by Lucy Adler
“What can’t be happening? What’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing.”
“It’s definitely not nothing,” Jake Two laughed. “C’mon, you can tell me.”
“I heard it again.”
“The voice?”
“Yeah, the voice.”
“Where?”
“C Hall, when I was cleaning an office down there. I went looking for some stain remover and it called to me at the end of the hall.”
Jake leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he folded his arms.
“You can’t tell anyone, Jake! I mean it, really! They’ll never let me out of here if they find out I...” She didn’t want to finish the sentence. She also didn’t want to elaborate about the last thing the voice had said to her.
There’s just no way it was Old Jake. No way. Not possible. So it definitely has to be the Dark. Right?
“Don’t worry, Dary, I won’t tell anyone.”
“I know. Thanks for understanding. I knew you would.”
“Of course.”
He stretched now, raising his arms over his head and letting out a sigh. Then he glanced around the room.
“Well, I actually have some work I really need to finish before the big day tomorrow - our big day! I’m really sorry but I should probably get moving.”
“Yeah, no worries,” Daria said as she started to relax. “It was good just to get to tell someone, you know? Especially you.” As she said this, she reached out and they held hands again for a minute. She gently stroked the back of his with her other hand and they exchanged smiles.
“Like I said, Dary, don’t worry. I’m sure it was just a fluke, you know. Just a one-off. Maybe it was the wind!” he laughed.
“The newest innovation in Progress,” she laughed, “SmartWind!”
With that, Jake Two got up and came around the table, giving her a quick side hug and a kiss on the top of the head. Then he left her alone as she finished the last weary remnants of her dinner. She went much easier on them now.
_______________________
Jake Two jogged down one hall, then the next, then the next.
“Have you seen Dr. Reston?” he asked one of the staff. His voice was breathless and nervous.
“No, sorry.”
Jake kept moving quickly around the facility, looking through windows, opening doors where there were no windows, and stopping everyone he came across. Eventually, he found Miss Croft sitting alone in the large conference room.
“Have you seen Dr. Reston?” he said, even before he had fully entered the room. “We have a big problem.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“It’s that guy. Her old boyfriend. He tried to contact her again. And she heard him.”
Miss Croft gave him a stern look.
“Did you handle it?”
“Of course I handled it. C’mon Croft, you know me.”
“I certainly do,” she said, standing up and stepping closer to him. The two of them exchanged a kiss and then a long stare.
“Ok, well, we have to tell the doctor,” she continued. “He’ll need to address this right away. He may even want to give her the Direx tonight.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing. Just be ‘around’. Make sure you’re available if she needs you.”
“Sure, no problem.”
Jake Two leaned in and gave her another quick kiss, and Miss Croft touched his face with her hand. Then he turned around and left the room, and she followed a few minutes later.
_______________________
Oh, wait! I wanted to tell him something else!
Daria had been thinking about the first thing she wanted to do when they got out tomorrow. She wanted to take Jake to a café she loved near the centre of Progress. She had been daydreaming of sitting in the window and eating lunch together, watching the world go by for as long as they could between all their new responsibilities.
I guess it’s not important. But it would kind of help take my mind off of everything...
She got up from the table and cleared her tray. Then she jogged out of the cafeteria, trying to catch up with him.
It was like thirty seconds... was he running or something?
She continued down one hall, then another. She passed the gymnasium, then a few offices.
Hmm...
Normally, she would just have waited. It really wasn’t a big deal. But for some reason, Daria felt compelled to keep searching. It was like that old game kids in the Former Days used to play. What did they call it? Hide-and-seek?
She wandered around, peeking in windows and poking her head in doorways. She half-expected him to jump out and scare her at some point. Then, as she drew near to the room where she and Miss Croft used to have their lessons, she heard voices.
She tip-toed and tried to listen.
You’re being totally silly, Dash. You’re not a detective, and he’s not a crimina--
“Did you handle it?” she heard Miss Croft say.
“Of course I handled it. C’mon Croft, you know me.”
“I certainly do,” she said. Then there was a moment of silence and Daria tiptoed closer to the window, getting just near enough to look through with one eye.
There, right by the chair where she used to sit for her lessons, Miss Croft and Jake Two were...
What the hell?!
“Ok, well, we have to tell the doctor,” her teacher continued. “He’ll need to address this right away. He may even want to give her the Direx tonight.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing. Just be ‘around’. Make sure you’re available if she needs you.”
“Sure, no problem.”
Daria watched as they shared another kiss.
Ahh! What am I seeing??? This can’t be real!
Then Jake Two started to turn for the door. Daria quickly pulled back and looked up and down the hall. She ran as fast as she could, as quietly as she could, towards the first open door she saw.
Just as she ducked through it, Jake emerged from the conference room and walked down the hall, right past where she was hiding.
