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Turning my focus back to Niles, I tune out the rest of the prison, carefully examining his small movements, heart rate, perspiration, muscle twitches, and the rhythm of his breathing.
“He’s…upset,” I say slowly.
“About escaping?”
“I can’t read minds.”
She laughs, and the sound reaches into my heart.
“No, he’s not scared or anxious. More like his feelings are hurt,” I clarify.
“Is that as much intel as your small brain can identify?” she taunts.
Greystone laughs close to the front, filling my thoughts with dirty intentions. Kalidus is near too, infecting my personality with cockiness.
I accept her challenge with a male eagerness to impress her.
My brain is a complex web of memories that I’m unable to forget. At least, the ones not including what other alters have experienced. I comb through the many obnoxious moments with Niles in the prison. I don’t land on anything that would explain why he has his feelings hurt now. But maybe that’s because I don’t speak the theatrical language of Niles.
Skylenna taps her fingers against my kneecap impatiently.
I dig deeper. I sift through my memories of him in the asylum. I studied the other patients from their files. I didn’t want to go into the intricate section without being completely prepared. I see his file opening in my hands in the dead of night, remember scouring his name and diagnosis. His file stood out to me because I could relate to his identity crisis.
The rest of the information is useless. Treatment plans. Notes of behavior. I almost close the file before the top right corner stands out to me. I blink in surprise.
“What is it?” Skylenna asks, watching my face diligently.
“What’s today’s date?” I muse, quickly counting back from the days since we arrived.
“Uh.”
The dates connect, and the light goes off like fireworks in my mind.
I chuckle, shaking my head.
Skylenna is sitting up now, eyes wide with curiosity. “HA! I knew you could figure it out.”
“It’s his birthday tomorrow.” I shake my head. I don’t remember when the last time any of my alters have celebrated a birthday. We have a lot of them.
Skylenna gasps, putting a hand over her mouth.
“He thinks no one is going to know, Dessin! His feelings are hurt!”
I smirk, imagining how entertaining it will be to watch him pout through the prison tomorrow. “Yeah.”
She swats my arm. “Knock it off.”
I stare at her in surprise. “This is prison. We aren’t celebrating a fucking birthday. Especially not for Niles.”
Her grimace is actually kind of scary. I pinch my lips together, leaning back an inch.
“We’re celebrating my brother’s birthday,” she says, ice coating each syllable.
I glare back at her, unwilling to fight this fight. These desperate times call for desperate measures.
“Fuck,” I breathe.
Skylenna grins, doing a little dance in her seated position.
