SMOKE (The Aurum Trilogy Book 2)

Chapter 36

Chapter 36

Daniel

My eyes adjust to the light. I blink twice. Thrice. Four times before I find them open and search for her.

"Lauren!" I call out, shooting up to a standing position. "Lauren!" No response. Where was I? What happened? 

I hit my head with my fist, running my fingers through my hair. I remember tumbling to the ground, Lauren falling off my arms. I remember lying there, agony covering my body with poisonous goo, igniting my whole body with flames and leaving hot blisters as they lick my skin. I remember pain. The pain of all those wounds. The pain of losing her. 

Where was she now? Is she safe? I was so so stupid to let go of her. So stupid to leave her like that. So stupid to feel my own pain before hers. So stupid to be so careless of her safety. 

I slam my head against the wall and punch it with my right fist. I noticed that my wounds had faded to a dull throb and my gunshots were already dressed and tended. I scanned my surroundings. There was a door in the center of the wall across me. No windows. The ceiling was high and impossible for me to reach. I must be in some sort of hidden chamber since the walls were white and padded. I was also wearing white clothes, white bandages wrapped around places where I was injured. Again, I think of her. She must be badly wounded. She could be dead because of me. Because I didn't save her. Because I was so reckless. Because I was weak. 

The door opens. 

"Mr. Deveraux?" I don't look up, and force myself to face the wall. "It's time for your Interrogation." 

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A woman stood before me. She was wearing a black pantsuit and had light brown hair pulled up into a bun. I was guessing she was in her fifties, since I could see some creases on the sides of her eyes and mouth. She had medium built, but she was quite short. Another sign of aging. 

Her heels clacked on the floor as she made her way toward me. She reached out her hand across the metal table right in front of me. "Hello. My name is Mrs. Brunter. You can call me Paige, if you please." 

I looked up at her, not reaching out for her hand as expected. 

"Tell me where is she." 

"Who is 'she'?" She asked me, taking a seat. She was all class and fine, poise and finesse taking over her. 

"I don't have time for this. I need to find her." My voice has a new sense of urgency, a sudden rush to find her and be with her. 

"Everything has a proper time, Mr. Deveraux." She said, her voice sounding soothing and motherly. A short stab of pain rippled across my chest. It has been years since I last saw my mother, and I missed her. I wish she had met Lauren in person. She would've loved her, and Lauren would've adored her company. They would enjoy coffee together, take walks on the park while exchanging stories and talking about me and my childhood. 

My mother was an extremely sentimental woman. She kept photos of me and my firsts. She was also adventurous. She wanted to discover new things and take risks. She had a lot of friends. Unlike me who only stuck to one best friend, and when that best friend and I took sides with two different nations, we were forced to sever the ties of our friendship and declare ourselves as enemies even for the girl that we both loved the most. 

The girl. The girl who was my friend, who has always been my one and only friend. I had met her when she was asleep and when her mind was stuck in another world. I had met her when her eyes moved rapidly under the thin skin of her eyelids when she was undergoing some test, when her chest rose and fell as she stayed preserved and slumbering. I had met her when her lips formed words she didn't know she was saying, when her fingers twitched and moved and shook when another situation was playing with her mind, training her for today. I had met her before she lived in this world and agreed to be a part of some sort of experiment for her because I watched her. I watched her and looked over her and found her fascinating. I was drawn to her, to her beauty, to her past, to her story, to parts of her that were real and unreal. I fell in love with her, saved her, lost her to one man and lost myself in her. The girl who was my only friend. The girl who would be the love of my life. 

"Mr. Deveraux?" Mrs. Brunter's voice interrupted my thoughts. "I have been asking you the same question for almost three minutes now." 

"I need her back." I told her. "I want Lauren back. She isn't safe here."

"Safe? Does she need to be safe? My, Mr. Deveraux, you should've known what she did." She laughed incredulously, slamming her palm lightly on the table. "She caused mass destruction, brought about chaos into warring states, and now—" 

"There's no need for you to tell me. I know. She did the right thing. She killed Knoxx. That was it." 

She laughed louder, something I found irritating. I wanted to have my hands on her neck and choke the life out of her. Never have I felt this angry that I wanted to kill someone. "Do you have any idea what happened out there right after your Lauren died?" 

"She's not dead." 

"Oh she's good as dead, alright." 

I pounded my fist on the table. "She's not dead!" I yelled, saying each word with emphasis and fervor. "I saved her! She's not yet dead!" 

"But you lost her, didn't you? You lost her when you cut off that rope hanging around her neck."

"That's not true!" 

"Oh yes we saw you. We saw how you got shot and got separated from her in the middle of all the ruckus." 

"Where is she?" I screamed. My heart is filled with nothing but hatred for this woman. I could feel the blackness seeping in the corners of my mind, turning me into something dark, into something vehement and deadly. I could feel a sly voice whispering that everything was true, that I lost her and that she was lost to me forever. I shut my eyes and slammed my fist repeatedly on the cold, hard table. "Where is she?" I screamed over and over again. My insides churn and a heavy feeling sprouts from my chest like piles of bricks being stacked on top of me. I flipped the table angrily and lunged for the woman. I tackled her to the ground like a wild animal just as two guards burst in the room in time to pull me back from her. I could see purple marks on either side of her neck, and she was breathing heavily, moaning in pain. 

"Where is she? Where is she? Where is she?" I struggled amidst the grasps of the guards holding me. My feet kicked into nothing but air, and they instantly felt weak. 

A needle works its way into my skin, and I felt my hands being cuffed behind my back. Then came nothingness.