The Recall Trials

We stood there, frozen, every second stretching like an hour. I could hear my own heartbeat, loud and fast, thudding against my chest. Zaara was still beside me, tense. My hand brushed against hers, cold and trembling.

The voice returned, spilling from the speakers. "Are they telling the truth?"

A pause.

That silence was torture. Like standing at the edge of a cliff, waiting to be shoved off.

Then, one of the men in black, the same one who’d barged in on us earlier in the restroom, gave a single nod.

I jumped in quickly, my voice cracking a little.

"Please... don’t hurt her."

I instinctively stepped slightly in front of Zaara, like I could protect her with my body, like I could somehow shield her from whatever punishment they had planned.

There was another pause.

Then finally, that same cold voice again. "Free them."

The guards slowly lowered their weapons. One by one, they backed away and began to file out of the room without another word, like nothing even happened.