The Darkest Horizon (On Hold)

Chapter 11

--    T H E  D A R K E S T  H O R I Z O N    --

Recap:

He caught Charlotte’s eye in the mirror; she was looking at him with sympathy and his pain reflected in her eyes. She moved closer so that she was standing in front of him, and he tensed. After some hesitation, she raised her hand to his face, slowly tracing her fingers over his wound.

“It’s just a scratch.” He whispered, assuring her that he was fine. 

She looked at him, her eyes searching his, and then she looked away in to the distance, her thoughts elsewhere. She turned back to him, assessing his face, contemplating whether she should tell him something or not.

“It’s almost lunch time.” She finally said, and walked away, leaving him standing alone in the bathroom.

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Flynn had another quick glance over his condition and decided he needed a shower. But there were only a few minutes left until lunch, so he just put his head under the tap in the sink and gave his head a wash.

When he was done, he wondered around the bathroom, dripping head hanging forward over his shoulders, looking for the towels. He finally found them, after opening every drawer in the cabinet, and roughly dried his hair. His left arm was refusing to cooperate with him fully, so drying his hair proved a challenge.

As he walked out of the bathroom, he shook his hair around, spraying the room with droplets of water and smiled at himself mischievously. Momentarily he felt so much better.  Until he remembered what had just happened. Was Charlotte trying to tell him something? He felt like she had been about to open up, but then had thought against it. Why didn’t she trust him still?

“Ah experiment Nichols; you almost missed your lunch.” Someone broke him out of his thoughts, and he looked up to find Mr Henrik standing behind the kitchen counter. Was it just his imagination, or did the man actually look upset that Flynn had reached the kitchen on time?

“Sorry Mr Henrik.” Flynn said in his rehearsed tune as he sat in his seat at the table. It seemed he could never get things right when it came to this man.

He turned to Nemo, looking for a much needed mood change after a rough morning, but was surprised to see the boy eating quietly, small wrinkles curved into his forehead as he stared intently at his food.

“Not a good day, is it?” Flynn sighed when Mr Henrik finally left the room.

The others nodded in response, no one really bothering to make much conversation.

“I really need some sleepy time.” Nemo finally yawned, punching Flynn lightly on the arm before adding “Looking pretty good there Mr Nichols.” And giving a half-hearted laugh.

The cut on Flynn’s forehead was nothing to laugh about. They all knew. It was just a visible sign of what the Facility was capable of doing, and it reinforced how helpless they were to their situations.

Flynn felt compelled to tell the others what had happened, how the Facility had tortured him by poisoning his arm, which currently felt like a rock besides him. He looked to Charlotte between spoonfuls of his lunch. Her eyes were trying to tell him something, but he couldn’t quite decipher.

He was about to speak, when an intense look from Jake stopped him. No. He couldn’t break the rules. The consequences wouldn’t be worth it. He silently thanked Jake with his eyes for preventing him from making the mistake, and continued eating his food in silence.  

When twelve o’clock came, the four robotically got up and made their ways to Room One. Flynn walked behind Nemo, and realised that ever since the boy had returned, his personality had started to change just a little. Day by day he seemed to get quieter, and though it wasn’t extremely noticeable, his skin began acquiring a slight greyish tinge.