Chapter 5

Italy

I wake up and she's gone. People are muttering in quiet voices as they go about their daily business, with the worry of Ainsley's disappearance fresh in their minds. I don't care if she disappears and never returns, but the fact that we don't know where she is – it terrifies me. She must be somewhere in the camp; escaping is next to impossible. The guards would be looking for her, and she should be returned today if she is discovered. Ainsley is sly, however; she could hide. But the guards are always one step ahead.

I head down to breakfast and Tino and Berwald sit at their usual table. They don't look at me today – why not? – therefore I feel uninvited. I don't know whether I should join them anyway. In the end, I decide to sit alone at a table in the corner furthest from them. I eat in silence, and eat far quicker than I normally do. There's a table where Ainsley usually sits, and one of the chairs is painfully empty. It leaves a gap in the hall and we can sense it. There's something wrong.

A lock of short hair curls around my index finger; I've been fiddling with it a lot more since I cut it. I've never experienced the feeling of having short hair before, and it's really bizarre, spending your whole life with long, somewhat glossy hair and now having a short head of hair, like a boy's. Then again, that's the intention – boys with long hair don't go unnoticed, and with girly hair and a feminine face, I'd definitely be questioned in the army.

After breakfast, I return to my daily chores. It's tedious. It always has been, once you've settled down and grown used to what happens every day. Days fade into other days and they all blend to months – I rarely know what the date is, unless I ask one of the guards, and they're too scary to approach. We always know the time because we keep our own wrist-watches, so we can stay on schedule.

This day goes along, but we all fear what has happened to Ainsley. I honestly wouldn't care if she was killed somehow in the camps – she's an awful human being, and I'd feel far more at ease without her, as horrible as it sounds. But if she's plotting something, I feel like I can never be at ease. I don't notice I'm shivering until the person next to me questions me, and I pass it off as being cold – it is entering the cold winter weather nowadays, so it's a valid excuse.

When we return to the dorms, they're talking about her. They sit on the empty bed and discuss the possibilities. One of the girls who witnessed my adrenaline rush points at me as I enter. "I betcha, it's got somethin' to do with the Norwegian girl. She fought us yesterday, and I bet she got Ainsley!"

They turn on me, and I can hear a lot of words. Mostly rude ones. They want to know, they thirst for information. They thirst to know what's going on, even when it's none of their business. Like flies around-

"Elsie! Answer us!"

I jump and step back slightly. "I haven't done anything. She provoked me to hit her, and I already got my payback by punching her. I don't need anything else from her. She must have disappeared herself – it's not uncommon, you know. A lot of people want to escape."

"B-But…escaping is near impossible…not a lot of people dare to attempt it nowadays," a Lithuanian girl says timidly, raising her hand slightly to make her presence known.

"Some people think they're strong enough. That's how Ainsley comes off to me, thinking she can do anything," I say. "I mean, she has always been over confident. The guards could have already caught her and taken her into questioning or something. She'll probably be executed." I turn on them and head over to my bed, sitting down and kicking my shoes off.

"Don't talk about execution so matter-of-factly!" one of the Welsh girls from yesterday shouts, rage colouring her face red. "In case you did not know, Ainsley is our friend. I don't care how much of a bitch she was being to you, that gives you no right to speak of her that way! Execution is no joking matter! What kind of sorry excuse for a human being do you think you are, acting that way in front of Ainsley's friends?!"

I look up at the girl, who is breathless from her rant. "Don't talk too fast without breaks, you'll get out of breath," I say, my voice a monotone. I disclose my emotions from them. "I'm not trying to joke about execution. I'm just stating the facts – when you're caught trying to escape, you'll be executed. The rules are strict here and we're expected to obey them. If you break them, you've brought it upon yourself." I throw one leg over the other and lean back against the wall. "I'm sorry if it came out in a way that made you feel I was joking."

Everyone is silent for a moment. Soon they turn their backs on me and continue talking. I lean back and stare up at the plain white ceiling. The mood is too dark. The aura in this room is depressing. There's no one here to cheer us up, and everyone's upset-

"Ciao, ciao!"

Everyone jumps as a loud girl jumps into the room, her eyes closed and her face the definition of carefree. She kicks her shoes off upon entering and flops down onto her bed. I can already tell from the way she greeted us all – she's Italian, through and through. Within a few minutes everyone is laughing, some cringing and face palming at the annoying Italian girl, but the mood has lifted a lot. She's somehow burst in and changed everything. I've never even noticed her before – I think she's been re-roomed. She probably disrupted her previous dorm, and she'd be moving between quite a lot of dorms.

She introduces herself as Felicity and gets to know everyone. Even the quiet and shy ones, she greets them and talks to them and makes them smile or laugh just by cracking embarrassing jokes and doing some strange impersonations. She also talks a lot about pasta, and asks if we like pasta and other Italian foods. A lot of people admit that they do indeed like pasta, and she seems pretty happy with us all. She talks to me for about thirty seconds before she's dragged back into the crowd, and I sit back and smile, relaxed now that the mood has lightened.

However, in the back of my mind there's still the everlasting fear of where Ainsley is, what she's doing and what on Earth she's planning. Genuine worry crosses my mind – I don't know when I started worrying about this rebellious, manipulative girl, but I do. She could be plotting anything.

I just hope I don't end up getting caught in the middle of whatever it is she's planning.