"Busted." Abrahm jokes, shutting the door of the office to avoid bringing attention to the situation. "Now mind telling us what you're stealing there?" He casually points to the files that Ryder only grips tighter, his chest rising and falling at an alarming rate as he surveys the room for an opening to run.
Somehow the motion invokes the soft spot that December has always held for his cousin, his gaze softening as he steps between the two. Gingerly, he pulls the files from Ryder's shaky grasp and sets them down on the glass desk with the rest of the compromised files.
"Ryder," He nearly whispers, eyes running over the open pages on the desk. The sketches of dissected brains are accompanied by chicken scratch notes and a few pictures of the dissected slimy creatures that made up a majority of the delivery. "Ryder, what is this all about?"
"I-"
Before he can answer, Abrahm is grabbing at the journal in his hand, the boy unable to reclaim it before it's being opened and flipped through. Abrahm thumps each page before landing on one he deems adequate and holds it out for December to examine.
"He's stealing evidence." Abrahm scoffs, the same sketches that had appeared in the files recreated on the pages of his journal. "You know this is a crime right? That you're compromising the work of this facility by doing this? Who knows what evidence you could've destroyed, or how long you've been doing this." He thumbs through the pages again, flipping through each so quickly that the edges seem to smoke before he slams the book closed, throwing it into Ryder's chest so violently that the boy stumbles backwards.
"I didn't steal any of your precious evidence, okay?" The eye roll practically drips off his tongue before he's bending to pick up his journal, shoving it into his leather bag to avoid its ultimate destruction. "I just wanted to see some of the sketches is all, you have your way of doing things and I have mine."
"Ho-"
"Give us a minute?" December steps in, pushing a heated Abrahm out of the door and facing Ryder who has taken a seat at the glass table, the chair giving off an audible creak as he presses his full weight onto its backing.
"I wasn't stealing your evidence."
"Then what exactly do you call this?" December gestures around them with a sigh before leaning over the glass table that separates the cousins. His elbow rests on the glass while his forefinger and thumb work to squeeze away the headache inching itself onto him.
The boy rocks back in his seat, shuffling the papers into an orderly fashion as a distraction from the disapproving glare ahead of him. "I call this copying a few sketches of a brain, it's not anything to call the guards over. You're both overreacting, it's a sketch not government secrets."
"Actually these are government secrets if we're going to be specific." With this Ryder lets out a laugh, a short, bark like noise that's quick and to the point. Yet the sound still forces a smile onto December's lips as he falls into the white couch and sinks into the fabric, Ryder swiveling in his chair to face him. "But more importantly is why?" December asks, leaning onto his knees for support. "Why sneak into my bedroom? Into my office? Isn't this a lot of effort for a few sketc-" It isn't about the sketches... The thought hits him with the force of a ton of bricks, his body falling back into the couch almost stunned as he connects two and two, a shame threatening to veil him at the fact he didn't make the connection sooner. "This is about Wren. It's about Wren and it's about you."
Though Ryder doesn't answer his expression gives him away, a deadly mix of guilt and shame rising to the surface of his skin in the form of a blush screaming to be freed. He ducks his head but recovers it with a quick swipe through his hair, the strands standing on edge as he awaits the rest of the accusation.
"You stole those brain sketches because you want to know how you're like him, how you're different from me and Abrahm and Mom and why you always felt out of place here-"
"Dec-" He begs.
"I noticed what happened in the interrogation room, Ryder. That was the first time in a long time that I have seen you genuinely happy because somehow you connected to him on some level that I will never be able to. Because somehow you two are alike and that's why you asked for more time because you're smart, Ryder. You may not have a lab coat to show for it but I know you know what these sketches mean and how to run these procedures well enough to do them on yourself."
It's like the air has been drained from the room, the both of them grasping at something to say but neither of them able to say it. Ryder merely spins in the chair absentmindedly, forcing himself to take his focus away from the rightful accusations and place them elsewhere, eyes blank as they rapidly blink away any emotions that can give him away.
