Within These Walls

Life After Dark: 19 (WTW Sequel)

(Sorry, sorry, sorry for the late update! Yeesh, I need to figure out a better time to write. Also I might've changed a few details as I write, so apologies if you get confused and just leave me your question in the comments and I'll do my best to explain. Enjoy and please support as always by voting/commenting. Thanks for sticking around this long!)

An hour later, we walk to a tiny town close to Wichita Falls and come across a rundown motel that makes Janie's nose crinkle. "I'd rather walk another ten miles than spend a second in that flea-ridden dive. Why don't we call a couple of taxis? It's not like we can't afford them."

"It's a good place to hide out and that's all that matters, princess," Pablo remarks, no doubt to infuriate her even more. His grin when she glowers at him says it all.

Willow's fingers fidget with the straps of her backpack, and Jones looks around nervously as though he's already anticipating trouble. Marcus is halfway across the street, quiet like he's been ever since we caught up to the others. I'm completely baffled at how quickly things went wrong. I thought I had it figured out. Honesty. That's usually a good policy to follow, right? I thought opening my shell and letting him see my weakness would soften him, but instead I've made a major mess of everything.

I was an idiot for thinking sharing the truth was better than withholding it. He wanted to be with me, and what did I do instead? I treated our relationship like some problem I needed to fix. I believed giving in wholeheartedly would mean losing control, and I let my insecurities sail our ship right into the rocks. And now it's going to be even harder to do damage control because anything I do or say might set off another landmine.

And considering I'm standing in a freaking minefield of a life right now, I'm doomed to fail before I even begin.

We pay for two rooms with cash, and when the owner, this skinny lady with a crackly voice and a greedy gleam in her eyes, protests about the occupancy, Janie and Willow take center stage without a single moment wasted between them and make the lady forget she ever saw more than the two of them. Problem solved. If only everything else was this easy.

The room has rust-colored wallpaper and creaky floorboards that would wake up the dead. After scoping out the adjacent bathroom, check the bedcovers and corners for beds, and splitting the two beds for a morning nap--thankfully, I get one all to myself--we decide to take turns in the shower. Janie gets first dibs, which neither of us fight her on. Judging by the way she's sprawled out on her back with her eyes closed, I think it's safe to say being clean is the least of her worries.

I hope she's worried about us.

"You ready to talk?" I say stiffly when Janie is gone.

She opens her hazel eyes and turns her head to look at me sitting on the other bed. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Everything. I want to know what happened to you since we got out of the facility. You've changed."

"We've all changed."

I scoff. "You think it's normal to sneak around behind our backs and keep secrets?"

I'm surprised when she responds, "No. April, nothing about me is normal. I'm tired of pretending to be something I'm not, but . . . I'm not even sure what's right or wrong anymore."

"Keeping us alive is right. Saving the world is right. What's not right is compelling me against my will and making me do things I never agreed to—or don't even know about."

"How's that any different from what we did to the lady downstairs?"

"Because she wanted more money than she deserved. Besides, compelling her protects us. If she doesn't remember who we are, she won't give us away if someone comes around asking about us."