Afflicted

by Susanne Valenti

  "You can come if you like?" I joked. "Or just give me some extra money to make sure I get something good." I knew there wasn't much chance of that but it was always worth a try.

  "I suppose I could stretch to a bit of a treat for my favourite girl. At least enough to make sure the two of you have a nice lunch."

  "Really?" I asked hopefully as he reached for his wallet.

  "What's my job worth if I can't spoil my kids every now and then?" He handed over a few rolled up notes and I grinned excitedly at Lacey. "That mall has a great restaurant on the ninety fourth floor," he suggested.

  "Thanks Dad," I jumped up and gave him a hug.

  "No problem. Just have fun today and I should be back home tonight too." He gave me a kiss and I hugged him again.

  "We should get going," I said as I beckoned Lacey to follow me.

  "Thank you for the breakfast," she said as she stood. "And the shower."

  "You're welcome sweetheart," my mom said kindly.

  "Do you have a hairdryer here?" I asked, indicating my wet hair.

  "In our room, there's a dressing table-"

  I headed into their room to find it and started work to fix my hair. Lacey quickly took over and I did hers for her once I looked human again.

  We practically ran out of the apartment and rode down to the Walkways whilst discussing what kind of clothes we needed most. Prom wasn't a million miles away and we both agreed that it was worth investing some time in looking at the dresses they had in the city so that we could start to figure out what we wanted.

  After a long walk through the city, we finally made our way to the mall. The people who lived in the city full time had started to give things slightly different names to their equivalents on the outside. Instead of calling it a mall, they called it a 'garment building'. The names were a little silly but they added to the modern feel of the place and I didn't mind them for that reason.

  There was a queue outside the building and we joined it excitedly, still trying to decide which department to hit first.

  "Where was my invite then bitches?"

  We turned to find Demi joining the queue behind us. She was wearing a skin tight, nude coloured dress and her platinum blonde hair was styled perfectly as usual.

  "Hey," I said with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

  "That's nice, I thought you'd be pleased to see me?" Demi raised an eyebrow at me, feigning irritation.

  "Don't be silly, I'm just surprised to see you here," I covered quickly. If Demi really did want to join us then our shopping trip was as good as ruined. I always felt like a shadow of myself when I was with her; she second guessed everything and read into everything I said. She had a knack for tricking people into revealing their secrets too and stored them up to use whenever it suited her. The last thing I needed was her probing further into my love life or asking more about Lincoln.

  "Well I wasn't gunna go another day without a shower," she said as she pulled her cellphone from her purse and started texting someone. "And my uncle has a penthouse here so I thought I'd come and stay for a bit. Until the water's back on anyway."

  My cellphone buzzed and I pulled it from my pocket to see a text from Demi. Lacey was looking at the same message on her phone too and I opened it to see why she was texting me whilst standing right in front of me.

  Demi 8:48 - Cinema Thursday at 2

  "There's a new movie out that I wanna see," she said as I looked up at her. "And I think the squad and football team need some more chill time together after that whole scene with Devlin the other night."

  "I don't suppose you've heard anything about him?" I asked. I was disturbed by the fact that he still hadn't been let out of hospital. As far as I knew, no one had been allowed in to visit him either.

  "Well Spencer went over to Devlin's house and tried to speak with his mom but she was really cagey. He thought someone had told her not to speak about it."

  "It's not a conspiracy," Lacey scoffed.

  "Whatever it is, someone doesn't want information getting out about it. I guess it's because he was attacked by one of those crazy people." She shrugged and leant around me to look towards the front of the queue. She wasn't fooling me though, I knew she'd be the first to find out any information about what was going on.

  "So are you gunna look for a prom dress?" Lacey asked.

  "Oh no, I'm not shopping today. I'm just waiting for my uncle to come back out; he's confirming the food order for his party tonight. It's going to be amazing. They're celebrating the completion of the city and everyone who's anyone is going to be there."

