Sentilia

We made our way to a building in the city that I had never seen. It was big, covered in bright white bricks, with a few windows. There was a big post with a sign on which I could read: Clarissa James Hospital. The men left us there, telling us to enter through the double doors ahead. So we did.

At that very moment, I had a particularly vivid flashback of one of my dreams. It wasn’t something that I had really retained once I had woken up; the white corridor with the ceiling lights passing by, blurring my view as I lay there, and the people running beside my bed.

It was the same corridor.

I tried to read William’s face. He was new to all of this, but if he had any kind of panic inside of him, he hid it very well. His composure was perfect.

To my left, there was a waiting room. It was mint green and white chairs were aligned on the far wall.

It was empty. In fact, there was no one in sight anywhere.

Before I had time to take in anything else, Kleio appeared out of nowhere in the wide corridor.

“Max! Finally!” He rolled his eyes. I could feel the shock frozen on my face.

“Um...” What was I supposed to say? Sorry for making you wait here while I was being shot at?

He walked confidently towards me, and when he was close enough to stop, he didn’t. He just grabbed me in a bear tight grasp in his strong arms, being prudent not to squeeze my injured arm, and gave me a peck on the forehead. I had to say, I’d never been happier to see Kleio; I wrapped my arm around him.

From the corner of my eye, I saw William look at us, frowning.

K let go of me and looked at William, not in a menacing way, but there was something possessive in the way he still half held me. “I’m Kleio, but you can call me K,” he extended his hand towards William, who shook it firmly, answering in a bitter tone, “K? I’m Doctor William Colton.” His scowl made me remember what he had told me about his sister, that a man named K had taken her away from him. How could I have forgotten?

K didn’t seemed phased at all: “Nice to meet you William.”

“Actually, it’s Dr. Colton,” William’s voice was firm.

K chuckled, he was looking at me now, his arm still pinning me against him, “let’s get those bloody gashes all cleaned up.” I snickered, knowing that this was his genre of humour. There was a beat-long silence as K and I looked in each other’s eyes; we were both smiling peacefully.

William cleared his throat. K turned to smile politely at him.

We started walking along the corridor, William on my right side, Kleio on my left. William saw that K was not going to let go of me, so he took my hand. I stared at him, eyes wide with shock. What was he doing? Was he jealous in real life as well? Did he care about me enough for that already?

Well, I had to keep in mind that William wasn’t Elis. And thought I definitively preferred William’s hand to Kleio’s arm, it wasn’t the time for the two of them to start provoking each other. For now, Kleio seemed to be the only one here that wanted us to feel welcomed, and stay unharmed. I couldn’t risk Kleio hating William; I remember their feud from my dreams, so I knew that this was a chance to try and start over—without ever really having started the first time. I knew this was a gamble, since William already despised K because of all that happened with his sister. But I was still going to play. Without any further thought, I pulled my hand out of William’s.

I instantly regretted what I had just done. William’s face sank. He turned his head away from me, and I knew he obviously misunderstood the move.

Kleio stopped walking. At first, I thought he was staring at William when he turned towards him. But I followed his gaze and saw another waiting room, which he was now pointing to.

“If you’d please stay here Max, while I take your friend into the office.” His smile was full of sincerity. I couldn’t help but smile back. Which didn’t help improve William’s mood. I saw his lips tighten into a strait line from the corner of my eye.

“I can take care of myself,” William said, jaws clenched.

“Kleio,” I was trying to ease the tension, “you’re a doctor too?”

“You know I’m not, sweetie. And I know William is a doctor.” He turned towards him: “I’m just going to show you to the office and then I’ll take care of you,” he said, turning back to me. His smug face stayed on mine, but his eyes darted towards William, and he tried to hold back a chuckle when he saw his confused face.

It never occurred to me to tell William about K; it all would have saved him a lot of confusion and frustration. I felt like I let him down, like I’d lied to him, even if I hadn’t really lied. I had just forgotten to mention that I knew him, and in any case, I didn’t think that he’d know me if he did exist—so there was no point in telling William about him. After all, William didn’t really know who I was when we first met. Apparently, K did.

Kleio started walking away, and William followed without looking at me. Great.

I sat down on the chair closest to the window, where the sun shone through, and let myself soak it up. I let my thoughts drift away, and all I could think about was William. Had I just screwed everything up? I was up again, pacing.

I just waited patiently for K to return, staring at the window. It wasn’t much of a nice view. The brick wall of the adjoining building was all I could see. But I kept staring anyways. I tried to ignore the stinging in my arm, without much success. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more it hurt.

Something caught my eye as I took a few steps out in the corridor. It was a colorful painting. Since I usually love them, and was eagerly looking for something to distract me, I walked over to take a closer look at it. Then I realized that, not only had I seen this painting before at the museum, but I’d also seen it in real life. Well, in “dream life.”

It meant that the history museum didn’t only have paintings and pictures of the past. It meant that other people knew about this place, possibly a lot more than I thought, possibly even the Advisors knew about this place. Would it mean that what Elis had told me was true? That they would come here to assimilate the people?

I felt a hand brush my shoulder. I jumped.

K said nothing. He stood tall in front of me, looking deep into my eyes. I smiled politely and took a small step back. I didn’t want him to kiss me; I’d seen that look in his eyes before, but the look left his face almost as soon as it had appeared. He just took my hand slowly and we started walking. I looked around to see if William was watching, but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Surprisingly, my feelings for Kleio were next to none in real life, whereas my feelings for William, or Elis, had only increased. I was relieved to acknowledge that.

I said nothing for now; I was still debating which question I would ask first. He would not escape my interrogation, and he would answer all my questions.

