Devious | Eric Coulter

8

Charlie

I couldn't sleep. At all. 

Everyone was avoiding me like the plague. It was like I had some sort of disease within me that propelled them all away, making me the target of disgusted stares and spiteful looks. Even Beatrice wouldn't look me in the eye, and that itself was surprising.

All turned their heads whenever I walked in, except the boy next to me. It was early in the morning and everyone else was asleep, yet his eyes were wide in the darkness. Sitting up on his bed, he poked me.

He was staring at me with such confusion it sent me panicking. Was there something on my face? A residue of the cake from dinner, perhaps? I wouldn't be surprised if it was, I didn't take the chance to see my reflection even with all the mirrors lying around. I opted to blindly clean my face as I prepared for the sleep that would never visit me.

"What's up with you and the instructors?" He asked, leaning forward from his bed in anticipation. One wouldn't expect someone like him actively whispering in this time of day, "I'm all up for gossip, babe. Are you seeing one of them or something? Maybe an ex? Everyone's talking about you three, you know. It's messing with my head."

I choked on air and struggled to answer his question without stuttering. Tobias' request of keeping our familial relationship replayed in my mind, smothered with Eric's unnecessary teasing, "No. I fainted near the net and they helped me, is all."

Understanding and recognition flashed in his sea-colored eyes, "Oh, yeah. You're the girl that coughed blood all over Four."

A grimace appeared on my face as he described the event. The fact that he called Tobias with his new name was part of that, too. Tobias was named by Evelyn, I guessed he wanted to put all his past behind him by completely changing his name to a number.

"Sick," He spoke with a wide smile, reaching for my hand in standard Candor greetings, "I'm Peter."

I accepted his outstretched hand and sent him a small smile, "Charlie."

"Sorry about a while ago," Peter cleared his throat awkwardly, blush starting to creep up his neck. "I was cranky."

My mind replayed how he snapped at me, how he threatened to choke me in my sleep, and I shrugged. Marcus threatened to kill me all the time, but never really did anything. I was used to it. "It's okay. Can you hold up a sheet for me, now?"

Peter let out a low laugh, careful not to wake anyone, and nodded his head as he watched me fold my blanket. He crossed his arms and smiled, "I think I'm going to like you more than the other Stiff. She chucked a shampoo bottle at me last night."

Despite his comment on Beatrice, I laughed and placed my sheet neatly on my bed. Might as well get ready now, right? It would be better if everyone was still asleep whilst I bathed. "Care to hold my sheet now, Peter?"

"Well, if Eric won't snap at me again, I'll--"

Whatever he was going to say next was disrupted by the clobbering of metals, and my red eyes were one step ahead of everyone, already staring at my brother's stoic face. To my disappointment, his eyes were trying their best to avoid mine.

So much for bathing early.

I sighed and looked away. Well, if he wanted to play that way, he was going to receive the silence he wanted from me.

"In the Pit!" He shouted, banging the metal pipe harder. I pursed my lips at the noise, "Ten minutes!"

As expected, many of us refused to get up, even more so when Tobias announced a time limit. Groans and moans echoed all throughout the room, and before I knew it, another round of metal pounding against each other reached our ears.