One Thousand Tears_a dystopian mermaid tale

by Pauline Creeden

  Terror gripped Adelaide's stomach as the doors exposed who'd caught her. A tall man in a gray jumpsuit stood in front of her and it took her a moment before she realized who it was. "Nathan?"

  She blinked.

  He stepped into the elevator and turned around to stand next to her, a smirk on his lips. "Where are we going?"

  For a moment, she just stared at him, her mouth agape, and her finger stuck midway to pressing the button.

  He peered down at her, not removing the smirk from his lips and then leaned forward, hit the button she was about to push and then settled his hand up on hers, to help push it back to her side.

  She shook her head as though trying to clear her thoughts. The elevator began its ascent. "What are you doing here?"

  He shrugged. "I could ask you the same question. It's nearly lights-out. I wonder if the lights go out in the entire building or just the barracks.”

  "If we get caught, we might be kicked out of the trial." Her voice cracked.

  "No matter," he shook his head and put on a self-deprecating smile. "I only had a one in nine chance at a spot to Atlantis anyway."

  "What about your sister? She'll be devastated if the judges find out."

  One of his eyebrows lifted as he peered down at her again, then he smiled toward the corner of the elevator car and waved at the small mirrored circle there. "They already know. They have cameras everywhere. Remember? They said that everything we do in this building is part of our trial. It's part of our test. So even this decision we're making now... it's going to have a bearing on how we're judged. We better hope that they like our initiative."

  Adelaide's heart had already been racing, now it was doing double time. She hadn't thought of how there were cameras everywhere. So the people running Horizon Corp. already knew about her impromptu meeting with Jonas. They knew she'd decided to take the elevator, even to which floor she was headed. They knew everything and could choose to stop her at any time, but they didn't. "What are they planning for us? They don't even let us know what their judging criteria are."

  Nathan leaned back against the metal of the wall in the elevator car. "They don't want us to cheat or get an advantage over the other initiates, so they don't tell anyone what they are looking for outside of obvious life skills like 'teamwork' and 'working under pressure.' Those things are vague enough that no one could guess what the exact test is going to be and then plan ahead for it."

  The elevator door dinged and the doors opened up to their destination, the top floor. The hallway outside the elevator's light was dimmed, nothing like the brightness that had been their earlier when they were on the way to their trial. Adelaide stepped out of the elevator and into the darkened hallway, her eyes fixing to the other end of the hallway where the glass doors to the terrarium lay. She walked toward it, feeling a bit reassured by Nathan's presence just behind her and to her right.

  "What are we doing here?" he asked.

  Adelaide shrugged. "Didn't you wonder?"

  "Wonder what?"

  "If we'd taken the other route, how much easier would it have been. Scotty had cuts on his hands and face from the tall grasses at the end of our route. None of the other initiates had any scrapes. We were covered in that awful smelling sewage. I lost one of my shoes in the mud. None of the other groups had any mud on them, much less--swamp water."

  He scratched his chin as they stood in front of the double doors. "You're right about that. I guess I did wonder." He leaned forward and pulled open the door. "After you."

  She nodded and stepped in.

  The jungle within the terrarium came alive with sound. All around them they heard the sounds of crickets chirping and frogs calling to their mates. Darkness fell upon the space like a thick curtain, but overhead, they could see the moon and the sky awash with stars through the glass ceiling. It offered just enough light for her to use her night vision and see into the wooded space. Lightning bugs flashed in the trees.

  "Whoa," Nathan said as he stepped in. "I've never heard anything like this. It's never like this outside."

  "It's like a fairy tale." She smiled.

  "A fairy forest at night."

  Adelaide turned to the right. "Let's go this way."

  Nathan's hand landed on her shoulder. "Hold on. I can hardly see a thing. We can't do this."

  Her teeth clenched together as she realized Nathan couldn't see as well at night as she could. She didn't want to leave now that they'd come so far. She decided to play it off. "I can see just fine. You must not have very good night vision."