  I nodded along interestedly but I was holding back a grin as she said she wasn't staying with us.

  "I'd try and get you guys an invite but it's totally exclusive, sorry." She went back to checking her phone as she was speaking and I glanced at Lacey briefly.

  "You'll have to tell us all about it," Lacey said. "It sounds great."

  "I will. Thursday, don't be late." She gave us a dazzling smile and headed off to meet her uncle.

  "Wow," Lacey said, raising her eyebrows and I laughed.

  "Let’s spend this money." I grinned as the queue started moving and we made our way inside.

  Chapter Eleven

  Kaitlyn

  Sunlight spilled into my room the next morning, rousing me from a deep sleep which had made up for the previous night. I smiled as I heard the telltale sound of my mom cooking downstairs and hurried to find out what she'd been making.

  My dad and Reese were already sitting at the table and eating a huge pile of scrambled egg and toast.

  "At last," Mom said with a grin as she spotted me. "I thought Reese was going to eat yours if you hadn't appeared."

  "I'm sure he would have." I scowled at my brother as I took my seat opposite him.

  "You snooze you lose," Reese said around a mouthful of egg which half fell back out of his mouth.

  "Ew." I turned away from him to watch my mom cooking so that I wouldn't lose my appetite.

  "Did the store get a delivery then?" I asked.

  "They did," Mom hesitated before continuing. "They still didn't have a huge selection but at least I could get the essentials."

  "And is the water back on?"

  "Not yet." She placed a plate of eggs in front of me and I dug in hungrily.

  "I need to run a few errands today," Dad said. "They want me back at work this evening and I'm not sure how long it will be before they let me leave again."

  "You're barely home these days," I complained. "When will they stop treating you like a slave?"

  "A very well paid slave," Mom reminded me.

  "Yeah I know but that doesn't mean they should own your whole life." I couldn't remember the last time he'd been home for longer than twenty four hours.

  "I know sweetheart but it really won't be much longer. They just want everything completed before this trial run of the isolation process. They don't want anything left to chance and that means working me as hard as they can until the big day."

  "Are you going to be taking part in the trial?" Reese asked, still not bothering to swallow before he spoke.

  "Well..." Dad looked at Mom awkwardly as she sat down beside me with her own plate of food.

  "They have offered us a place in the trial," she said. "All of us-"

  "No thanks," I said before taking a mouthful of my breakfast.

  "They're making history you know," Dad said seriously. "They'll talk about this in years to come as the first time-"

  "Blah blah blah, the answer is no. If I miss two weeks of school, I'll miss two weeks of cheer practice and Demi will kick me off the squad."

  "Same for the football team," Reese piped up. "We'll be fine here on our own." He gave me a wide smile and I sighed. No doubt he was planning a huge house party as we spoke.

  "I know we've been alright leaving the two of you alone here for the odd night but two weeks is too long." Dad placed his knife and fork down and I geared up for an argument.

  "You
know how hard I worked to get on that squad," I said. "All of my friends cheer, if you take that away from me then you're basically taking away my whole social life too."

  "You're at school to get an education, not focus on your social life," Dad said irritably.

  "It's not just a social life, I could get a scholarship for college," Reese replied angrily.

  "It's only a few weeks off, I'm sure we can work something out with the school. Think about it guys; you'll be a part of history in the making." Mom gave us pleading looks but there was no way I was going to agree.

  "No. I'm seventeen, you can't make me. If you don't want us staying in the house alone then that's fine - I'm sure Lacey's mom will have me to stay." I finished my breakfast and wondered if storming out was the best way to play this.

  "I could stay with Jason," Reese added. These two weeks were sounding better and better - two weeks almost Reese free. If I could swerve him during school then I could actually be free of him for a while.

  "It's not that simple. It's not like we're just going away on holiday. We will be locked away. If anything were to happen, we wouldn't even find out until we came out. It's not just a closed door. They're cutting themselves off technologically as well. We won't be able to call you or even email - nothing," Dad said.

