Turncoat: The first chapter

Chapter 2: defiance

Hadrian was straightening his tie. He had decided to wear a suit today. It was slightly too big for his small body and was a dark grey tone. He had a white button-up shirt under it and a tie that matched the suit. He fixed his hair and then picked up his briefcase. He had written down who to kill that day. So far he had Mason Burgess and Mallory. He had a picture of each of them and it was his job to find them and execute them. His father put a special note that said "brutal" which meant neither could get a quick death, but a painful one. He sighed, knowing he would dread it, before walking out the door.

Caroline was sitting in the hospital lobby, waiting for Rebecca. She was playing with her hair and then she saw Rebecca out of the corner of her eye. She shot up and rushed over to her. "Is your head okay?" She signed. "I'm fine." Rebecca said back. Caroline grabbed her arm to lead her out as partially a joke but mostly concern. Rebecca laughed. Caroline loved Rebecca's laugh. It was sort of off key, but it was joyful and she loved it. Caroline saw Rebecca as a better version of herself—someone she aspired to be. As they were walking, Caroline ran forward and opened the door for Rebecca. She looked at Caroline and in her eyes was pure love. Caroline didn't see it, never had...even though Rebecca had always looked at her this way.

They walked to Caroline's car and, as Caroline started it, she remembered. "Oh, shit! It's Sunday!" She signed. Rebecca's eyes got wide since she had forgotten too, but she knew she had to be the calm one in this moment. "Here, I'll go with you to visit your mom. She doesn't live far, we can make it there." She said. "In yesterday's clothes?" Caroline sarcastically asked. "Yup." Rebecca nodded. Caroline smiled and signed "laugh" with her hands. "Thank you." She said, before driving off with Rebecca.

Bugsy was in her room. It was early morning, the only time it was ever quiet in the lab. She slowly sat up and walked towards the locked door. She opened the scissors and stuck one blade in the keyhole. She twisted and turned carefully and slowly until she heard a click. She wanted to jump for joy, but she had to stay quiet. She slowly opened the door and stuck her head out, peering down each side of the hallway. When she saw it was clear, she stepped her foot forward. Her sock made the slightest noise against the tile. Her ears picked it up instantly. It sounded so loud to her. She messed with her hearing aids to try to focus in on the sounds in further rooms, but she clicked something that made it screech in her ear. She was about to scream, but she put her hand over her mouth and folded her body over. The ringing in her ears was so loud after, and it lasted for a few minutes. And then—silence. She kept walking, her ears amplifying every step. She knew if she took the hearing aids off, she'd hear every sound within a five mile radius. So, she had to keep the clunky devices on to not be overwhelmed by everything.

As she tiptoed down the hallway, her right hearing aid clicked and refocused onto a room a few hallways down. There was screaming. Her hearing aids usually limited her to only the sounds right next to her. Why was it focusing on something so far down in the lab? She was standing in front of a door that entered the exiting hallway, but felt the need to go towards the sound. She began walking that way and then her left device clicked and focused onto footsteps approaching from behind the door next to her. She quickly threw her body against the wall and held her breath. She didn't know how loud her breathing was to everyone else, so she made sure not to at all. Suddenly, the door swung open and a man walked out with a cart. The cart had medical tools on it arranged on top of a blue sanitary mat. Who else was here that would be operated on? Was she not the only one who got prodded and poked and experimented on. She quickly tapped the wall and caused the noise to carry over to the room the man just came from. She was able to do this, but it was never useful to her until now. The man heard the tapping and turned around. He was about to dismiss it, but she then said "Hi." And carried her voice into the dark, back corner of the room he was in. He quickly propped the door open with the cart and walked back in. "Bugsy? Are you in there?" He called out. She crept over to the cart and crawled under the sheet handing over the open section meant to store things. She sat cross-legged and silent and waited for him to come back. When he did, he pushed the cart which caused her to fall forward, but she caught herself on the side bars. She winced, thinking he heard since it was so loud to her. But, he didn't hear the minuscule noise and just kept pushing towards the forbidden room.