Futuristic Eyris

[Phsyco]

Glade led the way over to the maintenance hub, but headed towards the back entrance. "Back door," he told Brooklyn with a sly look. "It's always locked, so no one watches it. Only authorized personnel have key." He pulled a key chain out of his pocket that held a dozen or so keys and jingled it, sifting through them until he found the right one. "It's pretty relaxed around here anyways, to be honest," he continued, opening the door and holding it open for her. "Most of the bosses never come out here. They're all lounging in the offices uptown."

Inside looked like a recycled military base gone wrong. Steel walls with bare brace beams, no flooring or wallpaper. everything was painted dark blue, but it was so old an older orange coat was showing through in many places. It wasn't near as inviting as the outside world. Glade passed by another worker and he never even glanced up. People came and went through these halls all the time. If you were inside, they just assumed you had a key and worked there. Probably because everyone did, except Brooklyn, but there were far too many people working maintenance tickets for anyone to recognize everyone.

Glade tipped his head towards a side hall. "This way," he told Brooklyn. They ducked down the dimly lit hallways, pale yellow lights illuminating the way just bright enough for you to see where you were going for the next few feet until you came to the next light. "You're not afraid of tight spaces are you?"

 

[free2bealways]

Brooklyn squinted at the small, shiny object Glade had on a ring, surrounded by many more of its kind. She'd never seen anything like it. Any locked door she'd ever encountered open on its own, provided you had been granted access.

"What...are those?" she asked, reaching out to touch it. It was cold. Metal. "What do you do with a key?"

She watched him fit it into a tiny hole in the door. It didn't seem very secure. Couldn't someone just shove another piece of metal in there and..do whatever it is keys do that makes the door open?

"I feel so safe knowing everything that keeps the city running is guarded by that door," Brooklyn muttered sarcastically as she stepped through it.

Brooklyn's gaze traveled the place. It looked so old.

"How old is this place?" Brooklyn asked. She walked up to one of the walls and ran her fingers over the blue paint peeling away from an orange undercoat. She was touching history. She wanted to know what secrets these walls held. Maybe there were even secret passages down here. She laughed to herself. It was all secret passages.

"Hey!" Brooklyn called to another worker walking toward them. It was reflexive. She cringed. Oops. Would anyone recognize she didn't belong here? She bit her lip, hoping the answer was no. Apparently, she made a terrible spy.

The worker barely glanced her way, nodding as he passed.

Brooklyn breathed in relief and followed Glade down a labyrinth of hallways. "Tell me about this place." Each corridor branching off looked the same to her, but Glade seemed to know where he was going. She glanced down each one they passed, wondering what secrets it held.

Brooklyn laughed. "No." Then, after a pause asked, "Wait. How tight are we talking?"

 

[Phsyco]

“These are keys,” Glade had told her. “Old style locks from way back. Been here for ages, but to change them all out would cost a small fortune. So, for the places the public doesn’t see, they don’t feel a need to fix it all up.” he shrugged. “Politics.”


“I’m not sure how old it is for sure, but it’s old,” he told her as their footsteps echoed down the empty hall. “I know I’ve found a cell phone down here. You know those really old phones you had to hold in your hand and were like a small computer screen. I think they are several hundred years old... but no one really seems to know for sure. The new city was just built on top and kept going up while this part of their history basically became forgotten.”

At last they stopped by a small doorway. This one wasn’t secured by a lock and key. There was a small pad. Glade scanned his palm and typed in a passcode. Still not the most secure system, but quite an improvement above padlocks.

As brook questioned how small of a space he was referring to, he opened the door and revealed a small pod. It was like the ones in the city that transported people from place to place, only you had to lay down in it instead of having a comfortable seat. It was just big enough for two people. Really, it was designed for one, but there had to be extra room for tools, equipment, and so on.

“This will take us to the preserve maintenance hub.”

 

[free2bealways]

Brooklyn never heard of a cell phone. While she was interested in history she could see and touch, ancient history wasn't her thing. She pictured a square device the size of a small plate that you...how exactly did that work? Did you talk to it like a wearable? Except this one had a physical screen. And for some reason, you carried that fragile screen around with you and...what? Hoped you didn't drop and break it? Where did they put it?

