Oblivion

Ch. 3

As soon as me and Rustle made the exit we could tell that it was no ordinary day. Okay-so no one knew how many Guardians were in the Oblivion base. But it seemed like all of them turned up here. Right in front of us. But no one minded us. We walked by like we weren’t even there. And for a minute, no one said a word. “Think we should go back?” Rustle asked nudging me lightly in the side. “No way!” I hissed under my breath. “No one cares. And we’re just kids going back to our rooms. For all they know we could just be getting something for class.” Nodding we made our way back to our rooms noticing that signs were posted on the door, obviously to be seen. “Why do you think they put this on the doors?” Rolling my eyes we both glanced up at it. Rustle stumbled back. “No more Co-Ed rooms?!” He squeaked, sounding almost surprised. “Well they probably caught unto you. Especially since you requested a room full of girls your age?” I raised my eyebrow. “To be nice, I want to be a shoulder to cry on, a tutor.” He tried to sound loving. “Doesn’t help the fact you’ve never had a girlfriend does it Rustle?” He just looked away. “Could have something to do with it, but I don’t know what your talking about?” He placed his hand on the bottom of his chin and pretended to look of into space. “Right.” I laughed gaining access to our cabin with our individual code. “Now if you ever say yes to being my girl, maybe we can request a couple room like the other big kids?” he asked looking jokingly at me. Eyeballing all inside of the room something was different. “Hey where’s-” Rustle caught me off guard by sucking in a deep gasp of unwanted air. “She’s dead. Like the others?” Kassy strolled in after ward. “So love birds, guess they wanna make more room in the cabins. Whose next?!” She scanned the room pin pointing Rustle. “How about you fish boy?!” She questioned harshly. “Kassy, what’s your deal?!” I snapped grabbing her wrist away from Rustles chest. “Nothing! But people are dying Kassy! And they aren’t telling us anything.” Her hands dropped to her sides. After the awkward silence Rustle spoke up. “So that’s what it’s all about.” He walked toward Kassy. “What’s what Rustle?” I asked confused as much as Kassy’s face showed. “Remember when they read us the rules. “The weak one will be eliminated!” Maybe that’s what the’r doing. And that’s why your scared shitless!” I’ve never heard Rustle cuss. Not even a simple word. But I think he was scared as much as me and Kassy were. “What’s the deal then?” I asked wanting someone to fill me in. “they weren’t talking about strength. What if they were talking about smarts?” He took a quick pause. “What if they are looking for the people who are skipping classes.” Now my heart raced faster. I went to the schooling. But I usually skipped halfway through. Did a half as job on everything. Never did the assigned work, only did a couple things.

“But we’re not ever certain! So let’s not get panicked” A quick knock at the door and we all jumped in fright. “Kids!” We usually would have gotten pissed at the ‘kids’ remark, but since the disappearances, we don’t mind. Without any consent the Guardian entered. “You kids doing okay?” We all nodded. “All kids we report to the nurses in a few minutes.” Kassy was the first to speak up. “What for? Is an illness spreading?” The Guardian shook his head. And as far as Guardians go, that’s a first for how social they were with us ‘kids’

“Should we go?” Rustle asked. I couldn’t stand to wait before pulling Rustle and Kassy out. “That’s what a lot of kids well be for doing.” so we better as much go. And not what we expected, guess news spread fast about the kids dying. And also about the elimination. “Can’t we just go!” Kassy said. It wasn’t like her to be nervous. But it did make me feel uneasy about the sign that read ‘blood test’ “Okay lets go!” I said turning around, Rustle quickly taking my wrist and pulling my toward the entrance.

“She’ll go first!” Rustle yelled over everyone. Thank god no one heard. “Can’t help it that your afraid of needles.” Pushing him a little I glared back playfully. “So you said you were afraid of water. Wanna go for a swim?” I asked coming toward him humming the Jaws theme song. “Okay-okay you win.” Putting my hands on my sides, I knew that would get him. “So we just wait I guess.” And wait we did, until the dead of night when Kassy checked her watch and yawned. “Happy Friday.” We both laughed. Yeah, leave it up to Kassy.

The rest of hour consisted of me being forced in the room by Rustle, and Rustle ended up fainting, that made it easy for the nurse. And then Kassy didn’t mind at all, like she did it everyday.

It was the first night without Rustle. And I sorta missed his blinding flashlight glaring up at me from the bottom bunk. His comic collection topple over one of another. “You miss him?” Kassy asked sliding into the door. “Hey! What are you doing here!” I whispered softly so none of the other girls would wake up. “To come and show you something silly! Now come on or your going to miss it.” Smiling I finally got up and walked with Kassy to the open aquarium barricaded off.

Kassy Doesn’t show people stuff unless it’s pretty, and sparkly. Which it was. In Oblivion at night all we saw was butt ugly fish with tentacles. But tonight was different. Small glowing jellyfish danced in front of us, bobbing up and down. When they split up what looked like a million tiny gold speckles swam in the water. “it’s so beautiful.” I said gawking, wishing I was one of those fish that were free. “Yeah I know right?” Me and Kassy looked at each other from the corner of our eyes. “Did you say something Kassy?” she shook her head, and we automatically looked back. There Rustle’s head was peaking in between our shoulder blades. “You know, Kelly? I didn’t know you wore fishy bra’s.” That pretty much ended the conversation.