“Hi, Priscila,” I said, as cheerfully as I could manage. “How’s your day been?”
“Great,” she said. “Kendall and I finished early today.”
I tried to make my smile as genuine as possible. I guess ordinarily I might have been happy for them. But, finishing early meant they’d of had a lot of free time and could’ve gone into town. Had they caught the disease already?
I was so worried all night; I forgot to even tell either of them about the disease at all.
When I got into bed that night, I didn’t think I’d ever fall asleep. So I just relaxed and tried to stop thinking much. And eventually I did fall asleep, only to enter into that awful place, called dreamland. My dreams were rarely peaceful or sweet dreams. I guess it was because of where I lived and all the things I was so worried about.
I’m standing in the meadow, trying to decide if I should go through town. Without my full consent, my dream self begins walking towards town. Even though it’s not dark yet, not a single person is around. All the doors are shut; the curtains in the windows drawn. I call out; asking where everyone is. But all I hear is my own voice, echoing around the buildings.
Out of town, I knock on door after door. Not a single person answers. Finally, I throw a rock at a person’s window, shattering it into a million, tiny shards. But when I look through the window, all that I see is two bodies, lying stiff and cold on the beds.
The next thing I know, I’m running towards home. The wind is blowing so powerfully it’s a struggle to run at all. When I dart through the door, I stop short. This time, three bodies are all lying on the beds: Priscila, Kendall and…me.
Someone lays an icy hand on my shoulder and I whirl around to see Priscila. She’s smiling at me. Only, it’s not a nice smile, there’s something evil behind it. I look at Priscila and then back at the body on the bed. If that’s her body and she is here, it could only mean one thing—she’s a ghost. But that isn’t what scares me. What scares me is that my body is still on the bed. So, I am a ghost. I am dead. I scream and…the next thing I knew I was back in my bed at home.
Looking over to the bed next to mine, I was surprised to see Priscila was no longer there. For a moment, panic seized me. Then I saw her returning from the kitchen.
“Are you alright?” I asked; feeling relieved.
“I’m, fine,” she said, somewhat unconvincingly. “I just couldn’t sleep.” She was silent for a moment, as if considering something. “Britta,” she said. ”I already know about the disease…and Emily.”
“What...how???” I asked, so surprised, I hardly knew what to say. But in a moment, I’d recovered and was full of questions. “How’d you find out? You weren’t near Emily, were you? Does Kendall know?”
“No,” she said, “Every told me, when I was at her house earlier. Kendall wasn’t there and I was never near Emily—so I don’t think there’s a chance of either of us catching the disease.”
I was relieved but then slightly confused. “How do you know Every?” I asked. Priscila was friends with practically everyone but…well, to be friends with a girl from the group that, my friends and I referred to sarcastically as ‘the council’, (which was somewhat of a joke because they didn’t do anything different than the rest of us, except assign new arrivals to a house). I just couldn’t imagine it.
She smiled. How can she always manage to act, or be, so happy?
“It’s not Every I’m friends with, it’s her sister. Every just happened to be there.”
“Why did Every tell you?”
“She told as many people as she could.”
“Why?”
“Well, how else would anyone know to stay away from town?”
I sat straight up. “You’re right. I should have told you. I guess I just got caught up, worrying about whether or not you already had the disease."
“Why don’t you just wait until tomorrow morning to tell Kendall and try to get some sleep, for now, alright?”
“Alright, Goodnight,” I said laying back down.
“Goodnight,” she said getting into her own bed and closing her eyes.
It was a nearly an hour before I actually did fall asleep. I just kept thinking; What if? What if Priscila hadn’t found out about the disease? What if since I hadn’t told her and Kendall they did go into town? What if they, then, ended up catching the disease and… I drifted off, once more into sleep and dreams.
I’m sixteen; standing on the mountain, waiting to be taken away. (The mountain was where they took away, or brought people to, the island, because it had a large flat area on top that was perfect for landing. Of course, they didn’t come in airplanes. There wouldn’t be nearly enough room for that. They came in huge helicopters—called so for their similarity to an aircraft that people had used many years ago that had used sets of overhead rotors for flight. Except the helicopters that were used now, used dozens of rotors on both the top and the sides and, from what I read, were actually over fifteen times as big as the helicopters of long ago.) Priscila and Kendall are standing next to me. Kendall is begging me not to go. But when an aircraft descends I walk towards it, like a machine that doesn’t make decisions for itself. I glance back, over my shoulder and see Kendall and Priscila fall to the ground. The next thing I know, I’m standing on the open ramp of the helicopter, clutching the railing. The wind picks up and my hands are torn from the railing. I’m tossed about in the wind this way and that. Then the wind suddenly stops and I plummet towards the ground.
I awoke in my bed, sunlight streaming through the window.
3
In a matter of minutes, I was up, dressed and setting out bowls of blackberries and slices of bread.
Soon Priscila was up. When I asked her if she’d ended up sleeping well, she shrugged and said that she’d slept ‘alright’. Considering that this was Priscila, the most positive person to ever live, she’d probably slept terrible.
