Dissipate

I felt Aiden’s grip on my hip, but he remained silent. “This is Aiden, my boyfriend.” Wrinkles formed around Matthew’s face. The term was new to him. “He’s like my intended, in a sense, but without the marriage.”

“You’re getting married?”

“No. No, marriage. Here people see each other and later, if things work out, they get married.” Hopefully, my definitions were helping. Understanding the interactions between people here had been one of the hardest things to wrap my head around.

Matthew keenly watched us while I gestured toward the living room. “Come in and sit. Can I get you anything to drink?”

“Water, if you don’t mind.”

“No, not at all.”

I made my way to the kitchen to fill a glass with water. Aiden only took a few steps toward the living room until he realized Matthew wasn’t following him, then stopped.

Coming back, I handed Matthew the glass, then lead the men back to the couch. There was an unknown heavy cloud that settled over the room. I sat in the corner of the couch. Matthew took the chair and Aiden was about a foot away from me. Aiden’s hand reached to grab mine, but stopped. This felt awkward as Matthew watched everything.

Matthew took a sip, then placed the glass on the table. Clearing his throat, he spoke, “I’m still trying to process that you really are alive. I mourned you and believed you’d gone to The Light.”

“I know. When we were in the gas station, I didn’t have time to tell you everything.” Knowing I needed to bring Matthew up to speed before he told me why he was here, I began with my journey. “Everything started the night my mom died. On her deathbed, she told me I wasn’t Sarah. Matthew, my real name is Kenzie Brooks.”

Matthew didn’t move. It was how we were taught to be at The Society when strong emotions tried to overcome our rational thinking. Now, that line of thinking seemed suffocating to me. Emotions were meant to be felt.

I continued to fill Matthew in as Aiden supportively stayed beside me.

FINISHING MY ENTIRE journey, Matthew leaned back in the chair. “I’m not sure what all I expected, but it wasn’t that.”

The pizza sat cold on the counter, having arrived midway through my story. Matthew hadn’t been hungry at the time.

There was definitely more of a barrier between Matthew and I that hadn’t been there at the gas station. I assumed it had to do with Aiden with how guarded Matthew seemed around him. Maybe it was in my imagination, I wasn’t sure.

The clock on the wall had a faint ticking that filled the air when no one spoke. Aiden hadn’t said a word as he took it all in.

“It’s all been an adjustment. Sometimes I feel like I don’t belong anywhere anymore.” I shrugged. “The Society gave me the ground work for who I am, but I belonged out here.”

Matthew nodded. “You seem happier, healthier even.” Giving him a soft smile, he took a deep breath. “I guess I should start now. The reason I was in the gas station that day you found me was because we’ve been searching in nearby towns for anyone that may have been trying to cause The Society problems. Like I said at the gas station, we got word that the outside world was trying to infiltrate our lives. That night, before the cops came we removed all the grave markers and made the leaves extra thick in the cemetery. Boxes upon boxes were loaded up and driven away in the middle of the night.

The Keeper had stated The Light had spoken to him and the doomed were going to try and steal those that had gone before us. The Light didn’t want the tainted bodies around, but we were to first hide their graves, then burn them . . . slowly so as not to draw any attention to our community. There aren’t any bodies that died of the mysterious illness left now. The graves have been filled in.”

Shaking his head, Matthew continued, “The next day, after the police had left, the Keeper had a meeting with five of us Watchers. He told us that someone was trying to ruin our way of life. We were to watch everyone closely to see if someone had been infected by the doomed. When nothing was found out of the normal, we searched nearby towns. The Keeper was convinced it was someone who’d gotten into our community. That’s when he devised the plan of taking us out with him while we searched. The plan didn’t make sense to me, but I didn’t question The Light. In total, I accompanied the Keeper three times and was always dropped off for about twenty minutes while he ran some errands.

As I rode the bus here, I remembered the one odd thing about these trips into town. Prior to starting our search, we’d load three wooden boxes that were sealed. When the Keeper would pick me up, the boxes were gone and never spoken of. I don’t know where the boxes come from within our community.”

Pausing, Matthew brought his hands to his lips as if he was praying, but I knew he was organizing his thoughts. “After I saw you at the gas station, I went back to The Society, keeping a close eye on everything. At first, I honestly thought you’d been infected by the doomed world. Then . . .”

I was practically on the edge of my seat, listening to Matthew. Aiden was leaned forward with his fingers steepled beneath his chin.

“Then, I overheard a conversation between the Keeper and Abraham yesterday.” Matthew had anguish in his eyes as he watched me.

Abraham had been a Watcher who enforced the rules and sent people to temporary exile based on The Light’s commands. Abraham always terrified me with the wicked gleam in his eyes. But, he’d never stepped out of line from any of the Keeper’s commands—or at least from what we saw.

“In the conversation, the Keeper told Abraham he believed that you were alive and they needed to find you. The Keeper believed you were living in Missouri, in a nearby town. I listened through the whole conversation and they never stated how. Abraham was instructed to not tell anyone, even the Keeper’s son, John. They needed to find you and address the situation before anyone found out. They said it could ruin all they had worked for. I didn’t find anything to prove they were guilty, but I knew I had to warn you.”

My veins ran cold as my vision unfocused, imagining how they pieced it altogether. Aiden stood. “Is that why you came here . . . to warn, Kenzie. Or did you lead them to her?”

Matthew stood, matching Aiden’s aggressive stance. “I would never betray, Sarah. She may be yours, but at one point, it had been planned for us to marry.”

The atmosphere became more hostile, quickly. I stood and placed my hand on Aiden’s back. “Please. I know Matthew wouldn’t betray me. He came to warn me.”

Softening toward me, Matthew relaxed—minutely. “No one followed me. I slipped out in the middle of the night. I walked around the campus all day, making sure no one else from The Society was here. I saw you leaving a building and stayed close, but not too close. I thought it was safer to come to you at night.”