Efferent

Chapter 61

I stared around my desolate cell, and looked distastefully at the food set in front of me. "Eat." The Afferent guard commanded, but I refused, pushing the small tray away towards the wall opposite from me. It slid across the craggy cement with a tone akin to nails on a chalkboard. "Eat!" The guard insisted once more.

I knew that we were supposed to be kept in top shape and remain healthy, and the guard's job was to make sure that we were following those guidelines, but James did not count on our resolve. "S-sorry." I croaked out. "But I am not eating that."

The guard growled. "I will get fired!" He said, and we both knew that him being fired would not be the worst of it. James would think of a fitting punishment.

"Your problem." I said, shrugging and leaning heavily against the wall.

I could feel his impatience rolling off like waves off of him. "Eat!" I gave him an are you kidding me glance, and he sighed, rubbing his hands together as he looked down the hall in apprehension. "Please?" He looked back to me, "Please eat."

I sighed. "No." And, then, before he could do anything, I rolled onto my side, on the hard bed that usually resulted in stiffness. But it was the best I had right now, and I planned to spend all my time here. The guard asked again, pleadingly, for me to eat what was on the thin, metal tray, but once more, I refused.

"Fine, then." He snarled. "Travis!" He yelled down the corridor, and I tensed. I did not look up, and I instead listened to the sound of his feet approaching. I knew he could be quiet, after all, he was the one who taught me to walk quietly, so he was doing this on purpose.

To scare. To warn. To intimidate. But he did not scare me. "Well," Travis drawled slowly. I stared up at him and his hardened face. His softer expression was gone forever. "Disobedience, is that it?" He asked, his voice leering as he stopped outside of my cell.

I almost did not recognize Travis except for his facial features, though even those were harder, and were sharpened with a scowl. "Disobedience will not be tolerated. It will be overlooked this one time, but next time it will be dealt with swiftly." Travis snapped. "Inform me immediately next time." He told the guard outside of my cell.

"Yes, sir." The guard nodded and saluted, going back to his position.

"Eat, Ardyn. Eat." Travis ordered. "Unless you want me to force it down?" He questioned, and I sighed, picking up a fork and digging into the food. "Good." Travis grinned, satisfied, and then marched out of the room, walking down the halls and disappearing from sight. The guard sighed, relieved as he leaned against the bars.

I quickly finished my lunch and pushed it out of the bars of my cell, then turned to my left. "Blaise!" I whispered. He let out a quiet snore, and I sighed. "Blaise!" I said, hissing, and then I took my fork and banged it against the bars, making a loud and resonating sound.

He sat up immediately, and his eyes looked around wildly. Then Blaise's eyes narrowed when he noticed me holding the metal fork. "I was sleeping!" Blaise protested, wearily rubbing his eyes. When I did not speak, he grumbled, "Fine, then, wake me up for nothing. I am going to go back to sleep!"

"I need someone to talk to." I replied, and Blaise rolled his eyes and laid back down, dragging his covers over him.

"Well, good luck with that. There is no one else here." Blaise stated, and it was my turn to roll my eyes. "Talk to the walls or something, or the guard! Or that fork that you seem to have grown partial to."

"Travis stopped by my cell." I said with an off hand tone towards the fork. "And I am sorry for banging you against the metal bars, it must have hurt."

"What?" Blaise's eyes went wide. "Wait, what the heck are you doing?" He furrowed his brows.

I shrugged. "I am just taking your suggestion. I am talking to the fork." I turned back to the metal utensil. "Oh, and now you have a dent."

Blaise sighed and cut in. "Okay, fine, whatever. But what were you saying earlier? The part where you said Travis stopped by your cell?" He asked. "What is up with that? What happened? Why did he come?" Blaise then abruptly stood up and walked over towards me, staring at me. "Tell me!"

"I just was not eating my lunch, big deal." I said. Blaise visibly relaxed, and then suddenly tensed up as a scream rang across the hall. It was easily recognizable.

"Clark." We said in unison, eyes wide. "Clark!" Blaise repeated. Another scream followed the first one, but this one was louder and more agony filled. I shuddered from the haunting sound. "What is happening? What are they doing to him? Is he okay?" He rattled off.

I turned to him, aghast. "I think they are torturing him again! But... why?"

Blaise inhaled sharply and reached for my hand through the bars, grasping it tightly. "I... I think they are completing the process." I frowned. "The extraction process, that is." He clarified, and I jumped up just as Clark shouted loudly again.

"No!" I yelled, and the guard glared at us.

"Be happy I am allowing you to talk at all. I could perfectly move you two into cells that are across the room from each other. Let us see how you do, then." The guard said, and then huffily turned back towards the wall.

We grew silent, and the silence was nearly suffocating. Clark's screams would fill it up, though, but all it did was trigger our imagination. All I could see was Clark, reaching for my neck in the illusion I was in. I gulped and instinctively backed away, but Blaise still had his hold on me.

His face was slightly glazed with tears as well, and his grip on my hand was incredibly tight. Blaise's eyes were swimming with tears, and I knew he was thinking of how Clark killed Amelia. "What i-if-" I choked. "What if it gets w-worse?"

He did not seem to hear me, shaking slightly. "Stop!" I heard Clark yell, a full word for once. I could only imagine the worst now. "Blaise!" I tugged on his sleeve, and he turned to me finally. "What if he gets worse?" I reiterated.

Blaise turned to me with hopeless eyes. "I think not."

"How do you know?" I pinched my brow, then realized there were tears on my face as well. I angrily wiped them off, scrubbing at my cheeks, and then said, "There is no way you can tell, for sure."

A single tear rolled down his cheek, and I swiped it off gently. His mouth parted, and his voice came out wobbly, "Because the screams stopped."