The Adorned

  Chapter

  10

  Discoveries

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  Amy rested soundly on the bed...

  I was on her chair staring at her. I straightened my posture.

  The monitor on the wall flickered, a very light hum-like mechanical whir revved gently, it quivered the entire wall the monitor was mounted on. I stood up and pressed my ear against the wall; scratchy sounds were occurring on the other side.

  I pulled away from the wall and turned to Amy; she was up, staring at me with a baffled expression.

  “What is that?” She asked.

  I shook my head, “I-I don’t know.”

  Ms. Johnson appeared in the doorway, “Hey, come, come, quickly, we have to get to the EMQ Room… and don’t worry it’s just a practice run.” Ms. Johnson explained.

  We followed her down the hallway and turned into the bathroom. Magically a door to the right of the bathroom slid open, we all entered it in a hasty pace.

  The EMQ room was an empty box-like room; there was a comfy corner-sofa on the right corner, a large king-sized bed on the far left wall, and a small room next to the corner-sofa with the restroom.

  Amy was immediately holding on to my hand, I grinned delighted, she gave me a quick kiss on the cheek while Ms. Johnson’s back was turned.

  My face burned.

  “So what was with that attitude at the table?” I whispered.

  “I was being a girl!” She answered back sarcastically with a grin.

  I felt confused, “In what way?” I retorted.

  “Being complicated,” she smirked at me innocently, her mesmerizing blue eyes stayed tuned to mine.

  I didn’t really see any logic in complications, I didn’t find a notion to do so, “Ok, I guess,” that’s all I felt incline to say, there wasn’t much to answer back to that one, I grimaced.

  Ms. Johnson went and took a seat on the corner-couch.

  “Now all we do is wait until we’re released.” Ms. Johnson said.

  Amy let go of my arm and hopped onto the bed; I made my way to the couch and sat down next to Ms. Johnson; she gave me a polite grin.

  “Do you really think it’s a test Ms. Johnson?” I felt free to ask.

  She yawned, “Well, I’d assume so, I mean, these new EMQ rooms are pretty darn recent, and most of the time they usually test something to make sure it works right.”

  “And who are they?” Amy butted in.

  “The Council…”

  The Council… I haven’t really heard much of them since I’ve been here. Mr. Cove mentioned it briefly, but the governments we talked about in class were from ancient old civilizations that have already come to pass. I’ve been prone to this society for a little over a year, and finally, though it never struck me, I’ve been a bit curious to how our government worked, exactly.

  “They oversee everything; make sure everything’s going according to the Constitution.” Ms. Johnson explained hastily, “But children, sadly I am not in my power to explain much about our government.”

  I felt disappointed.

  Amy rolled her eyes, “Why?” She asked.

  Ms. Johnson gave her a serious stare, “Young lady, you’ve been acting way too rebellious these past few days, I’d suggest keeping quiet from here on out until this is over, or I’ll ground you, and Sam won’t be allowed to come by, and I’ll remove the privilege to ride your bicycle.” Ms. Johnson’s tone was really straightforward.

  Amy rolled over on the bed and laid quiet.

  “But Ms. Johnson,” I turned to her, her eyes connected with mine, she grinned at me enthusiastically, “Mr. Cove, when he was giving his lectures about governments, he mentioned like three types… Republic, Monarchy, and Dictatorship… um, I know you’re not supposed to tell us, but at least tell me which one of those three is ours?” I tried to be as sincere as possible; I had this irk nibbling on my curiosity.

  “Sweetheart if I could I would, trust me on this… but right now, um… let’s just drop the subject, you’ll know later in time ‘kay?” She explained.

  “Ok.” I said.

  I knew Ms. Johnson, she was always nippy with her responses and was always itching for a conversation; and if she didn’t feel inclined to say anything then there’s a reason for it, so I respected her wish.

  I yawned, feeling this sudden unrelenting weariness grasp a hold of me; I leaned more comfortably against the couch, rested my head against the cushion and lost myself inside this bottomless jet-black abyss.

  It was probably a little over thirty minutes before the monitor buzzed on to release us from our four-wall cage. Amy, still really quiet, moved ahead of Ms. Johnson and I. I followed Amy to her room and Ms. Johnson went into the kitchen.

  As soon as I shut the door Amy was already holding on to me with a tight hug.

  “Don’t leave Sam, please don’t leave me alone,” she whined, “I’m so fed up with being alone… it hurts.”

  I didn’t know what to say, her warmth was more than enough to make me stay. My hands went down to her waist. I felt her heartbeat thumping, her heat enveloping me with intoxication.

  Before she could give me a kiss we heard the doorknob twisting. Amy pushed me off of her and leaped into the bed; I stood there, my back against the wall staring at Ms. Johnson walk in. She had a big silver platter with 2 glasses of milk and sugar cookies.

  “Just thought you two might need something sweet!” She said heartily.

  Amy grinned, “Thanks mom!”

  I nodded.

  Ms. Johnson placed the platter on top of Amy’s desk.

  “By the way Sam, Elizabeth told me that you’re not to head to the house but to head to the Market Square; she said she has to buy you new attire and food.”

  “Awesome.” I said.

  “Well I’ll leave both of you alone, I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything, also Amy dear you left the book on the counter… I’ll be right back with it.” Ms. Johnson left the room and immediately, less than a minute, came back in holding the thick book Amy was reading to me.

  Amy smiled, “Ok mom, thanks again,” her voice broke; she cleared her throat and blushed in embarrassment.

  Ms. Johnson left the room and shut the door behind her.

