I woke up to a metallic clang outside the door. My whole body jolted and I squinted as I struggled to adjust to being awake. Even now, after everything that had happened, I was still unconsciously expecting to wake up in my bed. White sheets, the sounds of Manhattan outside my window. Hell, I was even starting to miss the sight of windows. I was starting to forget what outside looked like. All I knew now was grey brick and dim light. Maybe I was supposed to think that.
The next thing that hit me was the pain. Dull, achy, and intense. I started to bring a hand to my sore face. At least it felt good to be able to move.
Wait, I could move.
I sat up on the floor of the cell. It was a different, slightly larger cell than the individual ones we had been in when we first got here, and it seemed that they'd decided to stuff all three of us in one this time around. There were no beds, and Adam and Jack slept not quite soundly on the floor near where I was. I was faced with a similar dilemma to what had happened in the taxi. I either wake up the other two or I try and investigate on my own. The only difference was that the danger wasn't as impending.
To my luck, I didn't have to think about it much. I was about to try and make a choice when I heard light shuffling on the opposite side of the room. I peered over to see Adam slowly sit up, looking mildly disconcerted. He turned his head from side to side, stretching his neck.
"Hey," I said quietly, so I wouldn't scare him.
Adam glanced over in my direction, then back at the floor. "Oh. Hey," He rubbed his eyes with a prolonged, heavy sigh. He looked around the room, then to his feet. "Huh...that's weird."
"What's that?"
"I forgot where I was for a second..." He turned to me, an unhappy, sideways smile on his face. He chuckled. "You'd think after everything, it'd be drilled into me. But..."
I returned his smile. "The same thing happened to me."
He adjusted himself to face me. "How long have you been up?"
"Few minutes, maybe. Not much longer than you."
Adam nodded. "How's...the face?" The end of the question had a hint of hesitation.
"Sore," I replied, reaching up to massage where the General had hit me and the shards from my glasses had scratched me. Immediately, the intensity became almost too much to bear. The memories of the previous night came flooding back. Every hit, every drop of blood, the extent of the damage The General had done to us. I cringed from the feeling. Adam came rushing over and knelt on the floor next to me. I took a few deep breaths to calm down.
"You okay?" Adam asked.
"I'm fine," I said, "just...hurts, is all. The General knows how to throw a punch, I guess. I'll probably have bruises."
Adam looked a bit dejected. "What about your glasses?"
I shrugged, taking my shattered glasses off my face and inspecting them. "I'll have to keep wearing them for now. I liked these, but...I guess there are always new ones."
"Yeah, if we ever get out of here."
I avoided his gaze. He had a point, but I didn't want to imagine that scenario. There had to be a way out of this somehow. We'd find one.
"...I don't wanna stick around to find out what they're gonna do to us next." I blurted.
"What are you saying?" Adam queried.
"I don't know, I..." I paused, "I don't know."
"Ryan."
"I mean, the last time we tried to sneak around, we got caught, so who knows how well that would work on this large of a scale."
"Ryan-"
"And then what if we're caught? Will they drug us up more? Torture us again? Kill us-?"
"Ryan!"
Finally, Adam's message got through to me and I stopped thinking out loud. His expression told me that he didn't seem angry, just exasperated.
"I think we should do it," He concurred. "But maybe we should, you know, wake up our brother and make sure he's okay with it?"
"Oh. Right."
We stood up and turned to look at Jack, who was still fast asleep on the floor. His face still wore the bruises of last night's events. I almost didn't want to have to wake him up, being asleep was better than having to experience anything that went on in this place. But on the contrary, getting out of here was vital. If we didn't, God knows what would happen.
I approached Jack, being cautious not to step on him or startle him unnecessarily. He lay with his head tilted to one side, disconnected from everything around him. I sat on my knees and pushed on his shoulder gently.
"Jack?"
