Between Gates (The Gate Chronicles Book 1)

Chapter 12: New Recruit

When she woke up in the morning, it was to the harsh wail of the alarm. She groaned. She didn’t want to get up. She still felt awful. She supposed it was because she was hungry. But she was also over-exhausted from the long trek to get to East Gate.

She opened her eyes blearily to see Chenn standing over her, grinning from ear to ear.

No one else was in the room.

“Wake up, sleepy head.”

She groaned, flipping back over on her side and pulling the blanket over her head.

He laughed. “Oh, no, you don’t! That trick doesn’t work on me.”

He pulled the blanket off with a swift, brisk movement. She lay on the bed, shivering. The thin material of the clothing she had found wasn’t enough to keep her warm in the cold air. They were, after all, simply bedclothes. She still didn’t move.

“Go away, Chenn.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

Chenn moved off, and Nari thought she’d won. Finally! He had left. She pulled the blanket back over her body and closed her eyes.

Absently, she noted that the water was running in the bathroom. Chenn must be brushing his teeth. He was, after all, the only one still in the room other than her, so he must not have been up as early. Either that or he was late too.

She started drifting back to sleep. The bathroom door creaked open. He must be done, so he’ll probably leave the room and let me sleep now. Good riddance.

All of the sudden a wave of freezing cold water struck her in the face. She sat up, gasping and spluttering. In her haste to escape Chenn, she fell off the bed and hit her head on the wall.

“OWW!”

Chenn stood there, one eyebrow raised. “I told you that trick didn’t work on me.”

Nari glared at him. She sat in a puddle on the floor, soaking wet with freezing water. Chenn held the empty bucket.

“Where did you get a dumb idea like that? I could have cracked my head open falling off the bed like that!”

He shrugged. “I learned it while I was in jail. That’s what happened if I slept in.”

Her eyes widened. “You were in jail?”

He gave a soft sigh. “Yeah. I didn't mean to say that.”

***

Memories began to assault him again.

He gasped and spluttered as a wave of freezing water struck his body. His punishment for sleeping in. Again. He really needed to learn to just stick it out and get up on time. If the water routine continued, he'd end up with amnesia due to hitting his head or dead because he caught pneumonia, which had killed many prison inmates already that year.

Nari's voice cut into the memories before they could torment him further.“So what were you in jail for?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Chenn scuffed at the floor with his shoe. “It wasn’t a good time for me.”

She shrugged. “Okay. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. I understand. Jail isn’t exactly a good experience for anyone.”

He nodded. “Exactly.”

She got up off the floor. “I have to change and get ready for the day. Now that you’ve soaked me, I need to dry off too.”

He laughed. “I’ll wait here for you.”