| |
ROUGHLY A HALF-HOUR into vacuuming the closet-sized cell, the Serenity started to wear off. The pleasant fog receded and left an electric spark of anxiety in its place. The cell was so small. How could a creature live in there without losing its mind? What if she ended up in a cell like that?
A shock wave of panic seized Alexa, and she scurried out of the room. Had she cleaned it enough? Did it matter? The cell was spotless before she started to vacuum its invisible coating of dust.
Collapsing to her knees, fighting for breath, she searched for a distraction. She hummed, “Into Dust,” but that reminded her how much she missed Sid.
A thump came from within one of the many cells, startling her.
What sort of creatures ended up in solitary? The cells were all more or less the same size, with a small viewing window at eye level. Some doors were larger than others; one was covered in rivets and steel straps to reinforce it further. Alexa climbed to her unsteady feet to get a better look.
Fascination and horror drew her toward the cell nearest her. Before she reached it, she glanced up, searching for tell-tale signs of surveillance devices. They must be watching her at all times. This was a prison, after all, wasn’t it? What would happen if she looked inside? Guardian D told her to clean the corridor, not avoid the prisoners.
Alexa pretended to vacuum more invisible dust at cell door. Wait. She was moving too fast, with too much purpose. She was supposed to be stoned and happy. If only she had taken that acting class with Mateo two years ago. Anyway, she had been performing for months, pretending to be just fine even while horrors spun through her thoughts.
Gradually, she fake-cleaned her way to the nearest cell window. A tiny person huddled in the furthest corner of the room, their back facing Alexa. The nobs of their bent spine stood out against their thin prison garb. She hadn’t expected something so allegedly dangerous to look so pathetic. Did they all look so sad?
She continued to clear away unseen dust, sticking the hose attachment into every corner within reach while glancing through each window. With her Blinders, she saw the Supreme Security occupants as various shapes and sizes of human, much like the rest of the Residents. Most appeared drugged out of their mind, sleeping or drooling in the corner of their cell. One of the Residents was writhing on their cell floor, mouth stretched open in a silent scream.
As Alexa looked at them one by one, the lump of dread in her gut swelled. She fought through her increasing alarm and the tingling at the front of her brain. The last thing she needed was another telekinetic incident.
More time passed. Minutes. Hours. Alexa reached the last cell, the one covered in extra reinforcement, and glanced through the window as she had with the others.
“Oh, shit.” She shoved a fist against her lips as two clear, intense eyes stared back at her. Her Blinders showed her an average-sized, slender young man with a blazing blue gaze. Unlike the others, he was coherent and furious.
Something about him was oddly familiar. She quickly went through the gestures of cleaning around his cell. When she dared a glance over her shoulder, she fought the urge to shriek. The young man had pressed his nose to the window, his breath fogging the glass. The absolute rage in his expression made her want to bang on the main cell block door and beg to be let out. A subtle rumble of power radiated from him.
Invisible talons plucked through her brain. She yelped, slapping a hand to her mouth before the scream building in her throat could work its way out. The feeling was horrifyingly familiar. She dared meet his eyes. His fierce, radiant blue eyes.
Eyes just like Una.
I see you, Simple One, the Bright One who looked nothing like a Bright One, whispered in her mind.
Alexa gasped. She had forgotten how strange it felt to have someone invade her brain. The Bright One’s unspoken words filled her ears, playing over and over on repeat. She nearly dropped her vacuum as she hurried to the opposite side of the room. Suddenly, the little, open cell didn’t seem so scary. What would the Guardians do if she hid in it? Would they laugh and lock her inside? If the Bright One had any clue what she had done to Una—
Can you hear me, Simple One? A faint thud knocked against the Bright One’s door. Alexa instinctively looked in his direction. The Bright One pressed his cheek against the glass. What are you? You seem to know me. You have communicated with one of my kind before. How is that possible?
Una was a fierce and sometimes downright terrifying creature, but the beast glaring her way was on another level. Did Guardian X do this to her on purpose? Were they watching her now from the other side of a hidden camera, laughing at the silly, terrified Earthling?
Alexa returned to the empty cell, scrubbing in the deepest corners while her heart banged like a bass drum. What she wouldn’t give to have a dose of Serenity to take the edge off her panic.
You cannot hide from me, Simple One. The Bright One smacked his cell door again. If you have known my brethren, you know what we are. How can you know us? One more bang droned through the cavernous room. How can you know us?
Alexa breathed deeply, closed her eyes, and scrubbed at yet another invisible patch of dirt in the furthest corner of the isolation cell. All remnants of the mind-numbing Serenity was long gone. The dry, sterilized air caught in her throat. The powerful scent of disinfectant filled the tiny room. Had the previous occupant died in this cell? How long had the body laid there before the Guardians knew it was dead?
Keep pretending you cannot hear me, the Bright One jeered from his cell. These walls cannot stop the sound of my voice.
Terror blurred Alexa’s vision. She continued to scrub and suck, scrub and suck at nothing but pristine steel walls with the vacuum. Once upon a time, she had endured both a Bright One and a Brume in her mind and survived. She could do it again.
Come out, come out, Simple One. I only want to talk. No harm in talking, right?
The enormous doors leading into the restricted unit whooshed open. Alexa jumped up and stumbled out of the cell, praying a Guardian had returned to take her back to her own large, spacious compartment, far, far away from the Bright One.
“How is your work progressing, X485?” Guardian D glided into the central corridor, looking fresh and unbothered as always. They scanned the room. “Ah, I see you’ve done an excellent job so far, but there’s much more to do. Are you well, X485? You appear pale?”
“Just a little hungry, that’s all.” Alexa forced a smile. The vacuum hose lay in a tangled heap all around her.
“Of course you are.” Guardian D’s serene smile widened. “I hope the Residents here didn’t give you any trouble.”
“No, no trouble.” Alexa glanced toward the Bright One’s cell. All she could see was the faint smear his cheek had left behind on the glass. She couldn’t say why, but she knew telling the Guardian she could hear the Bright One was a bad idea.
“Excellent. Now, retract your suction device, and we can be on our way.”
Alexa waved her hand at the loops of hose. “I don’t know how.”
“My apologies. It is quite simple.” Guardian D walked over to the open closet door, turned a knob Alexa hadn’t noticed in the upper left corner, and stepped back. The length of hose retracted back into the closet with a sharp whoosh. “Now you’ll know what to do when you return for tomorrow’s shift.”
Alexa wavered on her feet. “Tomorrow? I have to come back tomorrow?”
“Of course, this is your work assignment. Each assignment lasts for ten days minimum.”
“Oh. Great.”
“Let’s take you back to your cell. You look exhausted, X485.”
As Guardian D led Alexa from the room, the Bright One whispered, We shall meet again, Simple One.