Chapter 21: Actions
It had been five days since I found Audra. Five days since I realized that Dante and this town weren't normal at all. Five days since I had done nothing, but steal more things.
Every midnight, once I was sure that the people in Conduit were asleep in their huts, I would sneak around, loot whatever I could find, and bring it back to Audra. Yet that didn't amount to much, especially since we were both stuck here; her more than me.
She straightened on her cell this evening the moment she heard me coming. "Pax. . ." she greeted.
"How did you know it was me?" I placed my own torch on the wall, then carried the backpack to her; one of the many I stole again.
Audra's face tilted onto the light, as if she was drinking in the warmth. She smiled, though her eyes were closed. "I know your footsteps," she explained. "They're light and quick, but a little bit unsure."
"Really?" I couldn't help but grin at that, coupled by the butterflies in my stomach as her features became more apparent as I approached. Audra was always a feast to the eyes, but it was her presence that I craved most, especially the past few days when I felt more alone than I had ever had in all of my life. Having her near me was the only recess.
Her eyes opened this time, shining in this soothing way that always comforted me. "What did you steal?" she said.
"Well. . ." I tried not to let the fast beating of my heart hinder me from opening the bag. "Food."
"Oh good."
"A change of clothes for you, Audra."
"I don't want to wear what you're wearing though," she said.
I sighed before I could stop myself. And it had taken me a lot of time to steal these things too. Maya was even more restless when she was asleep.
"I'm sorry," Audra said quickly, "It must had been hard to get those things. It's just that. . . I don't feel like being a member of this town. Not just yet."
"I don't too," I said.
"I know."
But of course she had to point that out. I took the last item of interest from the bag and showed her the sage. "Time to clean your wound," I murmured.
After changing the dressing and letting her sit more comfortably, Audra, like the other days before this, leaned her head against the wall on the left side of the cell, and decided that this was the time we should talk some more, just like those other days.
"So," she said, with the tone of settling into a long conversation. "What had you been up to while you're gone?"
"Farming."
"Yeah?"
"And helping Maya and Mart. . ."
There was no more after that, which made me flinch. This had been the case for the last few days. Her, asking bits and pieces about my day, and me not giving much at all.
I must had been so boring to be with. Audra must had been ready to slam her head on the wall. I mean, I would too if our positions were reversed.
Yet Audra gave me a contented look, which I didn't know where was coming from.
As always, the pinch of guilt nabbed me in the gut. "I'm sorry," I rushed. "I'm not much of a conversationalist."
"No, you're doing fine," she said.
I flinched even more. She didn't look like she was lying, but how could she seriously enjoy that?
"I'm. . . My parents are Doctors. Did I ever tell you that, Audra?"
"Yes." She gave me a smile. "That's where you got your skills, right?"
"Uh-huh. And my favorite color is purple."
"Mine is brown."
"Brown?" I frowned. That was new. I had never heard of someone say that her favorite color was brown. People had always preferred blue or green. Some girls even pink. "But brown?"
"Yeah," Audra said, her eyes going to mine. And something about the way she stared, made me look away.
She sighed, closed her eyes again. And once more, silence reigned in the chamber.
Until I was speaking to her again, that is. I didn't want her to be lonely, especially not with me.
"My favorite food are burgers," I blurted. "Don't tell Hanz."
"Burgers?" Her eyes were open again now, curiously looking at me. "Why burgers?" she asked.
"I don't know," I said. "They're simple. They're yummy. And I just have to look at the store menu and point to a combo I like without even speaking."
Her chuckle was loud, surprising me. "Sounds just like you, Pax."
Warmth rose on my neck, which I massaged while looking at the floor. "How about you?" I mumbled. "What's your favorite food?"
"Me?" She thought for a second. "Steak. Although. . ." She trailed for a second. "Don't tell Hanz too. He'll get mad."
We smirked at each other, and for the first time in days, I thought we were really in sync.
Now that wasn't so hard, was it, Pax? Talking to her?
Yet I sighed once again, which made her ask. "Are you getting bored already?"
My eyes widened at her. "No! No, anything but that."
Audra's eyes flickered for a second before she returned the sigh. "You sure?"
"Yes! Yes, of course!"
