Loveless Ages

Chapter Five

 Xander sits at one of his many computers. It is at the head of the room and is noticeably larger than the other ones. I stand behind him and watch what looks like a secret chat room. He writes to a group of people who have strange screen names like im_an_animal and mentalmike. Xander goes by Codec.

"So what are we going to do?" I ask him. "I don't think it will be easy to hack into the NSN."

"Obviously." He answers. He is the fastest typer I have ever seen and he doesn't even have to look at the keyboard.

"What exactly is the plan then?" I ask. He doesn't turn away from the computer.

"I figure this out and you sit over there and look pretty." He says. I roll my eyes.

"Well how long will that take?" I ask. He doesn't talk for a while.

"We're gonna have to get on the inside." He says finally.                                         

"The inside of what?"

"You know that building in the middle of Schlutonia? The one with all of those guards and that big iron fence around it?" He says. He finally turns to look at me.

"The NSN headquarters?" I ask incredulously. "Shut up."

"You didn't think this would be easy did you?" He sits back in his chair and pushes his fingers through his hair.

"We can figure it out." He says calmly.

"What made you change your mind anyway?" I ask. "Why are you suddenly in?"

"I don't know." He leans forward and looks directly into my eyes. "There's not much here for me. Just wanna see what's out there I guess." We stay there like that for a while, just looking at each other. His face breaks into a half smile. The kind of smile where only one corner of his mouth turns up.

"Don't you ever wonder what's out there?" He asks. "Haven't you ever wanted to leave?"

"All the time." I say. "I wonder all the time. I want to leave all the time." He breaks eye contact and wipes his hands on his jeans. He rolls up his sleeve on his sleeves absently. Both of his arms have tattoos. One arm has the Roman numeral on the wrist and the other has something tribal on it. It starts at his wrist and seems to go all the way up, though I can't really tell how far it goes since he only rolled his sleeve up to his elbows.

"How long have you had that?" I ask.

"Had what?"

"The tattoos."

"Oh. I got this when I was sixteen." He says gesturing to the intricately designed tribal tattoo.

"Did it hurt?" I ask.

"Not too much." He answers.

"And what about the other one?" I ask. "The one on your wrist."

"It's... I don't remember." He looks away. "There's really nothing for you to do here now. So... Are you okay getting home? I mean I can drive you."

"It's fine. I can let myself out." I say.

"Okay." He nods. I begin to walk away but I suddenly stop and turn back towards him.

"When will I see you again?" I ask.

"You know where I live. I know where you live. I'll find you when I need you." He tells me. I frown.

"That's not telling me much." I walk towards him until we are standing a foot apart.

"Well what do you want me to tell you?" He says.