Runner

Chapter Nine

When I woke in the morning I was cold. I laid still on the cement, not sure if I was ready for my companion to know I was awake.

“Morning Hunny.”

I groaned, before I buried my head in my arms.

When I looked up I found my fellow prisoner, sitting against the cell bars, staring at me. His face was less swollen but the dried blood was enough to convince the ignorant that he was still in pretty bad shape. He was lucky to have been starved and sleep-deprived, otherwise the healing would have been too obvious.

“I need to say something to you and I’d really like to be able to address you by your name,” he told me, his expression giving away nothing. I rolled my eyes and he raised his eyebrows back at me.

Taking my time, I fixed my hair into a pony tail before I said, “Its Asher.”

 “Well, Asher, I need to thank you for saving my life,” he said, with quiet seriousness.

“It’s more than likely that this little excursion of ours has just been a delay in your inevitable demise, so please don’t thank me.”

“Not a people person, or a morning person,” he noted.

 “No, just not a prison person.”

I got on my feet and stalked the length of the cell for a few minutes, letting out small space settle back to quiet before I asked, “So are you ever going to explain to me who exactly you are and how you came to be here?”

“You sleep with me, now you want to know my life story, and you don’t even know my name? I feel violated!” He mocked.

I held back a smile, “Fine, I guess that’s a start, what’s your name pretty boy?”

“Cole.”

“Okay, thank you, now will you please answer my question?”

He fiddled with his fingers, not looking at me, “I lived in Memphis, with my family, all elementals. We managed to survive for about seven years without too much stress, you know how it is, moving from place to place, but the last few have been tough. We heard about the coo on the tracks, thought we could come in and maybe sweep away a few supplies. No one would notice, right?”

He was removed from his story, the emotions of it not weighing him down as if he were reading from a book. I knew the feeling, I understood what it was like to want to forget.

“Of course, we didn’t plan for you guys to be trying to blow the place up the same night we came in,” he added, “One of your trucks saw me run into the forest, and they followed. I bet them to the shack we’d been hiding in. When they got there, they’d already decided that I wasn’t normal, I’d given them enough to be convinced, I’d been too fast. I freaked: I started slamming doors, running, playing tricks on them, trying to scare them off. It didn’t work, they cornered me and I couldn’t do it – I couldn’t fight.”

“You mean you started using your powers?”

He nodded, “Yeah, I’m air.”

“And your family?” I asked, nervous of the answer I would get.

He smirked, “Do you have any brothers Asher?”

I nodded.

“And if I was to say that my brother’s arrogance and confidence makes it impossible for me to believe that he is anything but okay, would that make sense to you?”

“Complete sense,” I swallowed.

I kicked my legs off the edge of the bed, holding onto my knees. I believed him -- for the time being. And now we needed a story that everyone else could believe.