The Fox and the Pigeon hole Chapter 8

8. Epiphany
The girl is lying on the sunlit forest floor; she lies looking sideways, her arm outstretched across the leaf stricken earth. Her eyes are unseeing. Misty, as though she sleeping, but her body is so still, her chest does not rise and fall and she does not blink once. And then she is not lying on the forest floor but on, nothing. She lies in the same position but impenetrable darkness presses in at her from all sides. Then she blinks as though waking from some deep sleep and sees the long, bloodstained knife in her outstretched hand. She feels the warm gushing of blood down her body coming from the mangled bloody wound in her chest and her eyes become heavy once more.

Lance wakes with warm and comfortable, he is lying on the smooth camp bed in the officer’s dormitory and bright sunlight pours through the door at the far end of the room. He gets up and dresses in his dirty and tattered clothes, wishing he had something else to wear. He is about to leave when he spots a grey woolly jumper in the back of the door and pulls on the soft fabric gratefully. The sunlit corridors look completely different now than when he was being dragged through them to his certain death. They look much more open and airy as if it is not sure whether it is inside or out with all the wall sized windows that show the wild forest on all sides. “Lance!” He turns and sighs with relief as he sees Dawn at the other end of the bright corridor looking somehow different with the sun falling across her face and the clean grey wooly jumper that matches his own, she looks pretty, he thinks.

She hurries towards him, grinning and pulls him into a bone breaking hug, “why was I asleep” Lance asks when he is finally released “I thought we were going to be captured”.
“We were, but then, well I don’t really understand it, and I think that the government thinks that we are dead” She says biting her lip.
“Okay” Says Lance confused “Why exactly do they think that?”
I really can’t understand it” She says shaking her head “But you should ask Charlie”.
“Charlie?” Asks Lance raising his eyebrows.
“He’s the officer, the short one” she says smiling.
“Right” Says Lance a little taken aback that Dawn is on first name basis with the officer who burned a hole in her arm, “Where are the officers? And who’s that girl you were with, was she already in here? A prisoner like us?”
“No, she’s… well I don’t really know who she is, but she saved us so…Their all waiting for us come on” She pulls him down the corridor, through some double doors and then knocks on a heavy looking steel door in a part of the building that Lance hasn’t seen before. Once inside Lance stops, his eyes adjusting to the renewed brightness, he looks around at the room which is sparsely furnished with the same modern furniture as the rest of the monotonic building. The officers are sitting around a Large rectangular table with the dark skinned girl, and then it strikes him, he has seen her somewhere before. He and Dawn sit next to each other in the only two empty seats and the short officer waves at her from across the table, she waves back smiling, “So” Says the tall officer who had shouted the previous day, “We’re not going anywhere, obviously” He glares at Lance and Dawn malevolently “But we have managed to take the lockdown off of the windows… which don’t open” He looks down and then glances back towards Lance. “Apparently we are dead” He continues lightly “They have predicted an earthquake in the area, and they think it has hit already”.
“We-is it going to?!” Lance chokes up his words with surprising difficulty.

“Yes” says the officer, he walks across the wall and flicks a switch that makes the large white table emit a soft glow. “Everyone hands off the table” He says, recovering some of his violent tone, they all do so and then he walks over to a computer screen that is set into the wall at the head of the table.
“We can show you” Says the officer deeply, after entering a few codes and pressing countless controls on the screen the table glows brighter and then tiny, faint black lines appear. They criss-cross across the table joining together to split the table into thousands of tiny squares. “What is-” Lance begins, but the tall officer cuts across him “wait” He says still pressing buttons. One solitary square right in the centre of the table glows even brighter and then starts to rise up from the table in a column, across from him Lance can see the dark skinned girl gaping. The column rises high and then stops; all of a sudden the entire table lights up causing Lance to cover his eyes, all the squares start to rise fluidly up from the table all stopping at different heights. And then Lance realizes, it is the building that they are in, a perfect model including the surrounding trees. “Wow” Breathes Dawn standing for a better view, Charlie chuckles from across the table.

“This” Says the tall officer coming over and sitting down in his seat, “is where we are, on here we can show you the predicted earthquake”. Everyone’s faces fall at this, it would have been amusing in a different situation but everyone’s eyes follow him as he walks back to the screen in the wall and presses still more buttons. The scene depicted on the table changes dramatically the table seems to shake the very ground beneath their feet. Soon small cracks start to appear along the ground and the earth seems to fall and rise like an elevator. Chunks of earth, some as small as a person and some as Large as a house, rise and fall rapidly, the ground tilts and the grey building which has, until now, remained untouched splits suddenly, one half falling several feet into a huge trench. The other half wobbles precariously on the edge, windows shatter, doors split under the weight of the falling building and everything from cabinets to entire tables are sent crashing across the many rooms. Chaos. Lances terror is reflected almost all of the eyes of the people at the table as the simulation ends and the apparition sinks slowly back into the table. “And this” Says the officer who is once again back at the screen, “ Is the effect on the surrounding area” He sounds grave and is running his gloved hand across his face.

