“I hate not knowing. I miss seeing the sun,” she said.
“Me too. I miss going for a run.”
“I don’t miss that,” she said, with a wrinkle of her nose, which he found really cute. There was a lot about her he was finding incredibly cute.
As he stroked a finger down her face, she smiled.
“What do you miss?” he asked.
“You want to talk about it?”
“It’ll get us ready for when we get the hell out of here. Come on, it’ll be fun.”
“Okay, fine.” She sat up. “I miss my shower,” she said. “I would really like to get washed.”
They both smelled from lack of washing.
“Agreed. I’m never skipping a shower when we get out of here.”
“Never again. I miss my mom’s cooking. I mean, she was bad at a lot of things. She overcooked vegetables all the time, and burned meat. Her job at the hospital was always on her mind, but she tried. When it was family time, without fail, there would be a meal there for all of us to try and enjoy.”
“Your mother sounds amazing.” He knew she was a florist, and her father was a paralegal in town. Neither of them earned a lot of money.
His own family wasn’t particularly wealthy, but compared to Skye’s, they were.
“I miss my books.”
“Studying?” he asked.
“No. My reading books. I’d love to be reading while we wait to know what is going to happen, you know? It’s probably stupid. I don’t know.”
“I don’t think it’s stupid, Skye. It’s actually, really, incredibly brave.” He cupped her cheek, stroking the delicate flesh. Even though they hadn’t washed, she felt soft to the touch.
They once again jerked back as the door was pulled open.
Each time the bolt opened, it always sent an echo around the room, like a reminder of what was about to happen. Their reality always messed with them.
For a short time, while they were alone, he could imagine they were on some weird camping trip. Only, he’d lost a bet, and Skye had been thrown in there to keep him company. Each time the bolt moved and the door opened, his reality was thrown right back into his face. There was no getting out of here, not for them.
“Well, well, well, isn’t it a little too cozy in here for you two lovebirds?” the accent guy asked.
“Why don’t you let us go?” Noah asked.
“Such a tough guy, aren’t you?” Accent guy laughed. “Come at me, tough guy. Come and get me.”
They both knew he couldn’t. It didn’t matter how much food he ate, it wasn’t enough. Skye had offered to give him her portion of food, but it wouldn’t help. He needed her to keep her strength up too.
“What do you want?”
“Not you.” Accent guy grabbed a chair, pulling it up to the center of the room.
Noah held Skye’s hand, feeling her tremble as the man looked at them. “So, we’ve been watching things for a long time, and now, I want to have some questions asked. Are you two dating?”
“No,” they both said at the same time.
“So what were you doing alone that day?”
Noah turned to Skye.