He didn't respond to my delicacy. I began to fear the worst and felt my stomach tying itself into knots. I hoped it wasn't a repeat of the taxi ride the other night. Adam rushed over to his other side and shook him more aggressively.
"Jack, wake up..." His voice trailed off.
There was still nothing. Then, a slight movement of the eyelids. Adam and I gasped and glanced at each other.
"Jack...?" I repeated.
Jack's eyes fluttered just barely open in reply. He uttered a quiet groan. I thought nothing of it.
"How're you feeling?" Adam asked.
Again, no response. Jack seemed as if he was struggling to keep his eyes open. His chest was hardly rising and falling.
Something wasn't right. Not at all.
"Maybe we should sit him up," I suggested.
Adam gave me a single nod, and we each took to a side. Jack didn't even try to fight us. He was limp, every part of him just felt like dead weight. What had happened over the course of the night that had made him so frail?
Eventually, we managed to lean him against the wall. Just like last night, his head fell to his chest. Only this time, the difference was he couldn't control it. Now I was really scared. Adam hesitated for a moment, then gently held his head up. His eyes were a bit more open, but they were rolled back in his head. His breathing was staggered and wheezy. Adam brought his hand away slowly and Jack's head slumped down again almost immediately.
"Oh god...this is bad," He said, running a shaky hand through his hair.
"Yeah, no shit," I blurted, jumping up to my feet.
We both paced around the room, panicking and trying to come up with something.
"What do we do?" I caved in after a minute of anxious worrying.
"We don't have a choice," Adam concluded, "we have to go on with the plan whether he's right-minded or not."
"I..." I looked back to Jack, who hadn't moved in the couple of minutes he'd been up. "Adam, he can't even hold the weight of his own head. That's suicide. We should..." I realized the absurdity of what I was suggesting, but I was going to defend it anyway. "We should wait until he's okay."
"Staying here is suicide. If he stays here they're gonna end up killing him and us."
"We can't take care of him! We don't know what's wrong with him!"
"Would you rather have him die at the hands of these people?! That's our only other option!"
I froze. Adam sighed.
"They aren't gonna take care of him here, Ry. They're gonna leave him to..." He spoke quickly, and his voice started to break with his last few words.
I didn't know what to say. I kept my eyes fixed on anything but him or Jack. I realized I was the one in the wrong. I thought that by staying here, the people here could figure out how to cure him. But that wouldn't happen. There was no way they would help him. They'd only hurt him more and more until there was nothing left of him. Something they did had made him like this in the first place, and they were going to keep at it.
Until it killed him.
I looked back at Adam and prepared myself for the worst.
"Alright," I sighed, "how are we doing this?"
Adam took a breath and steadied himself. "I'm not sure."
"First step is getting out of this room, right?"
"...I suppose so."
We turned back to Jack, who sat slumped uncomfortably against the wall. We once again each took to a side. I held Jack's head up once more and tried my best to look him in the eye.
"Hey...we're gonna try and bust ourselves out of here," I reiterated, to which Jack hardly batted an eye. I hovered for a moment before asking, "Can you walk?"
Jack shook his head very softly, to the point where you wouldn't notice it unless you had a close eye on him.
I sighed and looked back at Adam. "What now?"
"I guess...we carry him?" He suggested. "If he can't use his legs, what else can we do?"
I cocked my head, I guess we'd have to make compromises if it meant escaping. I again took Jack's left shoulder, Adam his right. On a count of three, we lifted him so he was standing. Or, close enough to it, anyway. His feet dragged on the floor underneath him, and it made it hard to support him. His entire body still felt like I was carrying dead weight.
"Yeah, this isn't gonna work," I concluded.
"What do you mean?" Adam questioned.
"He's too heavy for both of us to split the weight and still be able to run out of the building. We've gotta find another way."
Silence followed as we stood in the center of the room, holding onto our incapacitated brother.
"Fair enough," Adam mumbled. "I guess I'll carry him."
"What?" I questioned. "Why?"
