Him_v4

by Mazur, Caitlin

  "What do you mean?" Her senses heightened. "What don't I know?

  Lucy placed her hands on the end of the bed, like she had with the pool table the night before, then leaned over, like she was trying to find her bearings. "You're in danger, Amelia."

  If Amelia had a dollar for every time she'd heard that in the past few days... "Yes, I know. What about this whole process hasn't been dangerous?"

  Lucy sat back down on the bed. "No, you need to listen to me. Being Affected, your sister being Affected, is the least of your problems. I messed up like Ben pretty recently. There're some things going on." She put her hands up waving them in circles. "Again. Another story for another day. But, I Affected a young man. The family came back here with us, their son was on the brink of death, much like your sister. Seraphine told them everything would be just fine. But taking them to the future, or leaving them here, it was going to have too many implications. Seraphine told us that either option would have had too much damage on our timeline. I tried many different ways to figure out how to fix the mistake to spare them. But I couldn't." She shook her head and looked sadly towards her. "Seraphine had made up her mind already."

  "What happened to them?"

  Lucy's gaze bore into Amelia. "What do you think?"

  Amelia 's stomach dropped. She looked at the woman peculiarly, trying to understand a motive. "Why are you telling me this?"

  Her sad expression didn't waver. Still, Amelia had trouble placing her sincerity. "Because I would have wanted someone to tell me."

  "But Ben said he could help me."

  Lucy nodded. "And he means it. He wants to. But at the end of the day, Amelia, he's committed to Seraphine completely. He eats up everything she tells him, even if it's riddled with lies. He's going to complete his job, no matter what it is—even if that means letting Seraphine get to you. He'll kill you if Seraphine asks him to. He wouldn't hesitate."

  "I don't believe that."

  Lucy smiled, showing perfectly white teeth. "He's not going to defy her. He's been conditioned his entire life to obey her. He's not going to change his mind over a Predecessor he's just met."

  Amelia raised her eyebrows. "Fine. I don't know Ben like you do, I'll admit that. I don't know what he's capable of. But I can't believe he'd bring us all the way here just to kill us."

  Lucy shook her head. "Don't be stupid, Amelia. None of this is about you. This isn't even about Ben. This is about Seraphine."

  Her words permeated through her, settling slowly like morning dew. She sat with them for a moment. Maybe she was being stupid. How egotistical could she be to think she and Faye would be more important than time travel?

  Maybe Lucy was right.

  What if everything Ben had told her about Lucy was a lie? Was she listening to the wrong side of things?

  "I can help you," Lucy said with urgency. "Hide you."

  "And Faye?"

  She shook her head. "No."

  "I can't just leave her here."

  Lucy straightened up and crossed her arms. "She can get you killed. The longer you stay here, the less chance you have of surviving. Do you want to die for her?"

  Amelia paused for just a moment. "I could never just leave her behind."

  "You can. I'll help you. The chip in your arm can be removed easily. They don't have to find you if you don't want them to. I can help you disappear."

  "I couldn't leave her," Amelia repeated with finality, squeezing her knees to her chest.

  "So you would rather die with her?" Lucy shot back. Her eyes traveled across Amelia's face, searching for a break.

  "Yes," Amelia said, sure of nothing else in that moment. "Of course I would. I couldn't live with myself knowing I had left her here to die."

  A sense of distrust erupted inside of her. Why would Lucy be telling her this? Was she trying to get rid of them? Amelia had no reason to think Ben or Seraphine would kill them. He had brought them here, to a doctor who could help them. He'd put his life in danger, his job in danger, the timeline of future events. Distrusting Ben, after how far they'd come, would be stupid.

  Lucy gave a heavy sigh. "Good luck convincing Seraphine to keep you alive," she said, standing from the bed. "When you change your mind, you know where to find me. Remember," she added as an afterthought, "I'm here to help."

  "I'm not so sure about that," Amelia responded confidently.

