LEDGER

Evan

The room is very, very dark. Evan's voice, though nerve-racking most days is jarringly absent now. I move and breathe as little as possible, though I have no idea what I am standing still for.

Evan had instructed me to go to the same level where Isla and Cole are kept. But the room I am inside is in no way connected with Isla's and Cole's. Their rooms had a connecting glass wall. This room is secluded from all sides, furnished, but also bland.

I clasp my hands together.

The shapes look normal. A bed, chair, desk, some objects on the floor I cannot tell apart. I blink.

The glass in front of me is tinted and also covered as if by blinds. Only horizontal strips of the inside are visible in two inch intervals.

The chair I was sitting on is uncomfortable, though it is similar to other chairs throughout this place. So I stood up instead, waiting.

What am I waiting for? What is in that room?

"Hello."

The voice takes me by surprise though I had tried to anticipate it. It is not the timing that is unnerving, but the quality. It is such a high, soft voice.

"I like your eyes. Glowy."

I blink and look intently inside the room. There is nothing, no shadow, no form that is near the glass talking to me.

"Do mine glow like yours do?" the same light voice asks. And suddenly it clicks.

I look down, imagining the person talking to me being almost half my height. Before I see anything else, two bright sport of light catch my attention. The cast is golden, bright orange, and the best way to describe it would be to imagine a cat's eyes when being photographed. That's the glare her eyes cast.

"Do they?" she asks again.

"Yes." I say and nod, petrified. "Your eyes glow."

"So am I pretty like you?" the little girl asks, cheerfully.

"I'm sure you are very pretty, but I can't see you." I say.

"Daddy says the light will bother me now." she says. "Can you come a little closer?"

I kneel by the glass, until my eyes are level to hers.

"Did daddy fix you too?"

"Yes." I say. "I was in a bad accident and he helped me."

"Bad things were eating my brain and daddy fixed it." she says and I see by the way the glow of her eyes narrows, she is smiling. "Can you see me now? Can we be friends?"

She slaps both hands on the glass and then her forehead. She doesn't flinch at all at the pain or the sound, doesn't seem like she is registering the fact that she just slammed her little head against a thick sheet of glass.

Despite the disconcerting movement and her indifference to it, I can see more of the girl now. She is so young, cheeks full and freckled, lashes wild around her amber eyes. Her mouth is open in a smile.

"You are very pretty." I tell her. "I'm Max, by the way. What is your name..-"

" Cate Sawyer, I'm ten years old, my favorite color is green and my favorite animals are bunnies." she says all in one breath. "What are your favorite things?"

"I like all colors..-" I start.

"Can we be friends?" she asks, eyes unblinking, fixed on me. I can also not take my eyes off hers.

"Sure, if you would like us to."

"Can you help me?" she asks and her head tilts left. "Daddy said I may not be healing well."