Project ELE (17 page)

I forgot how much I missed the open sky. My heart warms and I feel suddenly like everything might turn out right after all. Some inkling of hope hits me and I think of my mom and my little brother. My heart tugs slightly but deep down I have the thought that they may make it after all. I mean, here I am in a cavern staring up at the sun, it could be totally possible that they are staring up at the same sun right now. That is, if my brother is still well and has not been overcome by the heat or the virus.

"A penny for your thoughts." Alec says quietly into my ear beside me.

I consider not answering but I say after a few seconds, "I was just thinking of my family."

He pulls me into his arms. I rest my head on his shoulder and he treads water carrying both of our weight. "I bet they are out there Willow. They can't all just be gone, like that."

"I was just thinking that same thing." I say quietly still feeling a little sad. I look up and gaze into his eyes. “Wow, I’ve never noticed how beautiful your eyes are…they’re the most unique shade of blue/green I’ve ever seen.” I reach up briefly to stroke his cheek.

“Blue?” says Alec questionably. “That’s strange; I don’t remember having a blue hue to my eyes.”

I inch closer. “Hmm,” I say looking into his eyes. “They look blue to me, maybe it’s just the way the light is hitting them.”

"Yeah, it has to be the light because your left eye kind of looks a little green too. It's pretty cool looking though." Alec plants a light feathery kiss on my lips. “Happy Birthday Willow. I know this isn’t much, but I hope it’s enough.” A sincere smile splays itself on my lips.

“Alec, this is more than enough. This has to be the best birthday I’ve ever had. Honestly.” I want him to see how grateful I am to be spending my day with him, but I don't want him to see the hint of sadness that the void in my family has left me with. In order to not ruin the moment I slip through his arms and duck down into the water. Swimming further out, enjoying the sting of my muscles as I push them to their limits. I pretend that the warm water is melting away any sadness or worries. I bob back up a moment later taking in a gulp of air. I turn around to see Alec’s head duck below the surface. I tread water waiting for him to come back up.

I feel something tickle my feet. I scramble away thinking it’s a fish until Alec’s head pops up. “Gotcha!” He says, voice full of playfulness.

I splash water at him and he feigns like he’s hurt. I see a twinkle in his eye indicating 'game on' and away I go…Alec chasing me from behind.

We play for what seems like hours in the water. Playing games like we did when we were children including, Fish Out of Water and Marco Polo. He even gives in when I ask him to have an underwater tea party. We race each other using different strokes we know…even the butterfly, which I suck profusely at. I look like a dying fish.

By the time we're done I’m starving and can’t wait to see what's for dinner.

Alec and I hike back around to the blanket with all the goodies on it and dive in. “Where’d you get all this food?” I ask Alec in between mouthfuls of canned chicken salad. The buttery crackers melt in my mouth. Yum!

"I got connections." Alec jokes.

"I bet! A perk of being a part of the upper class. The rich can get anything." I look up at him when he doesn't laugh and the grin on my face falters when I see Alec's expression. Oh crap.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Alec asks looking not so happy.

"Um." I stutter.

"Do you classify me in the same group as Zack and Candy?" He spits their names out like they taste bad.

"I don't Alec. I was just trying to joke." I say sincerely. "I know you're nothing like them."

He stares at me for a few seconds and then says, "Okay. I'm sorry I got kind of worked up but I couldn't stand it if that's what you thought of me. I may come from money but I work hard, I don't just sit around making other people's lives miserable like they do."

"I know. I'm sorry." I say biting my lip. I look down feeling miserable. I never meant to hurt his feelings.

He scoots closer to me and raises my chin with his hands until my eyes are level with his. "You know it's a good thing you are cute." He says with a boyish grin that changes into a questioning look. "Hey, did you poke your eye?"

I look at him confused. "I don't think so." I say.

"Hmm, your left eye has a red spot in it. Kind of like what happens when someone pops a blood vessel but instead it's on the brown part of your iris." His staring starts making me a little uncomfortable.

"Does it look that horrible?" I move back away from him and reach my hand up to my eye self-consciously.

"Hey, it doesn't look bad Willow. You have to be looking very closely to notice it." He pulls me back towards him and the look in his eyes makes my stomach do summersaults. "And nobody should be able to get as close to you as I do." He brushes a wet strand of hair from my face. "You are really beautiful Willow."

Aww! My self-consciousness melts with his words. He leans in and kisses me gently. My heart races and takes a few moments to calm down even after he's pulled away.

"Thank you Alec for this amazing day." I say as he goes back to eating his food.

"Anything for you." He says. "I wish I could have found some cake but this cookie will have to do." He pulls out a chocolate chip cookie and presents it to me. "Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Willow, happy birthday to you." He sings dramatically.

I'm smiling so big that my face hurts. I accept the cookie from him and take a bite. It's stale like those pre-packaged cookies that sit on the shelf for months, but it satisfies my sweet tooth. I break off half and hand it to him. "For you."

"Why thank you." Alec says smiling. He takes a bite and a smudge of chocolate stains his lips. I wipe it away playfully and give him a quick peck on the cheek.

"So, today was my first time to celebrate my birthday with my boyfriend. It was the first time that we found this cave. The first time we saw the sun in a while. And it was our first fight!" I grin spiritedly at him.

"Wow, a lot of firsts." He says. "And I'm glad I was with you for them."

We talk some more while we finish our food and clean up. Alec tells me about some of his birthday memories. I feel bad when I find out that his mom had died a few years back. I hadn't known that about him. He moves on from the subject quickly though, not wanting to spoil the mood.

