I wake up to Eric playing with my hair. I try to keep my eyes shut a while longer and stay in this temporary haven.
"I know you're awake," he says. I can tell by the tone of his voice that he's smirking. I finally open my eyes and look up at his face. He really is smirking down at me, his grey eyes warmer than I've ever seen them.
"You're ruining the moment," I say with a smile.
"Well, I'm stuck here until you get up." We somehow managed to stay in the same position as yesterday, with me turned into him and one of his arms underneath me.
"Good. Then you can stay here longer," I say, kissing him. He kisses me back, then groans a bit.
"Can I at least have my arm back?" It's rather pale now; oops. I move out of the way and he pulls it back and flexes it.
"I did warn you yesterday," I say. He just laughs and kisses me.
"Alright, my beautiful smartass. But I really have to get up now. Leadership is meeting to decide what to do about last night. Apparently, there's some new evidence." I'm no longer smiling. I had hoped that what had happened was just some terrible dream. But it's reality and I can't hide from it. He gets up and grabs some clothes from the drawers.
"Oh…alright. Are you able to tell me what happens?" I need to know the conclusion of all this.
"Sure I can," he says, giving me a kiss on the forehead. He heads into the bathroom and I'm left with the ghost of his warmth in the bed. But I should probably get up, too. I roll out and collect my clothes. I wonder what I should leave in. I'm definitely leaving off the shoes; I don't feel like wearing those all the way back. I hear a laugh and Eric is watching me stare at the clothes in my hands.
"You can wear my stuff back to the dorms," he says. I'm glad; my walk back is going to be embarrassing, but it would probably be worse if I was wearing the same clothes. "I don't know how long the meeting will take. Apartment's yours, if you want." I kind of want to stay, but I want to change clothes more.
"I think I'll leave with you." I head over to him and give him a quick kiss as we head to the door.
"Remember, don't get too hung up," he says, kissing me before we split in different directions, him heading to an even higher level of the Pit as I head lower. I look up at the glass ceiling and see it's actually very early; I guess I'm going to be getting up at this hour until training's over.
I reach the dorms and everyone's gone except for Coraline and Alex.
"You didn't come back last night," Coraline says with a smile, "I assume you already heard what happened." Her smile falls as she says that. She and Alex look down and I realize how terrible it must have been. I'm guilty that I'm glad I was spared having to be here when it happened. I just nod to her and start to grab clothes to change into.
When I come out, they're both still there waiting for me.
"When are they announcing the cuts?" It's a better subject than the one we were talking about.
"We don't know," Alex says, "Four and Six said that the cuts are temporarily on hiatus." I wonder if Eric's meeting has something to do with this.
"I want food," Coraline says. It's unusual for her to change the subject with the Dining Hall, but none of us want to talk. As we walk over, she and Alex are holding hands; maybe the tragedy brought them together. When we sit at the table, everyone is as loud as ever, but it feels forced. As if every laugh is being choked out of them. Four is the first one to mention the tension.
"I'm sorry we couldn't do more about what happened," he says, "Are you guys alright?" We're all surprised that it's him asking us this and not Six. But I can see that he has guilt written all him; if he was Six's instructor last year, then it means last year's accident happened under his watch. None of it is his fault, but I'm not surprised he's taken it upon himself anyway. He just seems like that kind of person.
"We're fine," Coraline says with a smile, "In fact, I'm thinking of taking up a sewing class." Everyone stares at her in silence.
"Too soon?" Then Uriah starts laughing first and everyone joins in. I guess the old saying is true; you can laugh about something or cry about it. We have to get used to people leaving us. There's only going to be ten people left; ten will be cut, no matter what. Darren just left us in a more dramatic matter.
We finish breakfast with a little more ease. We're all sitting at the table chatting when Eric approaches. He gives me a quick kiss and sits, which surprises everyone.
"Leadership is done meeting. Four, Six, there's a slight change in cuts." He seems stressed. I never thought he was that serious when it came to leadership, but I guess he just hides it well.
"Wait, what happened?" I ask, "You said you'd tell me."
"Fine," he says, "You'll all find out soon enough, anyway." He sighs and leans on the table; everyone leans in with him. We all want to know what happened.
"The other leaders and I met up because of new evidence; that evidence is a testimony by Elizabeth. She made a deal; she rolls over on Jared in exchange for elimination immunity. So she stays and Jared will be factionless. The crime isn't severe enough for the death penalty. Instead, he'll get a Farewell."
"But she was probably involved in this anyway! How the hell does she get to stay!"
"Maybe, but they're more concerned with getting rid of Jared. It's better to have a bitch than a sociopath. One is less likely to act on their impulses." Everyone just looks down at the table. Six speaks first.
"I'll go post the cuts, then." She gets up and Four follows her as they head out of the Dining Hall. It's still so quiet that it's stifling.
"I still have some stuff to settle," Eric says breaking the silence. He kisses me as he gets up. "I'll see you later."
Eventually, Coraline, Alex, and I get up to go to the dorms; it's best to get the cuts out of the way now. We enter the dorms and look at the board; Jared and Darren have their names crossed out. Ashley and Kayla are in the room, Ashley crying into Kayla's arms.
"He told me to stay," I can hear her cry, "He told me to stay for him." I feel like my heart is breaking while I listen to her. I don't want to stay anymore, so I leave the room and Coraline follows.
"Where we headed to?" She grabs hold of my hand. I squeeze hers back and we just start to walk around.
"I don't know where we're going, but I'd rather talk about something new," I say, "Like the way you and Alex were holding hands." It's better to find a silver lining.
"Yeah, we kind of got together right after…you know," she says, "I was terrified; I guess it was the screaming. But he just held me and said it would be okay. And I believed him." She blushes as she's talking; I'd never seen her look so shy. As we're walking, we end up in the Pit. In the center are people yelling, but not in the usual cheerful way. It sounds more like an angry mob. I see Max standing on a raised platform in the Pit with Eric and three others flanking him.
"Today, we will be saying Farewell to the criminal Jared Halbert! He attacked a fellow Transfer in the middle of the night, permanently disabling him! For his cowardice, he will be given over to the factionless!" As soon as he's done speaking, I see someone drag Jared out from a tunnel and into the center of the crowd. They form a circle and scream at him. Max, Eric, and the rest come down from the platform and head to the center of the circle where Jared is. They form a smaller circle around him. Max raises his fist and the crowd somehow goes silent.
"Let the Farewell begin!" The crowd starts screaming again, twice as loud as before. Max moves in and punches Jared in the stomach. Next, a woman on his right knees him in the face. Next the man on her right punches Jared in the face. I fully grasp what's happening; they're moving around the circle. Jared takes another kick and now it's Eric's turn. He slams his elbow into Jared's face. But with Eric, it doesn't end; it just goes right back to Max. I don't know how many times they go around the circle before they finally stop. Jared's been reduced to a bloody heap at this point; he might as well be dead.
The same person that dragged Jared out drags him back into the tunnel. The crowd is still screaming, though. Coraline and I turn around, now that it's over and walk silently back to the dorms. Maybe it would've been better if we'd stayed there.
A/N: I just realized, it's been one week since I started this. Thanks for all the support, so far! Might be a slow day tomorrow and Saturday; I have some family stuff and a wedding to go to.