She laughed when Glade scanned his hand and typed in a code. Was that really enough to keep people out places at one time? She shook her head. It had to have been. Or they wouldn't have used it. She kept walking, following Glade. They entered a chamber with a single pod, smaller even than the bubbles at the preserve. Would they both fit in there? People had often teased her about her size. She guessed now she was going to find out if she could be packed in a trunk and shipped off to another part of the city.

She peered inside. It was padded with old, faded cushions. It was hard to tell what color they were supposed to be in the dim light. She wondered how anyone got any work done when they couldn't see. There was definitely room for one person. If she were going alone, there'd be plenty of space. Glade probably didn't find it as roomy as she did...and they were getting in...together. That's a tight fit.

She thought of the preserve and how this was her chance to finally see it up close, no glass between her and the grass. She smiled. it was finally happening. She grabbed Glade's offered hand and climbed inside. She lay down. He climbed in after her. Their shoulders were touching. It was like being buried in the same coffin. Almost. The second the door sealed, their pod whooshed away. Brooklyn caught her breathe and squeezed her eyes shut.

It was thrilling. Like being on a coaster or waterslide. It was almost like the free fall off a cliff before you land in the water. She beamed.

It wasn't long before the pod came to an abrupt stop. It wasn't as smooth as anything else she'd ever ridden in. She climbed out quickly. They were still in the belly of the city. The same dim lights illuminated what looked like a small closet. If she didn't know better, she'd swear they hadn't gone anywhere.

Her heart rate picked up. This is it. She was finally doing it!

 

[Phsyco]

Glade crawled in beside Brooklyn and pressed the button for the door. It was a one-destination pod, so there was no need to do anything else. Once the door was closed, they zipped away. It wasn't until after the fact that he really stopped to consider how tight of a squeeze it was for two people. He was so used to squeezing in and out of tight spaces at work, the pod seemed like plenty of space for him and his tools. That being said, he'd never done any of that with another person having to squeeze in with him. He folded his hands on top of his stomach and squished against the side of the pod to try and give Brooklyn more room.

As they came to a halt and climbed out he scratched the back of his neck. "Hey, uh... do me a favor, would ya? Don't tell James about this. He'd be furious with me."

Through another old doorway was the preserve maintenance hub. Here they had actually spent the money to upgrade security to modern levels. Fortunately this was one of the places Glade worked on a regular basis. He never hesitated to snag a work order for this area of the city. If there was one or one hundred, he'd grab as many as he could do in a day. In fact, he had even been known to grab a few extra for the next day. He wasn't technically supposed to do that.... but so far he'd never got in trouble for it.

 

[free2bealways]

Brooklyn laughed at Glade's comment. At first she thought he meant taking her to the preserve, but then she remembered he thought she and James were dating. Hilarious.

"I make no promises," she said.

They finally reached a junction with security measures she recognized. So apparently, parts of this museum had made it to the current century. She continued following him down another stretch of hallways which branching tunnels. It looked like it'd been more recently painted too. Like maybe only seven years ago instead of twenty or thirty. The walls were gray and the lighting was a little better here.

Brooklyn stood back while Glade opened the last hatch. Her heart pounded in her chest and she held her breath. Omg. Omg. Omg. So many hours spent idly dreaming of what it would be like, so many years wondering. And now, when she'd basically forgotten about it, this was her chance. Life was ironic like that.

It opened with a hiss as the seal broke. Glade stepped aside and she climbed the ladder. She bit her lip, straining for the first glimpse of the preserve, but was disappointed when all she was more ugly gray walls. There were electronic panels and some some access ports where whole sections of the walls could removed. For what reason, she had no idea. But she also didn't care. At the far end of the admittedly small shack, was a door. She walked toward it, but it didn't open. She touched it, but that didn't help.

Glade said something about overriding security protocols. That the door was actually an emergency exit for maintenance workers. That made sense.

When he finally got it open, she took a step outside.

