The Eve Illusion

by Giovanna Fletcher

  ‘Is that a …?’

  ‘Throne? Yes. I forgot to mention that this place was originally a palace. Bit much?’ I laugh.

  ‘A bit.’

  ‘Well, you never know, you might learn to love it.’

  ‘Hmmm, Queen Eve has a nice ring to it, right, Hols?’ She pauses. ‘Sorry, Bram.’

  ‘It’s okay. It’ll take time. This is new for us.’

  As I say it, I realize how weird that sounds – us – as in me and the most important person on the planet.

  ‘This might be a silly question but how do you turn the lights on?’ Eve asks. ‘Are there lights?’

  I walk to the wall and point to a small bronze switch. I flick it and the glow of bulbs warms the room.

  ‘Wow.’ She grins at the ancient technology.

  ‘Vintage lighting. Original period features. Comes complete with its own water feature.’ I gesture to the leaking ceiling as a few drops fall into a bucket.

  ‘I’ll take it.’ Eve laughs.

  She studies the room, notes the small but perfectly made bed in the far corner protruding from a hospital curtain.

  ‘This isn’t for ever,’ I say. ‘I know what it feels like to leave that place behind for this one. It’s a shock. At least, it was for me when I first came down here.’

  ‘I have so many questions.’

  ‘I know. There’ll be time for that, but right now you need rest.’

  ‘Where will you be?’ she asks, sounding a little concerned.

  ‘I’ll be in the next room if you need me. Not far. Chubs is guarding the only entrance, so you’re safe now,’ I reassure her.

  She nods and takes a few steps towards the bedroom as I return to the doorway.

  ‘Bram?’ she calls softly.

  I pause, already knowing what she’s about to say.

  ‘Stay with me?’ she whispers, looking hopefully at me.

  I can’t not give her what she needs. Not tonight.

  ‘Okay,’ I whisper, as I close the door.

  8

  Eve

  Walls. Tall, regal, oppressive walls stand proudly around me. The room is beautiful – even though the plastic sheets that hang to protect it from flooding are clearly visible. They make me feel small, scared and nervous. I’m used to being surrounded by nature – a luscious green garden full of blooms and colour, and a never-ending view of the sky. Perfect sunrises and sunsets. At least, images of them.

  I’d laugh if the truth weren’t so demoralizing.

  I want someone to strip it all back. To tell me simply what’s going on and what I should be feeling.

  ‘What was true?’ I hear myself ask Bram. My voice surprises me. I sound so vulnerable. But, of course, I can be vulnerable around him. I trust him. He has earned my trust time and time again. He came back for me, putting himself in danger in the process. He has already seen me at my lowest, albeit always through her eyes. If I can’t voice my insecurities to him, then I’ll never be able to do so with anyone.

  ‘True?’ he asks.

  ‘In there. My life. Was any of it real?’

  Suddenly I feel weak and tired. How long have I been awake? It must be the middle of the night, at least. It’s impossible to know in the darkness in which they live down here below ground. But, as exhausted as I am, I need to know this. Everyone wants me to wait until tomorrow before trying to make sense of it all, but it’s torturous not knowing whether I can look back at anything fondly, or whether I should turn my back on the lot of it.

  ‘I know there have been lies and my life has been guided by their manipulation. But were there some elements of truth within all of that?’ I ask. ‘Or do I need to grieve a complete life I never really had?’

  ‘Your relationships were real,’ he tells me.

  ‘Even though everyone else knew I was just a pawn?’

  ‘We were all pawns, Eve. Not just you,’ he says.

  ‘At least you were aware of it,’ I say. ‘But everything I did and said and felt – I just don’t know how much of that was really me, and how much of it was them.’

  Bram inhales deeply, looking around the room as though it’ll provide him with answers.

  ‘I believe it was really you,’ he answers. ‘I believe you really felt those things. I have to, because if you didn’t then I didn’t. And I don’t want that to be the case.’

  I watch his lips, and move my gaze up to his dark eyes. My cheeks flush.