"Because if they're gonna take any of us down, I'd rather it be me." He began attempting to pick Jack up with a struggle. "Help me get him up?"
I was immediately struck with fear. I didn't want to lose either of them. "Adam..."
Adam sighed. "Ryan, I just don't want them hurting either of you more than they already have."
I paused. "They've hurt you, too, you know."
He said nothing for a few seconds, his eyes fixed on Jack. I'm sure his primary goal was getting him out of here in one piece, safe and sound. No matter what the cost was. I found myself once again wishing we'd just stayed home playing Wii Tennis. Eventually, Adam shook his head to clear his thoughts.
"...They could be in here any second, we should get out of here." He commanded.
Adam once again tried to pick up Jack with little success, but after a few attempts managed to get him into a carrying position. The fact that he had become so weak and limp made everything so much harder; I wanted to know what was wrong. I wanted to help him, but I didn't know how.
"Where are we going from here?" I asked.
"There's no time to plan," Adam replied. "We're going to have to wing it."
"I..." I stuttered for a second, wanting to hesitate. But then I remembered where my previous disagreements had gotten me. I shook my head. "You know what, okay."
"Let's hope that door is unlocked this time," Adam anticipated. "There's no turning back now."
****
The door, luckily, was unlocked. And just like last time, it seemed out of place.
There was a quiet metallic squeak as I pushed the door open just a crack into the hallway. I was expecting this time around to find the entire area to be guarded, leaving us no choice but to fight our way through or run. But yet again, the hallway was deserted just as before. I could only wonder why, in a place like this and with people like The General behind it all, there wouldn't be something keeping us in. I decided not to think about it too much. We had things to do.
I glanced back at Adam before taking a cautious step into the hallway, being careful not to make too much noise and attract attention to ourselves. There was so much at stake. I was especially worried for Adam and Jack; I hoped that Adam could still make a quick getaway if it was necessary with the weight of an extra person added to him, and Jack...God knows what was wrong with him. Even if we made it out of this alive, who could say what would happen to him past then. There was a lot of fear bouncing around in my head, and I had to try not to let it get to me so I could still think rationally.
I continued leading us down the hallway. I had no idea where I was going. Hopefully, the right way. But as Adam had said, we had no choice but to wing it. The hall was almost completely silent, save the faint sounds of our footsteps and the monotonous droning of the fluorescent lights above us. I prayed we were quiet enough that anyone nearby wouldn't hear our footsteps over the sound of the lights. Nevertheless, I had no way of knowing unless we were heard. None of us wanted that to happen.
While the area we were in this time around seemed similar to where we were before, I had no way to orient myself. There were no markings, no signs, not even any significant cracks in the wall I could remember. It's not like I can ask anyone for directions to the nearest exit when everyone in this place wants to hurt me or kill me. It doesn't work that way. It just seemed like around every corner, I was making us more lost, and myself more embarrassed as the person supposed to be leading us.
Without warning, I saw a shadow emerge from down the perpendicular hallway in front of us. Instinctively, I flattened myself against the wall to avoid being seen. Adam followed suit, but with him carrying Jack it was a bit more difficult. Jack winced slightly at the disruption. I kept my eyes on the hallway and watched as an intimidating Figure, like the ones we'd dealt with before, made their way through, not even noticing us. I could cross that off my list of worries. I had some idea how to get by unnoticed. Once the coast was mostly clear and the Figure was far enough away, I motioned for us to continue across the hall.
"Do you have any idea where you're going?" Adam said softly to me, speed walking to catch up with me.
"You told me to wing it," I replied, "so that's what I'm doing."
"But doesn't this look familiar to you?" He queried. "I could've sworn we ran through here somewhere last time."
"I'm gonna be honest with you. I wasn't paying attention to the scenery when I was chasing you."
"Alright, be that way. But I think where we need to be is somewhere over there." He nodded to a long, open hallway just around the corner with several doors lining each side. "That seems familiar to me."