"I just want to know what's wrong with me." He whispers, eyes staring straight ahead as they burn holes into the wall above December's head, the boy refusing to glance anywhere but that one spot. "I want to know why I'm like this and Wren is the closest that I have to some kind of answer. It's like we-" he pauses for a strangled breath, a weight falling into his stomach with each oncoming thought "we come from the same place, like talking with him is so effortless. Whereas I have to force myself to play this part to everyone here so they don't discover my secrets and throw me onto an operating table."
"You know you're family and that will never happen, I've told you this." December lets off a half smile though it falters rather quickly, the boy rising from his seat on the couch before offering an outstretched hand to his cousin and pulling him up with him. "Listen, go to bed, forget about this, and no one will have to know. I'll talk to Abrahm and have him keep shut about this just please, please forget about this, Ryder."
It takes a moment but the boy eventually agrees, heading out of the office door with a slight pat on the back by his cousin forcing him through the door, December hanging back to clean up the remainder of the files strewn across the room . Yet it isn't long before a sound has him peeking up from his work and headed towards the doorframe, gingerly peering his head out of the frame to witness the scene taking place mere feet away from his hiding spot.
Abrahm stands at the far side of the hall with Jenn by his side, her hair cascading down her shoulders before she ties it up in one swift movement, revealing her face beneath the yellow glow and, in turn, the sheer hatred that graces her features.
The sight has December shrinking back into the doorframe, only allowing enough of his head to hang out so that he's able to witness their conversation. The sinking feeling returns in the pit of his stomach as her expression only changes from bad to worse, Ryder visibly shrinking in her presence as his shoulders slump forward, instinctively trying to make himself seem smaller when he's around her. It's a side of Ryder that he's never really seen, as well as a side of his mother he only thought were jaded accusations.
"Stealing government property could have you executed by firing squad, Ryder. Or worse, you could be hanged for crimes of treason."
His head hangs low to the ground, body curled within himself further before taking the slightest step back, a slight tremor running from one sunken shoulder blade to the next as he avoids the question outright. She speaks it again, voice smooth but still threatening as she lays a graceful set of hands on his shoulders. The long limbs tap in a rhythmic pattern against his flesh, a sinister melody beginning to flow through the room with each hypnotic tap of her finger.
The pattern continues in the silence of the hallway, Abrahm backed behind her with eyes locked on Ryder and Jenn, a slight smile forming on his thick lips before he pushes away, watching the actions from afar just as December does.
Too much time passes, December notes, too many rhythms, too many taps that count the time as they all wait with still hearts and heavy breaths, throat scratched raw from the air that forces itself through the small channel. Cautiously he eyes the clock behind him, only a few short minutes having gone by though they seem an eternity.
As if time had heard his prayers the rhythm stops, Ryder physically tensing up before his shoulders loosen, body retracting from the creature ahead of him as he grips his book tighter to his body. Jenn's falsely sweet stare locks into his own terrified gaze before he shifts past her and down the hall, feet gentle against the tile though he rushes by in a blur, disappearing behind two corners and out of sight.
Without the main attraction, December hunches further into the shadows of his own office, waiting silently for Jenn to pass so he can escape back into his own bedroom as Ryder had. To escape his beating heart and a reality that was forced upon him all too soon.
Ryder was telling the truth.
All these years... he can't bring himself to carry on the thought, rather pushing further into himself, listening to the beating of his own chest and feeling each thump that hit against his ribcage. The beat soon overtaking the sound of Jenn's taps that had burrowed themselves into the crevice of his mind. With another stifled breath and heavy beat her heels are soon heard clicking against the tile in the opposite direction, the heavy footsteps of Abrahm following close behind.
As the sound fades, December finally emerges from the shadow of the doorway into the lights of the now empty hall. The tapping has long faded but his heart still stabs away at his flesh, shoulders rising and falling with each rapid breath as he forces himself down the maze one last time, knowing exactly where he needs to be.
Lab A/Room A1
Wren