[ featured on @beyondsol and @undiscoveredbooks, a youngblood awards 2018 winner ]
In a world divided in two and dominated by lies and truths beyond one's imagination, will peace ever prevail?
The impending war between Solars and Darks threatens the...
I'm speechless when Edward snaps at me, his voice wavering and plummeting as the horror shakes him. His eyes are wide with fear and from the way he's inching away from me, I know that the fear is of me.
"L-let's not jump to conclusions." I hear myself saying but they don't sound like me at all. Gone is the smooth velvet from my voice, the sense of confidence which I rely so heavily on. The gapping hole that I have filled with a arrogance that I have always faked is now nauseating me.
"What are you doing?" Edward cries and I pretend to be looking at anywhere else but his face- the way the shock and fear spills across is face is too much for me to handle. In fact, it's too eerie how something can remain so unchanged even after years have passed.
"It's nothing." I pull myself together, adjusting my stance and gaze. My voice is now devoid of emotions and there is no indication as to how I feel. But underneath all these layers, I am able to see the guilt fighting to surface.
"You're lying." Edward accuses, his whole body convulsing from the way fear has coiled his mind. Lowering my gaze for a second to hide the shame that I feel, I focus on my hands and realise that they're stained with red patches that cover my skin whole, oozing from my pores and dripping, trickling onto the floor.
"Hey! I said that you're lying!" Edward's voice snaps me out of my trance and I blink, trying to shake myself out of the fazed state. The second time I glance at my hands, they're clean and white, the way they're supposed to be.
He's driving me insane.
I exhale sharply, pushing the oxygen from my lungs as I force myself against the wall, allowing a heavy pressure to be exerted against the cave. It feels as if my body is being sagged down by the weight of the guilt that is enforced on me, just from being close to Edward. My whole life, I have been told to lie through my teeth and put on a mask but his presence is a threat to the layers of skin I have pulled over my face, a risk that has the potential to tear down all the walls I have built around myself.
"I heard you the first time." I say coldly. I narrow my eyes at him, causing him to shrink backwards. It looks like he is about to break from the pressure with every action that I do and I wonder if my next gesture will be enough to push him over the edge.
"D- don't you dare turn this back on me. Tell me what you're doing right now!" Nothing in his tone does his words any credit. They're strung together by a thin thread of panic that if freshly squeezed from his lungs and the way he's choking out the words in half gasps gives his speech the opposite effect.
"Research." I answer simply, raising my brows at him.
Watching Edward battle his emotions is terrifying. Though I won't admit it aloud, it's a war that I wish I wasn't spectating. With every shiver that spins down his spine, his words break into stutters that are laced with sufficient underrones of fear that it makes me wonder how scared he is of us Darks.
Surely, he can't be that scared.
Or maybe he's afraid of something else.
An idea emerges in my sea of thoughts. Quickly clearing my throat which instantly grabs Edwatd's attention, I throw him an offer that I an certain he won't deny.
"Don't you want to find out more about your brother?" Though I have not been here for long, I have heard low chatter regarding his brother Teddy and how he's involved in this so called key operation of the Resilience. Though my interest only lies in shutting down both major groups and ecentually, the government, I need something that will distract Edward from the reason behind my snooping around.
Edward's eyes light up with newfound interest as he darts towards the table, his movements now gaining momentum as confidence is introduced back into his actions.
My fingers do a frenzy dance along the slim panels knowingly as I search for more information regarding the Resistance and their recent cases. There's a huge chunk of details regarding the Salvation's next few cases that will involve both Resistance and Salvation group but little to do with the Resistance's activity.
Still, I dig deeper. I measure every angle of the land layout for the future operations, hoping to find a chink in their armor of plans. I am certain that the information is embeded somewhere carefully or well encrypted. Out in where anyone can have easy access at an arm's length seems unthinkable.
"Wait. Don't you think that window pane seems a little large, as compared to the rest?" A holographic showcase of a layout of a house reveals where the windows are alligned. The first set of windows does not quite match up to the other two sets.
I hear Edward draw in a breath as I tap the window pane and wait for the plans to reveal themselves.
Only, the plans don't unravel.
For a minute, I'm confused. That window pane on the detailed map is definitely larger than the others and I can't be wrong about things like rhis. I have been trained to rule the Dark systems, I wouldn't make a mistake as simple misjudging one's way of concealing information.
Edward turns to me, too, looking just as bewildered as I feel. I open my mouth to convey something to him but just as the words are about to slip out, a loud blare of sirens cut me off.
The entire room is submerged in a mixture of colours- blue and red that flashes in quick successions as a loud pitched wail fills the room, echoing and cutting through the musky air that barely circulates through the room.
Alarms. I should have known better.
Grabbing Edward, I race for the door and yell over the continous shriek of the alarms.
"Run!" When he struggles to keep up with my set of instructions, I grab him by the arm and pull him across the ground until he fully processes what is happening and we both make a dash for it- racing towards our shared sleeping quarters and ignoring the way our breaths comes out harsh and ragged, scattering from the noise as fast as we could go.
It is only when we reach the room and throw ourselves in bed do I feel a notable sense of relief swamp me. Even though my heart refuses to stop racing at a hundred miles per second, I'm grateful for how quickly Edward and I both made it without getting caught.
The members of our team begin to stir as the noise continues to scream on and I dishevel my hair and clothes, mimicking their sleepy groans and tired blinking.
From the other side, I hear Edward stifling a yawn that sounds so convincing, I am nearly persuaded.
"What's happening?" Kirk mumbles wearily from his bed.
"Who cares? Let's go back to bed." Edward's respond makes me pull the covers over my face to hide the way my lips tug upwards.
Well, who would have thought that he could act just as well as me?
After a while, the sirens stop and Alex enters our room to do a spot check. When he catches me looking at him for a beat longer than necessary, the look on his face grows sinister.
He gives me a look that robs me of oxygen for a second and when he leaves, I can't rub the look of his face out of my mind.
He knows.
He knows everything.
Word Count: 1319 Words
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate every vote, comment and follow! (:
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