  He huffed. "Maybe not. But are you sure you can see."

  "Positive."

  His hand slipped from her shoulder, and she looked back at him. He closed his eyes tightly and then opened them, and then he repeated the process. "Maybe my eyes are getting a little better. I can see some."

  "Great," she said, turning around. "Let's go."

  She leapt forward and started on the trial through the uneven ground to the right. Slowly, the ground seemed to be moving uphill. They continued forward until they reached a pond with stepping stones placed across in a clearing. Adelaide jumped toward the first stone, and turned back slightly to make sure Nathan was okay. He nodded toward her. Good. He seemed to be able to see fine at least in this cleared area. There were only five or six more stones ahead of her and she jumped to them, almost slipping once, but caught her balance and continued until she reached the solid ground on the other side.

  Nathan landed beside her a few seconds later. "That was easy."

  She nodded. "Very easy."

  If the whole long course was like this, it was no wonder each of the teams who took this route had points deducted from their scores. After a few more minutes of walking, they came to a rope bridge. It was created by one thick rope on the bottom and two ropes along the sides and a rope every foot or so connecting the top ropes, which Adelaide laid her hand on, and the foot rope they were meant to walk across. It was a little tricky at first in trying to find her balance, but she started across. Down below, she couldn't quite see how deep the pit was but she could smell the stench of sewage . When she reached close to the middle of the bridge, the moonlight shone in the eyes of the predators down below. They were hovering over the alligator pit.

  Nathan saw it too. He huffed a laugh through his nose. "You're kidding me. We had to wade through that, but the ones who chose this route just had to prove they had the balance to walk across this rope instead?"

  Adelaide jumped down when she reached the other side and turned back to watch Nathan breeze across the bridge as well.

  "This test feels like a joke in comparison, the challenge level is like elementary school," he said when he reached her side.

  She shook her head and pointed toward the next obstacle down the hill a little ways. "Do you see that one?"

  He squinted at it and then shook his head. "Too dark."

  She grabbed a hold of his hand and pulled him closer until they were nearly on top of it.

  "You're kidding me, right? This is their wall?" He stood up next to it and released her grip and rested his hands on it. The wall barely reached his waist. With a hop, he vaulted over the wall and stood, looking at her from the other side.

  She leaned against the wall straight across from him and watched how his eyes sparkled in the moonlight. "No wonder they all laughed at us. Their trial was so easy that they made it with minutes to spare over our time. And to top it all off we were muddy and injured. We were the butt of their jokes for a while there."

  He took a deep breath and shrugged. "I guess the joke was on them though."

  "I guess." Adelaide jumped up and attempted to vault the way that Nathan had done it, but couldn't quite get the lift that he had. She ended up landing on the top of the wall on her belly and then swinging her legs over to the other side. Nathan's hands gripped her around the waist as he helped her land softly to the ground. The warmth of his touch sent a jolt of electricity through her body. He released her as she turned ar
ound.

  His wide, white smile practically glowed in the half light. Then he reached for her hand. "Come on." He tugged, and she followed as they started the downhill slope back toward the main exit.

  Adelaide slipped on the gravel slope just slightly, but because his hand already gripped hers, he pulled upward and saved her from landing on her backside. The warmth of his hand helped pull away the coldness that had been left in her stomach when she'd spoken to Jonas.

  He stepped on the sensor and the door opened at the end. They were back in the waiting room--this time, clean as could be.

  "I would have been smug too, if we'd gone that route and looked down at the people who'd gotten dirty on their route. I guess it was to be expected," he said, looking back toward the door they'd just come through.

  Adelaide followed his gaze, happy that he hadn't yet let go of her hand. "This trial doesn't make a lot of sense. It was pure chance that we chose the harder way to go. I mean, yes, they told us it was going to be harder, but we had also hoped it would be faster."

  "I think Jo just wanted to go the way that the other team didn't choose. She's contrary like that." His smiled showed his affection for his sister.