  I broke into a laugh.

  She shrugged, “Shut up!” She said as she grabbed her pillow and tossed it at my head.

  I had the chance to move out of the way, but for humor’s sake: I just let it hit me; her giggle was more than enough to make me smile. I picked up the pillow, gently sat on the bed next to her, and sat the pillow flat on my lap. She was lying on her back, arms resting beneath her head. Her flawless sapphire eyes just continued staring at me, I grinned and got off the bed.

  “W-where you going?”

  “I have to go…”

  “But I haven’t read to you!” Amy yelped, instantaneously rising from the bed.

  I sighed, “I know Amy, but I have to go see Ms. William…”

  “Why?” She interrupted again, this time a bit more gripped, her eyes crunched up and somber.

  “I’ll drop by tomorrow Amy, Ms. William is going to buy me new clothes, and I really, really want to go pick out my own stuff this time… she doesn’t have the best taste for clothes,” I grinned, elaborating by spreading my arms and exposing the wondrous plaid designed long-sleeve, collared shirt I had on, “Eye catching isn’t it?” I said sarcastically.

  “Brings out your eyes.” Amy said.

  I rolled my eyes and shook my head, “Yeah, right…”

  Amy sighed and then grimaced unsatisfied, “Okay, if you must, then I’ll see you tomorrow! Oh and you better be here tomorrow too, or I’ll go to your house and drag you out myself!”

  I chuckled beneath by breath; I gave her one last grin and then left.

  After saying my farewell to Ms. Johnson, and of course hearing her heartwarming invite back to her house, I left and made my way towards the Market District.

  My thoughts dwelled on Amy
again; it seemed every time I blinked, her face was right there appearing in the black behind my eyelids.

  I dug my hands in my pockets and walked down the sidewalk hunched over. I felt depressed. A humanly emotion that has been clouding my judgment lately. Usually it always occurs when I leave Amy’s.

  Love; that word, when Amy said that to me, my heart sank, literally; I pondered and pondered, a really bad side effect from that medicine I take, or I assumed. I took a deep breath and just hopelessly stared into the vast tainted sky. Its clouds roved quicker than I’ve normally noticed.

  The perfectly cut grass remained stiff and unnaturally green, the solemn trees that cluttered the area, leafless and bearing no leaves now, were also stiff; even with the massive gusts of wind just enveloping the environment with this never ending gale.

  “How have your class been going?” A soothing and mysterious voice said.

  Spooked I turned around to see it was that stranger that I met before, the one who warned about going pass that certain spot near my house; Oliver. I grinned and welcomed his company.

  “They’re going great!” I said enthused.

  Though the thick hood covering his head shadowed Oliver’s face, I saw his sheen white teeth shape into a delighted smile.

  “Astounding…”

  “What does that mean?” I quickly questioned.

  “It’s just another word meaning, like “fantastic,” I am sure you’ve heard that word before?” Oliver clarified.

  I nodded.

  “Good, come walk with me, you’re heading to the Market District correct?”

  “Yeah,” I answered, but how did he know that?

  “Just a quick guess,” he said, “This is the sidewalk that leads there…”

  “Quite an assumption!” I said, trying to sound smart.

  Oliver laughed.

  He walked ahead of me, his pace quicker than mine. He was a lofty man, compared to my short and small size. He was completely covered in this big white cloak, with a streak of gold fabric stripping down the center and a cottony light blue belt securely wrapped around his waist. His hands were always tucked in his sleeves, and his head slightly arched forward as though in reverence.

  I didn’t want to be rude, given that there was this awkward silence between us, so I just rambled about the most obvious and melodramatic thing occurring: the weather, “So do you know anything about this bizarre weather?” I said.

  Oliver took a peak, “Well to be quite honest with you, I haven’t got a clue,” he chuckled lightly, “It has been a bit morose though.” His tone was a tad monotonous, “But nature has a mind of its own; best to enjoy its art while it lasts.” He said.

  I scratched my head and nodded to his comment, “So Oliver, am I correct?”

  “You’ve got good memory, Sam, excellent,” he sounded really delighted, “Yup, Oliver is my name.”

  “Um… how did you like…”

  “Disappear?” He said, taking the word right out of my mouth.

  “Yeah!” I exclaimed.

  “Well,” he turned and faced me, his almost glowing blue eyes embracing me with his emasculate gaze, “It was just an illusion…”

  “No it couldn’t have been.”

  It’s impossible, how could anybody do such a thing?

  “I didn’t do anything,” he persisted calmly.

  I chose to drop the subject, it was clear he was going to be a sealed casket; hell if I could all of a sudden vanish like that I’d keep my lips shut too: still my curiosity.

  “Look,” he said with a warming smile, “There is an abnormality occurring in the outside world that’s causing our weather to fluctuate like this… we don’t know when it will end, but soon it will get back to norm…”

  “Huh!? Who are you?” I demanded.

  He placed his hand on my shoulder, “You’ll discover that later, but for now of course, just see me as a friend… if you need me for anything just call out my name, and if I am available, I’ll try to get to you as quickly as possible.”

  “What did you mean by ‘the outside world’?

  Oliver pressed his finger against his right ear.

  “I have to go Sam. But next time we meet I’ll tell you more about it. Promise.”

  He presented his pinky finger to me, “Pinky-swear.” Oliver added.

  “What?”

  Oliver laughed, “Forgot this is new to you, you take your pinky-finger and wrap it around mine, and then we shake. It’s an old way to guarantee that my promise will not go undone.”

  ***

  Jake Hartman

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