But before I could ask her more, Kendall stepped into the room. “Good morning,” he said cheerily, already starting to eat.
“Good morning,” Priscila and I echoed, sitting down to eat.
Usually, at breakfast we might have talked about what we planned to do once we finished work. I might have joked about planning to join the ‘council’; it would have been more lighthearted—but not that day. That day, everyone seemed a little quieter; as if no one knew what to say.
Finally, I decided that I should just tell Kendall. So I explained about everything, the disease, how I’d seen Emily, how I’d asked Every about her later, how she had died and how I wanted him and Priscila staying away from town, at least until we knew for sure it was safe.
He seemed to understand surprisingly well, for an eight-year-old. And he readily agreed to stay away from the town. Priscila said she’d turn in their buckets each day at town, so Kendall wouldn’t have to go. I would have done it for both of them, but you were supposed to turn them in as soon as you finished work and I always finished much later than her.
An hour later, I was walking along the path that led through the meadow and to the mountain. In one hand I held my bucket. In my other hand I held my bag, with lunch, water and my knife packed into it. It was a beautiful day, although a little muddy. The temperature was perfect; cool and crisp. Usually, I would’ve appreciated the weather more. Unfortunately my mind was too preoccupied.
I didn’t really look around much. I knew the way by heart anyway. But when I did look up, I was glad I did. There were three people, a little ways ahead of me on the path—the three people that were my best friends. Even from afar, I could tell they were pleased about something.
Owen and Livia were twins. They both had rich, brown hair and dark eyes. Their skin was darker than mine because they spent more time in the sun, since their job was to fish. But that wasn’t saying much because my skin was paler than most people's. Though we’d been friends for years I still felt I didn’t know them very well. I knew that they were serious and quiet almost all the time; still, I didn’
t know what any of their individual qualities were; what made them different from each other. I knew they weren’t at all the same, but I couldn’t put into words what it was that made them different.
Vanissa was the youngest of our group. She was not yet fifteen, unlike the rest of us, who were nearly sixteen. She had soft-colored blond hair and dark blue eyes like none other. She almost always looked like she was full of energy. And, though she wasn’t serious all the time, like Owen and Livia, that day she looked like the Vanissa-version of ‘pleased’. That’s basically another way of saying she appeared absolutely thrilled.
As soon as I reached them, Vanissa began talking immediately. “Britta, guess what? We all got permission from the—” (then she smiled) “The ‘council’ to come work with you today.”
“Oh,” I said. “That sounds… great.” I didn’t want to sound stuck-up, like I was above their level of fun or something, but that’s probably how it came out. And really, I didn’t even try to use my acting abilities to hide that I couldn’t think of it as too big a deal at this point. Besides even though the acting skill was useful, it always made me feel like I was lying. And I didn’t want to be that way with my friends.
Owen and Livia exchanged a glance. “Britta, have you heard about Every?” asked Livia.
“Yes,” I said, quietly. “I have.”
“Well, I guess we’ve got a lot to talk about,” she said.
I gave a halfhearted smile. “No kidding. So we’d better get started.”
The entire way up the mountain, we discussed how to avoid town except to get news, how to convince the council that we’d get more food overall if we could work together from now on and how to keep ourselves and our families from getting the disease.
I was especially worried about Vanissa, who lived with two younger children that still went to school. The school was in town, therefore exposing them to many people who could have the disease and just didn’t know it yet.
Owen and Livia were more fortunate. They lived with a thirteen-year-old girl who rarely went into town because it was her job to stay home with a little boy who was not yet three. (Three was the age kids started school. Before that, they just stayed home with someone assigned to look after them.)
The entire morning, we searched high and low; looking for berries, or nuts or anything edible we could find. We dug for roots and got cut making our way through rough scratchy bushes. Despite our efforts; working for hours, we barely found anything.
“I just wish there was some way to get up there,” said Livia, pointing above us to the canopy of branches covering the forest. “That tree has enough nuts to fill all our buckets.”
I looked more closely at the place she’d pointed to. And she was right. There was enough nuts to fill all our buckets.
“Why didn’t you tell me about those before?” I asked, suddenly feeling happy.
She looked confused. “Well it’s impossible to get them down. So what’s the point?”
“I guess I’ve never told you. I know how to climb up there.”
“But that’s so high. How…I mean, isn’t it kind of dangerous?”
I can teach you if you want,” I said, with a laugh.
So we found something fun to do, while we worked to get more food. I would climb up and then try to teach my friends to do the same. Owen and Vanissa did pretty well, but Livia was hopeless. She wasn’t very athletic or agile and I’m not sure she even cared to learn how to climb.
The rest of the day passed quickly. We found a tiny berry bush and picked off every last berry. I climbed up trees and tossed down nuts for my friends to catch. Even though it took hours to fill up all our buckets, I was having so much fun that, for me, it was only a few minutes.
