The Watchers Wake

Chapter 41 - The Hearing

CHAPTER 41 - The Hearing

Scott took a seat and pulled me onto his lap while wrapping his arms around me.

Natalie, I am scared.  What does this all mean?

I don’t know.

His arms tightened around me and I knew he was contemplating this being our last moment together.  In his mind he could see us being dragged off to different detention centres.

I tried to snuggle further into his chest as we silently tried to reassure each other and gently kissed each other.  We were surrounded by others waiting who occasionally looked us over.  But no one talked, no one smiled and no one looked positive.  This looked very, very bad. 

I had no concept of time as we waited.  The only thing that punctuated our wait was the infrequent arrival of a harried individual in a tired suit. He looked the same every time he appeared.  His hair was always in disarray and his face looked impassive.  He had the look of someone who deserved two weeks in the Bahamas. 

He said nothing.  He would just bustle through the only door in the room, take a long look at the clipboard in his hands then raise his head and look at the room of expectant eyes.  We all looked at him.  Whether we wanted to or not we all looked at him.  He was different.  He was something to look at. 

Eventually his eyes would focus on an individual and all he would do was nod.  That was it.  That person would then stand and follow him out the door.  The door closed behind them and that individual never returned to the waiting room.  Excitement over.

The dread of not knowing what was beyond that door hung heavy in the room.  But despite this, we all sat there and waited for the nod.  What else could we do?  The nod meant the waiting was over.  The waiting was terrible. 

At least I had Scott.  We were the only couple in the room everyone else sat on their own.  That would be far worse.  But if we were split up, what then?

I can’t let them do that.  I just can’t.  Scott’s arms tightened and he kissed me.  I love you Natalie.  I love you my Qaddis.  Whatever happens know that I would have married you and I would have spent my life trying to deserve you.  Whether we walk out of here or not I will always be yours.

I know Scott and if we walk out of here I will always be yours, and yours alone.  I love you too. The inevitable tears blurred my vision and spilled down my cheeks.  Scott smiled at me and gently kissed me. 

The man with the crumbled suit returned.  This time he nodded to the only other person left in the waiting room.  It was reasonable to assume that we would be next, given we were the only ones left in the room.

I melted into Scott’s kisses and we lost ourselves in each other, so much so that we didn’t hear the door open.   A forced cough interrupted us, we both turned to see the tired face looking unimpressed at us. 

He nodded.  We stood, straightened our clothing and smoothed our hair down then hand in hand we followed him out.

The whole place seemed to resemble a hospital, the long corridors, the grey linoleum, the white smooth walls, and the smell.  It was surreal.  We had to walk fast down the corridor with the fluorescent lights overhead, to keep up with the man with the clipboard.  We went past several double doors which punctuated the corridor.  I tried to glance in through the glass inserts but we were already too far behind the man and Scott was pulling me along to keep up with him.  At the very end of the corridor was a pair of polished wood doors, with no glass but a carved shield on each.  These looked far more impressive than any other doors we had passed.  These would be our doors.