I stopped to look. "Oh...that's...where we hid."
"Yep."
"And they found us."
"Mhm. Speaking of 'us'," Adam looked down at Jack, then back up at me with what I could only assume was a pained smile, "my arms feel like they're going to fall off. I've gotta set him down for a bit."
"Oh. Sure."
He traipsed over to the side wall and gingerly leaned Jack up against it. Jack's eyes struggled to stay open as his head slowly slumped over. I shook my head in sympathy.
"I feel so bad for him," I mumbled.
"So do I," Adam responded in a hushed voice. "We've gotta get him out of here. It's something in this place, I know it." His words seemed rushed and worried.
I nodded, not taking my eyes off of Jack. Adam did have a point. Jack seemed to be getting very slowly, yet incrementally better the closer we got to leaving the place. He wasn't anywhere near what he used to be, but the progress was something to be happy about, at least. His eyes squinted slightly as he moved his head to one side.
"What are we gonna do with you?" I mused rhetorically.
Jack lightly sighed and closed his eyes.
There was suddenly a clanking sound just down the hall. I had barely recognized that it was there, but it seemed it didn't matter anyway. Something was coming.
"Hey!"
Adam and I nearly jumped out of our skin. In unison, we turned our attention to the other side of the hallway. Speeding toward us was one of The General's armed guards, and they were coming up fast. Adam's face went white, and he shuffled over to Jack.
"We've got to go," He declared, picking Jack back up and turning back toward the familiar corridor. "Go, go, go!"
My brain began to draw a blank at the worst possible time, so I just followed Adam, running as fast as I possibly could. I don't know how The General, the guards, and the Figures had always managed to find us regardless of where we were, but they sure had a knack for it. We rounded the corner into the hall we knew all too well from last time.
This is it, I thought to myself, the home stretch.
Just as I thought escape was certain, an entire wave of guards charged around the corner facing us, led by none other than The General himself. He wore his usual irritated, halfways-grin on his face. We stood only a few feet from one another in the center of the hallway, neither side saying a word to the other. The General's eyes met Jack's deteriorated body, then glanced back up at us.
"If you're any at all wise," The General mused suggestively, without so much as a hello. "You'll stop your running and let us help you." His halfways-grin turned into a smile. "You know that's all we want to do, after all. We can...cure him, even..." He gestured to Jack. "You just have to trust us."
I looked anywhere that wasn't his gaze. I knew what they were going to do, and it wasn't going to be a cure for Jack. I saw what they did to him last night. Hell, what they did to all of us. That was probably just a drop in the ocean compared to whatever else they'd do if we stuck around here. I eyeballed around the room for anything that might help us. Then, just ahead of us I saw it.
An emergency exit.
How we hadn't noticed it before, I wasn't sure, but I wasn't going to criticize Adam or myself for it now. I threw one mischievous sideways look at him and the whole group before bolting through the door at full speed, hoping only that Adam would follow with Jack. A wailing alarm began to sound throughout the building.
"Hey, get back here, asshole!" I heard The General distantly call, followed by footsteps.
I looked back to see a heavily-breathing Adam, still carrying Jack, followed distantly by The General and several guards from his posse. He sped up to catch up with me. From here, it was a dead sprint to the last exit door. But we were worn out; our entire bodies were tired from being put through the wringer, and we were nearly out of breath. I could only do so much as cross my fingers and hope we could outrun the guards, and that we could figure out a plan to be rid of them once we were outside.
Our feet slammed into the concrete floors with each step, and it got to be almost unbearable. Every time my feet hit the floor, a sharp pain coursed through my leg. But escape was in sight, I couldn't give in now. Just a few more seconds...
My hands hit the bar on the door with a metallic thunk. The evening sun blasted through the crack in the doorway in a way I've never seen before. It was so...bright. Brighter than I've ever seen. The sky was painted a beautiful bluish-orange, with only a few stray clouds in the sky. There was just a mild breeze in the air, and it shook the leaves on all of the surrounding trees.
