Day 44

Day 44:

I woke up an hour or two later with a pounding head-ache. I sat up silently in the dark. It was so silent that I could hear the soldiers marching above us. Misty was sleeping at the bottom of my feet and looked up at me when I moved. The silence was so peaceful and calming minus from the pounding that came from my head. I sat there for a moment and then laid back down. Earlier on we beat these pillows to remove most of the dust. Right now, I think it is three in the morning and the soldiers switch shifts in thirty minutes. Eden rolled over sleepily and opened his eyes.

Eden: What’s wrong?

Dillan: Nothing, I’m okay.

Eden: Then go back to sleep.

Dillan: I cannot sleep.

Eden: Lay your head here. Listen to the march of the soldiers and soon close your eyes to sleep. Listen to the beating of my heart, close your eyes, and fall asleep.

I laid my head on his chest listening to the soldiers march and the beating of his heart. I do not know when but I went back to sleep. I woke up still laying on his chest. He was still sleeping, even snoring a bit. I would hate to get up but I needed to go to the bathroom. In this place, the bathroom barely worked so we used it as little as possible. Standing on one leg is easy, walking with one leg is not. Eden was still asleep when I came back so I just took Misty and played with her on the floor. A little while later, I heard him turn over and then I saw his messy hair stick out of the side of the bed.

Eden: She really is a good kitten.

Dillan: Your hair is a disaster.

Eden: Thanks.

Dillan: I mean it does not look bad.

He ruffled my hair with his hand trying to make it look more like his. I guess he succeed because once he was finished he let out a little laugh.

Eden: Now, your hair is a disaster.

Dillan: Always what I needed, thanks.

Eden: Not a problem.

He reached down to give me a kiss and then got up to switch on the lights. Eden sat down next to me and placed his cold hand on the center of my back sending chills throughout my body but it was nice. Comforting really. Misty patted off leaving us on the cold concrete. Without saying another word, he kissed me for a few minutes. Once finished, he sat there looking at me silently, starring into my eyes. We could hear voices and footsteps close above. Meza and some other voices were trying to pull open the hatch.

Dillan: Hurry, grab everything and go down into the meeting room. I will find Misty and head down after you.

Eden: Can you walk?

Dillan: I have to.

Eden: Be careful and hurry.

He rushed off to grab everything and I walked off to find Misty. Putting any pressure on this leg caused pain but I was too panicked to care. Misty was hiding in the corner because the banging on the hatch scared her. Eden had already gone done a minute ago but I now started to climb down. Before I did, I tried to pull a bed over it to try and conceal it. At the bottom, Eden was waiting nervously and hugged me tightly when he saw me.

Dillan: You can hug me in a minute but right now we need to hide.

Eden: We will hide Misty and the bag. Then, I want to listen to what they day.

Dillan: Let’s do that then.

We went off to hide Misty and our bag inside a cabinet. Eden and I then went back to the bottom of the ladder to listen to them. My legs were wobbling and I felt unsteady. Eden must have saw it because he was now standing next to me, holding me up. Meza and his men have successfully made it into the place. He was talking about a secret place and his soldier was telling him no such place existed. Now, the footprints halted above us. They were near the hatch.

Dillan: Eden hide.

Eden: Come on. You know I will not hide without you. Dillan do not start with me again.

He pulls me into a cabinet just as they open the hatch down. We cover ourselves with uniforms to hide from the people. Eden was sitting on my bad leg but I could not speak to let him know. I heard heavy boots hit the ground. Meza was shouting something but I could not tell what. He was opening things, throwing things, and basically destroying this place. We were both praying he would not notice us. Glass was shattering and voices were raising. It must have been a few hours until we heard them climb up the latter and even longer until we heard the main hatch close. Both of us fell out of the cabinet after few minutes after the main hatch closed.

Eden: That was so close.

Dillan: I know. Eden, you were sitting on my leg and squeezing my bad hand.

Eden: I did not realize. You alright?

Dillan: Don’t worry about that right now. We should stay down here just in case they are still here.

Eden: We can stay down here today. There are books we can read and things we can look through.

Dillan: Sounds good.

Eden: Listen to your voice. It sounds weak and unsteady. Take a seat. I know you just want to leave and we will but only when one of us will not die along the way. Your leg is literally dripping in blood.

I took a seat and tried to lift my pant leg. It was stuck. I then saw a pair of rusty scissors which I grabbed and Eden took off of me.

Eden: No, you will stab yourself.

Dillan: Can you do it then?

Eden: I have a steadier hands so yeah. Do not move.

Dillan: Should I stand?

Eden: If you can.

I stand up and grip the table for support. He starts to cut the top of my jeans and then moved down. A brownish-red line went all the way down my leg from the rust. It revealed my blood stained skin. Eden tried to remove the gauze but I took his hands to stop him. He looked up at me and then took a seat next to me.

Eden: You know that I have to.

Dillan: I do but it hurts.

Eden: Sorry.

Dillan: No, I am sorry. You can continue.

He kissed my hand and continued to peel it off. By the time he was finished, I wanted to bang my head off the table. A few tears were falling down my face, something I could not control.

Eden: We will leave it unwrapped for now. Want to do some reading?

Dillan: I call reading first.

Eden: I will go get a book, you stay there. Also, these books are probably just more military ideas and strategies.

Dillan: That’s okay. I am a bit bored so this might help.

Eden: Here you go. A hundred facts about naval war.

