“Great.” Stryker stood “listen, there’s an attack I have to look into. I’ll get back to you later, yeah?”
I offered a thumbs up. I wondered when all these things were announced, because I never seemed to findanythingout. Attack onwhat? Who?
“He always that vague?” I asked Nick dryly. The other snickered “yep.” He replied brightly “that’s Stryker for you.”
“Awesome.”
I finished off my pancake and stood up, hovering uncertainly “anything formeto do today?”
Nick shrugged nonchalantly “probably not, to be honest. Regular training after lunch.”
“‘Kay. Great.” I smiled and began making my way to the staircase, bumping into none other than a sleepy looking Matthew on my way.
“Morning.” He greeted through a yawn.
“Somebody sleep in?” I snorted.
He ignored me and continued down the stairs.
Matthew
It was hard to get up that morning. My body felt drained, like it physically didn’t have the energy to get me out of bed. The infection it was still fighting off wasn’t doing me any favours.My eyes were open but stayed fixed on the wall, my frame shivering under the covers.
Jack was whistling happily as he got ready, as per usual, always more joyful than there was any need to be.
“You up, Matt?” He asked loudly. His voice made me wince. It was soboomingfor noreason.
I grunted at him.
“Don’t be moody.” He groaned at me “we got a full nights sleep last night. Should be celebrating.”
I grunted again.
I could practically feel him rolling his eyes at the back of my head.
“Well, I’m heading down. John’s given you papers to deal with today, cases to go through, so try and be up in the next…” hetrailed off, falling silent for about as long as it must have taken him to give me a good, analysing look and he sighed, kneeling by my head and catching my eye.
“I don’t know what’s up with you sometimes.” He muttered, his tone lowering to almost a whisper “but can youpleasejust…do something? You can’t lie in bed all day. I know last time you could, but today you can’t.”
I felt empty. I felt hollow. My left hand wondered to my right wrist, scratching at the scabbed over scars there and my whole body shuddered as I did. Jack’s words seemed to go in through one ear and out through other.
“We’re the last ones up.” I heard him say, but it felt like I was underwater as he spoke “the others are…”
He droned on. I didn’t absorb a word of it.
Then he said something. He saidhisname. I didn’t hear the context, the rest of the sentence, but he saidTheoand my brain suddenly responded to it, my head jerking upwards. Theo. I wanted to see Theo. I didn’t really knowwhyI wanted to see Theo, I just did.
Mostly, he made me feel something. Sometimes I wasn’t sure exactly what that something was, but it wassomethingand that was more than I got on most days.
In the time it took me to finish forming those thoughts, Jack was gone. I hadn’t even noticed. He’d probably given up on me. He’d be back later to try again, he always was.
But he’d left the name echoing around my skull. Theo. I wanted to see Theo. Maybe he’d make the emptiness better?
It was that thought that managed to drag me out of bed.
When I crossed him on the stairs, the happiness I felt at his mocking ‘somebody sleep in?’ Was irrational, and what was evensillierwas that it reallydidfinally make me feel something. Something, whatever that something was.
Theo