God. . . Why did I have to make this hard for us? For her? If I could just be normal for a freaking mili-second, maybe she wouldn't be as lonely as she was getting. Maybe she wouldn't have to blame everything on her when it was all my fault to begin with?
"Pax?"
"Y-yeah, Audra?"
"Don't think hard about it much, okay?"
What did she mean?
As if hearing the question in my head, Audra began to answer. "I mean being with me. Please don't think much about it."
"I. . ."
"You can be quiet when you want," she added. "You can be with me without any judgments." Her hand went to the cell bars. "I don't want to put any pressure on you, ever. I just want you to know that with me you can just be yourself."
I took a long and dragging breath. Audra was. . . Audra was amazing.
And Audra didn't deserve to be here. That's what. She deserved to be free.
She had never even asked for anything apart from my company the last few days. And yet. . .
My eyes squeezed shut, my hands curling into fists. Maybe it was time stop waiting and just looking all the time. Maybe it was time to start actually risking my life.
For her.
Anything for her.
The very next morning, my plan was so formulated that I could taste it in my mouth as Maya called us for lunch in the farm.
"Pax?" Maya said, laying out the blanket she'd use. "And Mart?"
Like clockwork, Mart and I headed to her. She was little bit farther from the sages. Like I said, Maya had been the designated lunch bringer everyday that we were here. And each midmorning, we were called out like this to eat.
"Come," she said.
Adrenaline pumped through me the way it hadn't pumped before. Even with all the chaos that had happened before in my life. Today was different. Today was no ordinary day. And as the two girls from the chamber began to come into better view, I knew I had to act now and have regrets or whatever later.
When I reached them, as if on cue, there was a sharp pain in my stomach.
"Hey," Maya said, looking at me with her cheerful, open eyes, her merry looking lips, always ready for a smile. "Lunch, Pax?"
"Ugh. . ." Of course I had to start somewhere. And if sounding like a zombie from the walking dead would do it, then by damn I was a zombie. I would happily devour everyone's brains too.
Mart, who had been closest to me, gave me a strange look, but didn't say anything until I gave another groan. "Are you constipated or something?" she said.
"Mart. . ." Maya to the rescue. Taking a better look at me, Maya stood up, squinted her eyes, the midmorning sun hitting her tanned face. "You look pale, Pax. Are you okay?"
Of course, I wasn't okay. I was a bit nervous. And I wanted this to work, but in order to do so, I had to give it my all. Groaning a bit louder, I began to stagger forward.
"Woah!"
It was Mart who had caught me, Maya supporting my shoulders too. The two of them looked worriedly at me, but I was already on a roll. No one could stop me.
"P-Pax?"
"My tummy. . ."
Okay, that was a bit overdoing it. But if there was one thing I learned from having Doctors as parents, you had to be very good at pretending you're sick. Otherwise they'd know that you're just dreading to go to school, which happened to me every single day, but now wasn't really the time to recollect about that, really.
Maya, the more concerned of the group, steadied me upward. "Are you sick?" she asked.
"She's constipated," Mart said.
Maya gave Mart a 'shut-up your mouth' kind of look, then turned to me again with a concern like a mother's. Only, you know, my mom wasn't as young as me, and I wasn't really in the mood.
"Should I take her to Elder?" Maya asked.
To which Mart replied with an irritated frown. "Of course not. You don't take everything to them."
"Then what?" Maya said.
"I. . ." Clutching my stomach once more, I swallowed hard, licked my drying lips for better effect. "I think I'm going to go ahead and lie down in my tent," I said. "If that's okay with the both of you?"
The two of them exchanged looks. And I knew why. There was this unspoken rule never to leave me alone, not that I hadn't noticed. But ever since we played hide-and-seek, the two of them had been a constant on my side. Always there. Always helping. Probably at Dante's instruction too. Though to be fair, maybe they didn't know why, and was maybe wondering as well.
Maya, who was always the kindest of the two, was the first to give in. "Okay," she said, though only half-heartedly. "But if you need us for anythingâ anything at all, you come right back here, okay, Pax?"
"Will do," I said, smiling inwardly.
The path leading back to the dwellings felt so much lighter and prettier when I began to make my way back alone. Maya, of course, wanted to come and accompany me, but Mart insisted that they had work to do right after lunch. And frankly, with Mart, she just looked like she didn't want to go through the extra effort, and I couldn't blame her at all because we were not close.
