> day.1
“I know this is a big change of pace for you Alexis, but—”
“Everyone calls me Alex now.”
Dad looms over her new living quarters with a proud smirk. Sharp fluorescent lights pour down on his plain white hair, his plain white t-shirt, his plain white sweatpants. She sits at the foot of her plain white bed, her plain white tunic tired and wrinkled from the flight.
“Okay Alex,” Dad smiles. “Life here at the Complex is much different than at the Palace. You remember last time you were here? You were very young, just a tiny little thing.”
“Yes,” Alex scowls up at him. “I remember.”
“Well, as you can see, not much has changed,” he nods around at the desperate white walls. “Kinda soulless place if you ask me. But I promise you’ll be much safer here than you were at the Palace.”
Murphy quietly sets the last of Alex’s colorful bags down in an empty corner of the plain white room, then quietly shows himself out the plain white door.
“We certainly don’t have all the luxuries of the Palace way out here,” Dad chuckles. “The boys down in Washington don’t leave much room for decadence in our budget these days. It’s all R&D.”
“I’ve been locked in a cargo hold all day,” Alex hisses. “I’m hungry.”
Dad bellows out with laughter. “Glad your appetite got here in tact! The droids will stop by for dinner service soon. Won’t be anything too fancy, but it’ll hit the spot.”
“Okay.” Alex stares at her bags in the corner, her brain flickering through their contents, racing through her favorite hoodie, her sketchbooks and oil paints, boxes of Mom’s favorite teas, Soren’s old Magic the Gathering cards, the pottery she made with Carson in art class, racing into the Palace bunker, the mountain’s summit, dancing with Carson, Mom’s dying eyes, the living room, the firebombing, the locusts, Auntie Cass, the bodies.
“You feelin’ alright?” Dad tilts his head. “You’ve got a look in your eye. The ol’ thousand-yard stare.”
“No.” Alex sighs. “Not like you care.”
Dad sits down next to her. Sighs with her. “Look Alex. I wouldn’t have called you back here unless I had to. I know how much you loved your life at Palace. I know how hard your Mom worked to raise you and keep you safe. She did a good job.”
Alex scowls up at him again. “It wasn’t a job. She was my Mom.”
Dad sighs again, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, Alex. I know it’s hard to accept. But the world’s at war. The situation’s dynamic. Things can change fast, but we have to adapt. We have to go on living.”
“Is this what living is?” Alex glares out at the white room. “Hiding away in some secret base? Slaving away in some underground lab?”
“We all have to find ways to survive somehow,” Dad shrugs off his regrets. “It’s not easy. But that’s life for ya.”
Alex stays mum, her mind trapped in her bags.
“Look, I’m gonna give you some time alone to settle in here.” Schedules and bullet points flicker through Dad’s hard grey eyes. “Murphy’s still planning out a new curriculum for you. How about you take some downtime this week before we restart your schooling, hm? Take some time to mend your heart up.”
“Okay.” Alex blanks out, blinks at the white wall. “Thanks.”
“You need a hug?” Dad turns to her and stretches his shoulders out. Alex turns away to face the other wall.
“Fair enough. Maybe another time,” Dad says, standing up from the foot of the bed. He thumps her shoulder proudly. Alex braces her legs against the floor, nearly falling from the strength his sturdy hand.
“Stay strong, buddy.”