Young Writers Society

The small break room was lined with sofas, chairs, and small tables. Every day, many of the staff and other trainees would gather during the lunch hour to talk and exchange gossip. The regular staff usually kept separate from the trainees, but today, it was even more crowded than normal, and the two groups were mingling almost freely. One topic united their noisy chatter, and Analia had a feeling she knew what it was.

Sure enough, as soon as Analia walked in, everyone turned to stare at her. With a sinking feeling, she glanced over at the noticeboards, large wallscreens that took up the full length of the wall opposite the door. As she had expected, Verona’s picture was displayed prominently on there. Beneath it, details of her escape were posted. So they all knew. She wondered if any suspected her to have had a hand in it.

Not making eye contact with anyone, she hurried over to her usual table and sat down next to Rilee.

“There you are!” Rilee said. She was looking upbeat as usual, and she had made no attempt to tame her curly red hair this morning.

Now that Analia had sat down, heads turned away and the chatter resumed. Analia couldn’t help but wonder how many of them were talking about Verona. Analia had been planning to go out and buy a lunch, but she didn’t feel like walking across the street to the café, where there were even more people who could stare at her.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Willion asked from across the table, looking up from his large meal. Tall and skinny, he had been practically skin and bones since childhood. He wanted to go into the patrol force, but his doctor had told him that he needed to put on a few pounds and build some muscle before he would meet the requirements. Ever since then, he had been spending nearly all his spare time at the gym, and eaten third helpings at every meal. Analia could already see the difference. Although he was still skinny, he was much more musculature.

“No, I’m not hungry,” Analia lied. “I’ll get something from the vending machine later. I suppose you guys have seen the notice?”

“Yeah,” said Rilee. “It’s weird, isn’t it? I mean, there hasn’t been a breakout in years.”

“I bet they’ll catch her soon,” said Willion, giving Analia an odd look, as if he wasn’t sure how she would respond to the sentiment.

“Not if she can teleport non-Polarly,” Rilee countered. “Which she’s probably done.”

“I wonder how many people think I helped her,” Analia muttered.

“What?” said Rilee. This was a common occurrence, as Rilee was partially deaf. Her hearing loss was mild, but she could have trouble understanding what people were saying. Normally Analia didn’t mind having to repeat something, but today she was in a foul mood.

“Oh, put your hearing aids in,” she snapped.

“No, you know I never put them in during lunch. It’s too loud in here already.” Rilee retorted, looking a little hurt.

“Sorry,” Analia said, a little ashamed of herself. “I was just wondering how many people think I had something to do with it.”

“Why would they?” Rilee said. “I mean, what could you have done?”

“You’re right,” Analia sighed, realizing she was being stupid. “I guess I’m just sick of being stared at.” Another thing you didn’t anticipate, dear sister. She stared down at her hands, wishing she could just vanish right there and then, teleport to another planet maybe. Or, even better, to a time before all this had happened.

After a moment, Rilee spoke. “But aren’t you glad she’s not locked up anymore?”

Analia looked at Rilee incredulously. “Why would I be? I’m now under surveillance and everybody talks about me, and all because she somehow managed to escape.” She was trying to sound uncaring, but she couldn’t keep up the act.

“Plus – plus, I’m worried about her,” Analia said in a quieter tone. “What if she gets hurt? And if they catch her again, they might extend her sentence to life.” And what if she’s gone with the Absolutes? They’re terrorists in the eyes of the government – that can’t be safe.

As Analia thought that, she subconsciously cast her mind towards Verona to see if she was all right. But all she met was a wall, just as it had been while Verona was in prison. Had they captured her again?

“Oh, yeah,” Rilee said. “I was just thinking that I would rather be on the run then cooped up in prison.” She shuddered at the thought.

“Mmm,” Analia murmured, still distracted by the fact that she couldn’t contact Verona anymore. She almost told Rilee, but hesitated. If Verona had been recaptured, they would all find out about it soon enough. And if not, Analia wasn’t sure she wanted to tell the police that Verona was inside a Blocking field again.