  "No?" Lucy said, not missing a beat in her step. "I might be the only friend you got." The door slid up, and she disappeared behind it.

  Amelia lay back on the bed in the room that was slowly becoming familiar. She was no stranger to accepting new surroundings. She closed her eyes, trying to quiet her thoughts. Everything still felt like a dream. There hadn't been any time to think, to process the emotional rollercoaster she'd been on the past few days.

  Slowly she rolled to her side, looking around towards the chair in the far corner. It was empty. She stared at the chair, trying to remember what it looked like yesterday.

  Her purse. Her purse was gone.

  Amelia climbed out of bed, going over exactly what she did the night before, sure that she put the bag on the chair. Had someone come into her room and removed it? Had Lucy done something with it? She broke into a cold sweat remembering the bag of pills she had tucked away in the zippered pocket.

  A soft hum echoed through the room, her thought forgotten. It came from the bedroom door, which pulsed a cool blue color in sync with the humming. Through the door she could see the outline of a person in infrared colors. He was tall, hair piled high on top of his head, hands in his pockets.

  Johan.

  She ran to the door. It responded immediately to her presence, sliding upwards to reveal the doctor. The skin underneath his eyes bore a deep purple, and his eyelids were heavy, but he maintained a small grin which made her heart soar.

  "Amelia," he said in his silky voice. "Your sister."

  "How is she?" Amelia exclaimed, too impatient to let him finish. "Is she recovered? Can I see her?"

  His grin widened. "Yes."

  Amelia scampered after Johan, trying to keep pace with his long strides as they made their way through the hall. He led her in through the double doors of the hospital room Faye had disappeared behind the other night.

  The place smelled sterile, reminding her of the emergency room which felt so long ago. A low beep from what she assumed was a machine broke the quiet surroundings. They passed a privacy curtain and, behind it, on the same stretcher she'd left her on, was Faye, sitting up and drinking out of a silver canister. She still looked sickly, but wore new, clean clothes, complete with a white cloth cap covering her bald head. She looked better than Amelia had hoped.

  Amelia's heart swelled, and she scrambled to the side of the bed to embrace her sister, wrapping her arms around her shoulders in a hug. Faye still felt too thin and frail for Amelia's liking, but at least she could hold her.

  "Faye," Amelia whispered, her head in the nape of her neck, inhaling her skin, that scent that was purely Faye. She'd been longing for this moment since the hospital, for her sister to be okay.

  "Hi, sis," Faye responded, as they broke apart. Amelia searched Faye's body visible above the white sheet of the bed for any sign of abnormality, any sign of weakness or peculiarity. She wished this would all be behind them already.

  "How are you feeling?" she asked in a small voice, taking a seat on the bed. It sunk dramatically with her weight, but then readjusted. She shifted awkwardly, unable to take her eyes off her sister. She had life back inside of her. Amelia was overwhelmed with relief, gratitude and amazement.

  Faye gave a nod of her head, just a slight up and down indicating she was okay. It was mellow and hesitant, but a nod nonetheless. "He fixed me up all right," she admitted to Amelia. Her gaze shifted beyond her to the doctor who still stood at the end of the bed. Amelia had to admit she'd forgotten all about him.

  "You look better," Amelia said with relief. "I thought you were a goner."

  "Hell no. Can't g
et rid of me that easy."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  That afternoon Faye and Amelia were like young girls reminiscing back on a life that felt like it had never been. They talked about the good times, but the question of what was to come still hovered in the air.

  Johan came in and out of the room, graciously running the necessary tests on Faye, then disappearing out of sight until he was needed again. He was a gentle doctor with a kind, tired face. Amelia got the impression that he had seen everything and wasn't phased by much. Compared to the Migrators, Johan had the surest sense of his humanity.

  The conversation with Lucy swirled in her head, confusing and scaring her for a million different reasons, but she decided not to worry Faye yet. She had enough things on her mind to try and recover from. Faye had always been the one to take care of their problems, guiding them as they stumbled through adulthood. Faye hadn't always made the best choices, but she'd always protected Amelia.

