Our Darkest Memories

2. The Yellow

"Oh, you heard about him?"

"Yes. I saw him when he was brought to his cabin," he said bitterly.

I didn't know why it bothered him so much. As far as I knew, we didn't even know him. I sighed. "He didn't say anything except his name and color. He only looked surprised and confused, but that is what all kids look like."

He looked a little relieved after I said that.

'Why did he care so much?' I thought. "What does it matter anyway? Are you jealous?" I joked. He didn't laugh with me. "Hey, I'm only joking. You know I'm yours."

I had been saying that for so long that I didn't even question it, but now something had changed. And I didn't know what.

"It's just that... he felt familiar. Like I have seen him somewhere."

Tell me about it.

"Oh," I said, unsure how to respond. "Well, you can just do your mind thing to find out, right?"

"That won't be necessary," he answered vaguely. He walked out the door again, but before he disappeared, he turned around. "It's dinner time, so I'll send Nadia for his food. Are you coming?"

I politely refused and said that I still had some work to do. That was kind of true, I guess. He didn't even question what I said, but just walked out, with his mind somewhere else.

A few minutes after he left, I walked outside to search for the girl named Nadia. I found her moments later when she walked out of the kitchen cabin with a plate of food in her hands.

When nobody saw me, I followed her. I must have made a noise because she turned around. Her eyes relaxed when she recognized me.

"Morgan! You startled me. Do you need anything?" Her loud, silvery voice sounded like a screechy alarm in that quiet corner of the camp. I wanted to hit her for it.

"Actually, I thought I would walk with you to our new guest. He got hurt when he got here and I want to know how he's doing."

She nodded. Of course she did. No one dared to contradict us.

We walked towards cabin 27, which looked like every other cabin: simple, small, and made out of wood. Cabin 27, however, was one of the oldest cabins, so it was rotten and the roof was leaking. The windows were shattered, which made it extra chilly inside. We immediately felt it when we stepped in and the smell of rotting wood entered our noses.

I let my eyes adjust to the dark and saw the Yellow sitting with his elbows leaning on his legs on a wobbly bed in the farthest corner of the room.

"Your food."

His head shot up, but he seemed to ease when he saw us.  Nadia put the plate with food on a table on our left that looked like it could collapse any moment.

"Thanks, Nadia. You can leave, I'll be fine." I watched her long, brown hair as she left. When I turned back, I noticed that the Yellow observed me and the girl that now walked out. After she closed the door, I took an iron chair that looked like it would maybe hold my weight and sat on it.

"So... you havin' fun here?" He asked it with the intention to mock me, but his voice broke halfway through and his despairing eyes didn't deliver the question the right way.

"Look, I don't know what you think, but you better get it out of your head. I don't know you, and the next time you lie, I don't care that he will erase your mind. So you better act your part, or I won't even doubt sending you to him."

"Why did you doubt?"

"What?" I asked, unsure where he was going with this.

"Why did you doubt this time? You could have done whatever you would have liked, I know that. So why didn't you?"

He looked at me with desperation. His eyes followed every move I made and his dark hair looked even messier than before. His dusty clothes and scruffy face made him look... tired. Like nothing mattered anymore and he just wanted to quit.

I realized he was still staring at me, waiting for an answer. Truth is, I didn't have an answer. I didn't know. So I just reacted: "It doesn't matter why I didn't. I don't know you and you certainly don't know me, so-..."

"Morgan."

What did he just say? It threw me off a little. How did he know my name? I didn't tell him...

"Very impressive," I sneered at him, "repeating my name that you've heard from the other kids. Everyone knows that my name is Morgan."

He gave me a derisive smile. "Don't give yourself too much credit."

I rose from the chair immediately. "Maybe I wasn't clear enough when I said that I can kill you before you even realize what's going on. Maybe you should also know that I'm powerful in this camp. I can do whatever I like-"

"As long as Clancy approves, I presume," he scoffed.

I ignored him. "And I also know that food is scarce here. Maybe you deserve to find that out as well."

I grabbed the plate of food from the table and walked towards the door. Before I closed it behind me, I saw him shake his head while he said: "You can't keep running away from people."

I furiously walked towards the cabin that served as my room while I gasped for air. I didn't want to think about what he said, but I couldn't help it.

He is just... an idiot. He doesn't know anything. Not about East River, not about Clancy, and not about me.

I didn't notice the shadow watching me from behind a nearby tree, as his voice still echoed in my head.

You can't keep running away from people.