"'System.'" The single word was spoken with such quiet, dangerous intensity that 427 actually shivered.
"...I'll just be quiet then."
"Good choice."
Heena closed her eyes, her face still pressed into the pillow, and willed unconsciousness to come quickly.
Outside her door, Raphael still stood in the hallway, staring at the closed entrance to her chambers.
'I don't touch things that have been touched by others.'
'Contaminated.'
'Secondhand.'
He'd thought five days of silence was punishment. He'd been wrong. Those words were the real punishment, and they cut deeper than any physical confinement ever could.
Slowly, he turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing in the empty corridor, his mind churning with thoughts he couldn't quite articulate.
Behind her closed door, Heena was already half-asleep, her body finally getting the rest it had been screaming for.
