Insusceptible

-three--

--three-

I WALKED WITH Charleston down to the gathering room, passing by all the INs in the institute. It seemed as though most of the people were surprised to see me around as, since the Evacuation, only a handful of people had interacted with me.

I could see pairs of people fighting, and at first sight, I was afraid - gripping onto Charleston's arm, quick to want to pull him over. But I realized that they weren't fighting each other, they were training. The more I paid attention, the more I recognized how much stronger everyone had become since The Dormir, and how I felt so far behind, almost as if a part of were left inside The Dormir.

"Pretty impressive, huh?" Charleston inquired, his smile beaming from ear to ear. He leaned closer to me so his arm was brushing against mine and a long-gone panic set in.

I hurried to move away from him, suddenly forgetting where we were and how everything had changed. He looked at me with worried eyes, his arms extended out, hands raised to try and calm me.

Looking around quickly, I struggled to make sense of what had just happened. "The Rule..."

Charleston slowly inched closer to me, pulling my hands into his hold. "It's not real. You're not there anymore. You're safe. You're safe." He repeated until he brought me back to the moment.

"I don't know what just happened..." I apologized to him, shaking my head at my own loss of control.

"Don't worry, alright? You're bound to feel it sometimes. Everything will make sense again one day."

I exhaled sharply and focused on his words, on the promise that someday my reality wouldn't be constantly shifting between two worlds. Fear of what I left behind, and fear of what was to come.

Charleston led me down the hallway and I was met with a room full of people who were relieved to see me. Patrick, Ava, Thea, Blaze, Alistair, and all the others who had assisted the Evacuation. They were gathered around a table, a transparent board hanging at one end, covered with a large map, diagrams, and spreadsheets.

After Charleston encouraged me to take a seat, he walked directly over to where my father, brother and Ava were stood. They all looked over at me, then back to Charleston as he spoke to them.

"She's still showing symptoms. She just had another one on the way over. I'm getting worried about her."

"She showed up, didn't she?" I could hear Ava defend me.

Charleston pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly in a state of stress. "Yes, after three weeks."

"Her best friend just died, Charleston. In her arms. Nothing about that is okay."

"You think I don't realize that?" I could see him growing frustrated with her, moving closer as if to assert his dominance, as if to prove that he knew what was best for me.

My father interrupted, holding his hands between them so things didn't get so heated. Tensions had been high since we arrived here, and I knew it always came back to me.

"I'm grateful she's here." Charleston assured Ava. "But that doesn't mean she's okay all of a sudden. She could relapse the minute someone mentions that place."

"So what do you think we should do?" Martin asked him, uncertain of how he wanted to proceed with me.

"Look, in The Dormir, we didn't have enough time. She didn't remember everything, and she wasn't ready when she had to say goodbye. If the new Plan is what we go for, we can't allow for anything like that to happen again. I won't risk putting her through that. Not now that she has PTSD."

"Charles." Martin interrupted, coughing to hide his nod in my direction. When they all saw me watching them, I hastily turned away, pretended I hadn't even noticed them.

Their voices had been mixed in with all the other chatter in the room, but I knew what Charleston had said about me. About the symptoms, and being here, and relapsing. But to hear it... PTSD... It felt like I had be defined by what had happened in that awful, awful place, and I knew right then that it had stolen away a piece of me that I would never get back.

"I have to go see Pip." Charleston informed them. "We need to have another talk after this meeting, once we know how she feels about it. Then we can decide the best way to proceed with the Plan, and how to help her as well."

Once he had concluded, Charleston came to sit beside me, smiling as if nothing were up. But very quickly he could sense that I was feeling disassociated again, and the unease settled inside him as he realised that I had heard what he said.

Instead of mentioning it, I sheltered myself away and listened in as my father introduced the Second Plan.

-three—
Please read the 'In Memory' chapter.
My extraordinary friend went to Heaven this week, so I wrote a little dedication for her. With God, all things are possible.