  ‘I don’t think there’s ever just one truth, Eve,’ he says, breaking away and standing up. ‘Even with my dad, I can say what I want about him and question his motives as much as I like, but I’m sure he has his own reasons for doing what he does. I’m sure he must believe there’s good in it.’

  I look beyond Bram to the rest of the room they’ve prepared for me. Alien textures, patterns and fabrics, an unpleasant smell in the air. The uncertainty it’s layered with. Despite what Helena said, this isn’t my home. Not yet. It’s so different. So cold. So uninviting. ‘Have I done the right thing?’ I ask. I bite my lip and tears spring to my eyes.

  ‘Yes,’ he says without hesitation.

  ‘Then why do I feel so unsure? Why am I aching for something that never was?’ My chest tightens.

  ‘Do you really wish you were back up there? Ignorant of what really exists?’ he asks softly.

  ‘No.’ I’m shaking my head. ‘No, I don’t. There’s just a lot to make sense of.’

  ‘Trust me, I’m still learning. There’s lots to wade through, but we’ll get there,’ he says. ‘Together.’

  I’m unsure whether he means together with the Freevers, or just us as a pair. The word sends a flush of excitement through me, but then I think of Holly, and I understand what I really want right now.

  ‘Can’t you just be her?’ I ask. ‘Can you be my Holly? I need my friend. I need something I know to anchor me so I don’t drown in all of this.’

  ‘Don’t be scared of the people out there, Eve,’ he says softly, gesturing to the door behind him. ‘They just want to give you your life back.’

  ‘A life I didn’t even know I should have.’ I’m aware of the bitterness in my voice. ‘Just sit with me,’ I plead, sliding off the bed on to the floor, crossing my legs.

  Bram drops to my side, his arm gently brushing against my own. I ignore the butterflies in my stomach. That’s not what I need now.

  I inhale, taking deep breaths to centre myself. I close my eyes and allow a calmness to work its way through me.

  Through the darkness I see where I want to be.

  Suddenly I’m back on the Drop. A breeze washes over me as I hold my chin up and bask in the warmth of the glorious sun. There’s a smile on my lips. My feet dangle over the edge, flexing and pointing in my black laced-up boots, the way I love doing in ballet. The fabric of my dress flutters and curls in the wind.

  She shifts beside me, making sure I know she’s there, but, then, I know she always is when I’m out here.

  I turn to her with a grin. She returns it.

  ‘Good day?’ she asks.

  ‘You would know.’ I smirk, and so does she. We know it’s cheeky of us to talk in such a way, to allude to the fact I’ve not seen this Holly all day even though technically I’ve been with Holly in classes, but we do it anyway. I like getting that reaction from her, and I can tell she enjoys knowing she’s special. She always has done.

  ‘What are you doing back here?’ she asks.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘You left me,’ she says, matter-of-fact.

  ‘No, I –’

  ‘Come on, Eve. I wasn’t enough. This place wasn’t enough.’

  ‘You were,’ I say, scrambling for the words to tell her how important she is to me.

  ‘Are you doubting yourself? Doubting them?’ she asks slowly, squinting as she tries to read my face. ‘Why else would you want to come back here? You dreamt of escaping this place, and now you have you’re running back. Silly, Eve.’

  ‘You don’t know what
you’re talking about.’

  ‘Don’t I? I know you, Eve. I know all about you.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Go back to them, Eve.’ She shrugs indifferently, as though the thought of me leaving means nothing to her. ‘You left us once, now leave us again.’

  ‘Holly, no,’ I say, my head shaking furiously.

  ‘Do you love us?’ I hear her say, although the sound is coming from over my shoulder. I turn to see another Holly. She’s pouting, although not with real sadness. She looks menacing. Demonic.

  ‘Yes,’ I whisper.

  ‘I don’t think she means it,’ comes a third voice from behind.

  I go to protest, but I’m stopped by a force whacking into my back. I feel my body lurching forward. I reach out to stop myself, to grab on to something, but I can’t.

  I land with a crunch as my body hits the screens displaying the idyllic view they’ve given me. They flicker from sky blue to black. From something, to nothing.

  ‘Don’t let us stop you, Eve,’ says the third Holly. She stands above me, raising her foot high. I screw my eyes shut, fully expecting the weight of it to come down on me. Instead a thud echoes all around me as her boot makes contact with the ground by my head.

