Argument

“Asta, are you insane?” Kat said, eyes wide.

We both stood near the entrance to Protel, fighting against the raging wind cooling this warm night. The streetlights buzzed and water dripped down from the day’s rain–cars occasionally knocking water back into the air. Her blue scarf fluttered about like a snake in the wind, a sign of her fear.

“What else do you want me to do Kat? You saw that video, same as me!” I screamed.

“At least think this through,” Her face felt ragged, chest rising and falling faster than I could blink. “Don’t run down there like a child who can't think things through. Talk to me, talk to Sky, let us come up with a plan instead of rushing down there like a blind woman.”

“And give them time to clear everything up?” After the first video, I’d spent the night going through the myriad of files. There were old photos, documents explaining how the chairs sent electricity through the body, a page on the optimal pain tolerance of the average human body, and much more that made me want to release the contents of my stomach. Yet the one thing those documents couldn't tell me was why.

Why torture people, why have all this hidden underneath Protel? What actually was Project Prometheus? Caspian’s notes kept asking those same few questions, and if he had made any progress on that he’s taken it to the grave.

“You don’t know if they’re planning anything! Asta, you spent all of yesterday talking about how incompetent they were and now they're all seeing force?”

“Maybe, maybe not,” I turned towards the school gate. “Come with me if you want Kat, but I’m going down there hell or high water. You know you can't stop me, I know you can't stop me, so what's the point of this anyway?”

“I know…” Kat sighed. “I can’t ever stop you when you’re like this. But what am I supposed to do? Do you want me to watch my best friend throw her life away and not say shit?”

“Exaggerating much? I’ll be fine!”

“Fine? God it’s like we’ve switched bodies,” Kat said, eyes showing her desperation.

Intellectually, I knew Kat was right, but I couldn't shake the burning fire in my chest. It roared, screamed, burned with a passion I couldn’t stomach. The odds were against me, so what? I hadn’t died yet! Life was more than a boring collection of numbers and predictions.

Astronomy was the exact same. Half my classmates always obsessed over the numbers, refusing to simply glance up and see the objects of their obsession one on one.

I swung around another corner, officially on Protel grounds now. “Goodbye Kat. Wait for me on the other side.”

With one last smile, I let the fire burn and dashed towards campus. It fueled me–an engine transforming my passion to raw unfiltered power. My bike ran on oil; I ran on anger.

I could hear Kat running after me, shouting, but we both knew she didn’t stand a chance. Kat was no track star.

And with the union’s door behind me her voice faded into obscurity. “Kat… don’t give me second thoughts.”

I tip towed my way through the building, careful to edge around every hint of noise. Students here at this time of night were all but guaranteed. Sure I could blend in, but better to avoid that conversation in the first place, especially with my nerves on high alert.

Somehow not a single person got in my way. The nerds must have been tinkering away somewhere else.

I held my breath as I glanced down the stairs–those same one I’d descended with Caspian just a mere month or so ago. Now I stood here alone while he lay in the ground.

My feet descended down one step at a time. I could feel my legs shaking, heart beating, while that fire in my chest still burned–a wildfire now.

They seemed to descend for an eternity. Minutes, hours passed as I silently descended stair after stair–my only company the echoes and dripping water. Even last time this wasn’t so eerie.

I checked my enke, no dice.

And with that omen out of the way, I finally descended onto the familiar dust coated earth.

“Hope you’re ready,” I muttered. “Caspian may have played nice; I don’t.”