Chapter 13 Chapter 13

Chapter 13 Chapter 13

Myla’s POV

I knew I had to get the answers my own way, no one would hand them over to me.

Everything here had its secrets, everyone here had their stories.

I had none. And this has to be my story.

So I walked through the hallway differently now, paying attention to any touch or any movement that seemed out of place.

Their voices overlapped each other while their steps echoed everywhere, but that's not what my mind followed.

It followed those that moved behind others, it followed those that dressed distinctively, those that walked where others didn't.

Someone laughed too loudly somewhere down the hall, cutting through my heavy thoughts.

“Shit,” I cursed under my breath, getting anything done in this environment would take ages.

Nothing seemed to stick.

My grip tightened slightly around the little notebook as I started walking further away, not really sure where I was heading at first.

My legs moved on their own, carrying me forward while my mind stayed somewhere else entirely.

That is the question that changed everything.

Her voice replayed, steady. Certain.

Be careful where your questions take you.

My steps slowed without me realizing.

“Hey—”

I blinked as the sound cut through the fog just enough.

“Myla.”

I turned my head slightly and spotted Kyle already walking towards me.

His brows were pulled together while his eyes scanned my face like he was trying to figure something out.

“What happened in there?" He asked immediately, falling into step beside me. “You guys stayed in there for way too long.”

I shook my head faintly and kept walking. “Nothing.”

But of course, he didn’t buy it.

“Nothing?” He repeated, glancing at me sideways. “You look like you just got dragged through hell.”

“I didn’t,” I replied with my voice flat. “It was just questions.”

“What kind of questions?” He pressed and I shrugged slightly.

“Just stuff from the class,” I replied and he slowed a bit, forcing me to slow with him.

“This is not how you look after ‘class stuff,’” he exclaimed, and I didn’t answer.

I just kept walking.

“Myla—”

“It’s nothing,” I cut in, sharper this time, then softened it a little. “She just… pointed out some things about the question I asked. That’s it.”

Kyle watched me for a second longer, like he was deciding whether to keep pushing or not.

Then he let out a heavy breath. “Right.”

But I knew he was anything but convinced. I was also grateful he let it go.

No way I could tell him everything, at least not yet.

So we walked generally in silence, catching up with our group then reaching the next class.

I moved inside without waiting for him and took my seat before he took the one beside me.

I didn’t bother opening my notebook this time around, didn’t even reach for a pen.

I barely looked at the board for more than a second.

The class had started and the tutor spoke as he could

Something about structure and about layered responses. He talked about controlled reactions and all that, but the words kept coming in and leaving the other way.

They slipped past like everything else.

I leaned back slightly in my chair, keeping my eyes forward but not actually staring at anything.

“And that is why precision matters more than speed—”

A chair scraped somewhere behind me and someone whispered, probably among themselves.

A pen tapped repeatedly against a desk at another side, but everything played out at their own end.

Everything kept happening around me while I zoned out.

“Myla.”

I blinked slowly and turned at Kyle’s voice.

He was watching me again, leaning a bit towards my desk. “You’ve been staring at the same spot for like ten minutes now.”

“I’m listening,” I replied.

“You’re not,” he said flatly and I didn’t argue.

He studied me for another second. “This about earlier?”

I looked away. “Drop it.”

His jaw tightened slightly, but he leaned back anyway and the class went on.

I stayed exactly the same way, stiff and only physically present.

But not here one bit.

By the time the class ended and I stepped out for lunch, nothing had changed.

If anything, the noise just felt louder.

The cafeteria buzzed with voices and trays clattering with chairs dragging across the floor.

I sat across from Kyle with my tray untouched.

“You’re not eating?” He asked.

“I will.”

But I didn’t.

He leaned forward slightly. “Okay, seriously—what happened in there?”

I exhaled quietly, resting my elbows lightly on the table.

“It’s nothing,” I repeated.

“That’s the third time you’ve said that.”

“Because it is.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s not. You’ve been off since you walked out.”

I stayed silent and he watched me, probably waiting for me to speak.

“She just,” I started, then paused, choosing my words carefully. “She asked me questions, personal ones. Then said some things that didn’t really… add up.”

Kyle frowned slightly. “Like what?”

I hesitated. Then shook my head. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It clearly does for it to have done this to you,” he shot back.

“It doesn’t,” I repeated, quieter now.

He leaned back slightly with his brows dragged down and his lips twitching.

He didn't say anything for a while, just kept tapping his finger and foot against the floor and table.

“You know you can just tell me, right?” He asked after a while.

And I picked at the edge of the tray without looking up. “I know.”

“Then why aren’t you?”

Because I didn’t even fully understand it myself.

Because the moment I tried to explain it, it sounded… wrong.

Because—

“Just drop it,” I said again, and this time, he didn’t push.

But he didn’t stop shaking or tapping his fingers against the table.

By the end of lunch, I managed to mouth down half of my meal and still left for the next class with Kyle.

We got there few minutes later and I just sat like the previous class.

Barely listening to anything and just watching as the tutor taught whatever he was teaching.

At some point, I grabbed pieces of the conversations around me.

“Did you hear what happened earlier—”

“No, but she looked—”

“They don’t usually call people back like that—”

My name wasn’t mentioned. But I knew all too well it was all about me.

Still, I didn’t react, I didn’t turn. I didn't dare react to any of them.

I just sat through it all.

Kyle tried again once. Then again. But each time, I gave him less of an answer.

And the more he pressed, the more it pissed me off.

Till he stopped trying altogether.

The rest of the class went by with me only noticing when others began packing up and leaving.

I got up and followed till we got to the last class.

I would have been better off sleeping through it as I just sat there till my head hurt.

At the end of the class, I was one of the first to step out as everything in me needed a break.

I stepped out through the crowd without waiting for Kyle, I was just about done with the day.

But as I took a few steps away from the class, Kyle rushed towards me.

“Kyle—” I started but he didn't give me a chance to speak.

“Follow me,” he said and grabbed my arm lightly, pulling me aside.

“Okay, that’s it,” he said and I looked up at him.

“You’ve been like this all day,” he continued, with his hands twitching. “What is going on with you?”

I pulled my arm free gently. “Nothing.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “No, I’m not taking that again.”

I stared at him for a second. Then something shifted.

“Have you ever thought of what happens behind the walls?” I asked suddenly.

And he blinked. “What?”

“The walls,” I repeated. “This place. Everything we’re being taught—have you ever thought about what’s behind it?”

He stared at me now, shaking his head and waving his hands between us. “That’s not something we’re supposed to think about.”

“Why not?”

“Because—” he stopped, frowning. “Because it’s not relevant.”

“Not relevant,” I repeated the same words in the same tone. “Does that make sense to you?” I asked.

He hesitated.

“That we’re told what to learn, what to think, what matters—and everything else is just… off limits?”

“That’s how structure works,” he said slowly.

“Or control,” I replied.

Silence followed as he studied me carefully now.

Then—unexpectedl
y—he exhaled.

“Okay,” he said.

And I blinked. “What?”

“If you’re this worked up about it, then fine,” he added. “We check.”

My brows pulled together slightly.

“If anything goes wrong,” he continued, lowering his voice, “we don’t know each other.”