A big advantage, too, as the dwellings began to reveal itself beyond.
I shielded my eyes as I came to the mouth of the tunnel. It was always so much brighter here, so much warmer. Fresher too. Right now, looking at the place, I was thrilled to see that not a lot of people were in sight. Mostly just one or two, dashing to their houses to get something, then disappearing back to the network of tunnels where they worked. The dwelling was like the middle of a beehive, and ducking behind a house, I began to buzz around.
It took me what? About fifteen minutes to locate Dante's hut? About five minutes more to find an open window and make sure that no one was looking before I came in.
The key for Audra's cell could be in here, I was thinking the whole time. It could be with Dante too. But I needed to take my chances if I were to set Audra free. It was time for me to act no matter what.
My eyes adjusted to the semi-darkness of Dante's hut. And immediately, I saw that he kept the inside prim and proper, though there was a curious amount of boxes lined up against the wall.
I began to walk to them to check them out.
Wow. . . These were from the convenience store, was my first thought.
My fingers trembled as I took a box with the same label as the one I saw from the shop. It felt like a lifetime ago, us hiding in there. Though it was just a few weeks ago, and looking at the box now, it began to give me chills, knowing that the same owner we thought had provided us a safe haven right then, had also attacked my friends, had also imprisoned Audra.
I opened the box in disgust. But inside, there were no junk, nor food. Only letters upon letters. No prison key for Audra either.
"Damn," I said, feeling disappointed. Looking around once more, I saw that there was a bed, a table and fire kiln used for cooking. Not so much as a cabinet or a secret safe. Had I made the wrong decision coming here?
"No, Pax," I murmured. "This is only the beginning."
I reached out for another box and tried to shuffle though its contents. More and more letters greeted me.
Just what kind of life was Dante keeping? Being here? Being in the convenience store on the surface when he was free to go? I closed the box and shuffled through another.
God, so many letters.
Maybe the key was under the bed?
I took quick steps to go there. Ducked.
Nothing.
Maybe hanging on the wall?
My eyes traced the length of the hut. There was another room for a bathroom, maybe? And maybe I should check there too?
I spent another full hour turning the house almost upside down. The bed again, the table. Maybe there was something I had left. Maybe there was a stone unturned. Just about anything.
But with each failure, each miss, my agitation only seemed to grow stronger.
"Shit!"
I knew I shouldn't swear. I knew I was being irrational right now. But I was really hoping that the key to free Audra could be somewhere in here. I had tried almost everything.
Almost. But not all.
I had not threatened Dante's life yet. I hadn't confronted him yet, too, as per Audra's insistence.
And maybe we should try picking Audra's lock. She could. But I hadn't seen a single hairpin or needle we could use.
A twinge of panic began to bubble inside my throat, that I felt like I was suddenly choking.
I was reaching to my neck when my elbow bumped onto something.
Thud!
Crap! A box had fallen to the floor, spilling Dante's letters.
Damn it!
I began to crouch and shove them back inside the box, back to where they belonged.
And I should really get out of here, shouldn't I? I needed to regroup with Audra.
My shoulders slumped downwards. I hated to disappoint her. Hell, I hated to see the look on her face when I tell her that I had been sneaking inside Dante's hut. But then. . .
My gaze flickered to a letter. Something caught my eyes. Something written on the paper.
No. No, Pax. I warned myself. You are already in deep crap. What you should do is get out of here at once.
But a word that I saw couldn't be erased from my mind. Unfolding the letter, I squinted through the notes. My stomach began to churn as the first few sentences began to make sense.
Dante,
I swear to God, if you ever come near my daughter again, I will call the police on your ass. This is the last warning. I'd been very kind towards you throughout the years. But Iâ no we don't like receiving your letters. We don't like seeing you around. Samantha and Iâ we're disgusted. And to think. . . to think you're the father of my child. I used to lay with you in bed. When all you want to do is do that with your turtles. I mean, what kind of sick, psychopathic lunatic has intercourse with an animalâ"
Someone grabbed the letter before I could finish it. Someone pinned me against the wall. Someone breathed down my face before I knew it. Someone, someone, began to bore down on me. Someone named Dante.
My frightened eyes went to him as he smiled. "Hello, Pax," he whispered. "Fancy seeing you here."