‘I see you,’ I whispered, raising my head and looking down into her eyes. She blinked and tried to turn her head away, but I held her still.
‘Hope, I see you!’ I bit out, lowering my face so she had no choice but to look deep into my eyes. I saw her throat swallow and her tears dried up.
‘I see you and love you still. You will learn to open up to me,’ I whispered directly into her ear. Her whole body shuddered against me and I grinned as a hot flush crept over me. I felt power surge through me as my woman nodded. This tough woman that had kept me at arm’s length for too long was going to surrender to me, because I was ready. It had taken me some time to get used to the emotions. The thought of opening up to a woman was scary and I’d used Gina as an excuse to run away. Today, I’d faced death and the thought of not being with Hope had lodged into my heart. It was going to be a challenge, but I was ready to shout it to the roof-tops. I would prove myself worthy of Hope and she would forget about Noland and his brute strength. I would have her heart.
‘Jason, what…?’
I kissed her roughly, pouring all my fear, love and hate for the race I was, into the kiss. My lips pressed against hers and then I pushed my tongue into her mouth, leaving her no room to disagree or pull away. When I was out of breath I let her go. Both our chests were rising and falling as we tried to get some air. Her cheeks were pink and her body still shook but there was something in her eyes that I’d never seen before.
‘How do I open up to you?’ she whispered. Her body softened at I looked into her eyes and ran my hand down her warm cheek.
‘You just did,’ I said, feeling the corners of my lips sink into my cheek as she melted against me. She rested her head against my chest and started to cry. I said nothing as I wrapped my arms around her and held her tight. She was my woman and I was going to show the world that I loved her.
Chapter Ten
‘I’m in love,’ Sandor declared to the room when she’d been asked what had provoked her to bomb the compound.
‘With who…?’ William asked, looking around the room.
It was the morning after I’d escaped from the rebels. My mother and father had turned bright red when they saw me walk into the courthouse holding hands with Hope. They’d tried to come over but William had stopped them because the case was about to continue.
‘With Leon, the rebel leader,’ she replied, smiling slightly.
‘So why would that make you bomb the compound?’
‘Have you ever been in love?’ she asked William.
William shook his head and I noticed that the Perfects in the balcony were looking blank. They thought they’d experienced being in love, but they were so wrong.
‘Love is stronger than anything you could ever possibly imagine. I know that you…and you,’ she said, pointing at the Perfect jury, ‘have never been in love like I have. You shut off your emotions because you think you need to look and act amazing all the time. Love is endless. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you look like or how you act, it’s always there and accepts you for you. You’re all missing out.’
Purple applauded and Hope grinned at me. I winked back before glancing at my father. He was standing on guard, staring at me. I ignored him and laughed when William shook his head at us.
‘William, can I?’ Catherine said, coming over to stand in front of Sandor.
William nodded and went back to his seat. Catherine glanced at me and glared. My own mother could tell that I was on their side and she didn’t like it.
‘We have a new witness who we would like to call to the stand in a moment, but first Sandor, I want to ask you. If you were so in love with Leon, why were you capturing Perfects and using them?’
Sandor didn’t even blink. She glanced over at the panel, her eyes landing on the Chancellor.
‘I did that before I met Leon. He helped me to see that not all people were horrid, except Perfects of course.’
A jeer went around the courthouse and Catherine let it.
‘The Avoidable Sandor has just claimed that all Perfects are horrid. Click one if you agree or two if you think it’s the Avoidables that are horrid,’ said the television presenter behind me. She was looking into the camera smiling. She was always smiling and it wasn’t right. I was tempted to stand up and say something into the camera but stopped myself.
‘We are an outstanding race. We have no crime. We have no bullies. We have glorious houses and clothes. You are all dangerous and kill one another all the time.’ Catherine glanced down at her black dress. It was more like a dinner dress and it looked crazy in the middle of the day in a courthouse. The male Perfects were staring at her though, so she’d had the desired effect.
‘You may have all that, but you have no life. You have no love and no emotion. You feel nothing,’ Sandor hissed the last of her words and the crowd was silent.
Catherine tried to laugh, but it fell flat as it echoed around the room. Even the television presenter was staring at Sandor.
‘Well, let’s move on shall we. Bring in the two witnesses,’ Catherine announced. The door at the back of the room was opened. The Perfect male that had stood up the day before came in, followed by Leon. He was being dragged along by a guard. I stood up as Hope and Purple did. I glanced at Sandor, she was also standing up. Her face was soft and her eyes were wide. She’d not seen her lover for weeks. I fought the urge to grin as I glanced at William. His face was blank but I could feel his energy from across the room. Catherine had unwittingly given us the perfect opening. Every person in the room could see the love radiating from Sandor as she watched Leon being led to the dock.
‘Sandor, I love you,’ he shouted for everyone to hear.
‘I love you too, Leon,’ she called back, going to lift her leg over the side of the wooden dock. My father grabbed her and pulled her back into her seat. The Perfects above were whispering between themselves. The other male witness was led to a seat near the front.
‘Leon, you helped Sandor bomb the compound, why?’ Catherine couldn’t hide her disgust as she eyed the witness from afar.