  A crack appears, running from the tips of my fingers to under my chin. I try to scramble back to my feet and make a run for it, but it’s too quick. Too sudden.

  The sky beneath me falls away, taking me with it.

  ‘No! No! NO!’ I scream, trying to hold on to something, my arms and feet flailing through the air.

  I fall.

  As I succumb to my fate I look up and see their faces. Dozens of Hollys, all looking at me with the same satisfied look.

  They’re glad I’ve gone.

  9

  Michael

  The rain drums on my shoulders as I walk towards the solid pane of glass. Voices call from beyond the perimeter.

  ‘SCUM! TRAITOR! MURDERER!’ Those are just a few of the nicer labels to hit my back as I leave the outside behind.

  ‘HELL, NO, EPO!’ they chant, as my retinas are scanned. There’s a small beep followed by a hiss of clean air escaping as the entrance to the Tower is revealed. I step inside, dwarfed by the doorway that supports three colossal letters – EPO. Illuminated, of course. No subtlety. We own this town and, boy, do we like to remind people.

  The glass reseals itself behind me, silencing the mob outside and I lean against the wall for a moment, finding the cold concrete oddly comforting.

  ‘Weapons on the tray,’ huffs Grudge, the security guard. That’s not his actual name, we just call him Grudge because, well, I guess that’s self-explanatory. Needless to say, he makes life difficult. Today there’s a tiny hint of a chuckle in his voice.

  He knows about my downed Interceptor.

  ‘It wasn’t my fault.’ I roll my eyes.

  ‘It never is, Turner. It never is.’ He smiles and it looks weirdly unnatural.

  I proceed through the body scanner. All clear. I clip my gun and cuffs back on my belt and begin to notice the whispers that are echoing around the cavernous entrance to the EPO Tower. Indecipherable, all but one word that repeatedly lands in my ears – ESCAPE.

  ‘She’s gone, then?’ Grudge mumbles, with zero emotion. He’s not permitted to have an opinion but his obvious lack of concern for this world event feels genuine.

  I nod.

  My chest buzzes. My tag is vibrating beneath my skin. I glance under my wet uniform and an amber glow illuminates my chest – it’s an order.

  ‘She’s waiting for you all up top,’ Grudge explains, taking pleasure in breaking this news.

  I tap my tag once.

  ALL FINAL GUARDS REPORT TO THE DOME UPON ARRIVAL AND AWAIT MISS SILVA, the voice instructs, via my earpiece. They might as well make it a permanent implant. The floor directly beneath my feet immediately changes appearance. An amber strip, matching my tag, draws a line from my feet to the lift. It is the path I must take, and now that I have opened the message I must obey.

  ‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road.’ Grudge waves an imaginary magic wand with his fat hands in the direction of my path.

  ‘I’ll be sure to ask Silva for a brain for you,’ I say, and make a swift exit along the glowing line.

  My tag emits a gentle, satisfying click on my chest with each step I take in the correct direction. If I were to veer off course, the tag would warn me with some firmer alerts. Go totally off-track and the little piece of bio-tech sends a warning to the EPO before hitting you with a whopping charge of power that even the toughest bastards on the squad couldn’t defy. Basically, once you’ve been given your order, you stick to your path.

  I wait for the lift to arrive.

  ‘Crashed another one?’ Guard Ryan says, shaking his shaved head as he arrives at my side. Beneath his dig at my piloting skills, I sense his nerves. I feel the same churning sensation in my gut.

  ‘No. Not crashed,’ I say defensively. ‘Okay, so my track record for crashing Interceptors isn’t great, but we only take them out in high-risk situations. It’s what they’re designed for. It was disabled by Freevers this time.’

  ‘Right. Freevers!’ He raises his eyebrows.

  ‘Yes. Freevers. I thought I had her, Ryan. I was this close!’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘She was –’ Our conversation is cut short by the arrival of the lift. This is the express ride to the top. One thousand floors in under ten seconds.

  Our eyes are scanned again. Clearance for the Dome is highly restricted. Or, at least, it was when Eve was there. Things might be about to change. Big-time.

