So I have no clue why I'm suddenly writing so much more than I usually do, I guess it isn't a bad thing. This is after Plague but there aren't really any mayor spoilers. It's a one-shot.
Please read and tell me what you think!
Of course she was sitting by the lake. She was almost every night. Sanjit watched as she took off her boots and set them next to the bottle of vodka . Slowly, she let her feet disappear in the water.
Usually Patrick was with her. He wasn't now, which Sanjit saw as a good excuse. She would hate him for joining her on the dock. Which was why he had left her alone for so many nights. But Lana had to learn not to always get her way.
He sat down next to her. He closed his eyes and breathed in the fresh air, slowly, contend. 'Everybody is asleep.'
'Did I give you permission to sit there?' she snapped, turning her eyes from the lights in the sky.
'Well I don't see your name on this dock, and I don't see your name on me either,' he said with a smile, 'so I don't think you have any say in this.'
'I don't want you to sit there.'
'O, don't worry,' he said. 'Then I won't sit here.' He let himself fall with his back against the dock. 'I can lay here too.'
Sanjit waited for a response, a witty comeback. She didn't say anything. She rumbled in one of her boots and took out a small package and a lighter. When she had lit her cigarette she lay down too.
'I didn't know you still smoke.'
'Yeah,' she said. Then she took a long drag from her cigarette. 'It's to drive away the mosquitoes and,' a white cloud was released from her lips and disappeared between the stars. 'other annoying things.'
'Where did you get them? I thought you ran out.'
'It was a gift I got from some kid.'
'A gift?' he said, unbelieving. It didn't make sense to him.
'Yeah. A gift. You know, those kids who want to thank me for healing them or they just want to get on my good side. When they find cigarettes or,' she raised the half empty bottle of vodka, 'they give them to me as a present.'
He laughed. A laugh out of irony. 'What a donation! Every present brings you closer to your death!'
She finally turned her head to look at him and Sanjit felt more fire in his chest than the vodka could ever give him. Her attention was the best thing that could happen to him, even though he expected an irritated glance. Even though she would probably to say: 'Shut up, Sanjit. Don't be such a cliché.'
She didn't. Never had she looked at him with so much pity. Never had she made him feel so ignorant, so uncomprehending. Had he said something weird? He repeated his last sentence in his head.
She turned away again. 'Like I said. It was a gift.'
There was a long silence. For a second Sanjit thought Lana might have fallen asleep. He was proven wrong when she grabbed the bottle and took a sip. Well, tried to. Because she immediately lifted herself and as she sat down Lana sneezed all the alcohol on her legs.
'That wasn't very smart, now was it?' He raised himself to see if she was okay.
'Shut up.'
She repeated her attempt, this time sitting, and closed her eyes as she squirted the vodka inside. 'Here,' she said, holding the bottle under his nose.
Sanjit looked at it for a few seconds. 'Whatever,' he said, as he took it from her. He drank, his eyes squeezed, then gave the bottle back to her. 'That's not as bad as I expected.'
She shook her head disapprovingly. 'You are such a hypocrite.'
'That's different!' Sanjit laughed. Then added, 'shit,' as he realized he might wake up the other kids. He now whispered, 'that is not the same thing.'
She raised her eyebrows and nodded. 'Sure, Sanjit. Whatever.'
They both lay down again and Lana was amazed by how real the stars in front of her seemed. The idea of a wall above her seemed so surreal.
He, apparently, was thinking about the same thing. 'Do you think we ever get out?'
She thought for a moment. Then said, 'I've stopped thinking about that a long time ago.'
'Don't you want to know how to end this?' he asked.
Lana was surprised by his question, but tried not to make a problem of it. She laughed bitterly. 'Yeah, we all know how that turned out.'
As she lit up a second cigarette, she suddenly felt like talking. 'You know, Sanjit? I Why don't I tell a story.'
'Uhm, okay. Go ahead.'
'Alright. So when I was seven, I had this friend whose name was Laurie. She had an older brother and one day she stole a DVD from his room. It was a horror movie so curious as we were, we watched it. I think it was about this really creepy zombie who killed people in the middle of the night with a knife.' Lana frowned as she tried to remember her story, then smiling added, 'it was the most cheesy movie ever.'
Sanjit didn't say anything. He was probably wondering where her story was going, something Lana hadn't figured out herself yet. She just continued.
'But anyway, that night I was incredibly afraid. I couldn't sleep for days. After a while though, I realized that I wasn't afraid if I simply closed my eyes.' As if a demonstration, Lana did exactly that. With closed eyes she went on. She said her last sentence softly, as if she had never known before. 'I was safe when I was blind.'
'I don't think I get it,' he admitted. In his voice Lana could hear that he passionately wished he could.
With her lips she formed a meaningless smile. 'It's not a story about me. It's just what I'm trying to say. When has knowing something ever made you happier?'
'I'm sure it has at least once,' he said, but doubtfully.
She shook her head. 'Information in useless. You are never in danger unless you know danger and you are never dying unless you know you will die. That way the dumbest are immortal.'
'You don't want to be immortal.'
He thought he'd won. He hadn't.
She nonchalantly blew smoke in his face. He hated it when she did that. 'I just don't want to be alive. So I'm gonna be blind.'
He stood up. Lana demanded herself not to stop him, not to show him she liked his presence. She lost.
'So, you're gonna-'
'Stand up, Lana,' he cut her off.
She did.
'Close your eyes.'
She wanted to protest, but then remembered the statement she had earlier. So she did as she was told. Lana felt arms around her. She felt how Sanjit let himself fall off the dock and into the water as he took her with him. She tried to free herself from him, and tried to prevent falling in the lake. It was in vein. Before Lana knew it, the two of them were soaked and standing up to their elbows in the water.
'Where the fuck was that good for?' As much as she tried not to wake anyone, she felt the need to express her anger.
His face was filled with pleasure. 'You would have seen that coming if you didn't close your eyes.'
'You told me to close them!'
'And you did.' He casually shook his shoulders. 'It was just a demonstration.'
Lana felt something inevitable. Something that made her understand him.
He came closer and she felt his hands on her cheeks. Their lips touched slowly, peacefully.
'From now on,' he whispered, 'next time you want to be blind, let me be your eyes.'