"Hello greatest friends, 

If you're reading till this point, I just want to say thank you. It means so much and I really love you. Please consider giving this chapter or the previous one, or all the upcoming ones a vote, a share or adding my story to your reading lists.

Also follow me on instagram @poet.werenotlonely to talk and chat. By the way, it's also a poetry account with more than 1,65k followers at this time.)

When I was sure the guard wasn't around the surveillance camera room, I sneaked in with the drinks I got for us.

I was tired. So tired. Mt shoulder muscles felt like chocolate pudding. But I straightened my posture.

Johnny was at the same spot everytime: in front of the camera screens trying to spot a detail he didn't see before, like a hair falling, or an object moving the slightest.

Something, anything that would explain how the files that were under the Council's watch on the upcoming surgery got stolen.

It looked like a ghost took them. It looked like no one took them. But that was because the camera cut was so well done it looked like there was one footage. But there were probably many to hide his figure taking them. How did the stealer achieve this feat under their super powerful camera?

How did nobody notice him? How did he take them without triggering any alarm?

I was going crazy. It didn't make sense.

It. Didn't. Make. Sense.

I had to try to help him quickly before the guard would come in and chase me again. H was assigned to the case by the Council. But it affected me so I should have the right to help.

I was really annoying him. For safety measures, only one person was allowed inside the room to prevent any incidents like breakage or stealing.

My mind wasn't into stealing. I just wanted to understand.

How do you make people understand your intentions when they are so closed off ?

"Here's the drinks, Johnny." I said, sitting in the rocking chair beside him. The only light that was coming from the screens was lighting up his face.

He frowned when he saw me. "What? Autumn, still here? I told you to go. I'll find what went down."

I tried to open my eyes bigger. "I wouldn't be able to rest even if I left. I need to understand what happened too."

He looked at me maybe two seconds too long before dropping the subject and turning to the cameras. I felt the pressure to find an answer in my bones. But the only thing I needed was what I couldn't have : time.

Time.

Time.

Time.

In about twenty minutes, the guard was going to come chase me out of the room. This time maybe even call security on me. It would be the fifth time he would catch me breaking the rules.

I'm sorry. I didn't have a choice.

Desperate times require desperate measures, right ?

I had been stressed all day. But even through all of it, I didn't feel lonely. I felt like someone had my back for once.

It warmed me up inside and out.

We were stuck in our thoughts most of the time and yet, nobody felt the need to fill it with words. Because it was comforting. It was like looking at someone you really admire. No words could depict the feeling.

The twenty minutes before the guard chase me were the fastest of my life. When I heard banging on the door, I jumped on my feet. I didn't have time to hide, just like the times before because I was too engrossed in the word so he spotted me like a fly on a fruit: vulnerable and oh so small. His build made him look gigantic.

When he caught my eyes, his eyebrows looked so tensed together that the anger that was reflected in his eyes scared me.

"Come right now," he said, walking so fast up to me and grabbing my arm that I didn't have time to properly register what was happening.

"But. I'm not done. I need to- Johnny!" I cried as I was being dragged. "Do something."

The guard jumped in.

"He can't do anything because rules are the rules and you trespassed repeatedly one of the most important one of them even after all my warnings!"

His neon yellow vest was glowing in the dark like a flashlight. I felt like a bag of potato being dragged from the farmer.

"I'm a One!" I screamed. He stopped. I thought he would release me; i really wanted blood to flow back in my veins.

I didn't like bringing up the system of numbers that ruled earth. But I thought it would work ?

Based on your performance on your test before graduation your post secondary school, you had a number that determined things like your salary, the kind of luxury you could buy, and many other aspects of your personal life.

The guard face turned into such a disgusted one that it almost made me disgusted of myself too. I wasn't one to try to flee my responsibilities by bringing my rank in the conversation every time. In fact it was the first time in months.

Desperate times call for desperate measures ?

I could see that he did not believe in that.

How do you explain your intentions to someone that doesn't understand? Why would you even have to? Shouldn't it be their problem if their don't understand your point of view?

"Even your rank can't save you this time. I'm taking you outside myself and warning security about you. You won't get this far the next time."

"John-"

His words felt like a slap in the face. "Listen to him. It's a good thing to be driven when you're trying to accomplish something. But it can also be your downfall because blinds you to the truth. It's time to leave Autumn. Now."

I closed my eyes for a few seconds as I was being dragged away. It's not like I needed to even see. My other senses were so developed  they could compensate for my temporary sight loss. 

When we left the elevator, he freed my hand. Therefore I still had a bit of dignity when I was walking to the front doors in the lobby even though I had two guards on each side chaperoning me outside like a baby, under people's stares.

I felt so ashamed. I had indeed  been so blinded by my goal I didn't see that I was hurting other people in the process and doing it the hardest way. I could have stayed home and searched online for video editors that he could have used.

Was I ignoring that in other aspects of my life ?

If yes, how big will the price I will have to pay be? 

Still deep in my thoughts, I zipped my jacket, took the stairs down to the ground, climbed in my AirCar and without a word got taken home.

I was still upset an hour later in my bed.

But maybe it was for the better. Maybe I wasn't going to be of any help to Johnny.

My stubbornness was going to kill me.