Final Collection

by Jesse Goodrich

CHAPTER 20

  Adam’s expression moved from growing disinterest to a smile overwhelming as Eva passed through the doorway. Eva’s movements consisted of elongating her neck while her eyes searched the unfamiliar room, wholly ignoring the audience before her, which was made up of the Directors and Adam. Adam had spent too much time exploring the information in the networked panels throughout the haven of technological advancements, so much time that while first viewing Eva he could hardly control his desire to hold her close and explore her neck with his hands and eyes and lips; this feeling was short lived however as it was replaced by distrust. Adam knew he had trusted her before and wasn’t sure why his feelings would have changed; aside from his explorations, little had changed since they first interacted. Now his suspicion of her was at its highest. Concerned with her not truly being here for stated reasons, almost as if she were after something from him, or to have him, or to have him dead, Adam carried his breath to an extended exasperation at the feelings he was fighting with as they truly conflicted each other. Adam’s moment of decision was coming to the point where he would act, then, Eva blinked. The image of her eyes closed burned into Adam’s mind as everything went dark. Considerably vocal exhales and a few gasps were released by several of the directors in the dark room; Adam remained quiet sensing his surroundings without light and became increasingly aware as bodies moving could be heard and his suspicion of Eva was now heightened to peak since her entrance to the room. Adam stood and moved away from his chair several steps into the middle of the second entrance to the room. Should Eva still be where she last had been, Adam would be able to hear the slightest movement, he listened and the sound of slightly rapid breathing was just audible above the sound of the others rustling about, trying to figure out how the lighting had gone. The panic was more than Adam had expected though it didn’t take long to figure out why, “Has it even flickered before?” Evelyn responded quickly, “No, this is it, but it’s far too soon.” The room fell quiet and the tension that should have left at the beginning of conversation in the dark was now intensified. It was Adam’s turn to grow nervous, his suspicion hadn’t left about Eva being motivated, but it was certainly buried underneath his desire to hold her not just to comfort her, but to also be close with her if the imminent were to arrive immediately – it was fear overwhelming. The man who spoke before drew up the courage to question Evelyn, “You can’t possibly think that it has come already; he hasn’t been nearly trained enough.” Adam felt Eva reaching for him and holding him close; she seemed calm and leaned in to kiss his cheek and neck. Adam felt the love shared but couldn’t understand how she was missing what was happening. “It will be okay Adam,” Eva whispered. The man spoke again as his question remained unanswered, “Evelyn? You don’t think that the,” the room shook with such intensity that everyone was forced to the floor; groans and strains and sounds of pain and exhaling were emitted but were slightly overwhelmed by an immense roar coming from somewhere in the structure they were in. Adam reached for Eva as he could sense her a few feet away on the floor. The lights flicked back on but only to a dim setting that allowed for little more than being able to see the light and a figure obstructing it if there were one. Eva grabbed Adam’s hand and they stood together as the loud noise grew more distant and the lights slowly increased allowing more to be seen. Adam viewed the room once before focusing and noticed exactly what all the directors noticed before everything moved and became a blur; Evelyn was gone. As the wheel of time began to turn with the slow crank of building momentum, Adam looked into Eva’s eyes and she leaned in and kissed him once again, “I will see you soon - for you,” she remarked. The look of confusion on Adam’s face was interrupted by one more kiss and then the room and the director’s became one nothing. Adam seemed to fall back and could feel himself being pushed and pulled and shouted at, but nothing was clear; no words could be heard specifically and the entire view he had was of an empty room with nothing on the walls, nothing at all in fact except himself which he was struggling to focus on against the sounds of shouting and the feeling of being tugged against his will. He felt himself on impulse say the words once more even though he didn’t seem to be connected to the panels, “Seytanin Kilic,” he understood now.

  Time lapse

  Eva drew her feet steadily beneath herself stopping at the stairs leading down the front entrance. Her hair was tussled but the naturally cascading brown appearance showed through making her look slightly disheveled but held together. Her right hand held her left arm above the elbow where she landed hard from the first fall in the Director’s main chamber as the room shook everyone to the ground. The sleeve was removed mostly up the arm to inspect the damage and the other sleeve was removed to match but used to help tie off another’s wound. Eva’s green eyes were as fierce and unrestrained as could have ever been seen as she coldly watched several shuttles leaving the planet, their smoking trails leading up in several places across the horizon. Her thoughts were not far from Adam and how he’d been hurried off when the quaking began; she imagined he was on one of the shuttles away from surface though none were close enough for him to have been moved to in time for the distance that existed between the shuttles in the sky from where she was now; her mind raced as she tried to figure where the shuttles would be going other than away from a planet wrecked and slowed by what could be seen beyond the shuttles in space – one very large and passing comet, the tail of which burned the highest portion of the sky, painting everything in its wake with a wavy flame of orange intermixed with shadows and the small billowing of black smoke. Eva cautiously followed the stairs to the bottom, rubbing more of the pain from her left arm away. She was pleased it wasn’t bleeding from the rough fall but knew the bruise to come would match the pain currently pulsing. Eva pulled a square device the size of her hand out from her back pocket. It was not dissimilar, in appearance, to any of the latest devices one could find except for its flex-ability. She played with the opposite corners as she looked once more at the shuttles getting smaller with every second she watched and twisting the device into a shape no other handheld she had seen could create before releasing it and drawing her eyes back down as the device came back to a resting position, flat and seemingly off. Not to her surprise, the black panel she held turned soft blue and shapes flickered one after another; Eva watched as after a few seconds it turned dark blue and gave the appearance of being just a piece of plastic once more. She had what she needed and began walking away from the wreckage of the building’s exterior behind her while sliding the handheld into her back pocket for convenience; she recalled the events in her mind, "the Directors had seemed to expect something like this to happen as there was little conversation but much movement and organizing before they all dispersed." One of the younger Directors had handed her the device before running off only turning to shout back, “Take this to Allen, it’s for his son.” The smile on the young woman’s face was almost sad as it faded and her head turned away from Eva once more. Eva shook her head as she let the memory fade; she searched her pocket as she marched toward the nearest vehicle. The mobile was useless, Eva assumed, as she pictured the satellites hurling through space toward the planet sized comet, however she pulled it out and pushed it against her back pocket – after a few seconds she pulled the reprogrammed phone up to her face and used it to unlock and start the car she planned to take to the nearest airport, she was hoping that there was at least one plane undamaged by the passing comet. Eva had direction and a plan but took one look in the mirror before pulling out and onto the road. She watched a tear come down her cheek as she could feel Adam being ripped from her stomach and away from her, at least this is how she felt as her stomach heaved and forced her head to collide with the steering wheel. Eva pulled herself up and reconstituted before she could become entirely sick, she wiped her tear filled eyes in a fashion which suggested no more tears would be coming today or soon. Eva adjusted the seat and drove away while the young red-haired fe
male director watched her go. The director felt a tug at her arm and was pulled back by the male director close to her age. Their expressions matched and they shared a gentle hug while walking back down into the building.

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