverie suddenly. 'Yeah? What?' I mutter.
'We were asking for your input,' someone tells me. Lili wears a smirk on her face and Nimble looks amused.
'Oh. oh, oh, oh you were?'
'Mmh, we were.'
'On what,'
'On this mess we were chucked in.'
'Ah, on this mess? Fucking messed up!'
Luke ruffles my hair 'now,  now swearing is not ladylike m'lady.'
I awnser immediately
'Oh yes my lord, but these cells are an awful bore!'
The others look puzzled as Luke stands up and gives me a bow.
I giggle and swoon.
'What is this?' Lili demands.
'An inside joke,' I reply as Luke pulls me into his arms and twirls me around, with a flourish and a big ta dah!

Lili glares daggers at him, and Luke holds his hands up in a sign of surrender, looking tacken aback, 'cool it sis, just trying to lighten the mood!'
'We are in jail, we are in the middle of space and we are being held hostage by an evil organisation who will kill us, so do not try to 'lighten the mood,'' at the last part she holds up her fingers in a sign of inverted commas. Luke sighs In resignation, and yawns widely.
'Well, I'll try and sleep as well I can bearing in mind what you said, Lili.'
I'm also tired also and the others have bags under their eyes, so by mutual agreement, Nimble struggles with the switch and offers me and Luke the other bunk.
'You've had a hard day,' she tells me, sinking down onto the blanket on the floor. I smile my thanks and gratefully take the bottom bunk, as Luke has already claimed the top bunk.

The room is dark, I can hear the others snoring into the pitch blackness. Except for Luke. The bed above me creaks , the beams balancing precariously.
'Thalia?' He whispers 'You awake?'
'Yeah.'
He hangs his fingers down the side of the bed, I reach up and grasp them to remind myself partly that I am not alone and partly that Luke really is here. In mine, I feel his fingers relax until he falls asleep. And we fall asleep with our fingers entwined.