Daniel throws the bouquet of roses down to the ground and rushes to my side, "Hey, hey, Selma what's wrong?" He still has his dirty work clothes on, it's starting to stain my white shirt. I try to bury myself into his navy collared jacket, but he keeps pulling my head to figure out what is going on. He tries to pull me on my feet, but the immense feeling of anger and sadness makes my legs weak. I fell to the ground, but Daniel followed me down to the ground.
Grabbing my face with his work-hardened hands, he caresses me and looks deeply into my eyes, "Talk to me! What's going-", he says before stopping himself to listen to my babbles. I try to convey what is wrong but all the words that I want to say are just spewing out. "The- The- TV- The", I started to stutter. My thoughts are just racing too fast for my mouth to keep up with, I am thrown into the deepest pit of fear. My body reflexes and my hand raise to point at the TV.
"The TV?", murmurs Daniel as he turns to look behind him. It's not like I kept my little habit to him a secret. I've told him I've been watching the broadcasts just in case of an emergency. "Did... Did you see?", he asks me almost speechless. I nod my head.
Daniel just looks at me dead in the eyes with a look of total fear. I didn't know what to expect honestly, but a part of me had hoped that when he got here that he would comfort me but now, looking at his face, I am even more afraid. He gets up from the ground and grabs me by the hand. He tells me with force, "Follow me." Without a chance to get up, he starts to drag me from the ground, I tell him, "Wait." When he turned around, something had changed on his face. The fear he once displayed is now turned into total compassion.
"Why?", I wondered to myself. Regardless of the answer, I got up and he led me into our apartment bathroom. He closed the door behind me, and it was just me and him. Usually, whenever we used the restroom, we would have to go one at a time because it was too small for two people to be in at a single time. So, us being together made our small bathroom even smaller. I don't consider myself a claustrophobic person but for some reason, I was feeling really tight. Like my chest couldn't expand for air. The air that was supposed to be mine, was being inhaled by Daniel.
"Who did you see this time?", asks Daniel feeling the claustrophobia as well, "Was it Henry? He didn't show up to work today?"
I tried to fight the words out of my mouth, but no words came out, only sobs. I don't know what overcame me, I played this scenario over and over again in my head. It was supposed to be easy; I tell Daniel what happened, we say goodbye to our loved ones and then we leave to go live out in the Remnants. But right now, all I can feel is fear!
"It was Jer… Jer… Jeremy!", I managed to squeeze out.
"Jeremy?", he repeated in disbelief. He stood quietly, just looking down at the ground. It was one of the weird things that he does when he is thinking. His light skin had turned pale as he looked back up at me. He took two heavy breaths and suddenly, his aura had changed. His fear and anxiety had gone away, and he looked at me calmly. Then he became angry.
"That crazy son of a bitch... it was only a matter time before they caught him. I'm surprised it took this long for the peacekeepers to find that bastard", he calmly says with malice in his voice.
I was taken aback by his comment, and I don't know. It kind of pissed me off. "Why would you say that, Daniel! Did you want that to happen to him!", I yelled at him.
He grabs me by the shoulders and quietly yells, "Shut the fuck up, Selma!" Then that's when I saw it. While his face looked calmed and relaxed, but when he looked at me dead in the eyes, his pupils were screaming for help. I'd never seen Daniel this scared before.
"Don't be so loud. You can't get too emotional. Ok...", he tells me. He releases me and begins to say, "Ok... I don't think you were too loud so we should be ok. I'm sorry for what I said but It's true, you know how he was. He acted like a fucking cowboy every chance he got."
We've heard only rumors, but we can't take any chances. Supposedly, the Virginal Apartment Blocks are bugged to snuff out any illegal activity. We've been living here for the past year, but we have yet to find any "bugs" in our house. However, one thing we can say is not a rumor is that neighbors suddenly disappear and are replaced with new fresh faces in a matter of days.
I tell Daniel as quiet as I can, "We have to get out of here, Daniel. We have to leave; we can't stay here."
"And where would we go, huh?"
Trying to think of a good spot, I say, "Let's go to my parents."
"No, We can't. That would be one of the first places that they'll look for us."
"Then what are we going to do. If we stay here the Peacekeepers can easily pick us up. God, they can be on their way to pick us up right now! Come on Daniel we have to do something!", I accidentally screamed.
"Shut up, Selma!", says Daniel. He looks to the ground to think and raises his head with confidence, "No. They would've gotten us earlier if they were on to us, I'd probably be picked up first at the factory if that was the case. So, we should calm down and think this out. What did they get him for?"
"Carnality."
"Ok, unless he didn't stick to his story. I don't think they would know about us. The only thing those bastards care about is reaching their quota."
"But I saw him, Daniel. He was beaten up and near dead when they executed him. They must know something from him."
"No... If they got him for Carnality, they probably would just beat him for fun. You know how bigoted they are."
"So, you think they didn't scramble Jeremy's brain?", I ask him.
"I don't know, I didn't say that but hopefully he convinced them that he's just some guy they picked up."
Daniel says that the chances of scrambling his brains are probably not high, but I can't help but think that it's just not possible. They must know that those people are in the Remnant for a reason and not just out on vacation, "Do you really think they're not coming for us?", I ask him one more time.
"Yes", he answers me, but I know he doesn't really mean it. His calm face faded with every second of our conversation and I think he knows that. He grabs me and hugs me, to hide his face. "I'm not going to let them do anything to you", Daniel says while he exhales, "I'm not going to let them do anything to you or my baby."
He tells me this but... but... I know there's nothing he can really do if something were to happen. I know by now his words are just shallow promises and they no longer bring me comfort.
"Selma…", he lets out.
"Yeah?"
His stomach growls, "Did you eat yet?"
"No…"