Escaping Elysia

Chapter 10 - In Common

Dale

When I walk into the solar room I find Evita already there, lying on the floor with that same genome book held above her head. Her bright hair, more orange than red, fans out around her and her eyes scan the words on the page. The sun, falling in from the glass bubble at the top of the Solar Room, lights up her curls, making them glow. I feel a sudden urge to lift a lock of her hair and twirl it around my fingers. I quickly suppress the feeling.

Clearing my throat, I grab a bucket of cleaning supplies and step onto the lift. We didn't finish all of section 31 yesterday, so we'll begin there again today.

She turns the page and reads a few more lines before closing the book and setting in on the floor beside her. Then she steps into the lift, careful to stand on the other side so that we don't accidentally brush against each other.

She glances over at me and I smile. She returns the gesture, but it doesn't quite meet her eyes, which are looking at my cheek.

When we reach the third level we step out and fall into our routine, me squeegeeing the panels, her wiping the mirrors. After a while she speaks, and I almost drop the squeegee at the sound of her voice.

"That looks like it hurts," she says.

I frown. "What?"

"The bruise." She pauses. "And the scratches. You always seem to have some kind of injury."

I shrug. "I don't like to back down."

She nods. "How'd you get that one?"

I raise my eyebrows.

She points to my forehead. "Your scar."

My mind races back to another life. "I fell into a river when I was five. The water moved too fast and I lost my balance. Hit my head on a rock."

"Oh." She tilts her head. "I didn't think there were any rivers near Sanzha."

"There aren't," I say. "I didn't grow up in Sanzha."

She raises her eyebrows, but doesn't ask anything further. The conversation could easily end there, but for some reason I don't want it to.

"There's a group of people that steer clear of the Northern Coalition and live off the land. Nadya and I were raised with them." I can tell this intrigues her because her eyes widen slightly, though her expression doesn't change. I'm getting better at reading her face. "They helped me take care of Nadya after our parents..." I trail off. I didn't mean to tell her so much.

"I can tell that you really care about Nadya," Evita says, and I'm grateful for the change in subject. "You're very protective of her. Weston said she's your sister?"

I nod. "You want to know why we look so different?"

She blushes and nods.

"Our dad's parents came over from Greece during the war. Our mom's parents snuck in from Russia. I guess I took after him while Nadya took after our mom." I spray another panel. "Do you have any siblings?"

She shakes her head and her voice is cold. "It's just me and grandfather."

I think back to the old man on the news report. "He must be really worried about you."

She looks down into the cleaning bucket, face frozen in an expression of nonchalance. "I doubt it."

I want to ask her what she means, but I remember how she changed the subject after I brought up my parents. Maybe we have more in common than I thought.

"What were you reading?" I ask.

"Oh nothing." She smiles wide, a rare show of emotion for her, and my stomach warms. "Just a book on genetics. It's from the 2040s, outdated, but it still reminds me of home."

I furrow my brows. "It does?" Human biology hardly seems like a warm and fuzzy dinner table topic.

She laughs, a tinkling, musical sound. "Well, it reminds me of work and school, but that's where I spent all my time anyway."

"That's right," I say, remembering the news report. "You worked at the EIA?"

She nods. "I've spent the last four years studying every night, putting in extra hours. I graduate this year. I'm applying for a job in soil fertility..." She sets her jaw and pushes her shoulders back. "I just have to get out of here first and convince everyone that I had nothing to do with...well, you know. Whatever Trenton was planning." She scrubs at the mirror, hard.

Though I cringe at the mention of Trenton, I have to admire her persistence. Most people would give up by now. It's too bad, really, that she's never getting out of here. None of us are. 

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Author's note: Thank you for reading! Please don't forget to vote if you liked this chapter :).