Frightened Boy

Chapter Twenty - Drawing Hands

20. Drawing Hands

I must have cried myself to sleep. I woke up to face the same grimy gray walls and sounds of rushing water that became my new prison.

We’d been down there for hours with no food and barely any light. The last remaining Strangers spread out on the cement, backs to the walls. Many were injured, and most were resting. There was no food and no medicine for them.

Mal looked restless. Escher was catatonic, staring into the water.

I crawled over to him. I had begun to wonder about exactly where—and more importantly, how—we were. The vastness of the chamber seemed improbable, given that we were probably not very deep underground. “Hey,” I whispered.

Escher didn’t respond.

Lux spoke from Escher’s side. “You know where we are, don’t you?” he asked.

“I have an idea,” I said. “This must be how he feels. Where do you think we are?” I was scared to voice it—it sounded crazy.

“I think he created this chamber and this maze,” Lux said.

I squirmed uncomfortably at the thought. “Impossible,” I murmured, though I didn’t really believe it. The way the sewers had progressed into this room, the way the manhole had appeared—it seemed like Escher had created the entire thing out of a need to escape, and now he was simply stuck here, leaving us a victim of his catatonia.

I crawled clumsily over to Lux’s other side and leaned back against the wall with him. I rubbed a tear off of my cheek with a rough sleeve.

“Sorry for your loss,” he said.

I didn’t know what to say. “I’m not the only one who lost someone.”

“Samuel Jesse Meskee. That was his name. I’ve known him for ten years, and already I can’t remember what he looked like. If I could, I’d tattoo his face on my arm,” Lux said.

“He was a good guy,” I replied, eyes low.

“Did Whisper really betray us?”

“Man I… yeah, she did. She killed Erika.” Erika would have survived if I had just punched the numbers into the keypad correctly, if I wasn’t such a nervous wreck. Fuck me and fuck my weakness.

“Mrs. Umiker. Jetta Umiker—that was her real name. She hated it. I went to school with her, y’know? I wonder when she turned sides,” Lux mused. “I never thought she would—I can’t imagine why.”

I had my own opinions, but I kept my mouth shut.

I think she loved a man who thought of her like a glorified slave or at best, a psychological footnote. The image of the sad, haunted Whisper I’d seen that night on the floor of the garage came back to me. I didn’t dare ask Lux, but I could guess their history. That’s probably why Lux left, because Whisper fell in love with Escher.

I looked at Escher’s face to see if any of what we’d said had registered. He didn’t seem to be able to hear. “We have to wake him up somehow. Snap him out of this,” I said.

“We’re trapped here without him,” Lux agreed. “He brought us here. I’ve never seen him do anything like this.”

“I think he’ll snap out of it,” I said, trying to sound hopeful. What was it Erika had been so adamant about? Faith. I owed her that much. I could have a little faith in Escher.

“I’m sure he’ll come back and blow the whole city up or whatever it is he’s trying to do.”

Escher blinked. The force of it was such that I leaned back from where I sat.