Project 27

It was a sleepless night, but I didn't mind. Everything Violet was telling me about Project 27 was hard to register, and I didn't even know if I should believe it. Something like that seemed something of a child's dreams these days, something that could uplift our lives again and actually put things in order. But something like that couldn't be real.

As I laid on the bed, I fumbled with my fingers and sighed as the thought of Taylor crept into my mind. She had always been so good to me - kind and a great listener, but honest no matter what. I remember a brief glimpse of her expression as I started to lunge from those bleachers. It was full of sadness, disappointment, and sympathy. I hated that look.

"I'm sorry, Taylor," I whispered to myself. She had always been like a big sister to me, too - someone I could always count on. And I had abandoned her, after everything she did for me. But I can't just regret what I did this entire time; I needed to escape, to be free, even if it was for a moment before I could get killed.

Beside me, Violet turned over and groaned softly. Her eyes opened slowly, and then fluttered shut. She pushed herself up from the bed and rubbed her eyes. As I stared at her, a thought peaked in my head.

Violet Kensington.

Kensington. That wasn't a common name, especially in these parts of the country. "Violet," I said, sitting up and furrowing my brow. She stared at me, the dark bags hanging loosely under her eyes.

"What?" she said, visible agitation in her voice as she yawned.

"Your last name, it's Kensington, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Do you have a brother?"

Her eyes widened as she turned to stare at me, but I kept my expression the same. "Do you?" She looked at her watch, sighed, and gestured to me to follow her as we walked out of the room.

"Yes. Aaron."

I nodded, not that surprised. I found myself wondering what his career turned out to be - he seemed too in denial to even look at it that day. "I went to school with him." She turned to look at me, but we continued to walk in the tunnel towards the trap door.

"How is he?" she said, frowning. We neared the trap door, and I leaned against the wall as we waited for her friend to bring us breakfast.

"He's okay, I guess. He was the first to get his career imprinted."

She sighed, and the trap door opened slowly, creaking as it did. Ken poked his pudgy face through the door and carefully set down the tray of food into Violet's hands. "Thank you," she said, smiling up at Ken, and he nodded to us.

When the door closed, we started to walk back to the room. The tray was lightly filled with toast and two glasses of water. I took one and sipped, and she did the same.

We sat down on the bed, brushing some of the dust off first, and she turned to me with a solemn expression. "I'm serious about this Project 27 deal."

I shook my head, setting a half-eaten piece of toast back on the tray. I chuckled dryly. "Violet, that stuff isn't even real. We can't go around pursuing things that we don't even know exist."

"But what if it does? We can save the entire country from the captivity of the ECP program. I don't know about you, but I'd rather spend my life trying to do that than just sit here doing nothing every day."

"So why didn't you just go before all this happened? Why did it have to be when I came?"

She rubbed the back of her neck. "I don't want to be alone in this, okay? I'd have Andrew with me, but all he can do is the technical stuff. I need somebody else."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait - who's Andrew?" I put my hands up, indicating for her to pause for a moment.

"He's Ken's son. He knows how to get to the Hastings home and how to get us out of here."

I stood up, staring at her, my lips parted in surprise. "There's no us, Violet. I'm not going to agree to this."

She pushed her dark hair behind her ears, and her loosely cut bangs hovered dimly over her eyes. "So, you'd rather stay cooped up in here for the rest of your life? Is that right?"

I closed my eyes for a moment. She was right. I looked around at the beige-colored walls, the sandy rock that enveloped this entire room. Being here was no better than being in the school's captivity. I wasn't free. I couldn't never live anywhere else.

I fell back onto the bed, clutching my head in frustration. I never should have escaped the school. What did I expect if I didn't die? A life of freedom? I wasn't free here. I was captive, just like I was before.

"I should have never left that school," I whispered. Violet put her hand on the small of my back.

"But you did, and we can't stay here forever. Project 27 may not exist, but I'd rather die trying."

I turned my head away from her, and tears threatened to spill over my eyes. Suddenly, I heard the echoing of footsteps coming towards the entryway.

Violet smiled sadly. "That's Andrew. Please help me do this, Juliet."

I swallowed and nodded slightly, and she grinned. "Thank you."

Look what you've done, I thought to myself. You've lost yourself.

A boy, who looked just a few years older than I, walked in, his hands in his pockets. He had a slight smirk on his face, his teeth sparkling white. His hair was a light brown color, messy and unraveled. He had puffy cheeks and pouty lips, and I just wanted to roll my eyes at the sight of him.

"You must be Juliet," he said, sticking his hand out. He had a slight English accent, subtle but I could still hear it. I took his hand and shook it, staring at his cerulean eyes.

He nodded to Violet. "Good to see you, Violet." She repeated the gesture, and Andrew turned back to me.

"So, now that she has a buddy to go with besides me, we're going to put this plan in action, yeah?"

He explained to me what the plan was, squinting at me with his small smile the entire time. All the while, I just wanted to smack it off. Apparently, he was going to trigger the extreme alarm so the whole building would be distracted. Violet and I would then escape through the door that we entered before, outside on the side of the building. We would then go into his car, and he would take us to the train station to go to the Hastings house.

Andrew left once he explained the plan, and said that we had to leave as soon as he pulled the alarm. But if we left too soon, somebody could come through that side door as a shortcut to go into the main room and we could get caught.

"Thank you for doing this, Juliet," Violet said, smiling. I raised my eyebrows and lifted a shoulder.

"There's not much else to do."

She sighed, taking that I didn't really want to talk anymore. It's not like I was upset. I was just frustrated with myself for even leaving in the first place, and abandoning Taylor.

The loud, interjecting sirens of the alarm protruded from upstairs, and we took that as our cue. With our bags of things on our backs, we sprinted towards the ladder and climbed up, opening the door. Everything passed in a blur as I strained to push myself up onto the floor.

"Come on!"

We pushed open the door that lead to the outside, and the brightness of the sun filled my eyes and I squinted at the sky. A squished-in car (or what was supposed to be a car) was parked on the outside, and Andrew gestured in the driver's seat for us to hurry and come inside.

I had only ever been in a car a few times, either for evaluation or physicals that couldn't be done at the school. This car, though, was like junk compared to the others.

Violet pulled the door open and pushed me in, and I threw myself over the seat to get to the other side. As soon as she slammed the door, the car revved up and we drove away.

"So," Andrew said, adding onto our deep breaths and panting. "First stop, the Hastings house."

I shook my head as I stared out the window. This wasn't right. None of it was.