Secrets Are For Keeping

Chapter Fifty

Afterwards we realized that not everyone had made it.

According to a tall, auburn haired boy, there'd been a total of forty-one people imprisoned in what I now knew was called the Institution at the time of the attack.

Only twenty-six had managed to make it out. Twenty-six out of forty-one seemed like something that couldn't be called a success, but to us it was. Because it had never happened before. And because twenty-six was twenty-six times better than none.

There had been casualties, including my own sister Olivia. I'd been trying to avoid thinking about her though, since it only pained me when I did. For the past day all my mind had done when remembering what had happened was bring back memories, of days when she'd hug me, when she'd tell me she'd loved me. All the little things that I'd never really thought about until now. The smaller things she'd done for more that hadn't been that obvious until now.

"Hey," came a soft, musical voice from right next to me. I turned my head and immediately recognized the light blonde hair of Aysel, the boy who I'd helped only a couple days before, even though it felt like it'd been years. He was smiling, and I knew why. His sister had been locked up somewhere in the Institution with me. Through their break in, Aysel had managed to reunite with her, his only twin sister named Ayla, and since then he hadn't seemed to stop smiling. He never mentioned how long the two had been separated, or what had happened during the time that they had been.

The entire attack had been orchestrated by him and Zander. It hadn't exactly been professionally planned, but it had been good enough to save some of the people trapped inside. Zander had already told me most of the story, how when he realized he was completely alone he'd quickly attempted to escape the school to somehow manage to get us back and ended up running into Aysel. From there, they were able to convince some other students from not just our school's inspection program, but from a couple other schools in under a day to create a makeshift army. One of the girls who'd joined in on the plan, who everyone called Tekk, had hacked into the Institution's system and had put down all of its defenses, leaving it open for the rest of the army to run in and allow the people trapped inside to escape.

"Hey," I replied, just as quietly as I continued looking out the large floor to ceiling glass windows of the penthouse apartment. The apartment had been bought using the majority of the money stolen by me to give to Aysel. He still hadn't really explained where the rest of the money had gone or why he'd needed it so badly, but it didn't matter to me. Because that was his own secret to tell whenever he was ready. The money that had been leftover was a lot more than I'd expected, and would hold us off for at least a while. I knew it wouldn't last forever, though, since we were trying to take care of an entire thirty-four people in just one apartment with it. Thirty-four being everyone who'd escaped the Institution added to the amount of people who'd attacked. Minus everyone who hadn't made it.

"It's beautiful," Aysel commented as he looked past me towards the city below. Everyone looked so small, and the world felt so far apart from where we sat watching. I could see the gleaming of the other skyscrapers as the sunlight attempted to break through the large gray clouds that promised rain.

Kain was still angry at me. Since we'd made it out of the Institution and then bought the apartment, he'd refused to talk to me. Even if I just accidentally walked by him anywhere in the penthouse, he would quickly walk the other way, not even making eye contact with me.

Many of the other escapees and fighters noticed, but none of them commented on it. I had yet to tell Zander or Aysel my secret, but I suspected that they'd figured something had gone down. Otherwise it wouldn't make sense why Kain was ignoring me.

"It is," I agreed, watching as a light drizzle began to fall down from the clouds above. Teardrops of water fell against the large windows, and I watched as one by one they trickled down the glass until dropping at the very bottom.

The water comforted me. The way it fell down, no matter what. Even after my world had changed completely, even after everything I'd been through, the rain continued to fall. I watched as the droplets of water made the world turn a beautiful gray color, and the sun was finally covered completely by the gray clouds.

In the distance, I could see the bright strike of lightning coming down over the landscape. A distant rumble of thunder followed it. A thunderstorm was coming.

And when it came, I'd welcome the storm.