  Adelaide nodded and smiled along with him. "She is, isn't she."

  "You should have seen her that time when--"

  A lone wolf howled to their right. Nathan's grip tightened on her hand and his relaxed posture stiffened as he stood straight. His eyes widened as he turned in the direction of the howl. "No way," he whispered.

  His grip grew so tight, Adelaide half worried that he'd cut off the circulation to her fingers, but she worried more that he might let go. This was what Jonas had warned her about, wasn't it? Why would there be wolves in the building? It made no sense. She gripped his hand back and pulled it in the direction away from the howl. "Come on. Let's go."

  For a moment, Nathan stood still as though his feet were firmly frozen to the spot where he stood. When she tugged harder, he blinked, nodded, and started to run with her. He got just a little ahead of her, his long legs taking each stride more efficiently.

  The wolf howled again, a shorter one, with a snarling growl afterward. It was closer.

  The two of them ran with all their strength. Nathan's tug on her hand seemed to help her go faster. They rounded the corner toward the elevator, and skidded to a quick stop. Nathan slammed the button with his thumb. But for some reason, the elevator was three floors below them as indicated by the number above the doors.

  "Come on. Come on." With each syllable he spoke, Nathan jammed his thumb into the button again and again.

  Rationally, Adelaide knew that repeating the hit on the button wouldn't make the elevator get there any faster, but somehow she found herself hoping that it would. Her gaze shot in the direction of the wolf's noises. The elevator ding went off, and she grew excited, thinking the doors would be open, but when she looked, she only found that the elevator had gone up a floor. Two more floors before it would make it to the position where they needed it and the doors would open for them.

  A snuffling noise came from the other end of the hallway. They could hear the animal's breathing. The hairs on the back of Adelaide's neck stood on end. Goose flesh rose on her arms.

  The elevator dinged again. It was only one floor away.

  Another growl. Another snarl. And then a black nosed snout came just around the bend. It was followed by the rest of the animal's grey and black coat as it fixed its eyes on the pair in front of the elevator. The wolf was massive. Then it stood on its hind legs. Its head came up and its ears brushed the dropped tiles in the hallway. Eight feet tall?

  A small cry escaped Adelaide's lips. How could it stand like that? It was unnatural.

  The elevator dinged, and the doorway slowly slid open. Nathan rushed inside, yanking Adelaide inside with him. He shoved his thumb against the third-floor button. Again, repeating his mantra and his continuous thumb punctuation. "Come on. Please, come on."

  The doors began to slide shut, but that growl grew suddenly near as the wolf lunged forward and slid to a stop just in front of the door. It reached out with a massive paw. Nathan and Adelaide jumped back and flattened themselves against the back wall of the elevator.

  But the door slid shut before it could get in, and the claws of the wolf scraped against the metal door on the other side and the elevator started its descent.

  Adrenaline coursed through Adelaide's veins and spots crowded her vision. No. She refused to faint.

  "Did you just see what I saw? That wolf. It was standing. On two legs!" Nathan cried out, his face a mask of fear at the horror they'd just witness. Sweat beaded in his brow and slid down his jawline.

  Her eyes met his and she nodded.

  He refused to break their gaze as he shook his head slowly back and forth. "This can't be real. It doesn't make any sense. Why would that thing be in here? Why would they allow it?"

  She broke the gaze to look up at the mirrored circle in the corner of the elevator. Nathan was right. If they had cameras all through the building, they had to know that the wolf existed in there. And they would either get rid of it or kill it. They wouldn't just let it roam the hallways unless they put it there. But why would they do that?

  The elevator dinged as they reached their floor and stepped out into the darkened hallway. For a moment, the two just stood there, still holding hands. Adelaide's ears rang as she waited, half expecting to hear another wolf howl, but it didn't come. They both stood in the hallway, waiting for something, but unsure of what it might be.

  Where exactly was safety for them now?