The earth was soft beneath her feet. Large trees surrounded them. They were tall, with long, curved branches that made the tree look like it had hair. Cartoon hair. Brooklyn giggled. She kept walking, soaking up everything around her from the sights to the buzzing of some kind of insect, the call of some kind of bird. The sun was still high in the sky, but it was muted where they were under the canopy of trees.

There were twelve distinct biospheres in the preserve, one to match each of the climates of their planet.

She spotted something flying through the trees and followed it with her eyes until it landed. It was a bird. Bright blue with white fuzz coming off its head like cotton. She watched it for a while then kept walking. They cleared the trees. The meadow was lush with different kinds of grasses. It took her a moment to spot the animal watching them from a distance. Its coloring blended in so well with its surroundings. It was tall, probably seven feet in height. She studied it for a moment before realizing it had been eating from the top of the tree next to it and probably wasn't one of the dangerous ones.

"Which biosphere is your favorite?" she asked.

 

[Phsyco]

Glade always enjoyed the preserve, it was so unique to the “real world.” Even he, over the years, had grown somewhat accustomed to certain aspects of it. Being there with Brooklyn seemed to make it all new again. He wore a smile the entire time. Between watching how much she was enjoying herself and how much he was enjoying himself it was a wonderful feeling.

As they continued he lointed out a few things here and there to her. A little crab-like creature hiding under a log, a giant bat that hung in a tree and camouflaged itself like a giant leaf.

When she asked him about his favorite biosphere, it took him no time at all to answer. “I like to visit the temperate oceanic areas. Some place warm enough to get the heat of the sun, but cool enough to feel a chill in the breeze at the same time. Any time there are work orders there, I grab all I can.”

They walked on for a moment and Glade was actually surprised at how much he was enjoy himself. Typically he enjoyed these sorts of things more if he was alone. Or at least with a close group of froends like his roomma. He had just met Brooklyn, though.

”What about you?” he asked. “What’s your favorite?”

Before she could answer Glade looked down to see movement on the ground. He knew immediately what it was and cursed himself for being so off guard that he hadn’t noticed they were so close sooner.

A small tendril from a vine reached out and wrapped itself around her ankle. “Hey, watch out!” Glade called over to her. He grabbed her arms and spun her around, away from the vine. These cines belonged to a carnivorous plant that drug its vici into a giant maw with digestive enzymes.

He stomped on the vineand it recoiled sharply, releasing Brooklyn’s ankle. In response, the giant plant opened its maw, resembling a red and purple pit full of inward facing spikes, at the bottom of which gurgles a puddle of bile. The plant lunged, but was far too far away to reach them with its maw.
Glade instinctively grabbed Brooklyn as they backed even further away.

“Sorry,” he quickly appologized. “Those usually aren’t this close to the edge of the biosphere. They must be spreading. Good thing it’s just a small one.”

By a “small one” he meant it could just swallow a few people instead of a dozen.

 

[free2bealways]

Brooklyn gasped something circled around her ankle. Before she had time to react, Glade was pulling her a few feet back the way they'd come. Once it had let go of her ankle, she stood on one foot and examined it. There were some scratches, but otherwise, it looked okay. Staring into the mouth of the Victis plant, she could almost feel the spines on the way down to her doom. She shuddered. If not for Glade, she'd be plant food a little sooner than expected.

Despite the fact that Brooklyn had seen these larger Victis plants, up close, it was hard to imagine what the larger ones looked like. Hopefully, you could see them at a distance, or you'd definitely end up as lunch. A boot to the vine might not be enough.

She turned to Glade and held up an index finger.

"We are not telling James any of this," she said. "He'd absolutely kill me if I got eaten by a plant and then he'd kill you for letting me get eaten. So it's really in both of our interests."

She could almost laugh though, now that it was over. Despite the fact that he wasn't even here to gloat, James had still gotten his perfect I told you so moment.

"Honestly, my favorite part of the preserve is the person I'm there with." Brooklyn's favorite part about doing anything was spending time with someone. It was the worst part of curse, actually, that it took away things like that. Connections. People. There were too many goodbyes. "I also like watching the penguins in the arctic biome. And I love the ocean. We're so far inland, I wish they'd let us walk along that pretend beach."