"We better head out." Alec says regretfully after a little while.

"Yeah, I guess. Maybe we can come back on our next day off. We could show this place to Connor and Claire." I say a little torn. I want to share this amazing place with our friends but I also want to keep it as Alec and my secret place.

"It's a date." Alec says.

"A double date." I say with a sly grin. We both laugh at that then head out.

The trip back seems to go by a lot faster than the trip in. Normally that's a good thing but in this case it just means I get that much less time with Alec.

We reach the opening and climb out carefully making sure that very little noise was made. We put the grate back on and head for the elevator. It dings and we hop on. I hold the door open button while Alec fishes for our tablets. He passes both of them to me and I release the elevator button and press the button for floor three. The elevator lifts us at its usual quick speed and when it opens up into the common area we step out into a silent hallway.

"It must be late." Alec says looking around. There isn't a single person out on the floor.

I hand him his tablet that I'm still holding and then slide the lock screen off mine. My stomach drops when I see twenty missed messages and the time. It's nine p.m. I pull up my list of messages and my eyes halt when I see the three red bolded message lines from the shelter officials. The first notifies us of a mandatory assembly that began at seven-thirty p.m. The second one state's that I failed to check in and that I should bring my tablet to an official immediately. The third is written in all caps and says that I have twenty minutes to notify an official of my presence at the assembly or I would receive a permanent reprimand on my record. In smaller font it states that additional consequences can be assessed depending on the nature of the situation. I look at the time on the third message and see that I have exactly two minutes to bring my tablet to an official. My heart leaps into my throat and I look at Alec.

He must have identical messages because he grabs my hand and pulls me into the elevator immediately. He presses floor one and the elevator begins moving. "Look, when this opens you separate from me and go in through another entrance to the assembly. I don't care what you say, but lie. Tell them you didn't see the messages, your tablet was off, whatever you have to tell them. Just don't tell them where we were, okay?'

I nod and my palms starts sweating as the doors ding open. We run into the empty foyer and make our way towards headquarters. Alec runs past me to go in through an entrance further down and I take the first set of doors into the auditorium. My heart is leaping as I walk into the dim, gigantic assembly hall. A video is playing and I have no idea what's going on. Thankfully the video seems to be so enthralling that nobody notices me.

I make my way towards a female official who is standing a few rows in front of me. I speed walk and tap her on the shoulder. She turns around and doesn't seem too pleased to see me, especially since I'm interrupting the video presentation. I hand her my tablet and whisper a bit shakily. "I um, my tablet was off and I just turned it on and it had all of these messages and the last one said that I had to bring this to you."

The female official is a few inches taller than me and has a more masculine build to her. I feel extremely intimidated as she stares me down with beady hazel eyes. She looks down at my tablet and my heart races and presses a few things on the screen. She starts to hand it back to me but then asks, "Why did you not hand this to the official upon entering?"

My mind tries to come up with an excuse and I know that the pause in answering her is going to make me look guilty. I finally think of something. "I came in with my dad and we were with a really big group. Nobody asked me for it and I just figured that when they checked my dad's tablet that I would be counted present since we are together."

She studies me for a second and looks around me as if trying to find my dad. "I've been covering this entrance and I know I wouldn't have let you go by without seeing your tablet."

Crap! "Um, I didn't come in through this entrance. I came in further down there." I point to my left. There are at least fifteen rows with different officials to my left so I figure it's the best option. She looks at me and I just know that she's going to see right through me and know that I haven't been here. She's going to ask me why I would come all the way to her to check in. She looks in that direction and I see her looking in the direction of a tall lanky male official. She rolls her eyes and a slight ping of hope hits me. Maybe she doesn't like that official.

She returns her attention to me, her eyes squinting as if she's trying to figure me out. The crowd around us breaks out in a loud round of applause. She looks back at the screen and a look of pure disappointment covers her face. She looks back at me annoyed, pulls the screen up on my tablet, types a few things that I can't see onto the touch screen and then hands it to me. I grab it from her and she immediately walks away in search of another official. My guess is she's wanting to find out what just happened on the video.

My heart starts slowing down the further away she gets from me. If she was still suspicious she certainly wouldn't have handed the tablet back to me. I slide into a seat on the end of a row in the back and avoid making any eye contact with those in the neighboring seats. I don't pay attention to the video that's apparently talking about the heating process. Instead, I look down at my tablet. A green warning message is displayed across it stating: Class Three Reprimand. In smaller print I read the notification that as a consequence for a Class Three Reprimand I will be assigned community service for the next month, to commence on any free day I am given. Aww Man! There go all of my hopes of further exploring our caves for a while.

I read the general message under the reprimand, which states the different classes. Apparently a class three is the lowest level and is considered a sort of deferred adjudication where it can be removed from my permanent record upon the completion of all community service. I read the other classes of reprimands and find that class two is a serious level of discipline which requires paying restitution, completing abundant community service and it will go on the permanent record which could affect a persons employment opportunities. A class one reprimand can result in actual prison time and in some cases could result in a person being exiled from the shelter. A shiver passes down my spine. I never knew that there was a prison in this shelter, it's not labeled anywhere on the maps. I also never knew that they would actually kick someone out of here. I mean, that could be a death sentence!

To get my mind off it, I start looking through the other seventeen messages on my tablet. There are seven messages from my dad asking where I am. They get more and more worried as they go on. I feel horrible that I put him through this. I had no idea that this assembly would be called but one of the number one rules in the shelter is to always carry your tablet. Obviously that rule is for this very purpose.