It was a beautiful day.
But we didn't have time to stop and admire the scenery or the weather just yet. We were out, but we weren't quite in the clear. The General and a few of his guards had followed us outside. The alarm still rang through the air. We had to think of something. I looked to Adam for ideas, but he seemed just as stressed as I was. Then, something caught his eye.
"Over there!" He commanded in a hushed voice, as he began to run toward something in the distance.
I looked in his direction and immediately saw what he was going for. The taxi we had ridden in on the way here was parked off to one side of the lot. I chased after him, trying to be as light on my feet as possible.
"The taxi?" I whispered.
"They left the keys, Ryan," Adam replied monotonously, looking in the window.
"You want to steal a car?!"
"Do you suggest we do something else?" The guards began to shout about something in the distance. "They're onto us!"
I sighed. I hated this idea, but it did seem like the best option. "Alright, fine."
We hurriedly helped Jack into the backseat and got ourselves into the front seats. The taxi stuttered a bit before humming to a start. Adam took a deep breath as he put the car in reverse. The wheels squealed as the car skidded across the pavement. My head almost hit the window. I saw Jack's eyes widen in the rearview mirror. Adam kept driving.
"Sorry, it's touchy..." He cleared up.
He sped past The General and the group of guards, seeming to pay no mind to them. I could hear them shouting as they chased after the car on foot. He still ignored them.
"They're...following us," I pointed out.
"They won't be able to keep up," Adam dismissed.
Bang!
Something hit the car from behind, and with great force. I turned around to see what it was. One of the guards had their gun targeted right at us.
"They're shooting at us!" I shouted. "Doesn't this thing go faster?!"
Saying nothing, Adam hit the accelerator, sending all three of us flying backward in our seats. I kept my eyes trained on the guards out the back window. It was harder and harder to see them as we got further away, but it seemed everything was okay now. Once we were out of range, the guard lowered his gun and retreated. I almost wanted to cry. We were free.
"They're gone..." I announced. "We're...we're free."
"Not yet we're not," Adam replied hopefully. "We've still got to get home. Then we'll be free."
"Well, that's not hard. We can just drive there now."
"Ryan, this is a stolen car."
"Oh...right. I forgot that part."
"We'll find a back alley on the edge of the city and leave it there. It can't be traced to us as easily that way."
My brow furrowed. "And getting home?"
"We'll have to walk there or find a subway station or something, I don't know what part of town we're in, none of this shit looks familiar." He shook his head. "...I don't want to drive this car any longer than I have to. If anyone spots us driving a stolen taxi, they'll call the cops."
I supposed he did have a point.
Adam turned the car into the first alleyway he could find that was far enough from the facility. It was mostly empty, with only a few trash cans and pigeons astray in the road. I don't have much experience in hiding stolen cars, but I guessed that it was an alright spot. Adam put the car in park and turned it off before dropping the keys in a storm drain.
"Wh..?" I stuttered. "What was that for?"
"I'm..." He paused. "I'm just scared, and I don't want them finding us. We don't need the keys anymore anyway, so why keep them around?"
I nodded and sighed, then gestured back to the car. "...Let's go help Jack."
We rounded the back of the taxi to the passenger side and opened the door to find that Jack had already gotten his seatbelt off. I paused a second before reaching my arms out to help him up. Surprisingly, he shook his head, making direct eye contact with me. Maybe he was feeling a bit better after all. He shuffled himself over to the side of the seat and stood up slowly, but couldn't gain his balance quick enough before stumbling and catching himself on a trash can.
"We're not being chased anymore," I suggested. "You take one of his sides and we can split him."
Adam did just that. Like in the cell before, he wrapped one of Jack's arms around his shoulder and I did the same with his opposite arm. Now that he was feeling at least a little bit better, it made it a lot easier to cooperate with him.
"Can you talk at all?" Adam asked Jack in a gentle voice.
