A minute later I'm awkwardly standing in Mrs. Clark's office, the woman herself sitting behind the desk in front of me and clicking a pen while she waits.
"So what's so important that you had to pull me away from my job?" She asks, teeth flashing in a grimace a small grimace.
I can feel her internal eye-roll, as if I was nothing but an elementary school student who asked to sue the bathroom for the third time in the past ten minutes.
"Zero tried to escape." I start off, which prompts her to roll her eyes for real this time and not just internally.
"Yes, I'm aware of that." She replies, opening up a drawer and starting to pull out a few documents.
"I want to know why he escaped. What are you doing to him when I'm gone?" I push on.
"Tests."
"More details please."
She sighs, tapping her freshly manicured fingernails against her desk. "I'll tell you what. Zero hasn't been doing so good lately, and I'm almost one hundred percent positive it's because you haven't visited him until tonight. We need more information, because your dad is looking to shut this experiment down, and without any more progress, he'll have a viable excuse to ship Zero back to his land and have the island protected by law from anymore further examinations."
I feel my mouth drop open, shocked. My dad, who is leader of this whole operation, wants to shut it down?
Why would he do it? He just got promoted to head scientist, so why would he want to give it up? Not that shutting down this experiment sounds bad, it actually is wonderful news, but my dad's given up everything to attain knowledge about the unknown in the Bermuda triangle. My mom even died for it. Now he wants to shut it down?
"And we can't have that," Mrs. Clark continues. "So I'm prepared to offer you a deal. Tomorrow, I want you to spend the whole day and night with Zero. Try teaching him some things, or even just talking. He'll get to see you, and we might obtain very valuable information. Everyone wins."
"I don't think that's a great idea. Every time I've been around Zero I've only provoked him." I say, thinking of a way to shut her down properly and refuse.
"You not being around him only provokes him more." She points out. "In a weird sense, we actually want him provoked. Riling him up is the perfect way to study his reactions and examine how his mind thinks."
I try not to grimace at her words, and instead take a breath.
"What's in it for me thought? Why would I put myself in danger to spend a whole night and day with a person capable to killing someone?"
She smiles, staring me down. "I have a feeling you enjoy spending time with Zero. And he has never harmed you before, so why would he do it now?"
I open my mouth, ready to fire back that I was literally almost kidnapped and taken to Zero's home, wherever that is, but then I shut my mouth, deciding not to.
I still can't place the uneasy feeling in my stomach. Something is wrong about Mrs. Clark, something that wasn't off about her before, when I first met her. She's changed. If she finds out Zero was planning to take me to his 'home', she may willingly send me off with a tracker and sue me as part of the experiment.
"So do we have a deal?" She finally asks, her eyes glinting in the dim office room light.
I pause, hesitating. I hate to admit it, but at the moment my hands are tied. A selfish part of me wants to see Zero again, and I want him to escape and get back to his home, but what about my dad?
Wouldn't it be fine if you just did this one little experiment? Surely if they observe Zero just a little bit longer they'll let him free, some deep part of my consciousness whispers.
"Deal." I finally say through gritted teeth.
"You start in the morning." She says with a small smiling before going back to looking through the documents, and obvious form of dismissal.
I exit the room is a haze, not even looking towards Zero's cell when I leave. I decide to walk home, the sun finally starting to rise and casting a beautiful glow on the ocean. If only my thoughts were as calm and peaceful as the waves.
In all honesty I'm quite shocked that my dad didn't make an appearance tonight. He's the head scientist, wouldn't he be alerted immediately if something like an attempted escape were to happen?
I also need to ask him about his sudden motivation to shut down the experiment. I rub my forehead, walking up the steps and opening the front door to our little house.
I find him on the couch, legs tangled in the blanket I had laid on him. I sigh going into my room and taking a long warm shower. After changing into night clothes I slump onto my bed, exhausted.
I didn't know how much stress as been weighing me down these past few days until now.
Tired, I fall asleep.
* * * * *
The next morning I'm a nervous mess.
I don't see my dad in the kitchen when i wake up, and wonder if maybe he's in his room getting ready.
I eat a bowl of cereal, before packing. I put in two sets of clothes, my hygiene necessities, a book, a pillow and blanket, and a few fruit cups into my navy blue duffel bag.
Mrs. Clark had called the house phone and said my dad was supposed to take a boat to the main land and meet up with a government intelligence official, so he shouldn't be back until late tonight.
