The After

His legs were beginning to hurt from standing up for so long, waiting for the childish man to return. He could only wonder what was happening downstairs to those poor enslaved people, and other unlucky others he forgot the identities of. Grazing his foot on the floor repeatedly to put his stress somewhere, he turned his head toward the large, bloody red clock stuck on the wall higher than it should. Almost three hours since Akyl had gone out.

"10 more minutes." He stared at the arrows with a pounding heart and when the little one reached the 9, he was out.

"What's the fuss about? " Raïna asked hurriedly with dark circles under her eyes and a cup of black coffee in her left hand walking hesitantly into the room. She got a friendly smile from Leneay who began worrying about her health meanwhile Amy walked away.

"Nobody knows, not even me, which is surprising. Even Edward couldn't tell us, but I think it got something to do with the Master's presence here and for the sake of Jesus, let her breathe Leneay! " She shouted separating the two.

Raïna gestured a thank you to Amy who shrugged it off and went to the stairs.

"I just know it better be a good reason for me to wake up at 6 am on a Sunday. " Raïna said before sipping her coffee and shuddering.

"Black?" Amy asked.

"Black. "

The trio walked into the same huge hall which was previously decorated and pushed through the crowd of angry and sleepy wolves. Everybody went silent when a blond hair guy walked into the podium, hand behind his back and rectangular glasses well-placed on his nose. A well-known man in the assembly.

"Morning. " he started. Some greeted him back, and Raïna would have if her eyelids were not closing. " I understand this may be a bit early for some of you, but I have important announcements for this morning so I'm going to ask for everybody's attention to focus solemnly on me if you please. " He waited and stared at some in the crowd, who shook themselves awake.

"Good. As you know, we have established hundreds of factions of Conquerors around the globe and it recently came to our understanding that this faction needs some... modeling. We also noticed rare talents who came in recent years and we plan on restructuring this branch to give way to its full potential. That's why in three days, a faculty test will be held for anyone in ranks lower than Captains, for the Captain, please review your e-mails daily to see when will your interview take place. You may all go back to your quarters now and prepare. "

Murmurs erupted as he headed out. Amy and Leneay were already saying bye to Raïna who was massaging her eyes and drinking the last of her coffee. When she went to throw it out, she smelt it. It all came back with a flush of sorrow and pain. Nothing was stopping her from following the smell and going to see him, she could do it. And so she did.

She walked on the path leading to the dense forest, her heartbeat quickening. 

She was now faced with a neverending forest that spread beyond her sight. And there he was, just laying down. It felt surreal for her to see him there. Question of what she was doing stumble in her brain: being a freak who was staring at a boy. Freakishly disgusting. Ready to run away pathetically she turned around when he interpellated her.

" What you doin' here?" He sternly asked. She could duck the question, pretend she didn't hear but cowardice wasn't in her traits- well, she often told herself that.

"I ... don't know. " she frankly responded. She didn't know what was to be said and regret not having turned back sooner. He just raised his shoulder and got back to looking at the dandelions close to him. And she to wondering what was to happen. That's when she gave up entirely on the waiting act.

"Do you want to talk about it? "

He turned around and seemed to think it thought before raising his head. " Dunno, you? "

"I don't know. "

"Well, it seems you don't know a lot of things. "

She bit her bottom lip and took a deep breath to calm her thumping heart. 

" Then, we probably should talk about it but, I mean, nothing will change, but I have this friend who says that... you know... what we are is a big deal and maybe it could but I have this other one that's saying that we shouldn't even be searching for each other but, we weren't it just happened and..... I guess I do need to talk about it. " she ended.

"I'll take this as my clue to go. " he stood up.

"Your cue is me answering your question? Seriously? " she asked, dread coating her words.

"No, it's you blabbering. I have enough problems, I can't squeeze you in. " Contemptuous. His voice was full of it.

"So, I'm a problem, huh?" He turned around and faced her with exasperation written on his face. "Then, what's the after? She asked.

"And how am I supposed to know this myself? Just go with the flow and see who it leads you to," he said angrily, walking deeper into the woods.

She cussed and shook her head before seeing him disappear into the mass of trees while waving goodbye.

She unconsciously waved goodbye to him and felt tears prickle in her eyes. "What the heck am I doing..." She said covering her upper face with her hand. " It's too early for this. "

She got back to her small apartment and felt claustrophobic or something close to it. Dizzyness, stiffness in her limbs, and constricted lungs were what brought her back outside. She went to her favorite coffee shop, the one that supplies her with her dose of the drug. She wasn't getting any more sleep.

I remember her telling me this story with complete, disturbing but also exquisite details. She said, word for word: " The world just kept going on at his normal pace. It was irritating. I was in so much unknown and suppress pain at the time, but nobody knew. Nobody cared. It was frustrating to understand that life goes on. "

The streets were nuzzling with small talks and laughs, people were hugging and dancing, like in the festival's hype. When you see a kind gentleman help an elderly person cross the street. When little celebrations were held in the park rarely frequented. The smiles were where everybody's teeth were on full display.  She scorned the universe for mocking her.

But what she hated the most about this horrible morning was a girl she saw cause a fit in front of a book store because that girl looked like her, mad at everything and at happy people. It made her sick.

She got to the coffee shop after having done an introspection on herself and questioned the goal of her being alive. Deep. She ordered a frappuccino and went back to her apartment, without taking a single glimpse of anything besides her phone. She still couldn't enter the damn apart and lay down and stared at the floor. Weird day. Yeah. She took another sip of her coffee. 

I think she never realized how similar they were. Really similar.