A Fate Foretold (formerly: A World Gone Mad)

A Fate Foretold 14

            Winter began to thaw, although at a slower rate due to the northern location of headquarters. The measly four hours of sunlight that January offered gradually lengthened to nearly ten hours by March.

           Ally’s stir-craziness hadn’t abated. If anything, the dark, cold winter in Alaska had only aggravated her feeling of incarceration. Months of pent up frustration, boredom, and paranoia had reached their utmost limit and after pacing her room restlessly for hours on end with the windows thrown open in spite of the cold, Ally knew she had to take action.

            Finding Tim alone in the kitchen, munching on an apple, Ally burst in and demanded, “Take me out.”

            Tim was taken aback. “What?”

            “Out. Let me go out. I can’t go out alone, and I need to go out. Out. Into the air. Fresh air. Please.”

            Tim looked at her as though she had blown a fuse. Perhaps she had. It had never occurred to them that Ally had not left the house in months. It was a wonder she’d been speaking in coherent sentences up until now. “Alright. Now?”

            “Yes, now!” Ally barely stopped herself from shouting. She had an unnatural amount of patience, but it had just worn thin. So thin in fact, it was threadbare.

            “I’ll get my coat.”

            Both Tim and Ally pulled on their boots, and donned coats, hats, scarves, and mittens. While not quite as cold as it had been, the temperature still consistently hovered around freezing. At least it remained relatively dry in mid-western Alaska.

            Once outside, Ally hurriedly took long strides to take her away from the house that had held her for so long. Drawing in great lungfuls of fresh, cold air, the feeling of captivity began to subside. The sunlight felt wonderful on her face.

            Tim had jogged behind her at first, but when she showed no signs of slowing down, he called out, “Hey! What’s the rush?”

            “Sorry,” Ally smiled sheepishly. “I just got excited.”

            Tim chuckled. “If you’re desperate to get away from the house, I suggest walking over there by the tree line. You can get in contact with nature again.”

            Ally shot him a grateful smile and headed in the direction that he had pointed to, although at a more reasonable pace than before.

            “How are things between you and Sara?” Ally asked, making conversation.

            “They’re going really well. It’s tough to date someone when you live in the same house surrounded by other people all the time. But the job comes first, I suppose.”

            Ally chuckled. Yes, the job did come first.

            “It would have been great if we were true mates,” Tim said wistfully.

            “Well, you can’t have everything,” Ally replied easily. She didn’t have a great deal of sympathy for him. And why should she, Tim reasoned. She didn’t even have the possibility to meet her true mate. She wasn’t even allowed outside without a guard.

            “You could have asked to be taken out before, you know.”

            Ally took another deep breath of air. “I should have. I didn’t want to create any trouble for any of you.”