black veil ◦ scorch trials || thomas

01.

ONE ; THE ART OF DOING NOTHING

     "I hope I'm not boring you, Evanna."

     Head snapping up, Evan's eyes flew open and she straightened her back. She blinked rapidly and smiled sheepishly as she saw all eyes on her. She waved her hand awkwardly, quickly dropping it when Janson glared at her. The girl cleared her throat and ran a hand through her hair. A nervous tick she had developed over the years.

     As Janson continued, Evan let out a deep sigh and rested her chin on the palm of her hand, her elbow perched on the desk in front of her. A debriefing about the current position they were in, and the condition of the facility's surroundings was not exactly her idea of a fun pastime, but because of the severe lack of sleep the past few days, Evan couldn't even keep her eyes open this time.

     Janson, first name unknown, was the man in charge. What he said, went. Sometimes much to people's dismay. His orders were strict, but for everyone's benefit. At least, that was what he claimed. Usually Evan wasn't included in the decisions, as they had to discuss things she wasn't yet ready to know about, but this time it seemed to be an exception.

     She silently cursed for it to be that way. Being dragged from her bed at an ungodly hour in the morning was not exactly the way she liked to wake up in the morning. You would think that after all the years in the facility, it would have taught her that sleep was only allowed when all work was done. Unfortunately, work at WICKED was never done. There was always more, there was always something that had yet to be finished.

     Just last night she was held back from snuggling under her blankets because of missing weapon supplies. They had to scope the entire building before they found them. Evan was more than annoyed when she found them in the storage room; where they always had been.

     Having realized she blocked out Janson's whole speech, having stared blankly at the white wall opposite her, Evan quickly snapped out of whatever daze she was in, not wanting to anger the man.

     As the other people gathered in the room started to leave one by one, Evan blinked in confusion, wondering where they were going. She lifted her head and looked around, only now noticing she was the only one left. Expect for Janson.

     "Did you miss something, Evanna?" Janson questioned, arching his brow as he looked at the girl who was still seated. She gulped and slowly stood up, racking her brain to see if she could remember anything he had said in the last five minutes. Janson sighed and shook his head as he figured she tuned out most, if not all, of his speech. "You really have to start paying attention, Evanna. If you don't know what's going on, then how can you be of any help? My people are here for more things than repeat what I have just explained because your head was in the clouds."

     Evan bit her bottom lip and nodded, her gaze falling to the floor. She didn't like angering him. The man was a father figure to her, strange and nearly insane, but a father all the same. He was all she had. Therefore, Evan always tried to make him proud, show him that she could do more than check security cameras and help aid the newbies. But even daughters could lash out at their fathers.

     "Sorry," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Evan cleared her throat and watched as he crossed his arms over his chest. Biting down on her tongue, Evan withheld the snarky comment which she so desperately wanted to shout in his face. She knew better than to aggravate him any further. "It won't happen again."

     "I'll believe that when I see it."

     And with that, he left the room. Evan let out a deep breath and dug her hands in the pockets of her khaki cargo pants before walking out the room.