"You took long enough." Looking at the face which was in front of their tent, Clay could see Miranda with an amused expression on her face."Sorry I had a bad dream..." Clay wasn"t sure what made him share the reason why he was late, it was a lame excuse in any case but it seemed Miranda somehow understood because she simply smiled as she nodded for him to hurry up.
It took some time before they were finally in position at the spot Sergeant Coniver had pointed out earlier. Taking out a cloak from his tactical back pack he draped it over himself to hide his presence, like the military tent, the hooded cloak was made of the same cameo optical material with the added function of being able to keep in heat and being both resistant to wind and water.
Next to him he could see the eyes of Miranda looking out from the same cloak. "Did you sleep well?" It was a half-hearted attempt to make conversation.
"Hmm.."
It was quiet in the silence as the two tried to get used to their new role, it was a valuable experience. the spot that they sat in gave good coverage of their camp as well as the surrounding area.
"What kind of dream did you have?" Miranda"s curiosity eventually got the better of her.
Hesitating, Clay still decided to reply despite his embarra.s.sment, he had to get along with these people in any case for the next two years. Though he wasn"t sure why or how he had arrived into this new world, he couldn"t think of any way to go back, not that there was anything to go back to: he was already dead.
"I"m not sure, I was in some strange place but someone was talking to me.. I just couldn"t understand what they were saying."
A small laughter came from Miranda as she waved off his "bad dream", "that was your bad dream?"
"That"s not a bad dream, this is the first time I have heard someone become so worried about nothing!" The sound of her laughter carried off on the winds as Clay considered what she had said. Maybe she was right, it didn"t sound so bad after all.
"Errr... I guess so. Thanks, I feel better."
"You feel better after being laughed at? Is this how you normally talk to girls?"
Clay was starting to feel weird, a slight sweat started at the back of his neck.
"Don"t worry I wasn"t making fun of you, I just find you funny is all. Do you know everyone who has made their way this far has had their fair share of nightmares, thank you."
"Thank you? For what?" Clay was confused as he glanced at Miranda from the corner of his eyes.
The wind continued to blow as they two remained quiet on their watch surveying for any dangers, a comfortable silence seemed to descent the s.p.a.ce between the two.
A voice suddenly broke the silence as Miranda was the first to speak.
"Maybe you don"t know but being a girl is difficult, I envy guys like you sometimes. Do you know how many girls were screened and selected for the Staircase Programme, I did some research and the ratio seems to be about forty percent girls to guys but the ones who made it so far are only twenty two percent. It is a huge drop."
Clay tried to find something comforting to say as he heard the sudden confession from Miranda. It was a short moment before he eventually spoke.
"Congratulations." That"s right, he wasn"t sure what to say after all, this was the first time since coming to this world someone had spoken to him so sincerely.
"Yeah. Thank you." The silence continued as the two carried their shift. Time pa.s.sed quickly under the strange atmosphere.
"Hey look, looks like we can go back soon."
Shaking her head Miranda simply smiled as she got ready to finish their shift. Watching her figure as she descended the slope where they had been trying to keep motionless, a sense of melancholy could be felt from her body. Clay could understand why she shook her head. "They couldn"t go back, they could only go forward". She was right, he could only go forward now.
Entering his tent, Clay walked to the figure of Tigul who was already awake, "thanks for earlier". Despite how he looked, he realised that Tigul was someone who was kind and warm, he had woken especially to remind him not to be late for his shift. Unlike him Tigul was already ready and simply nodded acknowledging him before he stepped out.
Laying back down on the tent floor, Clay was suddenly thinking once more of his parents. "Was there really now way to go back? Why am I here?" The questions seemed to pile up in his mind, he was exhausted, as the answers were left empty, his mind slowly once again fell back to sleep. The last thing he thought of was Miranda"s bitter smile as she had shook her head.
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