Free Locked by Parker Witter Page A

way. Thinking about it now, maybe he did.
    â€œLike you’re somewhere else even when you’re here.”
    I reached for his cheeks. I turned his face to mine. “I’m not,” I said. “I promise. I’m right here with you.”
    I was. And maybe I still am. Because Ed wouldn’t do what Noah is doing. Ed wouldn’t turn me away.
    Â Â 
    â€œI need to talk to you,” Noah says that night. Asku has just left. We’ve been making woven baskets from leaves. Every resource is in abundance now. I can’t deny that under Noah’s guidance, presence, whatever, the island is coming back to life. We have more vegetables. The fruit is ripe and not rotted. We cook with spices that Asku gathers.
    We’re also learning to communicate better every day. Some days he even brings his wife. She’s a shy girl—she barely looks older than me—and she always keeps her head bent low. Today he told me they’re expecting a baby. I threw my arms around him. They were both smiling so wide.
    I’m still in a good mood, washing some ceramic plates in the water basin in the kitchen. Noah comes up behind me. I can feel the air charge between us—static electricity that increases in voltage the closer he comes. “Okay,” I say, not turning around, “talk.”
    I hear him exhale. “I know you’re mad.”
    I let the plate slide out of my hands in the water. “I’m not mad,” I say. I keep my back turned.
    â€œIt’s not easy for me, either.” I hear him behind me, edging closer, until I can feel the warmth of his body inches from mine. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I squeeze my eyes shut. I will myself not to respond to him this way.
    â€œThen why are you doing this?” I ask.
    In the next moment he reaches out and touches my neck. I feel his fingertips on my skin. They ignite there—so striking I think he might have just set my skin on fire.
    â€œBecause I need to protect you,” he says. I can hear how hoarse his voice is.
    I turn slowly to face him. I put a palm on his cheek. It’s wet, and some water slides down his skin like tears. I watch his eyes reflexively close. “You can protect me by being with me.”
    â€œThere’s something I haven’t told you,” he says, his eyes still closed. “I’ve known it since I first met the tribe. Maybe when I first pulled you out of the water, but it was too terrible to think about.”
    â€œWhat?” Whatever he has to say cannot be worse than what already is. It cannot be worse than being here with him and not being allowed to talk to him, touch him.
    He opens his eyes. They’re cold. The blue has crystallized all the way down to ice. “The plane crashed because I was on it,” he says. “The island didn’t just open to save me. It opened to pull me in.” He puts a hand over his forehead. Holds it there. “All of this. Ed. Your sister. The reason you’re here. It’s all because of me.”
    I don’t say anything. I don’t move. I know he thinks I should be angry. That I should hate him. “It wasn’t your fault,” I say.
    â€œHow can you say that?” His face is in so much pain. I want to touch him, to smooth his frown lines down with my fingers.
    â€œBecause it’s true,” I say. “You did not call yourself back here. You did not rush the cockpit and force us into the ocean. Your birthright was not your choice, Noah. And I won’t sit by and watch you punish yourself for something you couldn’t control.”
    â€œIt might not have been my choice,” he says. “But it is my destiny.”
    â€œNoah…”
    He smiles at me. It’s small. Hopeless. “I’ve done so much damage already. I’ve hurt so many people.…”
    â€œNo,” I say.
    â€œAugust, listen. I can’t take back what happened. But I can