We entered an elevator, and emerged on the third floor. It was another corridor, like the one we’d just been standing in, but this one was full of people. There were people of all ages walking up and down the hallway, entering in different rooms, going about their business, not minding our presence at all.

K led me to a small room in a less occupied area. There were no windows in the room, just a small bed with wheels and metal poles on the sides; just like the one I was on, in my dream. There was also a ton of storage space, all dissimulated in the wall, which gave the room a clean look.

K closed the door, and the first question came out of my mouth. “Where’s William?” I hadn’t considered the possibility that we would be separated. I didn’t want him to be alone here, since he didn’t know the place and people seemed to be somewhat hostile. And, he was injured pretty badly; I wanted to be there to take care of him and comfort him. K could only ask so much of my self-control. My palms started to get sweaty.

“He’s gone for a little while. He’s safe and taken care of, don’t worry. It’s just the two of us now—we need to talk—I’m sure you have lots of questions. I’ll try to answer the ones I can.” He seemed sincere. It was refreshing to see him serious, and not wearing his smug smile and playful eyes for once.

“The ones you can?”

“Yes, well, there are some things you’ll have to see for yourself. But first of all, please try to stay still while I mend your arm.”

“How come William isn’t the one to do this, he’s the doctor.”

“Anyone can fix small injuries like this,” he winked. Now that seemed more like him. I almost smiled; I was a little exasperated, but his attitude was becoming familiar.

So I did what he asked, and stay still for a few minutes. I watched him pour liquids over my laceration, finally sealing the sides together and covering it with a new, clean, bandage. He put my arm in a sling.

“Okay, sweetie, go ahead.” He signed heavily and sat beside me.

I wanted more information on William’s location, but right now, there were very important questions bubbling up in my head that couldn’t wait anymore.

“How did you know I was telling the truth? About never having been here...how did you know? How do you know me? Did you have the dreams too?” His expression was blank.

“Okay, you dive right into it. Let’s go.” He got up.

“WHAT? No, K! You told me you would answer, it’s been weeks, I need to know what’s going on! Am I going crazy?” My voice had started off harsh and loud, but finished soft and pleading when I remembered sweetness worked best with him. I had his right hand in mine, and when I tried to get up from the bed, I was grateful for his safe grip not letting me fall.

He sighed and said: “Why do you always have to get so excited? Take it easy, Maxine. I told you there were some things you would have to see for yourself. This is one of them. In fact, there is nothing I can tell you that you’ll believe until you see what I have to show you.” Again, he seemed serious and honest, so I had to trust him. Not only did I not have a choice, but he’d also never given me a reason not to.

I think it was the first time he’d called me by my full first name. I remembered at first I found it weird and a tad impolite for him to call me by my nickname, but I had gotten used to it. Now it just didn’t seem right for him to call me ‘Maxine’, and I pointed it out.

“Sorry, I thought this was a chance to start over, to be more serious and brooding like Elis so you would like me more,” he flashed a wide grin and hopped off the bed where he was sitting.

“Wait, so, you’ve had the dreams too? How come you’re exactly the same person, and you know me, when William’s isn’t and doesn’t?” I was confused by my own sentence, but I knew he would understand what I meant.

“Um, I’ll just say for now that me and him are very different. And that you and me are a lot more similar than you think. I’ll just explain it more later.” His face was stern.

I followed him out of the facility without another word.

We got to his car; the same flashy car he had in my dreams. And then I noticed something that had escaped me for all this time: “K, why do you and Elis—Um...why do you have a different car than everyone else?” Theirs was way flashier and lower than most of the other cars I could see on the streets.

“Well, that’s just because I have taste,” he smiled playfully. “This is a sports car, Max, not everyone thinks it’s practical to have one of these. Actually, pretty much everyone prefers transporters.” His eyebrows rose.

We climbed in, and he eased off on the smooth paved road.

“You have such a beautiful smile. It’s even prettier in person.” He looked lost in thought. I said nothing; I just felt my cheeks prickle lightly.

He was driving on the main street in the opposite direction from the beach, where I was used to going. I stared out the window, taking in everything I could see: the beautifully clear blue sky, the sun that was haloed by a thin layer of surrounding clouds, the perfectly rippled farmlands and the more disheveled ones.

I was starting to get used to the car rides, they were making me less queasy, and now I appreciated them much more. Surprisingly, or not, they felt exactly the same in reality. What I wanted now was to try driving. I knew K would let me try if I asked, but it wasn’t the right time. I had to solve every piece of the puzzle first. And I hadn’t forgotten about William either. I wanted to see him first thing after seeing whatever K had to show me.

I hadn’t insisted on seeing him right away, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t ask again where he was...I opened my mouth to speak, and as if K knew what I was going to ask, he spoke first: “Let me show you this first, Max, I prefer—”

“Tell me where he is K. I’m not going to ask you again. My patience has its limits.”

“Fine,” he sighed, “he’s with his sister.”

He stopped the car near the ledge of a rocky cliff. This part of the city was new to me. He got out of the car and came around to open my door. “I hope you’re ready for this. Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked. I didn’t move.

So his sister was really here. He had come here for her, obviously. I couldn’t believe I had thought for a second that he really came along because he liked me. Had he been using me all this time? I mean, he did tell me about her and he did tell me upfront that he wanted to find her. I was overanalyzing it.

The laughter I head then was mine, and it kind of startled me. Things were getting crazier by the minute, all of them far from my old lonely life, from which I’d always wanted to get away. This island was a whole new world, and it shifted everything I’d always known and believed in. What I couldn’t actually believe was that I was getting used to all of this madness.

“Okay, Kleio,” I let out a long sigh, got out of the car and stared into the distance. “Bring it on.”