On the way down, the happy, lighthearted spirit had decreased and no one said much. I knew the question that was in everyone’s minds. Whether or not we should find Every and see how things were going with the disease. By the time we reached the meadow we’d made up our minds. We decided we had to go and ask her. Besides, if we never knew what was going on, how would we be able to keep ourselves and our families from getting it? Maybe they had found some natural medicine for it.
We began walking towards town, but it must have been later than we thought it was, because we spotted Every coming towards us on the path; probably on her way home. When she saw us she quickened her pace, hurrying towards us.
We met at a crossroads where she’d turn to go to her house. Owen, Livia and Vanissa were all looking at each other nervously and I knew it was up to me to do the talking. I took a deep breath and stepped forward.
“Has anyone else gotten sick yet?” I asked nervously.
“Seven,” she said. “Seven came to the hospital with the same thing as Emily had.”
OH, no! Oh, no, oh, no, oh no. What was I going to do? With the disease spreading at that rate…well, who knew what could happen. It could only be a matter of time before…
Every was turning to go. I needed to ask her if any of them had died. But my voice seemed trapped. Come on! I told myself. Talk!
“Wait!” I managed to get out. “Every, wait!”
She stopped, turning towards us.
“Did…any of them…” I began shakily. “Are they all still living?”
“They’re all alright so far,” she said, with a shrug. “I don’t really know what’s going to happen with them, though. We’re hoping Emily just had an extreme case.”
I let out a long-held-in breath. “Oh, thank goodness.”
“Don’t worry,” Every said. “I’ll let you know if anything happens—I promise.”
“Thanks,” I said. I was relieved to have reassurance that we’d know if anything happened. And I wanted to say more but nothing came to mind.
Every turned and left, and we began the walk home.
“Sorry, about that,” Vanissa said. “I mean about you having to do the talking. I just felt I couldn’t get the words out for fear of what the answer would be.”
I looked away. “That’s… alright. I didn’t mind.” (Actually, I had minded.) But, all the same they’d probably felt even more tongue-tied then I had.
Owen and Livia split off, down the road to their house. And soon, it was nearly time to say goodbye to Vanissa. After such a tiring day, all I wanted to do was get home and go to bed. But I just couldn’t stop worrying about Priscila going into town earlier that day. I kept thinking, that maybe we could have found a way around it. Like maybe she could’ve purposely finished late and then I could’ve gone to town for her. What if she had the disease now? What if when I got home, I found a similar scene to the one in my dream?
Vanissa seemed to notice and asked me what was wrong. So I told her about how I was worried about Priscila catching the disease. She looked thoughtful for a moment. Then she picked a wildflower and handed it to me.
“Here,” she said. “Keep this with you. Every time you’re worried about Priscila just look at it and remind yourself she’s fine; NOTHING is going to happen to her. And besides, you’re almost sixteen—you’ll be leaving the island soon and taking the test. I think that’s what you should be worrying about.”
I looked at the flower—a beautiful white one, tinged with pink. But as I looked at it, a dark feeling came over me that I couldn't quite explain. I took it from Vanissa and put it in my bag carefully, as if keeping it safe would actually help Priscila, and tried not to think about it anymore.
Unfortunately, we weren’t lucky enough to make it straight home without a problem. Because, walking towards us was one of the island’s most-dreaded people.
Felix Kent—he wasn’t malicious or menacing. He wasn’t even scary. He was, in a way, worse. At least, he completely annoyed everyone he was around. If I had to describe him in three words they’d be: sly, sneaky and untrustworthy. Even though sly and sneaky have such similar meanings I’d still label him with both. Maybe it was the weird way he always grinned at you. Maybe it was the fact that he never had a specific reason to be
talking to you. Most likely, it was the way he always eyed my bag; as if looking for something of value.
Felix strode up to us somehow managing to look both proud as a peacock and sly as a snake at the same time. “Hey, Birdy,” he said.
“It’s, Britta,” I said.
“And look, you’ve got a sidekick.”
“She’s not my sidekick,” I muttered. “And I don’t want to trade any of my things for—whatever it is you’re even trading.”
“I actually offer a variety of exclusive services that you won’t find anywhere else—like, if you gave me that knife of yours—”
“No, I don’t need ANYTHING,” I cut him off. “I already have enough food that I won’t starve—and that’s all I need.”
He ignored me, as he did his thing where he would stare intently at my bag, as if trying to penetrate the fabric; see if what was inside could be of use to him.
“Your bags look so heavy,” he said. “Maybe I could help you...”
“They’re not heavy,” I said, cutting him off. Was he nuts? I mean, did he really think he could trick me into letting him even touch our bags. He’d probably take off running the opposite direction the minute he got his hands on them. Probably wanted extra food or a jacket or something…
“And we really don’t have time to talk,” I said. “We’re in a hurry.” I began walking away and fortunately he made no attempt to follow. Maybe he’d spotted someone else to try to cheat and steal from.
After I’d said goodbye to Vanissa and gone home, even though I wanted to go to bed, I decided to eat dinner first. But I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to Priscila or Kendall while I ate, because I could barely keep my eyes open.
The Other Side (The Other Side Trilogy Book 1) Page 2
