The Broken Peace

by Martha Adele

  “Your boyfriend?” I ask her.

  She points over to the corner of the room to an older man with a beer belly and a clunky gauntlet speaking to other beer-bellied men. “That’s him.” She nudges me in the side. “I’m his arm candy.” She gives me a little side eye and smiles. “Whose guest are you?”

  I turn around and point to Logan.

  “The dork in the cape?” the drunk woman asks me.

  “No.” I adjust her head to look one person over. “Him.”

  “Ah, him.” She looks back to me and wiggles her eyebrows. She takes another sip of her drink, never taking her eyes off Logan. “God did an excellent job with that one.”

  “Celeste!” her boyfriend calls out, waving her over to him.

  Her smile grows, and she squeaks out a happy little “It was nice talking to you, sweetie.” She tickles my shoulder and scurries off to the men, leaving me awkwardly standing by myself once again. I look around the room, this time with slightly more desperation, and find Janice in the midst of it all, walking my direction.

  I immediately make my way over and walk directly toward her. It is not until I almost run into her that she recognizes me. “Mavis?”

  I pause and give her a confused look. “Janice?”

  “Mavis!” She wraps her arms around me, and her fancy knuckle guard sends chills down my spine the second its cool surface touches my skin. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t recognize you with your hair up like this.” She touches the feather pins in my hair. “And in this beautiful gown. My goodness, you look so wonderful!”

  “You do too,” I tell her, glancing down at her emerald dress. “I’ve never seen you this dressed up, I am almost shocked.”

  “I know. Me too.” She chuckles and waves me over so we can get out of the way of the servers. “Can I tell you something?”

  I nod.

  “When I was a little girl, I always dreamed of this sort of moment. I wanted to go to a ball and dress up and be someone important. But now?” She looks around the room and sighs. “I just want to go home and go to sleep. I am exhausted.”

  I chuckle. “I’m sorry. Do you have to stay the whole night?”

  A large eruption of laughter comes from Oswald’s huddle. Logan, John, Eric, and the others are being surrounded by fangirls who wear no armor, just like myself. They hold little colorful drinks in their hands and try to play as if they are a part of the group.

  “No,” Janice answers. “I don’t have to, but at the same time, I kind of need to. You know?”

  “I understand. Well, I would be happy to stay with you as long as you need so that you don’t have to go be with the snooty people.” I chuckle as one of the women standing at a table near us looks over to me with a judgmental glare.

  “That sounds nice.” Janice follows my gaze over her shoulder to find the woman glaring. “Let’s move somewhere else.”

  Janice and I speak for the next hour or two, and she introduces me to many of her coworkers, along with their spouses. The entire time we stay together, I couldn’t help but continue to glance over to Logan’s crowd. He, as well as Oswald, has been entrapped by the girls and new crowd members. I watch as every time they try to leave, Wilson pulls them back in and introduces them to someone new.

  I stand around with Janice and talk for what feels like hours until she pulls us over into a booth. The two of us then sit and enjoy the company of Emily Hash and her sister Taylor Hash.

  “So, Mavis, how are you doing?” Emily asks me. “I never really got to speak with you after that first day you moved in.”

  “I’m doing okay. I’m doing better now that we are out of the mountain.”

  “I think everyone is,” Taylor tells us. “I have heard nonstop praise of the air outside, the actual sunlight, and the room. Yeah, some people miss the mountains, but those people can choose to work inside instead of outside.”

  Janice nods and takes a sip of her water. “I agree. Bergland was a terrific temporary home for us, but we aren’t made to live inside like that.”

  “Can you imagine how horrible it would have been if we had not had those lights in Bergland to prepare us for the sun?” Taylor snorts. “I already wear a lot of sunscreen and still get a little burned. I can’t fathom how bad it would be if we were to come out of Bergland with our skin having never felt some sort of UV rays.”

  I chuckle at the thought. “Has there been any consideration given to letting people visit Bergland again?” I ask.

  Emily and Janice look at each other, as if telepathically connecting.

  “Is that a no?” I ask.

  “It’s not a no,” Emily tells me. “It has been thought about, but …”

  “But,” Janice takes over, “if we were to have left Bergland open, it would be a good place for radicals to hide.”

  “‘If you were to have left it open?’ You mean you guys closed it?” I ask them.

  “That has been the plan this entire time,” Janice tells me.

  Taylor looks at me with a goofy smirk. “They did it the day everyone made it out.”

  “What?” I exclaim, “Really? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

  “It was on the news.” Emily takes a swig of her water. “But it wasn’t really the talk of the town, being that most everyone was excited to be outside for the first time.”

  I look down at the table in shock. I had no idea. “How did you guys seal it off?”

  “Key codes,” Janice answers. “All entrances and exits are locked, and the key codes are safe and secure.”

  “Well hello,” Taylor purrs at a body coming up behind me.

  Emily elbows her as Logan looks around awkwardly before realizing she was talking to him.

  “I’m sorry about that, Mavis. John and Wilson wanted to talk for a while.”

  I slide out of the booth and rise to my feet. “It’s no problem.”

