Citizen

Chapter twenty-six

Kyra blew hot air on her frozen fingertips as she walked through the city square. It was quiet, eerily so, the only noise coming from her pounding footsteps and shaky breaths. All she noticed was the boy leaning against the wall of the university. Blonde hair glistening despite the grey clouds above, eyes cast down at the crumpled book in his hand. She recognised the book as her own, though since he'd borrowed it the cover had torn in two, exposing the first page.

"Good morning," she breathed. James didn't look up, only nodded his head. "Silence? That's all I get?"

He closed the book with a snap. "I said I wouldn't make your life worse, this is me keeping that promise."

Kyra looked at her toes, rolling a stone back and forth under her boot. "James, you know I wouldn't have said any of that last night if I'd known how you felt, I was just-"

"You were right to be honest Kyra, you can't keep how you feel bottled up forever."

"I was wrong though, what I said about it being your fault. You had even less of a say in it than I did, there was no way you could have-"

"Am I interrupting something?"

Kyra jumped at the close proximity of the voice. Ethan's brows were knitted in a frown as he stepped between the pair. "Actually Ethan-"

"No, we were just waiting for you." James smiled a tight-lipped smile. "Let's head inside, shall we?" He turned on his heel without looking back.

Ethan held Kyra back with a hand on her elbow. "Did I say something to offend him?"

She pursed her lips. "No, I claim all the credit for that."

Kyra slid past Ethan into a hellish reminder of her education. The glass doors, grand staircase, concrete seating in the corners. Kyra pressed a hand to her mouth. The entryway she remembered, down to the last detail. Only her old school was across the street. Kyra understood why going to university was weird for James - it must have felt like an extra five years of hell had been added to his sentence.

James led them to an elevator. There were no buttons. As soon as they stepped inside the doors slammed shut; James put his wrist into a contraption, similar to the one they used each morning and night to take of their bracelets. Rather than remove it, the machine flashed his bracelet with a blue light.

"What did that do?" Ethan asked.

James pulled the book out from his back pocket. "Signed me in. We're running a bit late - this lets the instructor know I'm nearly there."

Ethan smacked into the wall as the elevator jerked them forwards.

"What kind of elevator goes sideways?" Kyra asked, struggling to keep her grip on the railing behind her.

James was unfazed by the jerky journey, and continued to read his book as they began to ascend too quickly for comfort. "The kind that is taking us to the training centre across town. I forgot neither of you would have taken it before, having never been to the university. The main building is only used for theory based careers; all those that require hands-on training have their own spaces."

The shaft slammed to a halt, throwing Ethan around once more. Without a backwards glance, James walked out the sliding doors and disappeared around the corner, the pair struggling to keep up with his brisk pace. He stopped outside a great oak door, and beat his fist against it three times, each separate with a sickening crack.

A group of people panned into view as the door slid open. A woman motioned for them to enter with a small nod at James. "You're late, Mr Henderson."