The Aberrations of S.I.D.E.

No. 47: Flame Blown Out

Augustus blinked, a little bit uneasy now. "Um... yeah?"

"Tell the truth." She stood up, exhaling. "Are you just covering up for your boyfriend? That Gunnar boy, I mean?"

"Oh, he's not my boyfriend," he told her. "I mean, I don't think. We did just confess, and we kissed, but, y'know, I was pretty sure you were going to kill me, so we couldn't exactly put a label on anything—"

"Answer the fucking question."

He shook his head. "No, ma'am, I'm not covering up for anyone. I did it. That's the truth."

Augustina went very, very, very still, her expression becoming unreadable. Augustus's confidence slowly faded with every second she stood there.

"You warned them," she whispered. "You betrayed us. You betrayed the Circle."

Ignoring the very real fear building up in his chest, he gave her a nod.

Augustina swore softly under her breath. "All right, let's take care of this. Follow me, and keep your mouth shut."

She stormed out of her office, Augustus moving after her. They went into the elevator and Augustina slammed the button to the basement's sublevel.

"You are a little shit," she said casually as the elevator started to go down. "You know that, right?" She paused, then laughed. "Oh, right, I told you not to talk. I'm just going to assume that your answer is yes."

Augustus started to raise his hand.

"And you're not allowed to flip me off, either. That's rude. Hands to your sides, keep them flat."

The elevator went ding as the doors swung open. The two of them got out and began to walk through the halls of containment cells.

"You can talk and move your hands around now, I'm bored," Augustina said over her shoulder. "Just don't flip me off."

"So, what are you doing, exactly?" Augustus asked. "Are you just going to kill me here and put my body in one of these cells?"

She gave him a wide-eyed look. "I'm not killing you. What gave you that idea?"

If he could, he would've stopped in his tracks. "What... what are you going to do?"

"Well, I would kill you, but I didn't have the foresight to have a third kid," she told him. "I thought that two would be sufficient. Should've tried for a daughter, honestly." She sighed. "But you're the only heir I've got right now, so I have to take a different approach."

They rounded a corner and came onto a hallway that appeared to be a dead end, with no doors in sight. But Augustus had seen this one before.

"No," he whispered, shaking his head. "No, you're not gonna—"

Augustina pushed one of the bricks in, causing some of them to fold back—revealing a room inside. The room had nothing except one dirty mattress and two incredibly small air vents near the top.

Before Augustus could react, she grabbed his arm and threw him in, causing him to hit the ground. His sunglasses fell off of his face and onto the floor.

"You know, that was really an inspiring speech," Augustina commented. "All that talk about changing and fighting for what's right—almost made me believe the same lie you told yourself."

"What the fuck do you mean?" Augustus growled, lifting his head.

She laughed. "Oh, come on. Did you think they'd come and rescue you if you sent all those emails? You think they'd forgive you for everything? I've told you this before, sweetheart—forgive and forget is a myth. A lie that people tell children to make them feel better about their mistakes." She kneeled in front of him, smirking. "They're not going to forget what you did. And they definitely won't forgive."