Secrets Are For Keeping

Chapter Six

The world was on fire.

At least that was how they described it in the news.

Bombings. Shootings. More suicides after valiant speeches like the one I'd witnessed.

People dying.

It'll all get better, the politicians reassured. We'll easily find the criminals and everyone will be safe, President Alliath explained. There's nothing to be worried about.

Except there was something to be worried about; the Animuses themselves.

I'd already hurt one person.....and that happened less than an hour after I was fitted. How many more people would get hurt? And not just physically, but mentally?

They said there was a low risk of brain damage, but I doubted they even considered for a second the emotional damage that would also occur.

"Nova?"

I stared at the violence continuing on the television in the completely dark room. "Everything is said to be under control," a news anchor announced through her black microphone. "All we can do is sit back and wait as the government takes care of the criminals using the Animus. I'm sure the ruckus will die out soon enough, so keep your family close, avoid getting involved, and trust the Animus!" A fake smile was plastered on her face by her last three words.

It had been 14 hours and 37 minutes since I was fitted.

14 hours, 37 minutes since I realized the truth behind the Animus.

14 hours, 37 minutes since my entire life was thrown down a different path. Since the end of my life became a solidified destiny.

Of course it always had been. And I don't mean that in the way that everyone was going to die someday. Some part of me knew I wouldn't make it past twenty. Because secrets can never be kept secrets.

The sound of a bullet slicing through flesh followed by the insignificant thud of a body falling entered my mind. All too familiar.

"Nova....it's one in the morning...........Nova......," Olivia whispered. I heard the eerie creak of the hallway's wooden floor as Olivia came closer to me.

Finally, I turned around. "Yea?" I could hear the guilt and regret in my voice, and quickly repeated my reply hoping to overshadow the first. "Yea."

I was expecting her response to be something along the lines of "go back to bed" or "you shouldn't be awake". Instead, she came over and sat down on the couch beside me leaving foot-shaped imprints across the white carpet. She leaned her body into mine and it reminded me of back when I was younger. How, whenever I had nightmares of our parents and how they died, she would come into my room and we would just lean against each other, backs against the wall above the headboard. We would each lend support to each other, and sometimes she would hug me, and I would hug her back.

Back then we'd lived in the same apartment, without any legal guardian. Crime had become so high during that time after our parents had died, that nobody had even bothered to come to us about taking us to an orphanage. Nor did anyone ever come to accept payment for the building during those worse years, and I suspected somebody had threatened the guy who was supposed to. We were able to survive with the help of a family next door who offered us food and water and were the only ones who knew we still existed. By the time we were forced to pay for the apartment again, Olivia was working as a waitress and I'd found a way to make money by helping organize books at a nearby bookstore. So we just continued our lives. Just not with our parents.

"I'm glad you're okay," Olivia said quietly after some time.

I wished she was right.