She lived by the ocean one summer before she met Zach. It had been heaven. She'd always wanted to go back there with him. Her breath caught. She'd mostly managed to avoid thinking about him all day and here she was ruining a perfectly good moment. She pushed Zach down with all of her other discarded memories. If only he wasn't so much more buoyant than the rest of them.

Glade was comfortable to be around. He was quieter than her, but he was kind and had this...calmness to him. Like nothing bothered him that she admired. And of course there was the added bonus that he wasn't asking her unanswerable questions the way James was. She almost wished they didn't have to go back.

Brooklyn spun in a circle in the field of wild flowers. Birds circled around overhead, some in all the colors. They swooped and dove at the ground, then retreated back into the leafy trees in the distance.

Out here, it was hard to imagine all the terrible things in the world were true. You could imagine anything was possible. Dreams could come true in fields like this.

"If you had one wish, what would it be?" she asked. Crap. Never ask questions you don't want to answer. Her mind whirled as she tried to figure out a way to change the subject or distract him so he wouldn't remember it. But the only thing she could think of was unwise. It added unnecessary complications to an already heavily complicated situation. Crap. Crap. Crap.

She gasped and then made for the tree line. She called over her shoulder, "We should get out of the open. I think I saw a Tirite." Tirites were enormous bird-like things that ate other birds and animals. Except it didn't have feathers like a bird. Its skin was a red-gray and its talons could cut through your arm. She was actually very lucky to not have seen one, but hopefully he wouldn't know that.

 

[Phsyco]

Glade was noticeably shook by the event. Whether it was from the idea of what could have happened or the idea of what James would do if he found out... or both...

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Glade swore, holding his hands up in an almost defensive position. “I won’t breath a word of any of this.”

The moment faded as the adrenaline trickled out of their systems, and Brooklyn seemed like she was right back to enjoying the moment. When she mentioned her favorite part, he almost blushed. He wasn’t sure what to say other than, “Oh, well, thanks. I’m glad you cane along.” He offered a quick smile, but quickly looked away.

They continued on, avoiding a few of the tourist pods that zoomed about, then continuing on with their adventure. Then, Brooklyn asked him what he would do if he had one wish. Oddly enough... he had never contemplated that. Before he could answer she went off on another subject. She seemed a little troubled all the sudden. Then, she mentioned the Tirite. He knew something had to be up.

“Are you alright? You’re acting a bit off... and the Tirite aren’t even in this biosphere.”

At that point his mind decided to overthink everything.

Maybe she’s feeling guilty about spending so much time with me instead of with James. Maybe she wants to go back? Maybe I said something to offend her?

 

[free2bealways]

When Glade blushed, Brooklyn realized he probably read into that more than she meant, but it wasn't worth correcting.

Brooklyn enjoyed hiding from the bubble shuttles. It was like they were on a secret spy mission and the bubbles contained the enemy. If the enemy spotted them, they were toast.

Brooklyn stopped mid-stride when he said this was the wrong biosphere for Tirites. She turned back to face him.

"Oh. Right," she said, her cheeks burning. "I guess it was something else. Well that's good... It would be a shame to end up as bird food after narrowly avoiding becoming plant food."

The chasm between her and the rest of the world, the world that included Zach and James and Glade overwhelmed her. She suddenly wanted very badly to leave. The preserve. The city. Maybe even the planet. But she knew there was no where she could go to escape her curse or the past. And that's what she was really running away from. If it wouldn't look weird, she'd have taken off running right then.

"I'm fine," she said. Even she knew the silence had stretched too long to make that believable. Her tone was solemn when she said, "Let's go."

 

[Phsyco]

Glade frowned at her sudden change in behavior. “Hey... I’m sorry... if I-“

When she said, “Let’s go.” He wasn’t sure how to respond. He wasn’t all that good with expressing himself, nonetheless figuring out the emotions that someone was dealing with.

“Did I... do something?” He wondered aloud, seeing no sense in trying to guess, he figured he might as well approach the subject head on.

