The first thing Tandy noticed when she woke was how strange and uncomfortable it was. The usual warmth of her bed and plushies was gone, causing her eyes to flutter open as she stared at the unfamiliar surroundings.
Then slowly but surely, she remembered what happened to bring her here. Running away from home, getting captured by those men, the lab...the boy etc.
Her gaze fell to the floor, and her breath caught. Tyrone was there, slouched against the base of the couch with a thin blanket draped loosely over his shoulders.
His head tilted slightly forward, lips parted in deep sleep, his chest rising and falling in slow, even rhythm. He looked younger like this, less guarded. The sharp lines of his jaw and the shadows under his eyes softened.
She studied him quietly for a long moment, curiosity blooming again. He was… strange. Not in a bad way, but in a way that made her curious. As she remembered all that happened, it made her curious about his story.
Why did he get taken by those men? Why is he living alone? How was he so comfortable killing those men the night prior?
All of those thoughts clung to her head, but she also felt a mysterious pull, from the very depths of her soul that seemed to want to connect the two. Her fingers itched, a tingling warmth gathering at her palms.
She blinked, lifting her hand slightly, and there it was again, just like the night prior, light. Soft threads of radiance unfurled from her skin, weaving between her fingers like living silk.
The faint glow lit the air in delicate strands before dispersing, leaving tiny motes that shimmered for a breath before fading.
Her heart quickened. She tried again, focusing, and a shard of solid light flickered into existence between her fingers, small and dagger-like.
It pulsed faintly, humming with energy, and for a moment she was transfixed, until it slipped away as suddenly as it had come. Opposite of the darkness Tyrone seemed to have, she was a pure brilliant light.
Tandy barely knew why, but that thought made her feel good. She exhaled shakily, clenching her hand to snuff out the glow.
She glanced at Tyrone, still asleep, thankfully, and eased herself off the couch. Her bare feet made almost no sound on the creaking boards as she stretched her legs and began to wander, searching for the bathroom.
She cracked open the wrong door.
It wasn't a bathroom at all.
The room inside was cramped, dim, but her eyes widened as she stepped in. Shelves sagged under the weight of thick books, many of them worn, their spines cracked and faded.
Picking up the various books, all of them had a similar topic. 'Engineering' From Robotic Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and more, the books had all the way from basic knowledge to incredibly advanced knowledge filling them.
She also looked across the room to another desk, which was cluttered with half-finished projects: Wires, small mechanical parts, blueprints rolled and discarded in corners. An old circuit board sat abandoned beneath a thin layer of dust.
She touched one of the books gently, brushing away the settled grit, her eyes scanning the title: Mechanical Dynamics and Design. Another read Fluid Mechanics. Another, Practical Engineering Applications.
She continued to explore the room, and buried deep under some boxes of left-over engineering projects was a photo that drew her in, a cracked frame.
Tyrone stood in the photo, younger, maybe eleven or twelve. He grinned shyly at the camera, flanked by two figures: a tall man with kind eyes and broad shoulders, and another boy close to Tyrone's current age, their resemblance unmistakable. His father. His brother.
Her chest tightened as she realized.
The floorboard behind her creaked.
Tandy startled and spun, clutching the frame, only to find Tyrone leaning in the doorway. He was awake now, hair ragged and a hoodie tugged over his lean frame.
His expression was unreadable, but his eyes flicked from her face to the photo in her hands.
"I didn't mean to…" she began, trailing off, embarrassed. She carefully set the photo back on the desk.
He stepped further in, his voice low, steady, "You're up early."
"I was looking for the bathroom," she said softly, still glancing around at the abandoned projects. "But… you used to do all this?"
For a moment, he didn't answer. His jaw flexed, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. Finally, he nodded once.
"I wanted to be an engineer," he admitted. His gaze lingered on the books, the scraps of metal, the ghost of a dream long buried, "When I was younger."
Her brows drew together. "What happened?"
He looked at her then, and for a split second something heavy flickered in his eyes, an old wound, raw and unspoken.
"Something came up," he said simply. His tone made it clear that was the end of it.
Tandy followed his gaze back to the cracked photo. Her throat tightened with unasked questions, but she didn't press. She had noticed, there was no father or brother here, only Tyrone and silence.
She just nodded, letting the moment settle.
"Bathroom's the next door down," Tyrone said, breaking the silence as he turned away.
Tandy lingered for a breath longer, glancing once more at the photo and the dust-covered projects before following him out, the image of the boy in the frame etched sharply into her mind.
***
When Tandy finally returned from the bathroom, the faintest curl of steam was drifting up from the low table in the center of the living room. She paused, blinking in surprise.
A bowl of instant noodles sat waiting for her, the broth rich and fragrant, the edges of the cup slightly fogged from the heat. A fork rested neatly on top.
Tyrone was crouched nearby, adjusting something on a small hot plate before unplugging it. He noticed her watching and shrugged, his tone casual.
"Didn't have much else. Figured you'd be hungry."
She blinked again, caught off guard. Nobody had ever made her breakfast outside of a maid or cook before. She eased onto the couch and took the bowl, the warmth seeping into her fingers.
"Thank you," she murmured, her voice softer than she intended.
Tyrone didn't sit right away. He leaned back against the wall, arms crossed, as if measuring whether she'd actually eat it.
She did. The salty broth slid over her tongue, warming her belly, and despite herself, she smiled faintly. It was the first time she'd ever eaten instant noodles, her family was so rich she'd eat things 10x better.
However, maybe it was because of the situation they were in, this was one of the most delicious meals she'd ever experienced. She eagerly chowed down on the meal, the sound of her eating the only one echoing throughout the room.
Finally, Tandy set the bowl down on the table and looked at him.
"We should probably… know each other's names at least," she said.
He raised an eyebrow, then realized they had indeed not introduced each-other, and he quickly gave his name, "Tyrone. Tyrone Johnson."
"Tandy Bowen," she offered in return. "Nice to officially meet you, Tyrone."
His brow lifted slightly at her tone, but he didn't reply right away. Instead, he finally dropped onto the couch opposite her, elbows braced on his knees.
"Last night…" he started, voice low, searching, "What you did. That light."
Her hand instinctively twitched, her fingers remembering the warmth, the way it had poured out of her skin. She hesitated, then nodded., "And what you did. That… darkness. The way you pulled those men—" she cut herself short, shivering at the memory, "We're not… normal, are we?"
Tyrone's jaw tightened. "No. We're not. Whatever happened in that lab changed us," he said.
Tandy frowned, her arms curling around herself, "I've never… felt anything like it. That light," she glanced down at her hands, flexing her fingers,"it's in me. I don't even understand it, but I feel like I can maybe control it,"
Their gazes locked, and for a long moment neither spoke.
Tandy broke the silence first. "Then what do we do?" Her voice trembled slightly, but there was steel beneath it. "We can't just pretend it didn't happen."
Tyrone exhaled, slow and steady, "We figure it out. Together. Whatever they did to us, whatever this is… We don't let it control us." His tone hardened, conviction cutting through the weight of his words. "We control it."
Her chest tightened at the certainty in his voice. She gave a small nod, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Together," she echoed, though the word tasted strange in her mouth.
Thinking back to her family, they rarely did things together. She mostly spent her life alone, her mother and step-father just vague figures in the distance who supplied her with money.
Tyrone glanced at the empty bowl and then back at her. "Eat up whenever you're hungry. Food's not much, but it'll do."
Tandy smiled faintly, leaning back into the couch. "Better than anything I expected to find here."