  Amelia owed her sister. This was her battle to fight for the both of them.

  Time stood still in the hospital, though Amelia suspected that was just the way time worked down here. They were interrupted by the hospital door opening. She expected Johan again, but it was Ben who came past the curtain.

  "Amelia, Faye," he said as he entered, with his arms crossed. He stood away from the bed, staring at the pair who stared back at him. "Glad to see you're feeling better."

  "Thanks," Faye answered, offering a small smile.

  "Faye," Amelia said, turning towards her sister. "You should rest." She hopped off the bed and landed on her feet. "You," she said with a pointed finger. "We need to talk."

  Anger bubbled beneath her surface and rippled through her each moment she stood there staring at Ben. He looked worried, those gorgeous eyes and pink lips. A bit of scruff from not shaving shadowed his chin. She'd thought she'd gotten to know this man, who revealed strange secrets about his peculiar life. This man who had moments of empathy and curiosity. Who was he, really?

  She thought of him in the rain, wet and joyful, the elation on his face infectious. Could he really be as harmful as Lucy made him out to be?

  Amelia looked back at Faye who had already snuggled up in the bed, curled into the fetal position, comfortably adjusting the blankets over herself. Not wanting to disturb her, Amelia led Ben away from the room and into the hallway. She wanted privacy.

  Without thinking twice, she walked towards her room, letting the door slide up. "In here," she instructed him, and he followed her.

  She looked around the room, and sat in the empty chair that once held her purse, facing Ben who still stood in front of the door. He looked slightly more relaxed, his hands at his sides, uninterested in the room and focused on her.

  "What's wrong?" he asked her.

  "Lucy visited me this morning," she told him, pointing at the edge of her bed. "Woke me up. Told me some stuff."

  "What stuff?"

  Amelia felt the urge to cry. The fear and uncertainty from what Lucy said finally caught up to her, bubbling in her throat like vomit. She could burst—with tears or anger, she wasn't sure which. "She told me my life was in danger. That the people who were involved with the person she Affected were killed."

  Ben's eyes widened. "Amelia…" He trailed off, seemingly unable to find the words to respond to her proclamation.

  "Is it true?" She could hardly sit still in the chair.

  "No." But he hesitated, looking at the floor.

  "You owe me the truth." Amelia's grip tightened on her own thigh. "You owe me that much, Ben."

  She said the words softly, but they felt like venom. He owed her a whole lot more than the truth.

  "Amelia…" He shook his head.

  Frustration exploded inside of her, and she grabbed the sides of the chair she sat in.

  "All of this with Faye, with us at the Compound, could be for nothing? We could die anyway? At the hands of you Migrators?" She was hysterical, the emotion forcing her to her feet. "Tell me! We might as well have died in that car crash, right? You should have just left us there to die?"

  "No!" he shouted. "That's not it at all. There're things you don't understand, Amelia. There're things Lucy doesn't understand."

  "So explain it to me." She crossed her arms. "You said I couldn't understand time travel. Migrating. Who you were. Yet, here I am."

  He looked at her, his head cocked to the side, a small frown on his lips. He looked absolutely fascinated with her, and she hated it. All she wanted were some answers.

  "The Predecessor died," Ben said simply. "That's all. Lucy's wild thoughts are nothing more than to try and grow your distain for Seraphine. She blamed her for her botched Migration and refused to take responsibility. That's all that this is. Wild accusations."

  "Then let us go home!" Amelia demanded, standing from the chair, leaving it rattling behind her. She struggled to catch her breath from sheer anger. "Faye's doing better. You don't need us anymore. Just let us leave."

  He looked up again, guilt painting every ounce of his face. Wrinkles appeared in the crease of his forehead. Brow furrowed, he frowned at her. "Amelia, I can't."

  It felt like a punch to the gut. "Why not?"

  "I just can't."

  "Is it because of Seraphine?"