My walk to the lab feels like forever and when I finally get there I sigh in relief. I could've taken the golf-cart we had if dad wasn't going to use it.
Peter isn't there when I enter the lab, and it confuses me momentarily, but then I see a note on my desk.
Sorry I'm not here today. With you're dad. Maybe when I get back we can hang out.
-Peter
I shake my head, throwing the note in the trash, but it makes me feel slightly better to know that Peter is going with my dad to the main land.
I get onto the elevator, and realize I don't have my key card.
Dang it! Did I lose it? I can't remember where I put it. That card was a spare Mrs. Clark had given me, so to lose it after having the first one crushed is just embarrassing.
Thankfully, a woman is walking by and helps me out since she knows who I am. She enters her key card in and I say thank you right as the doors shut.
I reach the bottom floor and step out to see only Mrs. Clark there, the window wall curtained off.
"Ah, Ashley! So glad you could make it." She says, and I resist the urge to give her a taste of her own medicine and roll my eyes. "Are you ready to begin?"
I nod, holding up my duffel bag.
"Nothing in there that could pose a threat for Zero or yourself, right?" She asks, and I hesitate a second, before nodding.
No threat....unless he tried to eat the deodorant, but I could just tell him no if it came to that.
She smiles. "Now the sooner you step into that room, the sooner the timer starts," She says, motioning to a large electronic clock with the time on it. All I have to do is stay with Zero until eight o'clock in the morning the next day. It's so much easier said than done.
"I lost my key card," I admit sheepishly. Her expression goes sour.
"Again?" I nod and she sighs, before following me to the door.
I mean technically I didn't lose it again, since the first time it was crushed to pieces by Zero, but those are just semantics.
She swipes her key card in the slot angrily, before storming off, probably upset that she has to find another key card now. I resist the urge to stick my tongue out at her like a five year old.
I sigh, taking a deep breath, before pushing the door open.
Zero's sitting on his cot, staring at-
I inhale sharply, and Zero's head whips towards me.
On the other side of the room, they have another cot set up, but weirdly, it's pink. What a kind gesture for Mrs. Clark to get me a pink cot, but it's not like I'm staying here forever. It's just tonight. And why of all colors, did the bed have to be pink?
Zero stands up, and I look at him, forcing a smile and trying to ignore the awkwardness of seeing him for the first time since he threw me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"Ready for a sleepover?" I ask, and his lips tug up in a smile,which stuns me for a second.
I turn my head and quickly walk over to throw my duffel bag onto the bed. "You hungry?" I ask, taking two fruit cups out along with two spoons.
I toss a fruit cup and spoon to Zero, who catches them in the air, and plop down on the bed, trying to act normal and like this is an everyday occurrence to be chilling in a cell with someone who's not human and eat fruit cups.
The fruit is sweet and juicy, peaches, my absolute favorite type of fruit cup. I hum in happiness.
Zero, done with his food, gives me a strange look, which makes me regret humming that tune.
I hear him chuckle, which surprises me. That's twice in two days! It's almost unbelievable how he can still chuckle in the situation he's in.
He sees the small smile growing on my face and beams, coming over and plopping down beside me, making me catapult upwards from his weight before settling back down, my side pressed up against him. I freeze, but when he makes no other movement I relax, wondering if I should scoot over.
I clear my throat, disposing of the silence. "So, Zero, do you have anything planned?"
He cocks his head, thinking, before shaking it. Again I'm reminded that he can speak English, and although I'm burning to question him about it, I hold it in. mrs. Clark is no doubt watching and listening.
I sigh, swinging my feet. We can't just sit around here all day. I go over to the glass and knock. A few seconds later, Mrs. Clark appears. She has head phones on that allow her to listen in, and she gestures for me to speak.
"May Zero and I go to the arena?" I say out loud. She pauses a moment, before nodding. She disappears and Zero jumps up at the sound of the door opening.
Mrs. Clark stands there, eyes on Zero.
"I'll have a guard escort you. And here," She says, giving me an extra key card when I walk up.
I take it gratefully, before gesturing for Zero to follow and leading him to the elevator. The whole walk there I'm tensed, wondering if at any moment I'm going to be thrown over his shoulder again. It doesn't happen though, and we reach the elevators, stepping inside.
A second later a guard joins us and I press the button to close the elevator doors.
