Jailbreak

Chapter 7: Jay

"Hey Rave-" I stop as I realize that I'm doing it again, I'm talking to Raven, even though I am the only one in the workshop. I sigh, resting my head on my arms on top of the worktable, any drive to do repairs seeping out of me like air from a deflating balloon.

Though it's already been six years since Raven stormed out of this work shop, I still struggle to accept the harsh truth. Many times I have caught myself talking to Raven without thinking, talking as if he's still here, tinkering along beside me. But then I get no response, and I turn my head, and then it hits me, again, Raven is no longer here.

Maybe I'm just stubborn. My brain knows that Raven is gone, but my heart believes that he is still beside me, like he always was. Until that day.

Now I live in this house alone, with no Anna, no Jack, no Raven. The house that once held a family of four, now only houses one lonely teenager. The rooms that felt so cramped then, now are just simply too big, too empty for just one boy.

What I wouldn't give to see Raven fling open this door, march into this workshop, and yell at me to get myself together and get some work done, just once more. To see him work beside me, his eyebrows scrunched in concentration as he tries to fix a really complicated mechanism. To see him smile at me, ruffling my hair while calling me an idiot. To see him lie beside me as we stare up at the sky, past the ceiling of the Dome, wondering what lies beyond the glass and metal.

It's just so lonely being surrounded by silence.

One supposedly very normal day, a familiar face I haven't seen in years appears at the door.

"Ah, I see you're still in business."

I turn around so quickly that I almost break my neck.

It's the old man Raven and I had saved from the keepers, back when I was still ten years old - the man who had brought the broken clock into this workshop once. Deep lines have been engraved in his face since that day I last saw him nine years ago, but he still seems healthy enough to walk around, though with some help from his wooden cane.

I stare at the old man in surprise - I can't believe he is still up and in good enough shape after all these years - but after a second, my surprise changes into joy. The old man had always been a special customer to me, with his deep, encouraging words (though I still don't understand half of the things he had said to me) at difficult times. But since around the time when Raven joined the keepers, the old man had stopped coming, and somewhere in my head, I had believed that he'd finally died of old age, or had been killed by one of the keepers.

Seeing him in almost six years is a wonderful occasion for me.

"Sir!" I cry, standing up and causing some old papers to scatter on the worktable. I run up to him. "It's great to see you again. What kept you away for so long?"

The old man smiles and pulls up his shirt to reveal a heavily bandaged stomach. I can't help but gasp, he looked all so well when he walked in. "Oh no! What happened? Was it -" I look at his face, and he nods.

"Let's just say I had another - ah - encounter with the dear old keepers. This time I didn't come out so lucky," - he motions towards the layers of bandages - "but fortunately, an old friend of mine found me half dead on the streets, and took me under his care. Bless his cotton socks."

While he's talking, I lead him to a chair beside the table I have for the customers to sit down, and bring him a cup of water, before sitting down myself. The old man is gazing around the shop with a look of nostalgia, but then seeming to realize something, he turns back to me. "I don't see your friend - Raven, was it? - around. Is he out now?"