Daria couldn’t even think of what to think. Her mind was frozen. The collision of circumstances she had just observed - Jake Two, Miss Croft, kissing, Direx, the doctor - it was too much to process. Where did she even begin?
And why were they talking about me like that? It’s like... it’s like I’m some game they’re playing.
Jake’s footsteps had faded away and Daria thought it might be best to go to her room and think things over for a while. She slipped out of the little room and started walking as casually as she could down the hall. As she passed the conference room, Miss Croft emerged.
“Oh, hello, Daria!” she said as normally and as kindly as any other time they had met.
Daria’s heart jumped but she did her best to stay calm.
“Hey, Angela.”
“I’m glad you’ve gotten comfortable calling me that,” her teacher laughed. “It’s only been a little over three weeks!”
“I guess I’m not gifted in everything!” Daria tried to joke. Her laugh was stilted and Angela looked her steadily in the eye.
“Where are you off to now? We have another session this evening, don’t we? Our final one.”
“Yup, that’s right. I’m just going back to my room for a few minutes. I won’t be late, don’t worry!”
“I’m not worried. I’ll see you soon!”
“Ok, sounds good!” Daria gave her a silly thumbs-up as she said it.
Just relax.
They parted ways and she returned to her room as planned. She let herself fall onto her bed with a groan. Then she laid there for a few minutes, staring up at the ceiling and rubbing her head with her hand.
What the heck, Dashy? I mean, what the heck?!
She stopped rubbing her head and let her hand drop beside her.
That really did sound like Old Jake
. Is that what Angela meant by, ‘Handle it’? Has Jake Two just been ‘handling’ me?
She rolled over on her right side and reached down for her tablet. She set it beside her on the bed and opened up her messages. Then she tapped on Jake’s and listened carefully.
“Hey, Dash. Um, I really, um...” She didn’t even have to listen to the whole thing.
That was totally his voice.
But was it the Dark, or Actual Jake?
How can I find out?
Daria knew she needed to get moving so she didn’t leave Miss Croft waiting.
How am I going to sit across from her...
As she walked back down the hall, all she could see in her mind was Angela touching Jake Two’s face, their lips locked in a passionate kiss.
She’s gotta be like fifteen years older. Unless he’s older than I thought. Either way, he kissed me with those lips!
She felt a gagging sensation in her throat.
Then a series of scary thoughts came into her mind.
What if it really is Jake calling to me? What if he’s being held somewhere? What if they’ve been lying to me about all this Dark stuff?
Her pace slowed as she was getting close to Miss Croft’s room.
But I’ve heard of the Dark before. We learn about it every year. And sleepers and Caxton and Meyers... they can’t all be lies. I mean, we see pictures of sleepers in the news sometimes. Why would they make that up?
She stopped and leaned against the wall.
I’m so close.
Visions of top grades and medals on the track danced through her mind. Her father’s satisfied look as he patted her on the back.
Why now?
She slid down the wall to the floor and let her head fall on her knees. She knew she didn’t have time to waste. She knew Miss Croft was waiting. But then she recalled a fragment of the conversation she had overheard: “He may even want to give her the Direx tonight.”
What’s that got to do with anything? If I did hear Real Jake, what would Direx do about it?
Then she heard voices again, coming from inside the conference room.
“She’s late,” Miss Croft said.
Who’s she talking to?
There was some mumbling but Daria couldn’t make it out. She inched closer along the floor and pressed her ear to the wall. She thought it sounded like Dr. Reston.
“--ut we can’t -- her finding out --ruth about him or --ruth --erself.”
Herself?
And then, in a moment of clarity, Daria’s thoughts and feelings suddenly began to crystallise.
She recalled her father’s disappointment. Her brother’s insults. Her mother’s patronising kindness. Her teachers, each of them finding new ways to expose her weaknesses in front of the other students. Her coach making the rest of the team watch as she completed her final lap.
But instead of humiliation, instead of guilt and shame, Daria experienced a new feeling. It was like everything inside her, everything she had been trying to solve and fix for the last three and a half weeks - no, the last two years - rose up in one violent surge of will power. It coursed through her arms and legs. She felt herself breathing. She felt her heart beating, measured and purposeful.
Then she placed her hands on the floor and pushed herself up onto her feet again.
I’m coming, Jake.
9
Month: 4 | Day: 1 | Year: 60
DEPARTURE
She ducked as she crept past the door to the conference room. Once she cleared it, she picked up her pace until she was moving at a quiet jog, pausing at corners to make sure no one would see her.
Where am I even going? I guess back to where I heard it - where I head him.
The group of girls she sometimes had meals with was gathered in the common area. They had their tablets laid out on the table between them and they were looking back and forth between each other’s screens as they talked.
Daria waited just out of sight, on the edge of the room, listening and peeking around the corner of the wall, waiting for the right moment to make her move. After what she had just seen and heard in the last half hour, she had no idea who could be trusted.
