"So what is it you wanted to ask me?" Eval says, raising an eyebrow as I shut the door to my room. 

I take a deep breath. 

In.

Out.

"Is it true that we are going to go Outside to save people from Viel and do some fire extinguishing?" I ask swiftly, afraid if I hesitate I will lose what little nerve I have.

Eval's eyebrows shoot up. "Why would I know?"     

He is trying to avoid my question, I know. 

"Uh, excuse me? You literally started this resistance-"

"With Andrea, Darren, Drew and Kimberly," he reminds me.

"Right. With them. Why wouldn't you know? You're one of the Five. Of course you would know," I point out. 

Eval sighs, running his fingers through his blond hair and making it all stand on end. "It's just that... all that is supposed to be classified information. Top secret. Not public. How do you know that??"

"So I'm right!!"

"Yes," he sighs. A strand of my short brown hair hits my eye as I spin in victory. 

I am fairly short, like Orla. I have bright green eyes. My skin is tan, (unusual for us Undergrounders) and I am sixteen. Not particularly pretty, but feisty.  

I am excited for this mission and I cannot wait to be out of this underground place but at the same time I am afraid of what I will see; yet I mask my fear behind excitement. "Finally!" I say. "Outside! The moon! Color! Sky!!" 

Eval looks serious, more serious than he ever is. "Listen Ara. This isn't a game. One wrong move up there and it isn't just you, it's all of us who are dead. Evil is more than out there, it is the out there. And... I can't lose everyone. It's too many people and I just..please. Please be serious."

Great. Now he thinks I am more excited than serious when in reality I am the other way around.  

"I know, Eval. What do you think murdered my parents while a nine year old me watched? What do you think haunts me night and day so that I cannot sleep? Why do you think I push myself so hard in combat, and struggle to grasp every concept? Not for fun, let me tell you."

"Oh Ara," he breathes. "I did not know. I'm so sorry." I shrug it off. 

"I know. Everyone is. It doesn't help much though."

He sighs, again. He has been doing a lot of sighing recently, and I fear that his tease is leaving him; his brow is often shadowed and creased in ways it should not be for many more years.          "I know. I know."

Then he wraps his arms around me, hugging me gently, as though I am some fragile thing about to break. 

But... maybe I am.

"Eval," I say as he lets go to leave, "please. I... thank you."

For the first time I feel that there is someone who truly understands. 

Eval just nods and slips away. 

~~~

I do not tell Cora Eval hugged me. It was merely a gesture of comfort, but I know Cora would not see it that way. 

This night was different. 

Eval understood.

When I dream, I dream only of color.

~~~

The next morning my first class is Weapons. We learn about all the different kinds... how to use them... and surprisingly I do not fall asleep. 

Orla nudges me after class. "So... care to explain why you didn't fall asleep? You let us down, Ara," she says seriously. Mock seriously. "Our class depends on you to fall asleep. Otherwise we get no entertainment in class. Why must you be so cruel?! You deprived us of our fun!! This..cannot be forgiven." 

I shake my head. "Oh Orla."

"No!! I mean it! This is just unforgivable!" She tries to keep a straight face, but it falters, and then breaks. She collapses in giggles. 

"Never play poker Orla," I tell her, like I am confiding a great secret. "You would suck."

Orla stands up, still laughing. "Nice to see how much you care about me!"

Orla and I meet Cora, and they begin talking. I sit next to them, but I feel far away. I can be close to a person, but I always feel painfully out of place unless I am the one being teased or teasing. 

Will I ever belong?

Fire has scarred me. 

Broken me. 

But it has not won, and I will not let it win. 

I internally swore this the day my parents died: fire will never win. 

Eval comes and sits down nervously. "So.. I guess you know.. but the combat competition is today. Are you guys... are you guys ready? Darren and I are handing out the prize."

"Yeah," Cora says nonchalantly, as if the boy she loves isn't sitting next to her. "I think I'm ready."

"I am!!!" I burst in on them.

"I too!" Orla chimes in. 

"I too?" I ask incredulously. "Hate to break it too you..but uh.. I have no idea what to do with that grammar."

Orla smiles tightly and then slips to our room. 

Something is up.

I race after her, but she is faster.

"What is it?" I ask.

"I'm not ready. I feel like death. The-all I can see are flames!" she cries. 

Something is very very wrong. This is not Orla behavior. She scoffs at fear, and does not care about death. Ready or not, do it anyway is her motto. 

I back away.

"Flames killed my city. Flames will kill me." She looks at me sharp, piercing. "Flames will kill you. I will find you. I will kill you. My flames are coming."

Then she collapses, and I scream. Eval rushes in, and stares. "The fire has broken her," he whispers. He shows me her wrist.

A burn mark.

"She has been touched by the First Flame. Recently," he says sternly. He gathers her limp body is his arms and runs to our doctor.

 Sooo what do you think of that!?? Any theories on why Orla was using first person? Or how she got out of Underground to Outside and was burned? Post your theories here! -->--> 

Whoohooo!!! We hit over one thousand words!!!!

How did your guys' days go? You can reply here!-->

Have a good day!

--Bookworm