  He brings up his watch and looks at the time. “Oh man, it’s getting late.” He looks back to me. “I’m sorry. I really am. I promise I didn’t mean to bring you just to leave.”

  I wave it off. “It’s fine, Logan. I got to hang out with Janice for a few hours.”

  She leans back into her seat and waves. “Hi, Logan.”

  “Hi, Janice.” He waves back to her then to Emily. “Hello, Ms. Hash.”

  She nods to him with a smile. “Logan, how are you?”

  “I’m good. Thank you.” He looks over to Taylor as she winks at him. Quickly, he turns back to me. “Are you ready to go, or would you like to stay a bit longer?”

  “I think I’m ready to go.” I turn back to the girls and wave. “It was nice seeing you all again. It was nice meeting you, Taylor.”

  “The pleasure was mine, Mavis.” She winks at Logan again. “Nice meeting you too, Logan.”

  He gives an uncomfortable grin, and we take off, out of the fancy ballroom, down the fancy hall, past the fancy people, through the fancy gardens, and into a fancy car.

  “Don’t we need to leave with Eric?” I ask him.

  “No. Eric wants to stay for a bit longer with his friends and old coworkers. There will be enough rides here for him to choose from.”

  After driving through the crowds that are waiting to see who comes out of the capitol building, we finally get on the street that will take me home. I look around to see the driver taking the most scenic route possible and look back to Logan. “So you met Oswald?”

  He nods. “I did. He seems really nice.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. Very gentlemanly.”

  I nod back. “That’s good. It’s nice to know that our new chancellor isn’t a jerk.”

  “Agreed.”

  We ride the rest of the way and chat about Oswald and how different he seems from Meir, we talk about how great and bright the future actually looks for us, and we talk about how
Eric seems to be enjoying himself like he used to.

  When we make it back to the bridge, Logan asks the driver to wait for him and walks me back home. We make our way over and through the woods, and I notice that the stones on our path to the house have been realigned since we left. They are much straighter and better organized than they have ever been before.

  Chatting about whatever comes to mind to prevent an awkward silence, Logan and I continue walking down the path. When we get close enough to the house that it comes into sight, we see Derek sitting on the porch steps, seemingly waiting for us to get home.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Mavis

  “Derek?” I make my way over to the porch ahead of Logan. “What’s wrong?”

  “You got a call.” He rushes over to me and hands me a piece of paper with an address and a phone number. “It was from a hospital.”

  “What’s wrong?” I ask him.

  “It’s Sam’s mom. She’s dead. He called here hours ago to get you.” Derek looks past me and to Logan. “He wanted you too, but he said you weren’t answering your phone.”

  Logan and I share a stare of pure horror. Sam called us while we were at the ball without him. He needed us, and we were off doing things without him. “Is he still at the hospital?” I ask Derek.

  “I don’t know. It was hours ago.”

  Logan places his hand on my back and begins walking back down the path. “Let’s go see.”

  “Thank you, Derek.” I swiftly turn and take off down the path with Logan. We rush back through the woods and back into our cab, where the driver greets us with surprise.

  “I thought I’d be waiting here a little longer. Where to now?” I hand him the sheet of paper and watch him type in the first part of the address. “Wait, hospital? I know this place.” He takes off driving and looks back at us in the mirror. Seeing the horror in our faces, he nods. “I’ll get you there as fast as I can.”

  Sam

  Nothing.

  That’s all I feel.

  Nothing.

  That’s a lie.

  Sobbing, I took a vial when I got home from the hospital. It didn’t have the effect that I needed, so I took another one. Now, my body feels nothing, and yet I can feel the weight of the world pressing down on it. The pounding in my head from my cries has gone away, but the ache hasn’t.

  I just sit here, fading out of my vials, trying to figure out how it happened. It can’t be real. I just got her back.

  A knocking at my door pulls me off the couch. I head over and open it to find Mavis and Logan dressed in clothes I never expected them to wear. I sit back down on the couch without a word and wait.

  “We went to the hospital the minute we heard,” Mavis tells me as they enter and close the door.

  “We searched the hospital and asked around until one of the nurses told us you had already left, and then we came here immediately.” Logan takes a seat at the table next to the couch. “I’m so sorry, Sam.”

  “Are you okay?” Mavis stupidly asks me.

  I turn to her and answer her question with only my facial expression. No, I’m not okay.

  “What,” Logan hesitates, “what happened?”

  I clear my throat. “The bullet wound.” I clear my throat again, trying to get the words out, and only manage a croak. “Her arm had become infected from the wound or something, and it got into her bloodstream.” I bring my palms up to my eyes, wiping them and rubbing them until I see another dimension of swirls, shapes, and spots. “I don’t know all the details.”

  “Do you have anyone to stay with you tonight?” Mavis asks me.

  I shake my head, pulling my palms away.

  “I—” She looks over to Logan then back to me. “I could stay with you, if you’d like.”

  Never looking over to them, I shrug. “You can stay if you want.”

  After a moment of silence, Mavis and Logan both come around and take a seat on the couch beside me. With Mavis in the middle of us and Logan on the other end, I continue resting my elbows on my knees. “Why do you guys look so funny?”

