Secrets Are For Keeping

Chapter Twenty-Four

When I woke up, the first thing that hit me was the light.

The brightness forced me to keep my eyes closed against it. A sharp tangy smell of oranges hit me next, mixed with random other smells that I couldn't really pinpoint.

My eyes opened and I knew exactly where I was.

I was in a hospital.

There was a fluorescent rectangular light in the white ceiling above me, and to my left I could make out random machines monitoring my vitals. I looked down at myself, noticing multiple wires sticking out from underneath the blanket that was laid over me.

Then I heard the sound of heels against tile and a familiar voice that I'd known for my entire life. There was no way I could ever not recognize the voice.

Suddenly, the voice stopped mid-sentence and I heard something be placed down on a hard surface. Then the heel sounds were much closer together as Olivia came running into view. Her face appeared hovering over my own, worry lines obvious in every feature. She reached a hand down and placed it on my cheek. I tried to sit up, wanting to see her face to face instead of with her just hovering over me.

As I did, familiar black splotches appeared hiding her face. Then they cleared, and I felt extremely light headed.

"Nova...," she whispered, staring at me in concern.

"I'm fine," I mumbled, closing my eyes as the dizziness came in waves. Once it had passed, I opened them again to see Olivia looking anxious. "What happened?" I asked, but the what came out sounding more like "wha".

"You've been unconscious...they had to drug you..." I stared at her, trying to remember the series of events that had led to where I was now.

Then it all hit me, the lady with the gun, the hands grabbing me...the simulation.

"There was a problem with the simulation...it wasn't supposed to have after effects...but it did." I remembered the feeling that had consumed me right after the simulation, the feeling of actually being shot. I'd just been unlucky enough to experience a malfunction allowing me to feel the gun shot.

"I came here the second they called me." She looked at me with her head slightly tilted to the side, trying to judge my emotions. I noticed how she probably could've just glanced down at my Animus which would tell her exactly how I was feeling, but she didn't.

"Oh," I let out weakly, not having anything else to say. Then I suddenly realized that I was actually wondering something. "Wait...how long have I been here for?"

She winced at my question and I knew that I wouldn't like her answer.

"Around a day..."

A day. As in an entire twenty-four hours. I'd been away from the inspection for a whole day. My entire body relaxed. A day was good. It meant that I had missed an inspection day. It meant I'd been able to escape for that short amount of time. Maybe they wouldn't even be able to continue my inspection then. I'd missed a day after all, there had to be something I'd missed during the time I'd been gone. And I'd been hospitalized by it, were they even allowed to have me continue?

As if reading my mind, Olivia added, "I'm going to talk to the people running the inspection...I never understand its purpose in the first place, but this was too far." My first thought was how she must've found out about the inspection. The most likely explanation was that an email had been sent out to everyone's legal guardians, but wouldn't that anger someone? I already knew it had angered many students except they couldn't really do anything about it since they'd already been stuck in the school. And the teachers had tried arguing against it, but it hadn't worked. If the parents and legal guardians had also protested, I doubted the inspectors would've decided to change their position.

Olivia apparently didn't have to go far to speak with the inspectors. Because just then, they decided to walk into the room, three of them with clipboards and wearing their signature black outfits.

"Hello to both of you," the man standing slightly in front of the three of the guards said as he came to a stop next to my hospital bed. "I apologize that this incident had to occur because of our procedures. We have paid full medical cost for it."

But Olivia wasn't having any of it.

"You think that somehow makes up for what you did?" she asked, barely concealing the anger hidden in her voice. "Because personally," she added, gritting her teeth, "I believe this should not have happened at all."

"We understand your concerns Miss Carlson. We are again sorry that this had to happen," the man continued, not really saying anything that he hadn't already mentioned.

One way to tell when my sister was extremely angry, was when she started talking softly. I could see the pain and aggravation in her expression and I knew that I wasn't the only one seeing it. Even so the guards didn't do anything to stand up for themselves as Olivia continued.

She spoke in a practical whisper, not daring to talk louder than her normal volume. "I don't think you do. You are likely going to tell me you plan on taking my sister back there. And I believe that this is an awful idea."

The guard standing in the front didn't seem to have an immediate answer. Then he replied, "Again, it is understandable that you wouldn't like her to return, but it is necessary."

"How necessary?" I could tell Olivia was seconds away from losing it.

"It is the only way to make sure our world continues to be safe."

Nova scoffed loudly, taken aback. "Do you actually believe my sister's a criminal? Because personally, I believe your insane."

I tried not to look at Olivia, knowing that Olivia was wrong. I was a criminal. But I couldn't tell her that. Her words only increased the feeling of guilt that had already been building just from knowing that I deserved to be a part of the inspection more than anyone else.

"It isn't a matter of whether or not we believe it, it's a matter of not taking that risk."

"There is no risk! My sister is not a criminal!" Olivia's voice rose up above all other sound in the room, her frustration exploding out of her mouth.

"I'm sorry, but we can't-," he began to reply.

"No, you can. But you refuse to," Olivia interrupted angrily.

The guard seemed to be done trying to argue with Olivia. Instead he turned to look at me. "A car will take you back to the school whenever you're ready."

Olivia looked like she wanted to fight back against this new information, but the inspector was already walking away, back out the hospital door. Olivia looked like she'd just been slapped in the face.

She turned back to look at me, looking hopeless. "Hey...I'll be okay. Honestly," I said, trying to reassure her. I reached out to grab her hand and she let me, looking like she didn't know what to do.

"I'll see you at the end of the week," I added, as Olivia still seemed lost for words. Then she finally looked back down at me, her face both angry and hopeless at the same time.

"Just...don't trust them."

Out of everything she'd said so far, her sentence was the least expected one.

"What?"

"Don't trust them if they promise you anything. If they tell you anything. Don't..."

"Why?"

"I know people like that. They're never trustworthy."

As she walked out of the room an idea suddenly hit me.

Maybe I wasn't the only one with secrets.