He hesitated for a moment, only able to utter a whisper. "Stomach's upset...hard to talk..."
I gave him a reassuring, brotherly pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. We'll get you home so you can rest."
He nodded with an almost dreamy smile on his face. I was certain that he couldn't wait for that, and rest was probably what he needed most of all.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather not have to walk all the way home in a um..." Adam looked down at his clothing. "...mildly bloodied jumpsuit."
"Fair point," I replied. "But where are we getting clothes from? We don't have money on us."
"Don't you?"
Adam retrieved a small bundle from his pocket and held it up in the air. His wallet.
"I guess I've had it with me this whole time. Phone's gone, but my wallet's here."
"Huh..." I mused.
"We should probably go now, though," Adam encouraged. "Things will be closing up soon."
****
We found a sporting goods and clothing store that was still open only a block away. It wasn't ideal, but it would work. There were a few confused and suspicious looks from workers and other shoppers, but no one said anything out loud about how we looked. I think most of them just felt sorry or scared. After we bought our clothes, we ran to the bathrooms to clean up and change.
"You know, that's a dick move of them," I chimed, dabbing dried blood off of my cheek. "They kept our clothes. What are they even gonna use them for?"
"Wear them..?" Jack mumbled, grinning.
Adam snickered. "Imagine The General in skinny jeans. I'd pay to see that."
"They could...sell them on eBay or something," I scoffed. "Aren't we like, kinda famous now? Would people pay for that?"
"I don't think they would."
"Fair enough," I returned to dressing the cuts on my face.
For several minutes, no one said a word. We each focused on cleaning our wounds, getting dressed, or simply just enjoying the fact that we weren't under anyone's control anymore. We escaped. We were free. Or, almost free, according to Adam. Personally, that mindset had set in the second we walked out those doors. I didn't need to be home to feel it. But it would surely be much better.
"Ryan?" Adam spoke up after a while.
"Yeah?"
"I...I'm sorry," I could hear his voice begin to break, and his following words nearly flew out of his mouth. "On behalf of both of us. You were right, at the party. We shouldn't have taken the drinks, none of this would have happened, Jack would be okay-"
"Adam. It's okay."
He sniffled before pulling me into a tight bear hug. I felt a tear drop on my face. I tore one of my arms away and pulled Jack in. We all just stayed there, existing with one another. It felt like when we found each other back at the facility, only...happier. There were no threats anymore. The only worry was how we were going to get home.
There then came a knock on the door from outside, startling all of us. We'd stayed too long, other people needed this room too. We packed the jumpsuits into the bags the store gave us and threw them in the trash can by the sink. No one acknowledged us. At least, not majorly. We left the sporting goods store inconspicuously.
Outside, the sun had just barely set. The sky was a calming, blue-grey color. The streetlamps along the road were lit now, glowing a citrus orange color amongst the darkness of the city. It looked nice, but we still had to find a way home. We had been walking through, well, some part of the city for what felt like eons. That was when Adam stopped in his tracks.
"I think..." He hesitated. "...I think I see a subway station further down the street," He turned to Jack. "Do you think you can walk on your own yet?"
Jack thought for a moment, then nodded. "I think so."
"Good, cause I'm running."
I scoffed. "Adam!"
Before either of us could stop him, Adam took off down the street toward the subway station, shoving past anyone that was in his way. Jack and I exchanged glances, then started down the street after him in a jog. I apologized to anyone we bumped into. I saw Adam stop in front of a building in the distance, and across from the building a set of descending stairs. He was right after all. We caught up to him and waited for traffic to clear.
"Is that the station we need?" I asked.
"Not sure," Adam replied as we crossed the street to the subway. "We'll find out when we get there, I guess."
"The 1 train runs through it, we might still be in Manhattan, anyway."
"Huh, hopefully so."
