Within These Walls

Life After Dark: 3 (WTW Sequel)

(Updated every Sunday)

I fall asleep to the disharmonious tune of my restless thoughts, the phone clutched in my hand—it's either a lifeline that could save me or a bomb detonating device that's capable of blowing up whatever is left of my life. I haven't decided yet. After a few hours of drifting in and out of sleep, I blink awake and make out the low, grave voices across the factory room. It's a contrast to the rowdiness before, but somehow, it's louder and immediately grabs my attention.

I stick the phone in my pocket and sit up. While most the teenagers are asleep, four of them are gathered over by the table, huddled and hunched over a map spread out across the tabletop. Marcus is shaking his head at something Willow is telling him. "That's stupid. Why are we taking a detour away from Denver when that's the whole point? We stick to I-70 until we get into the city and then we figure out how to go from there."

"In other words, Marcus wants to go in with guns blazing," Janie says in an amused tone. "No surprise there."

Pablo takes a swig from a beer can and swirls its contents around casually. He's the only one sitting at the table, one leg propped up on another chair. "He's got a point. The last time we tried to play it safe, as brainy girl suggested, we were too late. Just saying."

They don't notice me approaching until I say, "Too late for what?"

Janie's eyes find me before she looks away, shifting uncomfortably. Pablo's eyebrow goes up tauntingly, and I know he's loving the fact that I'm on the outside looking in. Marcus levels a cool, unflinching stare at me. Only Willow says something. "April. You're awake."

"Obviously," I answer, wondering if the world will ever stop feeling so bizarre. "But I'm guessing you don't want me to be."

"April, it's not that," Janie says, her expression bordering on guilty. "You've been through a lot in the last few months. We all have, but it was hardest on you because of your condition. You have a new lease on life, thanks to Willow, and we don't want to do anything to jeopardize that."

"You're saying keeping me in the dark is for my own benefit?"

"The less you know about your past, the better the odds that Willow's hypnosis will hold. Reminders will undo all of that work. You'll start to remember what we've been through and then . . ."

"I'll blank," I finish for her. It makes sense, but it doesn't mean I'm happy to acquiesce. I don't like feeling so unanchored and unguarded. I cross my arms and look directly at Marcus. "If you're trying to spare me stress, you're not doing a very good job of it."

Marcus's lips twist into a humorless smile. "Sorry I can't play the loving boyfriend because the princess demands it."

It feels like there's barbed wire around my heart, and someone is tugging at it. As far as my memory goes, it was literally yesterday that we were together in my hospital room and working on mending our broken trust. I didn't like the way he had handled our escape from the stress facility, the ill-conceived plan that was meant to save us while simultaneously keeping him in Jonathan Blaine's good graces, but I saw beneath all that to a conflicted boy who wanted to do the right thing and didn't know what that meant.

I saw his heart that day. I held it in my hands in the hospital room, saw it bleed red from his sorrow and confusion and felt its heartbeat strengthen with his growing hope that redemption was possible for someone like him. I heard his heart beat in harmony with mine, so what could have caused this discord between us?

Maybe it's because of my condition. Marcus couldn't put up with the monster I was turning into. How could he? He was trained for most of his life to eliminate people like me. To hate them. It must have killed him to treat me like I'm a normal human being when I'm not.