She wondered where he was right now, what was he doing? Surely, it didn't take this long to get some granola bars. Right? When maybe he was still navigating through the dark. Did it even recede during the day? Was it even daytime right now? She had gotten to this mansion during the afternoon just yesterday.
Werry gently patted the creature’s head and shut the fridge door. “Would you be a dear and tell Greenie to feed everyone this morning?”
B purred softly and hobbled away as Werry grabbed out a couple granola bars.
Sage sat up and looked about the room, searching for windows. When she didn't find any. With a bitter laugh, she shook her head.
"We're in a basement, Sage! No windows…."
Werry crossed the room then back into the halls, where he briskly walked back to his room with a box of granola bars gripped into his hand. He went to open the door, but it was locked.
“Er… Sage?”
Sage jumped. Her attention turned to the door where she heard Werry's voice. She'd locked the door and totally forgotten. Slowly, she crossed the room and unlocked the door.
Werry was standing there, looking mildly concerned and tired. “Are you okay? Nothing’s going to come in here, you know.” He stepped forward and set a hand on the door.
"No." She corrected him. "I didn't know." Her tone was harsh, more or less defeated and worn. She let go of the doorknob and stepped away.
Werry pushed open his door and stepped in, shutting the door. “I-I’m sorry. I should’ve told you.” He stuck out the box. “I only have granola… bars…” His voice faltered out at the end of his sentence and he dipped his head.
Sage shrugged. "Better than nothing, though eating granola bars all the time can hardly be good for your healthy." She frowned a bit. "I-I'm sorry I– Still trying to figure out what to think about this whole situation….I didn't mean to get so testy."
Werry shrugged and handed over the box. “It’s not all I eat. I make stuff for myself too.” He crossed the room and sat down on his bed.
"Oh." Sage took the box and tore into the first granola bar in her hand. She broke the bar and ate a small piece at a time.
Werry crossed his fingers over his hands and he curled his legs up into his chest. It was awkward and uncomfortable in the spacious bedroom.
The silence was killing her, Sage fiddled awkwardly with the wrapper of the granola bar.
Say something! She urged herself, spitting out the first things that came to mind.
"Why did you fact your death?"
Werry didn’t like the consistent diddiksskdididkdkdkk of the granola bar wrapper. He was ready to ask her to stop when she interrupted him.
“O-oh. Why I faked it? I didn’t want people asking about me.”
"But why?" Sage sat her wrapper down and looked at him. "What you do is admirable in our eyes. Spending your lfie to find cure to diseases that have taken many lives from us. Why would you want to hide from that? And what was that thing that you were feeding yesterday?"
Werry rubbed his fingers together, looking down at them. “I-um… I don’t think I'm any kind of a hero. I’m just… awful.” He shook his head.
“It was one of my monsters. It was Yellow.”
Sage squeezed her eyes shut, she was getting a headache already. "Alright, one conversation at a time." She set her granola bar down on her lap. "How can you be awful? What you gave up your life for… Your efforts may have failed, and maybe a lot of lives were lost but you tried did you not?"
“I tried,” Werry breathed softly, “but not hard enough.” He couldn’t bring himself to tell her that not a life was lost. Instead they were locked in a worse battle because of him.
"But that's not what matters… Everyone is grateful for what you've done." She looked to him. "Even if it wasn't enough."
Werry gritted his hands into fists and shook his head. “They are unhappy with me. If I came out and told them what I have done, they would be exceptionally unhappy.”
Sage looked at him, confused. "You mean that you faked your death? I don't think they'd be that mad…"
Werry shook his head with a sigh. “No. No it’s not that. It is the reason why I did so that they would be upset with me for.” He ungritted his hands.
“But… it doesn't matter. Not any more.”
"But it does matter." Sage interjected. "You're not dead, your lab is up and running, and you have monsters down him. This all matters."
Werry shrugged. “My monsters aren’t going to do anything. Like everyone, I’ll die. And my lab is hardly up and running. It’s just… here.”
"Then why stay?" Sage asked. She looked at him for the first time for that whole conversation. "Why not leave it behind? Start a new life? Why wallow in shame and regret and darkness that never ends? Why become the keeper of those things?"
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