Another bubble shuttle came by and they ducked into a patch of thick foliage. Brooklyn lacked the child-like glee that she had displayed earlier when they were avoiding them. It was like she was a whole different person.

 

[free2bealways]

Brooklyn leaned against a tree, out of sight of the bubble occupants. She closed her eyes for a moment wishing she didn't need Glade to get out of here. She was pretty sure she could find the emergency exit they'd come out of, but there was no way she could make it out of the maintenance tunnels. There were too many of them.

"You didn't do anything," she replied. She felt deflated. Everything she'd been running from was threatening to crush her. "I just want to get out of here."

She'd spent decades pretending. Decades where things were "fine," "good," "perfect." And they were always close enough. She left before they had a chance to shatter. So she could laugh with her temporary friends and get involved in their drama without it touching her. She never really knew what she'd been missing. But with Zach...she'd stayed too long. And now...now she couldn't handle the distance anymore. Because all she wanted was to crawl back into his arms and stay there forever. And that was the last thing she could do.

She was just so tired.

Tired of running. Tired of pretending.Tired of missing Zach. Just tired.

 

[free2bealways]

~Nine Months Earlier~​

“You look like a girl who needs a drink.” He was tall, toned and hot.

“You look like a guy not old enough to buy one,” Brooklyn said, laughing.

The sun hung low over the river. She sat on a big rock in navy bikini. The rock was wet from people using it to launch themselves into the river. Her purple backpack was on the far edge of the rock, away from the water.

"I'm older than I look." The boy lifted a hydrationpak. “Is that any way to talk to someone bearing gifts?”

“I was kidding," she said. "There's more?"

“Sure, I brought the gift of my company,” he said.

“Mhm.” She turned back toward the water. “Don’t ruin it.”

He dropped down next to her.

“I was kidding,” he said. “But you did look lonely up here by yourself.”

“So you came to rescue me, huh?”

“My civic duty.” He took a drink from the hydrationpak.

“What’s in there anyway?” she asked.

“Actually, I’m not sure,” he said, inspecting the clear plastic tube filled with a light red beverage.

She laughed. “And yet you’re drinking it anyway.”

“It was given to me by a very trustworthy stranger.” He smiled, his eyes soft. “My buddy made it for our trip down the river today.”

“How’d that go?”

“We haven’t gone yet. For some reason, it takes an act of god to get 14 people out the door at a reasonable hour. My name is Zachary, by the way.”

“Brooklyn.”

“What are you doing here, Brooklyn?” he asked.

“Same as you. Out with friends, but mine got here around 10.”

She watched the way the water moved, always flowing, going forward. It was like life. You don’t get to go backward and you don’t get to hold onto more than you can carry.

“Where are they?” he asked, glancing around.

Most of the people nearby were on the rocky beach stretching out to their right. She gestured vaguely in their direction.

“Hooking up, sleeping, sunbathing.”

“Zach?” A short, blond girl appeared at the edge of the rock. Her expression was cautious. “You coming?”

“Is everyone actually here?” He said, looking back over his shoulder at her.

“Yes.” The girl didn’t even glance in Brooklyn’s direction. Brooklyn felt sorry for her. It was just as obvious this girl liked him as it was he had no idea.

“So, mysterious, lonely Brooklyn, you wanna come with us?”

“I’m mysterious now too?” She giggled.

“Well I’ll see you over there,” the girl said loudly. She hesitated, then walked away.

“Who’s that?” Brooklyn asked, nodding at the girl’s retreating figure.

“My buddy’s friend Heather. They hang out a lot.”

“She likes you.”

“She does not.” His face flushed.

“She does.”

“We should get going.”

“What makes you think I’m going?” Brooklyn raised her eyebrows, teasingly.

“Don’t ruin it.”

Brooklyn laughed and grabbed her backpack. “Come on. They’re waiting on you now.”

 

[Phsyco]

Glade frowned, but complied. Who was he to argue. At least -- if she was being honest -- it wasn't him that had upset her. He wasn't sure what it was, but he was no stranger to the fact that everyone had baggage. Sometimes shit hit the fan at just the wrong moment.