‘To get your attention,’ he replied back instantly. Catherine froze and so did the Perfects on the panel.
‘No, it was to kill our kind,’ called a spectator from the balcony.
‘We killed ten of your people. You’ve killed thousands of ours. The problem is - we’re all the same.’ Leon looked directly at the man that had called out and I watched him shrink under his gaze.
‘We are not like you,’ Catherine said between clenched teeth.
I ducked my head, looking at my black shoes. I’d made a little more effort with my clothes today by wearing a suit. A thought came to me as I cringed away from the fact that this woman was my mother.
‘You only believe that because it’s what you’ve been taught,’ Leon said, voicing my thoughts. I glanced at Purple and he smiled at me. He’d heard my thought and knew that we were all thinking the same.
‘Don’t be absurd! Look at you and then look at me. We are nothing alike…you…you…’ Catherine was red faced and leaning forward, although she wasn’t anywhere near Leon.
‘Catherine, I will take over from here,’ William said, coming over and putting his hand on her shoulder. I shook my head as Hope glanced at me. She was biting her lip and I could see the pity in her eyes. Just because she was my mother, didn’t mean I felt the same as her.
‘Why did you want to get our attention?’ William asked, walking right up to Leon and standing in front of him.
‘Do you seriously need to ask that question? Do you think we like to be treated so unfairly? We have feelings and we’re fed up.’ Leon stood and lifted his roughly made shirt over his head.
‘What are you doing?’ William asked.
‘This is where a guard shot me when I tried running away from the test. I was fourteen. I failed the test because of this.’ Leon pointed to puckered skin on his shoulder with one hand and then to his nose with the other.
‘The Avoidable
now has his shirt off and is pointing out his war wounds. Press one if you feel sorry for him or two if you think he’s trying to get our pity,’ the television presenter said into the camera. Hope jumped up and went up to the presenter. She stood in front of her and looked right at the camera.
‘Or three if you think that Avoidables are treated unfairly because of the way they look.’
Hope turned and came back. She ran her hand over my head as she passed me and I bit my tongue to stop myself reaching out to her and pulling her onto my lap.
‘This is where I was attacked in the night by an Avoidable that hadn’t eaten for a week. He was trying to steal my rations. When I looked over his shoulder after he’d cut me with his knife, I saw a small child waiting for him, so I gave them my food.’ Leon pointed to a thin scar that ran over his hand.
‘Leon, I don’t see…’ William started.
‘This is where I fell over running away from guards in Lower Side because they’d seen me in the street and decided to have some fun,’ Leon said, holding up his arm and showing a graze scar underneath.
‘Okay, so you were treated unfairly by Perfects. That is plain to see, but why seek revenge by killing us? Wouldn’t it have better to try and do it in a more civil way?’ William had taken a step back so that everyone could see Leon’s bare chest. I couldn’t help but stare at all the scars that crisscrossed his torso. He was wiry and small, but it looked like he’d been in a lot of fights.
‘Would you have listened if we’d come quietly?’
William glanced at the panel and they shrugged. They were all looking down at the surface of the table in front of them. I smiled slightly as the camera panned on them and showed how guilty they looked. Why did they feel that they had the right to treat people this way? Before I’d started to research the Avoidables, I’d always wondered why they were hated so much. My parents taught me to dislike and avoid them as much as I could. We were told that they were in the wrong and we were the normal people. The only time they were mentioned on the television was when they’d done something dangerous. It was a way to scare us into believing the worst. I now knew that it wasn’t right or fair to discriminate people because of the way they looked, and more importantly, I knew other Perfects could be reached.
‘I’m sorry, I still don’t see how that can be a good enough excuse to bomb us,’ William said, looking into the camera as it panned in close on his face.
‘Okay, well what about this then?’ Leon said, turning around. A gasp rippled through the room as his back was shown to us. ‘The Chancellor locked me up for a year and branded me as his slave. He made us do vile, disgusting things to him.’
‘Us…?’ William asked.
‘He’s talking about me,’ Sandor called. Everyone turned to see that she had lifted her top and turned around. On both of their backs was a huge burnt scar in the shape of a C.
Episode Four
Chapter Eleven
Her skin was soft as I ran my hand over her hip. She sighed and rolled towards me, putting her arm around my waist and hugging me tight. I laid back and pulled her whole body onto my chest. She went to resist but I held her close.
‘Jason…’
I gently put my hand over her mouth. We were in a tiny room in the theatre. Artie had given us a room to sleep in while the trial was on.
‘You’re safe,’ I whispered, tilting her head back slightly so she looked up at me. When our eyes met a surge of power made me shudder. That’s when she completely relaxed on top of me. Surrendering herself on my chest. My heart was thumping hard as she gazed into my eyes.
‘What happened?’ she whispered, leaning her chin on my chest.
‘When…?’
‘You’ve changed. Something has happened,’ she said, running a finger down my cheek. I was about to make a joke but stopped at the look on her face. There was something about the way she was laying on me. She was trusting me with her body and heart. For the first time since meeting her, she was fully open. I wanted to wrap my energy around her. I wanted to protect her but I also wanted to crack her open even more. Something about the way she was looking at me made me want to delve into her and know who she really was. The feeling rocked me hard and I resisted the urge to pull away.