  "Nothing's going to happen to us! I'll be at Lacey's with her mom and dad not some unknown place-"

  "It's not up for discussion," Dad snapped.

  "It is," I replied angrily. "You can't force me to go. You can't drag me there and tie me up in one of the cable cars - if I don't come home the day you have to go what are you going to do? Ask the whole city to keep the doors open while you come looking for me?"

  "You listen to me-" Dad began angrily.

  "No! You listen to us!" Reese interrupted before I could. "We aren't going. C'mon Kaitlyn." He stood and headed for the door and I scrambled after him. I kicked my shoes on as Dad got to his feet behind us.

  "Don't walk out that door!" Dad shouted after us.

  I looked up at Reese and saw the same determination in his gaze as I felt. We ducked out of the house together and ran to the end of the drive. It had just started to rain and I glanced up at the grey sky in frustration as I realised the only thing I had on me was my cellphone. I really needed a coat.

  "Look at us on the same side for once," Reese said as he flipped up the hood on his sweatshirt.

  "Yeah. I'm not convinced they'll change their minds though. And now we've stormed out of the house with nowhere to go."

  "Speak for yourself, I'm off to Jason's. We should probably avoid the house for a while anyway."

  "Agreed."

  Reese nodded and turned away from me, jogging down the street towards Jason's house.

  I turned the other way and pulled my cellphone from my pocket to call Lacey. It rang out and I dialled again. The third time it went to voicemail, I gave up and shoved my phone back into my pocket. I upped the pace and jogged the four blocks between my house and Lacey's.

  The rain turned from a drizzle into downpour and I was drenched in my thin black shirt. My hair was plastered to my face and my feet squelched in my shoes.

  I sprinted up Lacey's drive and hammered on her front door. I waited for over a minute before knocking again.

  My heart sank as I realised no one was in. I couldn't bear the idea of skulking home soaking wet and shame faced but I wasn't sure what else to do either. It was a long walk to most of my other friends' houses and I wasn't even sure who to call on first.

  Ella's was probably the closest but she wouldn't be able to hold back from telling everyone that I'd turned up on her doorstep, half drowned and in the middle of a row with my parents. And if Demi found out that they were trying to force me to miss two weeks of practice I wouldn't hear the end of it. She might even decide to go round and tell my mom and dad what she thought of that and I couldn't see how that would make the situation any better.

  Tara was my next best bet but she lived nine blocks away.

  Thunder crashed overhead and I flinched as I started running again. It was just my luck to get caught out in weather like this. It was the start of the summer but the unseasonable storm seemed to be picking up intensity by the minute.

  I wanted to call Tara to check she was at home but the rain was so heavy that I was afraid of damaging my cellphone if I used it. I just hoped she was there and ran faster.

  "Where you running to Girly?" a male voice called as I sprinted past an alleyway. I didn't slow to respond to him but footsteps started up behind me. "I'm talking to you!" A hand landed on my arm and I spun to glare at the man.

  He was wearing a wide-brimmed hat which kept the rain off of his face but his eyes darted around manically.

  "Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run," he started singing then cackled at me.

  "I need to go," I said as I backed away from him, wondering if he was drunk or crazy or a bit of both.

  "Here comes the farmer with his gun, gun, gun." He reached into his jacket and my heart skipped a beat as I backed up further, wondering if he actually had a gun on him.

  A truck pulled up beside us suddenly, causing a wave of puddle water to surge towards me and the crazed man.

  "You need a lift Katy?" Lincoln asked as he leant across the passenger seat and the window slid down.

  I jumped in without any need for further prompting. The man yelled out and kicked water back towards the truck as Lincoln pulled away.

  "Friend of yours?" Lincoln asked with a smirk as we started back towards our houses.

  "Yeah he's one of the cheerleaders," I joked.

  Lincoln laughed and took a turn. He drove with only one arm on the steering wheel and looked like he was more at home in his truck than he was at his mom's.