The table glows once more and the new scene takes shape, Lance awes at the detail and precision of it, the diverse forest the cliff that runs through it and even some of the river, which looks strange as the tiny squares show its strong current. Soon the table is rumbling again and a similar, disastrous effect seems to show every where within at least a two mile radius. No chance of escape then, Lance thinks gravely. “Why exactly are you showing us this?” Dawns Voice is loud and accusing, not her usual shy self. “What do you mean?” The officer’s voice is harsh and dismissive, “Well” continues Dawn, her jaw clenched “Why show us if there’s nothing we can do about it?”
“Look girl” he says, his voice raised,
“-Dawn” Charlie interjects nervously, the officers eyes widen,
“Shut up!” He shouts with such force that Charlie winces and then turns back to Dawn, who has stepped back “Look, I think we know a little more than you, alright…” Dawn looks back at him plainly, though Lance notices the faint tremble in her legs, “Alright?!” The officer bellows when Dawn doesn’t answer, she coughs slightly “yes” her voice returning to a small whimper. She sits down and everyone at the table is silent.

The officer breathes deeply; it seems that he is the leader, the other four officers at the table stay silent, frightened into submission by his superiority. “We can still prepare, we need food, water, blankets… Well?” he looks at the officers with increasing agitation; they get up in a measured way and walk briskly towards the door to gather the supplies. Just then, as the silence at the table becomes almost unbearable the ground tremors. For real this time, the entire building seems to vibrate and then as suddenly as it began it all ends, the ground is still and everyone looks at each other, scared and confused. “Umm officer, was that…”Dawn asks, shaken
“Yes, the earthquake” replies the tall officer “and my name is Kurt, not, ‘Officer’” he turns away, not at all worried by the tremor. Just as he leaves Dawn turns to Lance, her eyes glistening, “I don’t like him” She says plainly, Neither do I” Lance replies, smiling consolingly. Suddenly remembering Lance blurts put “where is that girl, the tall one? I need to speak to her”,
“Oh” says Dawn, startled “I think she’s in the room, where you were sleeping” She looks quizzically at Lance but he is already turning towards the door. He walks quickly and luckily finds the route back easily, once he is through the glass passage and in front of the door he waits. Composing himself. He doesn’t know what he is here to say but he knows that it is crucial,
“Lance”, He turns and sees Dawn beside him, although he didn’t hear her following him,
“Yeah?” He says, still thinking hard. His preoccupied state must have shown in his face,
“What is it? Is it about the earthquake?” Lance looks up,
“No” He sighs, “I just need to talk to her”

If only none of this had happened, thinks Lance, closing his eyes and thinking of home but feeling Dawns suspicious eyes on him Lance opens the door and steps inside. The dark skinned girl is sitting on the bottom bunk of one of the many beds and doesn’t look up when they enter, Lance feels strangely nervous and fidgety as he steps into the middle of the room “Suheila?...”Looking up for the first time Suheila suddenly realizes who they are and her expression turns friendly and warm. “Lance, Dawn, how are you feeling?” She smiles,
“We’re fine” Says Dawn clearly at ease in the strangers presence , “But I think-“ She begins looking cautiously at Lance, “-I needed to talk to you “ Says Lance and , after a meaningful look from Lance Dawn turns and leaves without a word. As soon as the door has clicked shut after Dawn Suheila’s face changes dramatically, she becomes frantic, urgent and is continuously glances towards the door. Lance, stunned, stares at her quizzically but she ignores this and her words tumble out, “Lance” She says quickly almost, painfully “We don’t have much time, just tell me where Rafiel is” She stares, her wide eyed concern reminds Lance of Dawn and the uncanny likeness stuns him for a few seconds, “Lance” She says again, her voice getting more and more urgent “Oh” says Lance, still confused “Rafiel yeah he is umm he was… I think he was captured” Lance looks down at the floor with ashamed eyes and nervously waits for Suheila’s reaction. “How?”Suheila breathes, Lance shifts nervously again and breaths deeply before answering “He was, kind of saving me” He says in a small voice, but sudden curiosity kindles inside him “Wait,” he frowns “How do you know him?” Even though so many things have been happening to upset him lately, this seems to make him angrier and more aggressive than he has felt in a long time, “and why can’t Dawn hear any of this? And who are you!?” He is shouting now, not caring about who might be listening and awaiting a long explanation “And, how come I had a dream about you before I’d even met you!?”