"Hey, no worries," he said, acting as casual as he could manage. "Let's head back. It's already past noon anyways. I could use a bite to eat."

He led the way back to where they had entered, stopping at the pod with slight hesitation. He let her crawl in first, then slid in beside her, trying even harder than the first time to make sure she had her own space. They re-traced their steps in relative silence until they were back in the city and climbing in a bubble shuttle that would take them back to their apartment.

The ride back was short, but his mind seemed to re-visit the past in slow motion long enough to relive his childhood. Thinking -- wondering -- about what might be bothering Brooklyn, brought up his own ill memories. He could remember the tone of the police officer who had arrested him as he berated him for a crime he hadn't committed. He could remember the feel of cold steel around his wrists as the cuffs were slapped on and the sting of the electricity as they were energized to immobilize his wrists and arm muscles. He could feel that deep void of loneliness he felt during his days in solitary.

He popped his head up as the bubble stopped. Oh... we're here. He stepped out, putting on the "everything is fine" look that he had perfected through the years, and waited for Brooklyn to join him before heading towards the lift that would take them home.

 

[Phsyco]

Talia had made a call to James' company, gone over the details of the services she did or did not offer, and set a meeting for the following day to sign papers, agree on payment, and other such details. Her part in the case would be minimal, but they felt more secure in having a PI do any outside investigation as opposed to sending their own people. Their employees were technicians and the likes, not accustomed to steak outs, following suspects through the city, and the likes. Honestly she was a bit excited. It had been a while since she had any kind of high profile case like this. It was the perfect option to wash away the previous nightmare of a case. She just hopped the woman would pay what she owed and not stand her up.

Being done with her current case, and not needing to pursue the hacker scenario until the following day, she stopped by the liquor store early to pick up what they needed for that evening. She was a firm believer in buying from an actual brewery and not purchasing replicated swill, as she called it. She wasn't one to do much drinking, but if she was going to drink she wanted the real deal. There were very few breweries left, though. Two, actually. Most everyone else found it simpler and cheaper to replicate the alcohol.

After grabbing what she needed, she made her way back towards home, filtering through case details on a few other minor jobs she needed to tie up the loose ends on.

 

[free2bealways]

"What gives, Silver?" A hand playfully slapped the back of James's head. He turned to see Kasey standing behind him with her hands on her hips. She was quite a bit taller than Brooklyn. "What was that back there?"

"I don't see anything," James said. He pretended to look behind her, like he didn't understand what she was referring to.

"During the attack. Where was your head?"

"Attached to my shoulders. Kasey, don't you have something else to do besides follow me through the building on my break?" James smirked. He took another sip of his coffee and looked back out the window. He was sitting at a table in one of the many break rooms. It was one of the smaller rooms, but it had been painted by someone attempting to make the visitor feel as though he were not at work. There were bright colors and patterns everywhere.

"Ouch. That was harsh." Kasey sat down across from him. She set down a container of noodles with a cup of something that was decidedly not coffee. "I'm just worried about you. You don't usually have trouble concentrating when we're not under attack."

"I was concentrating." There was an edge to his voice that he hadn't meant to direct towards her.

"Whatever. Listen, one of us is up for a promotion next month, so I'd get it together. You deserve it." She smiled at him.

"You do too," he said. He rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly feel bad for having spoken so harshly to her a moment ago.

"You wanna talk about it?" she asked.

And there it is. No.

"That's okay," Jame said.

"Man, are you gonna rock the mysterious vibe until we're both retired?" Kasey twirled her noodles around her fork.

"Mysterious vibe?" James frowned. He took another sip of his coffee.

"You don't let people in. Nobody even knows where you live. Who you're dating. What's going on in your life."

James laughed. "This is a workplace, not a high school gossip circle."

Kasey grabbed one of his hands, looked into his eyes and spoke with conviction, "But don't you see? It could be. It could be James, if you let it."

They both laughed.

