The Light Behind Death (Book 1)

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

It was almost dark when we were transferred to the other room along with the furniture. Funnily enough, this room was also called the safe room (they really need to hire some creative people). We were informed that the previous room we occupied was demolished upon our departure before Officer Roger took his leave.

Channing returned to us only a mere second after our transfer where he ignored the rest of us, slumped back on the sofa and went on to watch TV. Autumn, Ashley, Vlad and I sat by the table in a circle. Apparently this is something they do every night; telling each other stories about their former life. It’s good for bonding, they said. Of course I refused to say a thing and although I showed no signs, I was quite interested in some of their stories.

It was creeping up to eleven O’clock when the circle finished their stories and we were ready to disperse to different areas of the room.

“You guys don’t talk to him?” I asked, referring to Channing while we all replaced the chairs around the table.

“He’s such a weirdo!” Autumn, practically, shouted. She sat down on the chair she placed and rested her head on the table. She was tired and ready to sleep.

“No he’s not. He’s just…socially challenged.” Ashley felt the need to correct her. In the few hours I have gotten to know her I have learnt that she is unbelievably nice, almost to the point where it’s annoying.

“Ashley, I have to agree with Autumn.” Vlad stretched his arm out, requiring a high five from Autumn, which she returned.

“You’re such a guy!” Ashley playfully slapped him on the chest before she headed to the bathroom. Vladimir took a seat opposite Autumn while I just stood around.

“Oh and he’s ugly,” Autumn added with her eyes closed.

I turned to look at Channing, to see whether Autumn was correct, and caught him glaring at the three of us. I felt my cheeks redden in guilt. I searched his feature briefly as I came to an opinion – Autumn wasn’t completely wrong; Channing is no model, in fact, so many things would need to improve in order for him to even come close.

There was something that bothered me about his looks. Room three gave everyone the opportunity to beatify themselves so why did Channing look like that? Dismissing this thought after a while I lifted my gaze to his eyes only to see his glare once again, only this time it was purely directed to me. I turned back to Vlad and Autumn, deciding to change the subject.

“I’m a little tired now, where are the bedrooms?” I yawned at the thought.

“The thing is…” Vlad scratched the back of his head, “Well, we’re not allowed to sleep until midnight.”

“What? You must be kidding!” I flipped out, almost screaming as Ashley came out of the bathroom. She gave me a worried look.

“Basically, a door to our bedroom will appear at twelve bec ––”

“Why? I want to sleep now though,” I moaned. “Why is she sleeping?”

“If you just shut up I’ll continue to explain,” Vlad huffed, raising an eyebrow at Autumn for help. Autumn nodded back. Were they sharing a secret about me?

“We have to stay up until the officers come to patrol the room. The bad guys call themselves the executors and even though the law doesn’t give them permission they will kill. If we’re asleep they might be able to come through and kill us. We need to stay alive long enough to get rid of them.” Ashley took over the explaining, laughing a little.

As she said the word executors I couldn’t help but glance over at Channing, confusion brushing over me. I frowned at the thought.

“Then, why didn’t they kill him?” I whispered, thinking it best to make sure Channing didn’t overhear.

“Beats us, we wanna know what happen though,” Autumn answered which startled me because I thought she was long gone into her sleep.  

“Go talk to him then, ask him,” I said, pointing out the obvious.

“Why don’t you go talk to him?” Vlad bit back.

“I don’t know him.”

“And we don’t like him. We’ll just ask Dr Chang when she checks up on us in the morning.” Autumn mumbled. Ashley remained quiet.

Midnight arrived and the officers kept piling in. I counted fourteen overall: most taking up the spaces on the sofa, one stood by the door and a few sat by the table playing cards, all owning a gun. As told before, a door appeared exactly at twelve besides the door to the bathroom. We all retreated to our bedroom, leaving the officers to their duty. I took the opportunity to explore the room before I went to sleep.

Three beds were set against one wall with two of the three pushed together and on the opposite wall, two more beds leant against it. Each wardrobe sat beside each bed so there were five in total.

“So those two beds pushed together are Vlads’and mine,” Ashley informed me.

Autumn had already fallen asleep on the bed next to the Ashley’s and Vladimir’s beds so I was left taking the one beside Channing’s bed. He left with a baggy t-shirt and trousers and I assumed he went to the bathroom. Ashley and Vladimir searched through their wardrobes for appropriate nightwear while I was left watching them.

I looked down at myself and frowned; I can’t sleep in my dress. That’s when Ashley turned round to face me with a peach t-shirt and white shorts in her hand. She walked towards me and stretched her hand, which held onto the clothes, towards me.

“Here, you can borrow these for now,” she smiled. She returned to her wardrobe, searching for more nightwear for herself.

“Thanks,” I mumbled, jealous of their clothing. “Where did you get all those?”

“On each of our first days we were accompanied by an officer to the shopping centre and they bought all our choice of clothing.”

“That is extremely unfair!” I frowned.

“To be honest today has been kinda hectic with Channing and everything.” With the mention of Channing’s name he re-entered the room with his t-shirt and trousers on. He placed the clothes he wore before neatly into the wardrobe before he took up the position in his bed. He pulled the duvet fully over his head and then didn’t move an inch.

“Guess you’re right, well, I’ll go change in the bathroom. Be back in a sec!” I waved, relief surprisingly running through my body. I mean, I’ve survived the day, haven’t I?

I returned from the bathroom to find Ashley and Vladimir already in bed, so I followed their pursuit and climbed into my own bed. I took a deep breath to calm myself from the worries of the next few days and let the breath out. I took another breath and I allowed myself to calmly fall asleep.

I found myself waking up only a couple of hours later gasping for air. Sweat was running through every surface on my body and my breathing wasn’t quite normal with my heart beating faster than ever. Usually, upon my awake most of the contents of my dream would soon be forgotten; the memory of unfamiliar faces wiped away. Never have I dreamt a dream so vivid, so realistic in my life that every detail was embedded into my memory to the point where every single word exchanged in the dream was remembered until now.