When You Came

Chapter 10

I bolt upright in bed and turn the light on. I look across the room to see a small girl sitting in a second bed. She has dark brown hair and mint green eyes. 

"Who are you?" I ask. 

"I asked first," she says crossing her arms. 

"This is my room," I say crossing my arms too. She sighs before sticking her hand out. 

"Melanie, but I go by Mel."

"Alexander, but I go by Alex," I say shaking her hand. 

"When did you arrive?" I ask her sitting back down on my bed. 

"I don't, yesterday maybe a week ago," she says with a shrug. 

"Free or another camp?"

"What?"

"Were you free or did you come from another Center camp?" I explain to her. 

"Oh, I was free," she says yawning. I must look surprised because she smiles at me. 

"I wasn't alone, I had my dad, mom, and brother. Do you think they are here?" She asks hopefully. 

"Your brother might, but it's a slim chance. They like to keep families separated."

She's silent for a few minutes before looking back at me. 

"I was told I'm to follow someone’s schedule for now and I'm guessing that someone is you?"

"I don't know, I've never been in this kind of situation," I reply. She just looks at me and I see her glance down at my leg.

"How about we sleep and we will go talk to Mr. Deraci in the morning," I say with a yawn. 

She nods, but opens her mouth to speak anyways. “What happened to your leg?”

“I was yanked out of a three story building,” I say with a shrug.

“Does that happen often here?” She asks with wide eyes.

I laugh lightly. “No, but it seems to be happening a lot to me recently.”

“Oh, were you free?” She asks changing the subject.

“Yeah, well, kind of. It’s a long story. I was originally free before being dragged here, but then I escaped. I had a dire situation that required I come back and here I am,” I conclude.

“You’re a confusing person,” she says with a light laugh. 

“You don’t even know the half of it,” I say before turning out the light. I crawl back under my covers and listen to her breath. I wait until she is asleep before even considering sleep. I wake before Mel does and I get up and take a quick shower. As I enter the room again, I see Mel still isn't up. 

"Hey, wake up," I say awkwardly shaking her shoulder. 

She stirs and looks up at me before jumping out of bed. As she remembers the night's conversation, she relaxes a little. She's still tense though, but I don't really care. 

"Shower is in there," I say pointing to the bathroom. "Be quick, we have got to go."

I put on clean clothes and put my hair up before Mel comes out of the bathroom. 

"Um, I don't have any clothes besides the stuff I was wearing yesterday," Mel says without looking at me. 

"No way are you wearing that stuff," I say heading to my dresser trying to make her feel better.I pull out my smallest shirt and pants. As I hand them too her, I realize I'm a full head taller than her.  I don't think it worked, oh well, I tried.