  The door begins to close but a gloved hand suddenly stops it. It reopens instantly and two heavily armed men step inside.

  Soldiers.

  ‘Who the hell are you?’ Ryan says, his hand reaching for the gun on his belt. Only Final Guards are permitted to carry weapons inside the Dome.

  Whoever these men are, they must have some sort of clearance I’ve never heard of or they would never have made it into the building armed like this.

  ‘Silence,’ the soldier on the right commands. ‘Hands where I can see them.’

  Ryan shoots me a look, but before either of us can do anything the soldier closest to me pulls out a small flat disc.

  ‘Keep still,’ he barks, as he holds it in front of my face and the black plate flashes a blinding hot light into my eyes.

  Another retina scan?

  ‘What the hell is this?’ I say, shielding my face with my hands.

  ‘Emergency protocol,’ the other robot-like a-hole barks.

  FLASH!

  He does the same to Ryan.

  The soldiers’ faces are hidden behind partially frosted visors. No doubt they’re seeing all kinds of information in front of them right now.

  ‘All clear,’ the armed mystery men say with a nod. ‘Would you rather we travel alone, sir?’ one asks, directing his question to someone standing outside the lift.

  ‘No, it’s fine,’ mutters a voice I recognize in an instant. It’s the Wonderful Wizard himself: Dr Wells.

  He steps inside the lift and positions himself between the two soldiers and I realize who they are: Dr Wells’s personal security. Ever since his son’s dramatic departure from our world inside the Tower he has upped his own security to rival Eve’s. The general opinion was that it was a tad on the excessive side and that our master was getting a little paranoid, but, considering the current state of affairs, I’m starting to think he may have a point.

  ‘Sir.’ Ryan and I nod sheepishly.

  He ignores us but as he settles in the lift his eyes dart in our direction. In that briefest of flashes, he seems to absorb everything he needs to know about us. It’s as though he studied our innermost thoughts with just a casual flick of his eyes.

  THE LIFT WILL NOW ASCEND. PLEASE HOLD ON, a calm female voice instructs, as the door seals itself.

  We are immediately launched vertically, slicing up the core of this
mighty building.

  I stare at Wells’s face. The creases in his skin carve deep canyons across his forehead, signs of a face that has worn many frowns. Not surprising: carrying the weight of this place on your shoulders and having to deal with Miss Silva as a boss can’t be easy. I can’t imagine what it must be like to have the fate of our species depend on the success of your work.

  I glimpse a familiar expression. One I saw just a little earlier on another anxious face. His son’s – Bram. There’s a similarity, the kind you can’t quite put your finger on. It could be the eyes, the way they dip slightly at the outer edges giving off major melancholy vibes. Or perhaps the way the muscles protrude from his cheeks as he clenches and relaxes his jaw.

  I wonder if he’s thinking about his son. I realize I’m not just looking at a man, I’m looking at a father whose son is out there, in a violent world, and he doesn’t even know if he’s alive.

  But I do.

  ‘Sir.’ The word comes out of my mouth before I’ve thought it through. Shit, what am I doing?

  His guards instantly face me.

  ‘It’s okay.’ Dr Wells calms them. ‘Yes, Turner?’ he says without looking in my direction.

  ‘You know my name?’

  ‘It’s written on your uniform,’ he explains, though I hadn’t seen him read it.

  ‘Oh, right.’ Idiot.

  ‘Although I never forget a face, and since your infamous encounter with Eve, I have watched you closely,’ Wells says, still not looking in my direction, as though each word he utters is a distraction from his thoughts. ‘Did you want something?’

  ‘It’s … er … it’s just …’ I catch eyes with Ryan, who is mouthing ABORT! ABORT! at me from the other side of the lift.

  ‘I just wanted to … It’s just that outside, I saw Bram, your son.’

  Silence.

  The lift arrives at the Dome.

  ‘I have no son,’ Wells says calmly and exits the lift, followed by his guards.

  Ryan and I are alone.

  ‘You. Are. An. Idiot,’ he says, nice and slow so I understand.

  ‘Yep.’ I sigh. ‘I am.’