  I swept my bedraggled hair out of my face and pulled down the sun visor to use the mirror. There wasn't much I could do without makeup but I tried to wipe the water from my cheeks and arrange my hair so that it wasn't a total drowned rat look.

  "You were headed home right?" he asked.

  "No, I was actually headed anywhere but home," I replied sheepishly. "I'm kinda in the middle of a fight with my folks."

  "Oh." Lincoln drummed his fingers on the steering wheel for a few seconds. "That would explain the lack of coat then?"

  "Yeah, it was a bit of a hasty exit." I looked out of my window feeling embarrassed. The rain still poured down in torrents, making it hard to see much beyond the glass.

  "You heading to the Quarterback’s then?" he asked.

  "Umm..." I hadn't even thought of going to Ryan's. There was an unanswered text from him on my cellphone that had been suggesting we meet up today. "I guess so." I was kind of hoping that Lincoln might suggest we do something else.

  "What's his address then?" Linc ran his free hand through his short hair and I couldn't help but stare a little. He was the same boy I'd always known in so many ways and yet he looked so different as well. He'd never been able to grow a beard when I knew him but dark stubble lined his jaw now. His face had changed too, the soft lines had hardened and his jaw was a lot stronger. Even his eyes looked different now though I couldn't quite place why. It was something about the look in them, maybe just not having to live in fear of his dad had fixed that.

  "Katy?" Linc took his eyes from the road to look at me for a moment and I realised he was still waiting for directions to Ryan's.

  "Oh umm, he's on Maple," I said quickly, trying to ignore the look of amusement in Lincoln's eyes.

  "Done staring then?" he asked.

  I felt my cheeks redden and fought against it. "You just look different is all," I spluttered. "It's hard to get used to. You look weird now."

  "Not as weird as you do. I left a little girl who loved climbing trees and had a slightly scary obsession with stickers-"

  "I was not obsessed," I objected.

  Lincoln laughed and I rolled my eyes.

  "Anyway, I've come back and you're all grown up. You don't need me to protect you any m
ore." He smiled as he turned onto Maple and I pointed out Ryan's house.

  "Hey, if you still feel like protecting me from Reese then you're more than welcome. You won't believe the kind of liberties he's taken since you left," I said.

  "You two are still fighting like cat and dog then? It's nice to know some things will always be the same." He pulled the truck up outside the house and killed the electric engine with a button on the dash.

  "One more year until I go to college and can get away from him for good." I leant back against the head rest with a smile. College couldn't come soon enough.

  "You know he only winds you up like that because he worships you. He just wants to get your attention," Lincoln said.

  I scoffed at that. "No. I think he just gets pleasure out of tormenting me. Do you know he joined the football team? So now he hangs out with my friends and tells them all sorts of embarrassing stories about me."

  "Sounds like the sort of thing that would get your attention. Plus he gets to hang out with you all the time," Lincoln pointed out.

  "Yeah right. You don't know how good you've got it. I'd give anything to be an only child."

  "No you wouldn't. It's lonely." Lincoln looked out of the windshield at the rain and I followed his gaze.

  Lightning flashed across the sky followed by a crash of thunder a few seconds later.

  "Do you think..." I began.

  Lincoln turned back to me with an eyebrow raised expectantly as I hesitated.

  "I'm probably being crazy but... isn't this storm a bit... much?"

  "Are you worried about hurricanes?" Linc asked. "It's a bit too early in the season for that. And there weren't any warnings on the news."

  "Yeah I guess. It's pretty intense though." I wondered if I should just swallow my pride and head home. If the storm wouldn't break I'd have to walk back in it later or call my mom for a lift or I might even get stuck at Ryan's.

  "Any reason you're still sitting here?" he asked with a smile. "Won't the Quarterback be waiting?

  "He's got a name you know."

  "I'm sure he does. But I won't hold my breath for an invite to the wedding so I don't think it matters... unless he manages to knock you up at prom-"