The Flames that Engulfed Us

Chapter 13: Option A, Option B, and Option Who Cares

I paced around the room. The sound of running water still filled the room, but it wasn't soothing like I thought it would be. Lincoln was showering, and I knew I took a long time, but it was still annoying that he was taking so long. I wasn't alone in the room, but it felt like it. I didn't want to be alone.

I heard the shower shut off and waited as Lincoln came out. I noted with a slight amount of pleasure that he'd put on the clothes I'd set out. I didn't know what I wanted, but as my arms wrapped around him, I realized that was what I needed. He didn't question me, opting to rub my back. I almost expected him to whisper that everything would be okay. He didn't lie to me. He didn't say anything.

We eventually drifted apart.

"What happens now?"

"We can wait," he replied simply, "or we can try to take control and leave ourselves."

Two options. Isn't that all anyone wants, for option A and option B to be so clean cut? The only thing was that they were probably going to end the same way. It was so odd for me to think of a person I called Gary terrifying me so completely. I shouldn't be allowed to name things anymore.

I looked at Lincoln. I didn't know what to do.

"What do you think we should do?"

He didn't know what to do either. This was great. I sat on the bed, flopping backward.

"Either way, we're screwed."

"Yeah," he whispered, "we're screwed."

"If you don't mind, I just kind of want to talk. I think I've had enough of exploring."

"Ok. We'll talk." He sat next to me,

"Lincoln, I fell asleep last night. I thought I wasn't supposed to be able to sleep."

"Sky, I don't know. I don't have any idea what's going on here. I don't know what's going on with you, but I want to stay as long as I can."

"Neither of us really know anything, do we? It's just all too horrifying. I don't ever want to be without you here."

He stared at me. "You won't. I swear to whatever messed up god there is in this place you won't be alone."

A lump was forming in my throat. "I love you."

"I love you too."

I wanted to say something back, but the silence I could have monopolized was shattered by a banging on the doors. I sluggishly moved to answer the door, but Lincoln was already vastly ahead of me. He glanced at me, silently asking if I was ready to for whatever was coming next. I nodded, moving up behind him to peek over his shoulder. He pulled the door open.

I wanted to hurl at the sight of Gary. My head started to throb in anticipation of the pain I'd felt last night. I wasn't ready to see his blank face staring at me. At least I couldn't see a cruel smile contorting his features. At least I couldn't see if he took pleasure in it all or if it tortured him. At least there wasn't anything that I could sympathize with. At least there wasn't anything for me to hate. Fear was the only thing that filled me when I saw him.

And cold. He was so cold. I wanted a sweater or something to bundle myself in and maybe disappear into forever. His very existence chilled me to the core. If I were playing hide and seek with him, I would win as I hid and lose because of a desire never to find him again. I would be the person to leave him in the ball pit until the employees booted him out.

I hated how close Lincoln was to him, but the buffer was the most I could have hoped for. His hand reached back and took mine. I remembered what he'd said was coming. Nothing pleasant. That was exactly what this was going to be.

"Come," the echoing filled my head again.

I didn't want to do anything he said, but something in his blankness made me follow. I couldn't bring myself to disobey. Lincoln seemed to have the same hesitant resolve as we followed him out of our room. I turned and watched the door bang shut.

Lincoln was doing the thing with his face where he didn't let any emotion show. Except for this time, it didn't seem to be intimidating anyone. Or maybe it did. Gary was probably excellent at bluffing.

I looked at the floor, trusting Lincoln's grip to guide me to wherever it was that we were going. The suspense was killing me. But I didn't want it to end. Because suspense is much better than the ending. Because then it's over. This was hell. I wasn't a princess. I knew the happily ever was a load of crap prettified for the mass audiences. I was living the original story, and my prince and I were screwed.

"Hey, Gary," I mustered up, drawing a surprised sort of attention from both of my companions, "where exactly are we going?"

He just turned back around and kept walking. He needed an education in the extraneous rules of etiquette that society always seemed to impose. But I wasn't willing to volunteer to tutor him, and no one else probably would, which was probably how he'd escaped it for so long.

We walked in silence, and I was glad for my endurance, because Lincoln, however, well he masked it, looked exhausted. I gave his hand a squeeze as Gary stopped. He pushed open two doors for us.

He shoved us in and slammed the doors behind us. I stood quickly, pulling Lincoln up with me. The room didn't seem so bad. I'd been wrong every time I said that.

Of course, I was wrong there. The room immediately split into a million different images, like some of those corny funhouses you see in horror shows. I looked over at Lincoln. He wasn't there.

He wasn't there.

I stared straight ahead. There he was.

"Sky," he called frantically.

Couldn't he see me? I was right there.

I looked around me and saw me. It dawned on me. Lincoln was standing in the middle of a circle of me. About thirty other girls, all exactly the same as me, stood calling out to him.

Well, crap. This sucked.

And was my voice really that annoying? They all overlapped, demanding his attention. He looked so lost, and I wanted to reach out, but something in me couldn't. So I ducked down and covered my ears. I wanted to cry, and I looked up. He was glancing around him, and his eyes settled on me.

"Sky?"

"Yes?" All the girls answered in sync.

I said nothing.

They said everything I could have thought of to say. I was screwed.