Larceny

48

Just as I start to drift off to sleep, my phone vibrates. I roll over into my back and pull it from beneath my pillow. Bruno's name illuminates my screen. Squinting on account of the light, I open the message. 

"Did I do something wrong?"

Closing my eyes, I push my phone back beneath my pillow and close my eyes. Like a wave, the night he was brought here floods back to me and everything that has happened hits me all at once.

Meeting him without his voice and talents; his recovery, his playing and singing. How close we've gotten...I never meant to get this close to him, I don't know why I allowed this to happen...I was just supposed to help him physically, not emotionally. 

I swallow hard and begin pulling my covers up over my head. Burrowing deep in the solitary safety of my bed, I try wrangle my thoughts back into order. The room is silent as it always is; not in a deafening way as I used to think of it but not quite peaceful either. There's something different about the way that it feels in the whole scheme of things. With the escape so close, I feel like--just then I hear the mechanisms in my door start to shift. The hair all over my body seems to stand on end and my muscles tense up. I peek out from under the blankets and peer across the room to see Michael stepping inside. I take a deep breath, blink slowly and come out from under the covers. He walks over to me. 

"Sorry, he whispers. He pulls my desk chair to my bedside and takes a seat. "I didn't mean to scare you.""It's ok," I reply. "What do we need to talk about?"

 "It's ok," I reply. "What do we need to talk about?"

"Callum, the doctor's assistant," he shifts forward and drops the volume of his voice. "I need you to get him to help us." He pauses as though he's waiting for me to answer but, I just watch him and he purses his lips again. "From what you've told me, he's on our side but I need to know for sure. We can use all the help me can get." His eyes focus on mine and his shoulder fall. "What are you thinking about?"

"When we escape...when we get out of here. I don't think I should have contact with Bruno anymore."

"Why?" I lean back from him and he draws back from me with his brows furrowed. 

"He needs his life back. His family, his music, his freedom. He deserves to have it all back." I look down at the floor. "There's no room for me in that." 

"You should tell him how you feel about him," he says slowly. "Before making a decision." 

"I--I" The words I try to scrape together seems to crawl back down my throat leaving my mouth empty. I look away from Michael and chew on the inside of my lips as I read Bruno's text over again in my head. My phone vibrates again and Michael's eyes dart toward the sound. I start to reach for it but draw my hand back, leaving it hidden. 

"I know what you're saying, I understand but," he pauses. "I don't want you to do something you'll regret."

"He'll work with us. I'll talk to him but I think he will."

"Good." 

"Is that all?" I ask. I stand and straighten the sheets and comforter on my bed. 

"Yeah," Michael says back. I walk over to my desk from which I pull a spiral notebook. I walk across the room with him and he lingers for a moment. "Remember what I said." 

"Night Michael," I reply without looking at him. Once my door closes locking me in again, I pull the chair up to my desk and sit down. With a pencil I write Bruno's name at the top and begin writing, trying to condense all my feelings at once. First I write about my feelings for him but as the page fills, I find myself regretting every word. I scrap the letter and begin again but the second one is just as bad, if not worse than the first. I decide upon short and concise approach and quickly jot everything I want to say while focusing on what he needs to get back to.