I'm leaning against the wall between Zero and the male guard, listening to the quiet music playing, when something touches my hand and I jolt, letting out a noise of surprise. I look down to see Zero's hand poised in the air, before he retracts it with a huff, looking the other way.
What's his problem? Did he need something?
I glance at the guard who raises and eyebrow, and my embarrassment increases a whole level.
Thankfully, the doors open at that moment, and I bolt forward like the Devil's on my heels, desperate to escape the awkward situation.
I try to remember the right way to the area, taking a few hallways and passing guards on patrol, each one of them stopping and staring us down, hands on their gun.
Finally we arrive at the arena, and the guard is smart in making himself scarce.
Still, Zero's mood is ruined.
Instead of the races and games I had thought up of, he just starts to sprint around the track so fast he was a blur, blowing off some steam from the elevator.
I wonder if I should intervene and tell him to stop, that he still doesn't look fully recovered, but decide against it. We both need to blow off some stress, and exercise seems like Zero's calling at the moment.
I sit at the bleachers, bored, because while running may help Zero, it'll probably only frustrate me more. Finally Zero finishes, coming to a stop while panting slightly, but surprisingly no sweat dripping down his face.
Zero walks over, drinking from one of the plastic water bottles provided, and he sits down next to me, about an arm's length away.
Before I can stop myself my hand is reaching out, the back of it lightly pressing against his jawline.
He glances at me out of the corner of his eye, then goes back to drinking water, and I finally snap out of my short daze, yanking my hand away and back into myself.
"Haha, looks like you're not sweating after all. Wow I wish I had that ability." I try to blow it off like I didn't just touch him without a worry in the world, and he didn't just act like it was the most normal thing ever to happen.
"Ready to go back?" I finally ask after clearing my throat, and Zero nods, standing.
I look around for the escort and see the guard replaced himself with another guard, this time a woman who looks in her mid-thirties.
We're taken back to the cell in silence, mine an embarrassed silence and Zero's a relaxed one.
We reach the cell and Zero goes over to the sink, splashing his face with water while I go and sit cross-legged on my cot.
I start reading the book I brought, and from the corner of my eye see Zero walk from the sink back to his cot. He lays down, putting his hands behind his head, and I try to keep my eyes on the words in front of me, but I have the itchy feeling of being watched.
I look up and see Zero's silver-grey eyes on on me, his lip pulling up when he sees me look up.
"It's not polite to stare." I say flatly, and his smile grows, but then he makes a show of looking up towards the ceiling.
A few minutes pass and occasionally I can tell when he'll glance over, but he always looks up at the ceiling again before I can look up and catch him. When a while passes and I don't feel his eyes, I look up and see he's sleeping, chest rising and falling with deep, slow breaths.
Getting up, I walk over and pick up the sheet that's folded on the edge of the cot, splaying it out before laying it carefully over Zero.
Satisfied with my work, I go back to my cot and continue reading.
I don't know how much time has passed when suddenly the lights go off.
"Seriously?" I call out into the darkness, upset, because I had just gotten to a good part in the book where the boy was about to confess his feelings to the girl.
Sighing, I blindly and gently toss my book onto the ground and wiggle under the covers.
I'm about to shut my eyes, sleep dragging me down, when I feel dizzy, and realize I'm moving. My eyes fly open and I make out Zero's faint outline in the dark. He walks a few feet, before setting me down on what I think is his cot, and then laying down beside me. Laying side by side, it's squished, and I don't think I can sleep like this, so I squirm.
"Zero, it's too cramped." I try telling him, but he just lets out a rumble and something similar to a coo, then wraps his arms around me, pulling me close to his body as he nuzzles his face into my neck. He sighs in content, giving a little hum of happiness into my ear.
I freeze. I should move and go back to my cot, but he feels so warm, and the cell is honestly a bit on the freezing cold side. Not to mention how tired I am.
No, I have to move. What if this makes the bond grow? I don't....want it........to get any stronger....
But against my wishes, my body falls asleep in Zero's arms.
Hello, readers. If you read 100 views, you know this chapter is dedicated to receiving 100 views. These past few days my book has sprung up like that (snaps fingers), and I can't tell you how happy I am! Vote and comment! I still have a few twists ahead.
Fun fact= I actually started writing this book with no plan whatsoever about where it was going, but now that I have you're support, I've started thinking about some ideas (secretive wink). See you next Update,
Dangeroustoken