Trust Me

My eyes snapped open to take in my dark room. It was the middle of the night but I could swear something woke me up. I glanced across the room to see Mila's sleeping form, softly snoring under her thin blankets.

There were no night time experiments scheduled for either of us last night, so we had the chance to sleep in the same room for a change.

Then I heard it again.

I quietly climbed out of bed, staying low while I lifted the mattress. It’s where I kept the knife I stole.

Then I heard it again. Someone was accessing our sleeping quarters. But at this time of night? Why?

I held my breath as the door slowly swung open. I watched as a large man walked in wearing a Facility issued uniform. His back was to me as he made a beeline for Mila’s bed. I snuck up behind him and pressed the knife to his back.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I hissed.

The man didn’t answer. He stood there with his back to me looking down at Mila. His breathing was getting heavier and I couldn't tell if it was from fear or not.

The whole situation was making me uncomfortable.

“Get away from her,” I growled. “Leave before I carve out your kidney.”

He took one step and then another towards the door. I stayed close to his back with the knife pressed into him just enough so he knew I meant business.

Once we were in the hallway, I stopped. “Turn around,” I commanded.

He hesitated before turning to face me. I didn’t recognize anything about him except the uniform. I don't think I'd ever seen him before.

He had green stripes on the sleeves of his jumpsuit which told me he worked in maintenance.

“What are you doing sneaking into our sleeping quarters?” I demanded.

He looked at me with blank, ugly brown eyes. He didn’t answer me, just continued to stare. Then I looked down and noticed his erection.

“You disgusting piece of shit!"

Rage consumed me as I lunged towards him and stabbed him in the groin. I was aiming for his dirty pedophile dick, but severing his femoral artery was good enough for me.

He groaned as he sank to the ground and I watched him bleed out slowly. Once I was sure he was dead, I went back inside, washed my hands, and crawled back into my bed.

I lay staring at the ceiling for the rest of the night, keeping watch over my baby sister. It didn’t phase me that I’d killed a grown man and left him in the middle of the hall outside our door.

I swore to myself a long time ago that I’d do anything it took to protect Mila.

The next morning in the dining hall, everyone around us was buzzing with gossip about the dead man that was found in the hallway.

I didn’t say a word as I ate the disgusting powdered eggs and drank the small carton of milk that we were given. Mila slept through everything that happened last night. She had no idea what I did.

We walked out and down the long hallway, hand in hand as usual, towards the laboratory. To a stranger, Mila looked perfectly normal, just as she did every day.

But she was my person, and I could tell something was weighing on her mind.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

Mila shrugged but didn’t comment.

I pulled her to a stop in the middle of the hall and gazed into her green eyes. “Talk to me,” I demanded.

She glanced down at her shoes before meeting my eyes again and I could see the shame. “That guy they were talking about, the one who was found dead?” she said.

“Yeah?”

She began to nervously pick the skin around her thumb. Anxiety was radiating off of her and I could feel the power in her core building with her emotions.

“He comes into our room at night sometimes?” I guessed.

She froze, staring at me with wide eyes as I continued softly. “He stands over your bed and stares at you when you’re sleeping? Should I go on?”

She shook her head no.

“Problem solved,” I said with a shrug, giving her a knowing look.

She gazed at me for a moment until she finally realized what I was saying. She gave me a hug and squeezed me as tight as she could before releasing me. No words were needed; she understood what I did to protect her.

Mila and I were both quiet as we continued on with our daily duties around the Facility, but I couldn’t ignore the look of relief behind her eyes.

Did I want to kill him? No.

Did I feel bad about it? Also no.

Later that day, we were standing with a group of scientists when I saw a man in a maintenance uniform. I slipped away and walked over to confront him.

“Did you know?” I asked, not wasting any time.

“Know what?” he asked cautiously, glancing around to see if anyone was listening.

“Did you know that he had been sneaking into our sleeping quarters at night?”

“Of course not,” he replied. “How could I have known that?”

The lie was obvious the minute it rolled out of his mouth.

“Are there more?” I asked. His face paled and his eyes widened but he didn’t answer me.

“Just know,” I said softly as I leaned closer to him, not breaking eye contact. “The same thing will happen to anyone else I catch sneaking into our room or trying to touch me or Mila.”

He nodded and pushed his maintenance cart away down the hall as quickly as he could, not daring to glance back.