When they eventually seemed absorbed in one particular image or video, or whatever they were looking at, Daria hurried across the room. Once she was out of sight again on the opposite side, she stopped to listen, just to make sure they hadn’t noticed.
I think I’m good. Secret Agent Dasha, on the move.
How am I joking right now? Must be the panic.
She cleared a few more turns in the labyrinth of hallways, ducking into a room once along the way to avoid someone coming from the other direction. Finally, she arrived at the dead-end again and stood in the exact same place where Jake had last spoken to her.
She stood perfectly still and quiet.
Waiting.
C’mon, Jake. Talk to me.
And waiting.
I’m here. Just tell me where you are.
She closed her eyes, as if maybe she could reach out to him with her mind.
I’m so sorry, Jake. I’m so, so sorry.
A tear formed in the corner of her right eye. She tried to hold her eyelid as still as she could, to keep it from falling. But it slipped out and tickled her cheek as it glided down her face.
How could I have been so stupid? Why would I trust these people? Was I really blinded by colourful food and compliments? I’m so weak.
As her thoughts vacillated between anger and shame, she almost forgot why she had come to this dead-end hallway in the first place. She was also starting to feel incredibly nauseas. She got down on her knees and then leaned forward on her hands.
Great. Like vomiting is going to help.
Please, no...
As she knelt on the floor, pleading with her stomach to behave itself, something suddenly pierced through every thought and sensation in her body. Clear as day yet peaceful as a sunrise.
“Dash, can you hear me?”
“Yes! Yes! I hear you, Jake!” Daria leapt to her feet and looked around. “Tell me where you are!”
“Look up.”
Daria listened and immediately began searching the ceiling for some kind of opening or ventilation grate. But it was comprised of solid square panels that stretched the length and width of the hall. And they were pressed together so tightly, there was almost no space between them.
“I’m looking up but I can’t see anything. It’s just a solid ceiling.”
“Yeah, well, here’s the thing, Daria...”
Daria? This must be serious.
“You’re going to have to trust me. This is kind of going to blow your mind.”
“Uuhh, ok.”
“When I’m with you - and I will be with you shortly - I’m not going to be much help. This is going to drain me pretty hard, so you’re going to have to be strong for both of us. You’re going to have to get us both out of here, do you understand?”
“And how do I do that? I have no idea where to go. And I’m sure they’re looking for me now. They could be here any second.”
“In my hand will be the wristband that opens those double-doors beside you.”
Daria glanced over at them, the ones she had tried to open when she was looking for cleaning supplies.
I wouldn’t mind cleaning an office right now... or even waking up in class with a ‘snort’ if it meant that all of this was just a dream...
“And then what?”
“Then you just follow the hall until the end. You’ll see when you get there.”
“Ok,” Daria said, now pacing back and forth. “So, uh, you gonna do this thing now, or what? We should probably hurry up.”
There was silence for a few seconds, then Jake replied.
“Dash?”
“Yeah?”
“I missed you.”
Then there was a different kind of silence, and it was as if the silence itself began to move. As if the fabric of everything perceptible slowly rippled like
a flag in a summer’s breeze. Daria felt it move through her but it didn’t hurt. She was aware of it but it wasn’t imposing itself upon her. It just passed through, as if her physical form were irrelevant.
Then the light in the hall dimmed. Flecks of gold and silver appeared, sparkling in the space around her, like metallic snowflakes suspended in midair. She wanted to reach out and touch one but she was afraid.
Then a dim yellow glow started to materialise beside her. It grew in vibrancy until a second appeared beside it. Two eye-shaped pools of golden light, swirling and churning in a circular motion. It was beautiful. In fact, it was the most beautiful thing Daria had ever seen.
Then she realised that the pools of light were eye-shaped because they were eyes. Before she knew it, a body had formed in a shadow around them. Its profile was hard to trace but it was clearly a person. And Daria knew - not from sight or from sound but from some other instinct deep inside her - that it was Jake.
_______________________
As the moment passed and reality itself returned to normal around her, Daria saw Jake on his knees, struggling to stand up.
“Dash, can you --”
He reached out for her, then fell forward onto his hands.
“Jake!” Daria knelt down beside him and wrapped his right arm over her shoulders. She slipped her left arm around his back and then tried to help him to his feet.
“Can you make it?” she asked.
“Just don’t let me go,” he said quietly. Then he held out his left hand, revealing the wristband. “Take it. We have to hurry.”
All Daria wanted to do was sit on the floor beside him and ask a million questions - not least of which was what the heck that just was, and how on earth he had done it. Oh, and give him a long hug, of course. At least helping him walk was kind of like a hug.
They approached the doors but there was no interface to wave the band across. Then Daria remembered the door the three men had led her through when she first entered the facility. She waved the band in front of the two knobs and the doors swung open on their own.
