When You Came

Chapter 17

        We enter the old school, it looks so similar to how I remember it. There’s just more vines on the walls. We wander the school, holding hands and checking room after room with no luck. I head back to the front of the school with Dylan trailing behind. I sit on the secretary desk, eating the food we found in the cafeteria. All they had was a box of stale crackers. After a few minutes, Dylan sits down next to me and eats the crackers. We eat silently for a few minutes.

        I remember when Deraci was choosing if I would go or not. I needed to go, I couldn’t let anyone else die because of a possible mistake I made again. Dylan had been against it and somehow managed to convince them to let him come with me. I didn’t like the idea of him coming, but there was nothing I could do.

        It took them a week to figure out how they were going to do this. Eventually it was decided to send us a day earlier than everyone else will be arriving. Dylan was supposed to wait outside until I cleared the school and if I didn’t come out, he was supposed to go and meet up with the soldiers. He dosen't listen very well.

"I'm going to go look through some rooms once more," Dylan says jumping down. 

"Ok," I say jumping down. 

"No, I want you to stay here, in case something happens. I'll call for you if I find anything," he says before heading down a hallway. I sigh and sit down again. It only takes a few minutes before I hear him call me. 

        Putting the box of crackers down on the desk, I stand and head the way he went. When I walk in, I see it sitting on the floor. The Box looks too heavy to be able to lift and it looks like it is bolted to the floor. I look around the room for anything else, but see nothing. It's the teacher lounge. 

 "This is it. This is what we have been looking for all these weeks," whispered Dylan. "We finally found it." 

A light on the Box blinks before a soft humm fills the room. "What's it doing?" Dylan asks. 

"How should I know? This is the first time I'm seeing it as well," I hiss towards him. I walk over to look out in the hallway and see a head pop out over the staircase railing. 

"Get down!" I hiss towards Dylan. He crouches quickly and looks around. He slowly creeps towards me with a question on his face. 

"I saw movement on the stairs," I whisper in his ear. He looks out the window before looking back at me. 

"I don't see any one," he says. "It could've just been an animal, this is an old school that's closed down." 

"I don't think so," I say, but look again to see no one. Maybe he's right. 

"Come on stop being so paranoid. There is no one out there!" He says, pulling me up. I nod against his shoulder, but I have a bad feeling. 

        I want to believe him, but why would they leave this Box unprotected? It just doesn't make any sense, especially because of all the other cases. Almost a hundred men died looking for this and it’s not even protected. I glance out the window and seeing no one I sit down next to Dylan. He grabs my hand and starts making shapes on the back of my hand. I stare down at our hands. I'm so tired. I put my head on his shoulder hoping to give my eyes a break for a minute. 

        I wake sometime later, realizing we both fell asleep. I want to jump up and see if the Box is still here, but that movement would wake Dylan and he hasn't slept in three days, I can't do that to him. Instead I think about us. I mean we have come so far, from wanting to kill each other to being... well this. It used to be dating, but now we're on a job and he barely notices me anymore.