Zipped

10: The Delivery

Thomas

When my sister's eyes opened after the accident, I felt a weight lift up off of my shoulders. It was such a relief to see her awake. She was okay. Molly wasn't dead, she wasn't seriously injured.

Everything was alright.

If we got out and Molly hadn't been okay, I don't think my parents would have been able to forgive me. Molly and I, we're both supposed to protect each other and Elsie as much as we possibly can. At least now I don't have to imagine that reality anymore. My sister was alive and safe and that was all that mattered.

"Should have listened to you guys," murmured my twin. These words made up her first comment since waking up.

I just shrugged in response. Even though she hardly told me I was right, this was not the time to gloat about things like that. "You didn't know. Plus, you're stubborn. If you didn't fight it like you did, we'd think something was wrong," I replied softly.

Molly shrugged just like I did. "Yeah, well, I don't know. You guys should stop worrying about me. How about you guys go and do something to get your mind off of all this? Maybe you can find something to do. Go challenge Quinn, who apparently tried to murder me, or find cookies in the kitchen. I don't know. I just don't need a group of, what, five people around me waiting for me to get up?"

"Well, she's back to normal," I mumbled under my breath, and I heard Neil stifle a small laugh at my comment. He had been standing beside me this entire time. Shailene, Mitchell, and Ethan were with us too. Celia was someplace else, taking care of Elsie.

"Alright, we'll leave you alone. See you in a bit, Molly," Shailene told her softly before leading us all out of the room. "I make no promises on holding Elsie and Celia back if they show up to check on you, though," she added, which got a real laugh out of Molly.

When we were gone, I looked around at all of them. "So, what are we supposed to do now?"

"What do you mean?" Ethan tilted his head in a recognizable confusion.

"Quinn gave us that information, and she wanted us to make a mistake so we stayed down here. We've got to do something about her. What are we supposed to do?" I looked between each of their faces as they shared looks with each other. They were just as nervous as I was, unsure of what exactly to do.

"I...I don't know," Neil answered honestly.

"What do you guys usually do with new arrivals if they're actual criminals?" Mitchell asked. "Like, what if they're actual murderers or pulled off the heist of the century? What do you do when they get sent down here? I haven't seen the guy who killed the mayor's daughter a few years ago."

Shailene chewed on her lower lip and cast her gaze to the ground. She obviously didn't want to talk about it, but we did need to know. "Well, they don't survive the trip down," she said softly.