Through Glass(29)

And the light had chased the Ulama away.

This light would change everything. I had a weapon. A real weapon, not a piece of wood. It would keep them away and if they got too close, it would kill them.

Excitement coursed through me, making my skin tingle as the adrenaline settled in place. I could get to Cohen. I could get out of this prison. We could get out of here.

I climbed carefully down from the sink, my long fingers wrapping around the large square box as I searched for a switch that could turn it on. I found it, nestled against the wide rim. The rippled toggle switch was hard under my fingers. I flicked it back and forth, over and over in an attempt to get the light to turn back on, but nothing happened.

I pushed the batteries back in place, but still nothing. I clenched my teeth as I tried again, unwilling to accept that after two years the batteries could be dead after one use or that the light could be broken. It would have to be the batteries. I didn’t want to think of it being anything else. A broken light only meant I was a sitting duck, waiting for them to take me.

I would have to find batteries, Cohen could help me. Between the two of us we would have to find something, and then we would be free from them. We would be together. I sighed heavily before I ran from the bathroom, hugging the light to my chest.

I could get us out.

I repeated it to myself over and over. My hope growing dangerous as I ran into my room. I gently placed the light on my bed, my fingers running over the surface like it was the skin of a newborn; precious and breakable.

I could get us out.

I smiled at the light like a fool before throwing an old t-shirt on over my underwear. My feet took me to the window before I was even fully dressed.

I didn’t hesitate, I threw the curtain open, situating myself in front of the window. Part of me didn’t expect him to be there and the dread of having to wait terrified me. We needed to find batteries and get out of here as quickly as we could. There he was, his eyes wide in panic, his face red and bloodshot.

Everything inside of me seized at the look on his face. My nerves clinched in fear that he had been attacked at the same time that I was under attack. I jumped at the sensation, my nerves ready to fight before I remembered. He had heard the whole thing. He had heard my screams, heard the call of the Ulama. He thought I was dead.

He looked at me and his jaw dropped, his whole body coming to press right up against the glass in his desperate attempt to get closer to me.

I gaped at the action, pressing my hand against the glass. My whole body shook in anticipation over what I was about to tell him; the adrenaline and fear from the attack only barely starting to wear off.

“Are you all right?” he signed, his fingers moving furiously fast as he fumbled over the letters, his eyes widening as he continued to stare at me.

My heart beat painfully at the look in his eyes. My head was spinning around, expecting to see one of the monsters standing behind me, even though I had already checked. I looked around, still trying to make sense of his continued panic when I saw the strips of blood that were beginning to seep through the dirty fabric of my shirt. In everything, I had forgotten that I had been hurt.

My arms and chest were covered with the shallow gashes from their razors, and from the stinging I felt, I am sure my face was as well. Looking at it this way, it was a miracle that I had survived the attack at all.

I waved at Cohen, grateful when the movement of my hand caught his attention.

“Cohen,” I signed. “I’m okay. I’m alive. It’s okay.”

He merely looked at me and I could see the doubt in his eyes, the guilt and worry that he had been absorbing as he had been forced to listen helplessly to what he had assumed was my death. His heavy emotions mixed in the black heat of his eyes, combining in a look that took my breath away.

“I’m okay,” I signed again, needing him to calm. I wanted him to look at me, to know I was okay. I didn’t like seeing him so scared when I knew that I was okay. I kissed my fingers and placed them against the glass, needing him to know I was all right. I was grateful when his body started to relax. His hand coming to mirror mine against the window.

“I killed an Ulama,” I signed the moment his shoulders had loosened. His eyes went wide as he began to understand what I had signed to him.

“In the bathroom,” I signed, having to start over a few times, my excitement causing my hands to jump over the signs a bit. “They attacked me. The light came on. It turned to ash.”

I kept it simple, knowing he was already freaking out over my having been attacked.

“The light killed them?” he asked, his eyes widening in shock and confusion as his mind was finally able to move off what had happened.

“We can get out?” he asked. I bobbed my head enthusiastically at him in answer. “I can be with you?”

“Yes,” I mouthed, both of our smiles widening at that one simple word.

After all this time, we didn’t have to be alone anymore. No more glass. No more air to separate us. No more monsters haunting us. We could get out and we could fight them. We could move beyond it. Perhaps, even find the sun.

“The first thing I am going to do,” he signed, the wide smile on his face making him look more like he used to, like my fun loving best friend, the guy I had fallen in love with, “is kiss you.”





I had searched the house for hours. I went through every room, upturning piles of trash that I had discounted so many times before and tearing apart rooms further in my mad attempt to find anything. I had pulled out cabinets, looked through broken bits of couches and ransacked closets in search of D batteries, wiring and anything else that might help me to get the light running. I pulled this house apart as quietly as I could, searching everywhere. Well, almost everywhere. I wouldn’t go into the other bedrooms. I knew I wouldn’t find anything in there anyway, not after the first day.