  Was it truly safe in the barracks? If a wolf showed up in this hallway, where would they run? Even more so, Adelaide wondered if she could even let go of the hand she held. Right now, his grip in hers felt like a lifeline, the only rope that kept her from falling into a pit of despair. She couldn't take him back to her barracks with her, nor could she go to his. So instead, they just stood there, together. Both hearts feeling the same in that moment. Minutes slid by as their breathing slowly became normal. Her heart had finally stopped slamming against her rib cage. The ringing in her ears had subsided as it remained silent in the hallway and nothing had howled. The elevator hadn't even left its position on their floor to go back up. That, at least, had been a relief.

  "I should walk you back to your barracks. Make sure you're safe," Nathan said finally.

  She shook her head. "No. I can't leave you out here in the hallway alone."

  The sweetest smile spread across his face. "Then we are at an impasse. We can't stay here, and we can't go."

  She squeezed his hand tightly and then did the one thing she didn't want to. She let him go and slid her hand from his. "We both go our own ways. Together. We can see each other as we go into our rooms."

  He nodded. "I'll watch your back, you'll watch mine."

  She nodded back. "Deal."

  They both walked down the hallway to their barracks, backward. Adelaide watched Nathan and knew that he was watching her way for her. When they reached the doors to their barracks at about the same time, they stepped toward them. Adelaide stepped on the sensor in front of the door, and it slid open. The darkened room in front of her would have been unbearable except for the light from the window at the end. She stole a quick peek back at Nathan who waved to her and stepped halfway into his room. She smiled. He'd done it to let her know his door was open. She stepped in part way and waved toward him to let him know everything was okay. Then with a nod, he slipped into his room entirely and she did the same. The door slipped shut behind her. When she stepped on the sensor again, thinking she might peek in the hallway again to make sure that Nathan was truly okay, the sensor ignored her request and the door didn't open.

  It was true. They were watching. They had let her back into her room, but the weren't going to let her back out again. She swallowed and slowly turned back around. The soft snores and even breathing of the other women in the barracks had let her know that the other init
iates were asleep. Each footstep she measured slowly brought her closer to the last bed on the left. Her bed. When she reached it she slowly let herself sit on the end and her eyes fixed on the night scene on the other side of the glass.

  "Where were you?" whispered Jo from the bed across from her. She'd sat up and the moon lit her pale face.

  Adelaide just shook her head and whispered back, "I'll tell you in the morning."

  Jo gave an exaggerated shrug and then flung herself back onto the bed. The springs that held the mattress creaked with her sudden shift in weight.

  Sweat slid down Adelaide's back, and her heart still beat loud enough to reach her own ears. The part of her that wished to be safe at all costs regretted ever taking that little walk. She shouldn't ever have put Nathan in danger like that. He wouldn't have been there except that he was following her.

  She pulled the shoes from her feet and laid back on the mattress on top of her covers. Her body still needed to cool down--to calm down. The synapses in her thighs still fired away from her running, or maybe from the tension she'd had in her from the panic she'd felt. Either way, she felt about a million miles from sleep.

  Or maybe a million minutes.

  She swallowed against her dry throat, remembering the feeling of Nathan's warm hand in hers and how he had made her feel safe. That part of the night she didn't regret. It almost made it worth it after Jonas's words had left her feeling so lonely and completely alone. Nathan had listened to her and made her feel as though what she had to say and the decisions she'd made were valued. At least to him.

  Adelaide sighed, remembering the look in his eyes as he'd held her hand in the hallway, when neither of them had wanted to let go. Well, she didn't want to let go. And his eyes had told her that he'd felt the same way. She'd never felt so scared, yet so safe at the same time. She shook the thoughts from her head and turned onto her side. From this position, she could look out the window at the dark sky. Different constellations shined through this window compared to the glass ceiling in the terrarium. She counted the stars as she willed herself to calm down. After a short bit she found herself waking up enough to know that she'd slipped into sleep. She shivered, pulled her blanket over her jumpsuit and let sleep overtake her.