No one expects anything bad to happen. No one expects a school to burn down.
When Skylar's day goes from boring to a battle for survival, she has to choose between saving herself or the girl in her class who happens to be on crutches. Everything is...
Lincoln moved like an old man, growling as I pointed it out to him. He claimed extreme soreness, but I couldn't help it. I laughed sort of at him, almost with him. The only thing keeping me from laughing with him was how he wasn't laughing. He looked tired and irritated, whereas I still had some hyper energy that wasn't made better by my long period of inactivity. I needed to move.
Lincoln seemed to be having trouble staying awake, and I could feel myself becoming annoyingly bubbly as I teased him. I smiled at him.
"I couldn't sleep last night, so I went exploring. The second floor is really nice."
He raised his eyes. I had him interested if nothing else.
"You couldn't sleep. You for real had a hard time sleeping. That in itself is odd. Then, you decided to go exploring in a dark space, alone. Who are you and what did you do to my girlfriend?"
I chuckled. My laughter seemed to lighten the mood a little bit as he started to properly wake up. I was in a good mood and I hadn't lied to him. Yet.
"I'm just awake. And come on. I think you'll really like it."
He nodded, still looking as though he'd rather be on the sort of bed we'd fashioned. How had he fallen asleep on that thing? I pulled his hand, relieved that light trickled through a few windows onto the open floor. The stairs were also clearly visible, and I was starting to really like this place. Lincoln hesitantly followed me up the steps, only plowing forwards when he saw the couches. Those he promptly collapsed on.
"Where were these last night?"
He sprawled out, leaving me to take one of the soft chairs that also occupied the space. Oh, it was comfortable. It was like a cloud that fitted itself perfectly to my body. Lincoln looked just as comfortable. A rumbling briefly took over the room. A jolt of panic rushed through me. I didn't register what it was until he mumbled an apology.
Lincoln's stomach was growling like a wild beast. That made sense. We'd last eaten at the movie theater. I didn't feel hungry, which was unusual for me, but he would have to be.
I pushed myself up from the chair. A little barstool I hadn't noticed in the dark last night held promise for food. I opened cabinets, pulling out a bowl. I rummaged until I found a spoon and cereal. I poured it out, letting a slight smile touch my lips as Lincoln craned his neck towards the sound. I grinned as the large black refrigerator was stocked with a gallon of milk. This was too perfect.
Lincoln struggled to sit up, almost standing up before I scolded him. I handed him the cereal, and I watched in his eyes as he weighed his hunger over asking why I didn't have any.
"I'm not hungry," I volunteered on my own. The spoon was in his mouth. I don't think I'd ever seen him enjoy food so much.
"Sky, is something wrong?"
This was why I didn't lie. I was horrible at it.
"No. I'm just not hungry."
He nodded slowly, taking another bite of breakfast and chewing it slowly.
"Why is it that all of a sudden you can sprint for the better part of an afternoon like its nothing? And then you don't sleep all night and you don't eat? What's wrong?"
"I slept some last night."
He looked at me. He knew I was lying.
"You didn't sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night and you weren't there. Sky, if you can't fall asleep that's one thing. If you're still up at one o'clock in the morning, that's something else. You came back and you didn't sleep then either, did you?"
"No."
"Sky," he coaxed, "do you know why this is happening?"
"No."
That wasn't even a half-truth. It was a bald-faced lie. I hated the way my insides seemed to be disgusted with me, wanting to dissociate themselves.
"Not even a theory?"
I took a deep breath. I could test the waters.
"What if it's because I was meant to go to heaven? My body might still be set like I was going to go there, but I didn't."
He looked at me, seeming like he understood exactly what I meant.
"What do you mean?"
"What if in heaven, your body doesn't work like it did when you were... alive, and I'm functioning like I'm in heaven."
He stared at me a moment longer. I was a horrible liar, and even if I was good at it, he'd probably have caught me anyway.
"What happened last night?"
I could lie. I could lie, but he would know. He might drop it, but he would know I was lying to his face.
"I came up here, exploring. I couldn't sleep and I thought it might help if I burned off some energy. And I got up here, and you know that guy when we first got here with the suit? He was here waiting for me. He started talking about the whole heaven thing. He said I might not even be human anymore. I don't know what to think."
He was chewing again. At that point, I wasn't sure if it was because he was still starving or because he wanted an excuse not to say anything. I didn's say anything either so the only sound was the demolishing of Cheerios.
"Sky," he said after a while, "I love you. You don't have to know what to think right now. We'll figure it out. Just promise me something, okay? Promise you'll tell me what's happening. We can't lie to each other. We can't afford to mess up."
I nodded, sitting next to him. He pushed his breakfast aside, wrapping his arm around me. I curled up into him.
"I guess," he stated thoughtfully, "you don't need that hoodie for the fire drill."
I didn't laugh. I just kind of smiled and leaned further onto his shoulder. He knew what I meant.
"I love you too."
He pulled me closer to him. We couldn't lie to each other in this place.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