We descended the stairs to the subway station. At least it looked just like every subway station I'd ever been to. The greyish walls drowned out the noise from above as people entered and exited from both sides. I subtly wondered what each of them was doing tonight. Were they coming home from work? Going to visit family? On a date? Was it their first time in New York, or were they lifelong natives like us? Whatever the case, I had just hoped none of them had had as rough a night as us. None of these innocent people deserved it. Nobody did.
Ahead of us stood the turnstile, where we'd need our cards for the subway. Normally we'd have our wallets on us, but this was a special case. We traipsed over to the booth, where an older, kind-looking woman sat helping people through the station. We waited our turn and I hoped we wouldn't sound suspicious. I rehearsed a phrase in my head just as the couple ahead of us walked through. I approached her window.
"Excuse me, hi..." I was shaking a little. "What part of Manhattan is this? We're a little lost."
The woman smiled a welcoming smile. "You boys look beat. You're here, right here on the map..."
She handed me a map of the city and pointed to a station on the upper end. I looked at Adam and Jack with concern.
"We're almost all the way on the other side of town..." I announced. "It'll take hours if we try to walk back home."
Adam sighed, running a hand through his hair. Jack simply looked at the floor dejectedly.
"I guess we're taking the train after all. I know damn well none of us are taking taxis." Adam concluded. He suddenly looked at the subway map absently. "...You guys don't have your MetroCards anymore..." He got his wallet out yet again.
Adam paid the woman at the booth enough to get two new MetroCards, then handed them to myself and Jack. We scanned them at the turnstile and passed through with no trouble. It made me feel more relieved. Home was one step closer, hopefully for real this time. We looked at each other with knowing glances. We all felt safer. We all felt more comfortable now.
We each descended the next flight of stairs, leading to the lower sector of the station. I kept a close eye on Jack to make sure he was still okay. Maybe it was strange of me to do, but he's my brother. Just a little while ago, he couldn't walk on his own. God, I still can't believe we did that. I still can't...
"Are you sure this isn't a dream?" I thought out loud. "That all of the things we went through back there...that all actually happened?"
"Want me to slap you to check?" Jack muttered, stifling laughter.
I scoffed. "No. Just...thoughts I've been tossing around."
"We did bust out of a 'government facility' today," Adam said with air quotes.
Jack slapped him on the arm and shushed him.
I rubbed my eyes exasperatedly. "That...yeah, that's the craziest thing I've ever done in my life."
"Let's hope it never happens again." Adam wished.
"Or anything like it," Jack added.
The lower part of the station winded through a few connected hallways before reaching the track, which was accompanied by a few benches. We all took a seat and waited for the train to arrive.
"You feeling okay?" Adam queried, "...Both of you?"
"I'm fine." I shook my head with a dismissive smile.
Jack lightly rubbed his forehead, then shrugged in response to Adam.
We sighed nearly in unison and I leaned back against the wall. I sat with my mind empty for a moment. I realized it had been a while since I'd ever let my mind rest. In recent days, there had been too many thoughts to keep track of. Even then, I was still thinking back on certain things and trying desperately not to remember others. A quiet scratching sound brought me back to reality. I glanced over to see Adam writing in a journal. My brow furrowed.
"...Where did you get that?"
He gave me a backward glance. "Taxi."
"So it's not just the car you stole." I teased. "You stole someone's diary."
He ignored me and went back to journaling.
"What are you writing, anyway?"
"Everything we went through. All the traumas, the pain. I'm...writing it while it's still fresh." He set his pen down and stared blankly in front of him. "I guess...I'm making sure Future Me knows it wasn't a dream. And if it is, well, he'll find out."
Jack and I smiled.
Adam continued writing in thoughtful silence as Jack made himself as comfortable as he could in his section of the bench and closed his eyes. This time, I figured I might follow in his lead. Perhaps, maybe, both of their leads.
"Adam?" I asked, shutting my eyes and shuffling to get comfortable.
"Yeah?"
"Can I borrow the journal when you're done?"