 

[free2bealways]

The itchiness to run was growing with each passing moment as the dark circle of her thoughts continued in a downward spiral. This was her life. This was going to be her life. Forever. Nothing would ever change. She would never get close to anyone and she would die alone. In the most alone way possible. Probably reach that certain age where she could no longer trust her faculties and so be even more afraid of the curse and wander out into the wilderness one evening. They would find her body a week later at the base of a tree, having starved to death or from dehydration, whichever came first. It was almost possible to laugh at herself in moments like this, except when she was too far down.

Why had she come to this city? James was just another reminder of everything she'd had to give up. He didn't change anything.

Brooklyn stepped out of the shuttle and into the afternoon sunshine. She turned back toward the park across the street where James had said he'd found her wandering. She hadn't known where she was, but she'd been wandering through their city, right in front of his building. Maybe... It was almost too much to hope for, but maybe there was a purpose to all of this. Maybe it was like people said and things happened for a reason. Maybe you can't know the reason as things are playing out, but maybe there's something here. But she'd only know that if she let it play out.

She had to figure out how to keep things together long enough to find out. She'd been pretending for years. This wasn't that different. It was just a little longer. A little while to see what had brought her here and why.

"I'll catch up with you later," she told Glade. Then she took off running. She would find her head running.

 

[Phsyco]

"Whoa, wait!" Glade called after her as she took off. People had to deal with their own stuff, he got that, but something was off -- way off. He didn't know Brooklyn well enough to know if this was normal or not, but he didn't feel like leaving her alone right now was a good idea. Besides the fact James would probably have his hide if he came back and found out.

He took off running after her. "Brooklyn!" he called out. "Seriously, hold up."



When Talia got home she walked in expecting to find Glade and Brooklyn, or at least Brooklyn. It wouldn't have surprised her if Glade went off to do his own thing at some point during the day, but both of them were gone. She frowned and glanced through the apartment.

"Ok.... weird.."

She set the bottles of alcohol on the kitchen counter and tucked her badge under her shirt so it wouldn't flop around. With little else to entertain her she headed into the spare room, put on some music, and started exercising.

 

[free2bealways]

Brooklyn sprinted, ignoring Glade. She wove between pedestrians. She had to get out of here. She stopped abruptly several seconds later when it was obvious he was going to keep following her. She turned around.

"What?" She tried to keep the edge out of her voice. She didn't let people see her like this.

 

[free2bealways]

James paced up and down the aisles of one of their in-house server rooms. Multicolor lights flickered from everywhere. He didn't have security clearance to access the camera feed (not he couldn't hack it) so he hadn't. But he'd traced the access point and it was probably this room. Maybe. The hacker was good and clearly not working alone, so it was possible this was a red herring. The problem was, he lived in the ones and zeroes. He had no idea how to track down people in real life. That wasn't his job.

In fact, right now, he was supposed to be sitting at his computer across the room from Kasey. But he couldn't shake the feeling that someone inside the company had been helping the hacker. It was the only solution that made any sense, really. There was no way to access some of that data from outside the system. And their systems were so secure it would've taken the hackers hours or days, depending on their computing power to get in. Having a back entrance made the whole thing easier and wouldn't throw up any alarms until it was too late. Which is exactly what had happened.

He ran a hand along one column of racks, checked the floor, looked for unusual wear. The problem was, even as state of the art equipment, this stuff wasn't brand new. And it wasn't like they'd have try very hard to fit a cable into an access panel. James sighed, his eyes still scanning.

There was nothing here. He was probably working with one of the hackers right now and he had no idea who it was. They were protecting significantly more valuable data than what was taken. What was to stop them from trying again?

 

[Phsyco]

Glade rushed after her, not really sure what he was going to do or say when he caught up to her. When Brooklyn finally stopped he paused for a long moment at her question.

“Look, I- I don’t know what is going on... and I don’t need to,” he started. “But I do know you’re going through something. That much is obvious. It’s none of my business, and you don’t have to say a single word if you don’t want to... but if you do want to talk, or just vent-“ he shrugged. “All I know is that I’ve been through my share of... issues in my life and it’s never fun to go through it alone.”

He didn’t know the hurt she felt, but he could recognize that look of pain swirling in her eyes.