  Ben squeezed his eyes shut. "No. Yes." He sighed. "You don't understand."

  She took a deep breath, but her anger still radiated through her body. "Stop telling me that I don't understand," she said between her teeth. "Take the time to explain it to me."

  He sighed, but then nodded in acceptance. "Amelia, Seraphine is reasonable," he told her. "Once your sister is better, she'll evaluate your case and decide what to do then."

  She scoffed. "She's going to decide? Decide what?"

  "How best to give you a life again. You have to understand, you've been brought into our timeline. Leaving will be tricky. She just needs to figure out the best way to put you back. I told you," he said, taking a hesitant step towards her, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

  "That sure wasn't what Lucy told me."

  "Amelia." He took another step towards her, fidgeting with his hands nervously. "I want to help you. I've always wanted to help you."

  He was in front of her now, close enough to touch. She could see the sweat at his hairline, the whiskers on his chin up close. The folds in his lips, the pores on his nose. He was a person, a human being who was scared and confused and curious, the same as she was. Still, something about him frightened her.

  "So help me," she answered, the words feeling firm on her lips. Their eyes connected, held each other. For a minute, there was nothing else.

  "Would you migrate if you needed to?" The seriousness of the words that left his mouth filled the room from top to bottom. The implications, the fear, it all seemed real now with that statement. "Would you come with me to the future?"

  It was a question she couldn't answer. She wasn't sure if she wanted to. It was painful and scary and thrilling. Her heart beat out of her chest. Something inside of her wished he would reach out to touch her, embrace her. Hold her.

  Instead, she shook her head in disbelief, but not defiance. Migrating was otherworldly. Impossible, at least in her lifetime. She was in a different universe. None of this made any sense. And yet, she wanted so very badly to see where it was going to take her.

  "I don't know," she answered honestly, before the tears finally came. He stood, watching her, as she fell apart in front of him yet again.

  "Amelia." His voice wrapped around her, embracing her the way she wished his arms would. Except he wasn't that way. He wasn't that person. And she wanted him gone.

  "Just go," she said between her heavy breaths.

  She didn't need to say anything further. He moved away from her, that same sad, pained look on his face as he backed towards the door. It slid up, and he disappeared behind it.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  The door slid down behind him, and he was alone again in the silence
of the hallway. His emotions had become untamable; he couldn't get rid of them and couldn't explain their presence. It was time to focus on something he had some power over.

  Lucy.

  Ben stormed down the hall, his pulse jackhammering through his veins. His anger was suffocating him. In front of her door, he raised his arm to be scanned, waiting for the door to announce his arrival.

  What do you want, Ebenezer?" Lucy's voice came from the other side of the door.

  "We need to talk."

  "Do we, now?" The weight shifted on the door, like she'd placed her back against it. "And what about?"

  "You know."

  "I assure you, I don't."

  "Lucy!" he growled. "Open the door."

  The door slid upwards, and she came into view, the infuriatingly stubborn girl who could never seem to get her priorities straight. She had something to hold over his head now, and he hated her for it. It was something he could never fix, something he could never give back. Sure, she'd done it before, too, and in some ways one might think they were more similar than they looked, but Ben wasn't about to admit that to himself, let alone anyone else.

  She smiled at him, like she knew all of this. Like she knew how nauseated he felt over the circumstances. That he wanted to tear her apart limb by limb. She left the room, letting the door close, stalking him like a lioness. With a raised eyebrow, she turned away from him and headed down the hallway.

  "She needed to know." Her voice echoed through the empty hall.

  He willed his legs to move and went after her, catching her stride. "Why the hell would you tell her that Lucy? Why are you lying to that poor woman? Trying to get more people to be on your side?"

  Lucy scoffed. "My side? There are no sides, Ebenezer. Seraphine's been lying to us for years, only we've been too stupid to realize it. What I told her was the truth. She's destined for the same fate that my Predecessors were."

  Seraphine is going to do the right thing," Ben retorted.