Dillan: Sounds lovely.

I start to read the book and we take turns reading sections. We continue to read book after book and we learned so many new things. Most of those things we will never need again. I continued to look down at the current book confused by the drawings that were on there. I think they were some sort of battle field plans. Eden laughed at my expression and kissed his way down my face. There were no more books to read so we moved onto raiding the closets. Inside the one we were hiding in was many old uniforms from the soldiers. Most of them were black and did not change much from the ones they are wearing now. We were messing about in that closet for a little while until we were bored with it. There was also a cabinet filled with old report papers. Some of them were really basic like just insubordination which resulted in training courses but then there murder which led to nothing. I got really scared by this so Eden stopped reading them, and moved on to the next this which so happens to be a massive map on the wall. He pulled my chair over to it. We saw our home area of Montana and all I wanted was to be back home. I wonder what are friends were thinking. Did the report us missing or did they not notice?

Dillan: What do you think everyone back home is thinking?

Eden: Well, I know our friends would have noticed by now. Remember the day after we had that walk that we were supposed to go hiking with Trey.

Dillan: I almost forgot about that. He probably thought we cancelled on him.

Eden: Or he knows that something happened because he does have the key to our apartment.

Dillan: I guess so.

Eden: Maybe we will make it back for Christmas. Eden said it is two weeks away.

Dillan: We will not have any gifts to give out.

Eden: Don’t worry about that, we will find time to get gifts.

I place my finger on the map to point out something and a drop of blood started to run down the map followed by another. The only possible answer could be my hand and when I look down I was correct. A pool of blood was forming in the palm of my hand and dripping on the ground. I unwrapped it when we first got down here and I could see some of the strings were broken. All I could do was stand there frozen because I had no clue on what to do next. Eden took control by grabbing something to wipe the blood off and to put pressure on.

Dillan: You did say that you were bad a sewing.

Eden: I did but this is not what I wanted to happen.

Dillan: I will fix it. Can you pass the kit?

Eden: No, you cannot do it to yourself?

Dillan: I have to.

Eden: Here, please be careful.

Dillan: Can you thread a needle for me?

He put thread through a needle and I began to sew. My right hand was shaking so bad that sewing my left was nearly impossible. Sometimes I would miss and stab myself with the needle. I was getting frustrated. Eden could see it and stopped me.

Eden: You will hurt yourself more. Stop and take a break. It hurts me to see you do this.

Dillan: Okay, ten minutes. I will try and calm down.

Eden: I can help or try to.

Dillan: You will calm me down better than I can calm down myself.

Eden: I can try but what I usually do is not going to work in this is situation. Maybe some more reading. We could go back over those confusing battle plans.

Dillan: I am over them, they hurt my brain.

Eden: Same here but they did give me a reason to kiss you.

Dillan: You do not need a reason for that.

Eden: Oh.

He tilted his head and kissed me. And then kissed me again. He made me feel good and happy but at the same time I felt like I was tied to this chair.

Eden: Was it that bad?

Dillan: No, I was just thinking of other things.

Eden: Try and think of something happier. You look better with a smile.

Dillan: Thanks. Can I continue with my hand?

Eden: Yeah, you are calmer now. Take your time.

I continued to pull the needle through my hand until I finish a few minutes later. He wraps up my hand and then moved down to my leg which was still painful to the touch. By the time he was done, he had used a whole roll. I put a pair of clean pants on and sat back down. Eden pulled me immediately up and wanted to show me something on the wall. It was an old picture of a group of people standing in front of the hotel. An older man that looked just like Meza might be his father and he was holding Meza, I think.

Dillan: Interesting.

Eden: I know. I was wondering if we could go back up to go to bed.

Dillan: Yeah, we are going to need rest. I will grab Misty.

Eden: Please be careful.

I started up the ladder with Misty in my jacket. I was trying not to put too much pressure on this leg but climbing the ladder with one leg is nearly impossible. About eight minutes later we made it to the top. The only issue is the hatch could only open a few inches due to a bed or something being put on top.

Dillan: It won’t move.

Eden: You sure?

Dillan: I don’t have much strength in the hand I am using and that hand will not hold me.

Eden: Alright. This is an issue. Is there a way we can switch places?

Dillan: Go the very edge of that side so I can go back down.

Eden: I do not like this idea. Please be even more careful.

He scooted to one side and I slowly but painfully moved down the ladder. Back at the top, he used all his strength and pushed the bed enough for him to get out. I climbed back up and handed him Misty to which he released and let run off. He reached back down and pulled me out. We sat together on the bed looking at each other. Neither of us knew what to say next.

Eden: Any idea of how this is going to work?

Dillan: We get out here and head to the wall. There we will try and find a weak spot to get out. But we will have no idea where the guards are.

Eden: We just have to hurry past them.

Dillan: I cannot hurry though.

Eden: I will help you.

Dillan: Eden, you will die if you are with me.

Eden: I would rather die than be without you. Also, you will not slow me down, I want to stay with you.

Dillan: I cannot . . .

Eden: Enough, please. I hate to raise voice especially to you. I love you so much and I hate to see you like this. I will stay with you and that is final.

Dillan: Alright.

Eden: You never go this silent. Sorry that I raised my voice. We both are scared to do this but we have to get out of here.

Dillan: You are right. Let’s go to bed.

After I laid down Eden got up to turn off the light. He came back, kissed my forehead, and went to sleep. I woke up to him shaking me a little while later.