 

[free2bealways]

Brooklyn bit her lip. Normally, Brooklyn didn't care what people thought of her, only how they treated her. She was an open book in most areas of her life. All but one. This was bigger than some embarrassing story. Bigger than any prank he could've pulled.

The street was fairy busy, people chatting and shuttles quietly zipping by, but it was like the world had gone silent. All of her attention was focused on Glade.

Glade didn't know what he was talking about. Couldn't know, right? No one did. She desperately wanted to tell someone, anyone. But she couldn't handle the way he'd look at her after. Couldn't handle the way she looked at herself. Then he'd tell James and James would look at her differently too. Nothing would be the same. Would they tell someone? Would the police reopen the case? Would they see it as an accident? Or convict her of murder?

But Glade was right about one thing. Going through it alone was the worst. Brooklyn covered her face with her hands. It's not safe. It's not safe. It's not safe.

"My life has been very hard," she said. She pulled her hands away from her face. "There's a lot I can't tell people. Most of the time it's fine." It was not fine. Maybe it used to be. But not in the last few months. "Lately, I just feel like the weight of it all is threatening to crush me."

There was actually only one thing she couldn't tell anyone, but it was wrapped up in a million other things. Too many to count and growing all the time.

"James doesn't know." She sucked in a breath. That was more than she'd intended to share. She looked away from him.

 

[Phsyco]

He offered an empathetic look. He wanted to out a hand on her shoulder, to comfort her... but he couldn’t allow himself to get that physically close.

“You don’t have to tell me,” Glade promised. “But... you can.” He shrugged. “If you want to. I don’t really understand how your relationship works with James, but you have my word, I’ll say nothing about any of this to him. If you do or do not want to tell him, that’s between you and him. I’ll stay out of that.”

He took a step closer to her, even started to lift his hand and touch her shoulder, but hesitated.

“I’m sure it’s different, but I’ve got stuff I don’t tell people about my past. Bad stuff.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “So I can kind of understand.”

At the moment, the outside world faded away. Glade was good about that, imagining he was alone when he was really surrounded by people and things. It was an issue of survival for him some days. He needed his alone time. Except this time, he wasn’t completely alone. Brooklyn was still there.

“Anyhow,” he shrugged again. He tended to do that when he was in unfamiliar territory. “If you want to vent, talk, or just sit in silence so you’re not alone. I’m game. Whatever you need. Just- just don’t face it alone.”

 

[free2bealways]

"Thanks," she said. Under different circumstances, she'd have laughed at Glade's comment about her relationship with James. Under different circumstances, it'd have been funny. She didn't know what else to say. If she couldn't tell James, how could she tell this stranger?

It was almost harder, actually, to tell James than Glade. She loved James and he reminded her of home. They had all this history and if he walked away from her, she didn't know what she'd do. But Glade was basically a stranger. That lowered the stakes. But...would it ever be enough? She wasn't sure a stranger on death row was low enough stakes. Not for this.

"Like what?" she asked. Had he ever done anything even remotely close? She doubted it, but some part of her almost hoped so. (The rational part knew it would be better if he hadn't. It would be better if no one had.)

"I want to run," she said in response to his last question.

 

[Phsyco]

“When I was young...” he started hesitantly. “I got into some legal trouble. The first few times, I actually wasn’t guilty... b-u-t,” he drew out his last word and took a deep breath. “No one believed me. Because-“ he shuffled his feet. Was he really going to tell her? Besides James and Talia he had never told anyone.

“They wouldn’t believe me because I was- I am different.”

He moved on with no further explanation.

“There was a new police chief in town. He knew I was different, and he didn’t like people like me. So he kept putting me in jail for crimes I didn’t commit. The fourth time he tried...” Glade’s face went dark. “I was angry. I didn’t really mean to- I mean I wa- I wanted to, but I didn’t actually intend to... but I did. I killed him.”

He took a deep breath as if a burden had been lifted off his shoulders.

“I was seven. I spent five years in juvenile detention and mandatory counseling sessions before they finally let me out.”

He clasped his hands together. “So... if you want to run...” he shrugged. “Mind if I run with you?”