Grandfather by Anthony Wade

just going to go back to staying in my
room, talking to nobody.
    I was afraid I’d have to
sit close to Ashton at dinner, but he sat at another table beside a
man in a white uniform. I guessed that was Dr. Mac. Occasionally, I
would catch him glaring at me. I just forced myself to ignore him.
I’m pretty sure Marley noticed this, but she didn’t mention it.
What could she do? There was no chance in changing Ashton’s
mind.
    I couldn’t even sleep that
night. My blood was ready to spew. I wanted to leave that
underground facility so bad. I even thought about it, but knew the
only place I could go was the orphanage. I was not letting that
happen. I even thought about going to another region but realized
how ridiculous that was. I wouldn’t even know where to go. I’d
probably starve to death on the streets. I had no choice but to
stay with these people, so I was just going to have to get used to
things. I was trapped, and the anxiety just kept swelling inside
me, twisting my stomach. This was going to be harder than what I
thought.

Chapter Five
     

     
     
     
     
    I spent the next week keeping to myself, rarely leaving my
room. When I did get out, I kept my eye out for Ashton. I wanted to
stay as far away from his as possible. He continued eating with Dr.
Mac, and he continued glaring at me. Eventually, I started giving
it right back to him. Marley did her best to keep on common ground.
“I like hanging out with both of you guys,” she told me. She liked
hanging out with me? It was strange because nobody had ever said
that. I wondered what I did to make her like me. I thought I was
kind of a boring person.
    In other news, Edgar
started to change. At least his appearance did. His foul attitude
was exactly the same as before though. He started wearing clean
pants and decent looking button-down shirts. His skin wasn’t as
dirty either. The only thing that was the same was his missing
tooth, of course. That wasn’t exactly something easily replaced,
although he could’ve probably afforded it. Which begged another
question: why didn’t he fix it?
    One afternoon, after I had
finished my lunch, Edgar told me he wouldn’t make it to dinner but
wanted me to stay there until he came to get me. He didn’t tell me
what we were going to be doing, but I told him I would do so. Even
if I refused and went to my room, he’d probably beat the door
down.
    After I finished dinner, I
waited for him to come and get me. I wondered what he possibly
wanted and if it was just going to be me and him. I sure did hope
not.
    Everyone left the dining
room until it was just me sitting there. Marley offered to stay and
keep my company, but I told her I’d be fine. After being alone for
nearly ten minutes, I was starting to think Edgar had forgotten
about me. That’s when I heard him complaining about something. I
looked up to see him walk in through the double doors, followed by
Belladonna and Robert. They all stopped.
    Edgar glared at me. “Said
ya wanted to go with me. Here’s your chance.” He motioned for me to
follow him, and I did so until we reached Belladonna’s meeting
room. I followed them in to find somebody else was already there,
sitting at the table. I froze. Great.
    It was Ashton.
    Things got even worse when
Edgar pointed at the seat beside Ashton. “Sit,” he demanded. I did
so. I didn’t acknowledge Ashton and he didn’t acknowledge me. Good.
I wanted to keep it that way. Edgar looked at us curiously.
Deciding not to question what was going on, he sat down across from
me. Belladonna took a seat beside him and Robert stood behind
her.
    “ Basically,” Robert
started. “We need your help . . . both of you.” I kept my eyes on
Robert, forcing myself not to look at Ashton.
    “ What is it?” Ashton asked.
I noted excitement in his tone.
    “ Well, I’ve been within the
wall these past few days,” Robert said. “Grandfather is hiding
something.”
    “ Well, yeah, aren’t they
hiding a lot of things?” Ashton