‘Jason…?’ she whispered, watching me. I saw that she was about to pull back, not physically, but with her heart. I smiled suddenly, pushing away any remaining fear. This intense woman wanted to give herself to me and I was ready to accept her.
‘I want to see you,’ I said, moving her hair back from her face.
‘What do you mean? I’m here,’ she laughed, slapping me gently on the arm.
‘No, Hope, I see you.’ I pulled her up my body so that our eyes were just a few inches apart. She couldn’t look away. She tried but I grabbed the back of her head and held her in place. Her breath came quicker and mingled with mine. My body responded but this was more important than that.
‘I’ve never felt like this, even when we first met,’ she whispered. ‘It’s like you’ve woken up and taken control of who you are. It’s…so…sexy,’ she lowered her head and bit my lower lip. I kissed her hard for a moment but then let her go again. I spun her over so she lay on her back. I laid half on top of her, half on the bed and looked into her eyes. I knew that what I said next might make her close up again, but I needed her to open to me.
‘I want to know what happened with your mum,’ I whispered, stroking her shoulder. I was pleased when she froze. It was better than her bolting.
‘I don’t want to tell you,’ she whispered, closing her eyes. I stayed silent, allowing her time to process what I was asking.
‘I’ve blocked it out for so long that I’m unsure I even have the facts right.’
I looked into her eyes as she opened hers. I stroked her cheek, wiping away the stray tear that had escaped.
‘I remember coming out of our flat one day and feeling like someone was watching me. It was a summer’s day and I wanted to play in the street with Nicole, my neighbour. Mum had said that I couldn’t play outside because it was too dangerous but I ignored her. I was about ten and had started to be a bit rebellious. I hated being confined to a tiny flat. I saw a man walk past us as Nicole and I played with a football. Her dad had managed to get it from somewhere and all the other kids were jealous.’
‘Of a football…?’ I couldn’t help but ask. I had at least ten footballs when I was young. It was one of my favourite things to do. I would never have realised that other children in the same city as me found a football a rare thing.
‘Yes, it was a luxury to us. Food was a luxury to us, Jason, that’s how bad life is over here,’ she said, stroking my cheek when I shook my head. I had to bite the bottom of my lip. I would end up swearing and ruining the moment.
‘When we got bored, we came back inside. I could hear shouting. My mum was screaming. I ran to our door and saw that it was open. I stopped still when I saw my mum kneeling on the floor with her hands on the back of her head. She shook her head at me quickly and I ran into Nicole’s flat instead. Nicole’s mum grabbed my arm and held me against her.’
Hope was trembling against me. I lay on my side and put my arm around her, pulling her onto her side to face me. Another tear fell down her nose and I kissed it gently.
‘I heard them say that she would be executed so I tried to break free of Nicole’s mum, but she wouldn’t let me go. I heard them asking where her daughter was. I’d not seen who was in the room with her, I could only hear his voice.’
‘That must have been so hard,’ I whispered.
‘I heard them moving when she said that she didn’t have a daughter. She cried out. I tried so hard to go to her. Then there was a shuffling sound and I heard her begging them to let her go. The cries grew quieter as they took her down the hallway. I couldn’t break free, but I managed to drag Nicole’s mum to the door and saw them carry my mother kicking and screaming out of the building.’ Hope stopped talking and I held my breath. Slowly the sobs ex
ploded from her and I held her against my chest. I allowed her to let the grief come. I didn’t interrupt or say anything.
‘I tried so hard to get to her, but Nicole’s mum said that they would execute me too. Nicole’s dad sneaked over to the Upper Side the next day just to get a newspaper. Her execution was announced.’ She stopped talking and the tears dried up. I stayed silent as the memories played in her head.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered just as I thought she was drifting off to sleep. I kept her against me and kissed her forehead. I made a vow to never let her hurt like that ever again.
Chapter Twelve
‘Did the Chancellor not think that this would come out?’ I asked Artie.
My uncle hadn’t asked me any questions about how I’d left the theatre the last time I was here. I’d never met my uncle before I was shot. My father had told me about him and I’d always longed to know him.
‘If the angels are having enough influence, he wouldn’t have had a choice. He wouldn’t mention it to them as it’s against their laws to enslave and mistreat an Avoidable for personal use. The government set those rules, so they can ignore them when they want to. However, it is frowned upon and discretion is paramount. Perfects may be shallow, but they have a heart. It’s just not often used,’ Artie said, running a finger down his scar unconsciously.
‘Do you think he’ll be executed?’ I asked, squeezing Hope’s hand when she flinched. We were sitting on the theatre stage. I was getting a little used to being in the same places. Especially on the Lower Side.
‘I’m bored,’ Hope muttered, letting go of my hand.
‘You’re always bored,’ Purple said, standing up and answering his phone as it burst into music. ‘Hey, Baby, is everything okay?’
We looked at him as he gasped. He muttered something into the phone and then shut it off.
‘I think we better…’ He started, but was interrupted by pounding on the theatre doors.
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