  They take a moment. I can feel them looking at each other.

  “We were at something for the Taai,” Logan answers, “but that’s not important right now.” A few more moments of silence pass before Logan tunes in again. “So where is she? Is she still at the hospital?”

  I shrug. “I don’t know. When the people asked me what I wanted to do, I told them I didn’t know.” I sniff what I can back inside of me and lean back into the couch. “But now I know. I called them earlier and told them.” I slide a pamphlet over to them from the coffee table, the one I got back at the morgue. “I want to have her cremated and then put into a gemstone.”

  They pick up the pamphlet and look through it to see what sort of gem cuts and colors I could choose. After they finish, the sinking feeling of despair returns to me. This process will cost a lot. It will cost less than burying her somewhere, but more than just a cremation. After going through with this, I will then be paying off Mom’s medical bills, my bills, the house bills, and the gemstone bills.

  But I don’t care.

  My mother deserves to be turned into more than just ashes. And this way, I can have her with me all the time.

  Time passes, and the clock tells us it is now within the first few hours of the morning. Logan rises to his feet and looks over to me. “I have to go. I’ll see you later, okay?”

  I nod to him as Mavis walks him out. They whisper something to each other before giving a hug goodbye.

  I follow their lead and make it to my feet. “Would you prefer the couch or my mom’s room? I can lay down clean sheets and stuff for you.”

  “Whatever would make you more comfortable.”

  “I don’t care.” I look down Mavis’s body to find that all I can hear is my mother’s thoughts. “I like your dress. Mom would have liked it too.” She gives a nervous smile. Before she can say anything, I head into Mom’s room. “Would you like some of her clothes to sleep in? So that you don’t have to sleep in that?”

  “Yes please.”

  I come out of the room with a pair of her pajama pants, along with an oversized T-shirt of mine that she would always steal from me to wear. “Here.”

  “Thank you.” Mavis takes the clothes from me and smiles. “I’ll take the couch.” She leaves the room, changes in the bathroom, and brings out the dress folded, along with the earrings and hairpins. She sets her things on the table and looks back to me, wearing the exact same outfit I have seen my mother wear before.

  I swallow back the pain and nod to her as tears begin to force their way out of my eyes. “Good night.”

  “Wait.” Mavis stops me on my way to my room and wraps her arms around me. “I love you, Sam.”

  We stay embraced for moments as I try to keep the tears in, but let too many fall. I love her too, but I can’t get the words out without sobbing so I pull away and head back into my room without another word.

  Mavis

  Wearing the dress I wore to the ball, I leave Sam’s house on the cart. He drives me to the farmer’s house on the edge of the property where a cab picks me up and then he heads home.

  I stayed with him all night and made him breakfast this morning with what I could find in his kitchen. He told me that he would be fine, that he needed to go to work for the day, so I left.

  Though Sam can work in the clothes he wore last night, I cannot. Well, I’m sure I could, but it would be a little ridiculous. Once the driver drops me off in front of my bridge, I make my way back to the house to find that Derek has already left for work, leaving his mother asleep and Caitlyn on the couch reading.

  “Hey.” She sets her book down and looks over the back of the couch to me. “Is everything okay? How are you doing?”

  I turn to her with a curious look.

  “Derek told
me about Sam’s mom.” She rises to her feet and reiterates, “Are you okay?”

  I nod. “I’m okay. Thank you for asking.” I look around the house and slowly inch my way back to my room. “What time did Derek leave this morning?”

  Caitlyn smiles at me and sits on the arm of the couch. “He was supposed to leave like two hours ago, but he stayed for a bit longer and we talked. Why?”

  “I’m just curious.” Why are you asking me why? He is my roommate.

  “You know, you’re very lucky. Derek is the sweetest thing, and he cares so much about his mom.” She crosses her arms and gives me another smile. “You’re lucky to have him.”

  “I know.” I nod awkwardly. “He is pretty great.”

  “So you two are a couple?”

  “What?” I ask her. “No, he’s my friend. I’m not dating anyone.”

  She rises to her feet with a satisfied smile. “Really? I can’t say I’m not surprised.”

  “What?”

  “Because, you know, you’re so pretty. You could have anyone you wanted, and you’re not dating anyone?” She wiggles her eyebrows at me. “You should snatch up the guy you like as soon as possible.”

  “I don’t like anyone like that.” I make my way into my room to change, and Caitlyn follows.

  She leans against my door frame and looks at me as I shuffle through my drawer. “Good guys won’t be on the market forever.”

  I straighten my posture after grabbing today’s clothes and look at her. “If I don’t ‘snatch him up,’ will you be making a move on Derek?”

  “No. I’d never date someone I work with or for.” She takes a step back and giggles. “Or at least, I won’t anymore.”

  I roll my eyes and try to force a smile onto my face. “It was nice talking to you, but I need to shower and get ready for work.”

  “Oh.” Caitlyn walks back over to the couch. “Of course.”

  I hang my dress up, place the hairpins and earrings into their boxes, and set them on the dresser. Considering I don’t accumulate so many things, the fact that I sleep in an old closet doesn’t bother me. I have a bed, a small dresser, and a clock. What else could I need?