External (Book 1&2)

9|Leaving

Turns out the next part of our journey is saying goodbye. We are heading back to our own floor and have an hour before we have to leave. As the elevator doors open and I see my floor once again I realize that I have no idea what I'm doing back here. With Danny gone, I have exactly zero people to say goodbye to.

I walk back to my home, trying to ignore the stares and how people divide when I walk through. I get it, this is an exciting time to them. Like when you're listening to stories of people's near death experience, they excite you even though you know they must have gone through hell to get a story like that.

Guards also surround me as some form of protection, which doesn't help with the looks. Soon enough, I am back at my own home. A place that honestly, doesn't even feel like much of a home anymore. I walk in, telling the guards to stay outside, and tighten my grip on the small bag in my hand.

The leaders had allotted us one bag of personal items. Something to 'keep the moral up' in their words. I look around the room in search of anything to keep. In all honesty, I don't have much in the terms of 'earthly possessions', so it isn't too hard to narrow down my search. My eyes stop at a small journal, one of my father's, but I had never opened it to read it. It is a small red notebook, hardcover with the words:

DIEGO ABEITA
JULY 2168-SEPT 2172

It is the journal my father was writing in right before he died. It's been over a year, but I could never get myself to open it. Maybe on this trip, I finally would. I pick it up and place it into the bag. The bag may be small, but it could fit more than just a journal.

I open my dresser drawer, revealing my stash of medical supplies. It is something that I had spent hundreds of points on and there is no way in hell I am going to leave it here for people to steal. I can't take it all, but I settle on three bottles of pain medicine, gauze, and a bottle of alcohol for cleansing wounds.

Lastly, I quickly pull a photo off of my wall. It is a picture of Danny, his brother, my father, and I. I smile at the sight of it. That day we were all together and all happy, a rare moment for us. Jonathan had just bought Danny a camera (which is something I still have no idea how he could afford) and it printed out enough photos for all of us to keep one. Camera's were a rare thing here, I had never even seen one until that day.

I slip the photo into the bag and close it. Walking outside I meet back up with my guard dogs. There is one last thing I want to do before I leave.

"How much time left?" I ask the puppy closest to me. That's what they remind me of, puppies that follow you around all day.

"You have just over thirty minutes left." I nod. I could tell the guards didn't like being here. They kept glancing around at the people and makeshift tents and grimacing. I ignore it and continue on my way, walking straight up to the stairs that lead to Mortelli's home.

"Alejandra? What are you doing here." The tall guard that I saw the last time I was here asks. He looks behind me at the puppies and narrows his eyes. They do the same to him and I can already tell that it was the beginning of some sort of size up battle royal.

"Tall guy meet the puppies." I say smirking. I ignore the groans of protest behind me.

"Tall guy seriously? The name's-." I cut him off.

"Does it really matter? I'm leaving for the surface soon and will probably die so I just really need to speak to Mortelli before I go."

"Damn fine. Come on." Tall guy says with a grin. I knew that he couldn't care less if I knew his name or not. I would be gone soon anyways. "But, they stay here."