Genetics

Chapter Four

The sound of the door opening drifted into my subconscious, pulling me from my sleep. I kept my eyes closed and concentrated on the new signal. It wasn’t Abe – he was nice enough but his signal wasn’t the strongest, if you know what I mean. But this new signal was strong. It belonged to someone much younger, too – a male.

He crossed the room lightly, his footsteps quiet. I heard him set something on the edge of the bed and for a few minutes he just stood there. I kept my eyes shut, carefully controling my breathing so that it would seem like I was still asleep. After a little while he left, still moving quietly. His signal was outside for a while – now that I was thinking about it I could feel Abe’s, too – and then both signals went away.

I sat up. There was a tray of food on top of the ‘TV’. I dove for it, quickly shoving food in my mouth. I didn't even pay attention to what I was eating I was so hungry; some kind of meat and another kind of vegetable. Afterwards I crawled back onto the bed, letting the feelings wash over me. I was full, I wasn't tired and I wasn't scared. How long would that last?

I took a shower, enjoying the hot water running over my body. Then I headed outside, walking over to Abe's house with the empty tray. I paused by the back door, looking around. I couldn't see anything that looked like I was supposed to knock on it, so I settled on the door, slamming my fist against it to make sure he heard. He must have because as I opened the door and walked inside he arrived at the kitchen, curiously out of breath as if he been running. “What was that about?”

“I knocked.” I closed the door behind me then set the tray down on the bench. “I liked the food.”

“That's... good. I probably should let you know that the glass is kind of weak so you need to knock gently, okay?”

I turned to look at the glass. So that's what that invisible stuff was called. It didn't look weak but then again I didn't even know what it was called until now. “Okay. So. Where do I buy food?”

“Oh, just head down the main road and its on your left. It's the only store so you can't miss it.”

I nodded like I knew what a store was and headed down the street. About halfway down I saw a cabin with food displayed in the window – there was a sign over it and after a few minutes I managed to work out ‘store.’ I walked over and knocked on the door. After a few minutes a woman pushed the door open. “You can just walk right in. We're open.”

I frowned slightly. So I had to knock when entering a house and walk in when entering a 'store.' Why couldn't I just do one or the other?

The store turned out to have many different things in it – clothes, food, other things I didn't recognize. I picked up a lot of food, depositing on the counter as I went. After my third trip the lady walked up to me and handed me a basket. “Put the tins in that, darl. Save you the trips,” she said kindly. “So what brings you to hole, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I’m trying to get to Benka. I was told there was a delivery truck that leaves at the end of the week.”

“Oh, okay. So you’ll be staying for a couple of days, then?” As I nodded she leant forward slightly, looking at the tins I was placing in the basket. “What’s your name, honey?”

Names are a strange thing; Genetics don’t really focus on them. We know who we are, you know who you are. Sure we have names but we don’t ask for them or really tell them so I couldn’t really understand why all these people were suddenly so interested in mine. Still, it seemed to be an important part of their greeting process so I simply replied, “Willow.”

“Well, Willow, you don’t cook very much, do you?”

I looked down at my basket. “I’ve never tried,” I replied after a moment.

“I thought so. I’ve got a young one who’d be close to your age, Riko. Boy can’t even cook an egg,” she said cheerfully. “My names Mrs Lawrence, by the by, but you can call me Sara, everyone else does. Anyhow…” She reached into the basket and pulled out a tin, frowning as she looked at the label. “Well it’s nice to meet someone who does like their veggies but I’m fairly sure you don’t need ten cans of carrots, correct me if I’m wrong.” She moved away, quickly walking down another different aisle. Her voice floated back towards me, “I expect you just want pizza and the like…”

“No. I like veggies and fruit.” I trailed after her, watching as she grabbed things off the shelf and put them in my basket. I wasn’t worried about money, I had a lot of paper in the wallet. But she made me want to laugh, much like the grass tickling me. The way she was rushing around as if what I ate was really important seemed kind of funny.

After a few more minutes almost everything I had previously put in the basket and on the counter had been replaced with different things. She’d also given me a lot of ‘fresh’ fruit and vegetables, which from what I could tell just meant it wasn’t in a tin. By the time I had reached the counter she had already told me a few different ways to cook everything – I wasn’t entirely sure what some of the words were but I figured I’d make it up a bit. I was more then happy to eat it raw, anyway. I know you have to cook meat and stuff but I don’t see the point of cooking vegetables – they go all limp and kind of strange.

“Now seeing as most of this is my doing I’ll give you a discount, okay honey?”

I nodded and then handed over a couple of one hundred notes. Like Abe she gave most of them back, only keeping one before giving me ‘change.’ One hundred must be worth a lot if everyone kept giving them back, I decided.

She put everything I had brought into a plastic bag for me and I started the walk back to the cabin. I’d only gone a few meters when I first felt it. I stopped dead in the street, my eyes widening in shock. A Genetic? Here?

I hurried back to the cabin, quickly putting all of my stuff inside and closing the door. Walking back to the main street, I walked until I felt the signal again. It was very weak, which would explain why I hadn’t felt it before. Excitement coursed through my veins as I moved away from hole, following the signal.

It led me into the forest. I'd never felt this feeling before – it was like fear but sat in my stomach, making me feel sick. It'd been... a very long time since I'd last talked to a Pure. A very long time. And it'd have to be a Pure; as I moved further away from hole the signal grew stronger and I could distinguish an extra strength to it. The strength that wasn't related to the brain, something different. This Genetic was powerful, to be sure... but I was fairly certain he wasn't the one I was tracking. At least, I hoped not. I didn't want to have to deal with that, not yet.

I moved through the trees, then paused. It was close. Crouching down, I cocked my head on one side as I listened. Hearing nothing out of the ordinary, I slowly moved, circling the signal. I could make out some sort of cabin through the foliage and once I was at the back of the cabin I moved forward.

There were no windows, just a single door. I paused, slowly backing away. No. You can't go in there. I glanced down at my brown arms. It didn't really matter now, did it? So what if I had no exit? A human didn't need one. And all throughout my reasoning the signal called, shooting down any negative reasoning with the one simple thought: you won't be alone anymore.

Opening the door, I slipped inside the room and glanced around. It was empty. I frowned slightly, then began to concentrate. The Genetic was definitely here, but... I smiled slightly as it clicked. Ah. There you are.

I stepped back outside and looked up. It took a few minutes of searching before I spotted it; high above my head something black dangled, blending into the branches of the tree it hung from. Walking over to the tree, I grasped the branch and hurled myself up. It was a slow process – whoever had done this had very carefully removed a few of the key branches. Not enough for anyone to notice when they looked at the tree but enough so that as you started to climb you really started to miss them.

About half way up I had to stop, clutching to the tree as I tried to work out how to get up there. I could see it a lot more clearly now – metal bars painted a deep green formed some sort of cage, attached to the side of the tree. How the hell is that not dropping? I wondered for a moment, then reached up, grabbing hold of the next branch. My fingers could only just grab it and it took all of my concentration to allow myself to be pulled up.  My muscles didn't really appreciate being signalled out like that and I winced, letting the pain wash over me. After that the rest of the climb was fairly easy and I found myself next to the cage.

I was frozen on the tree branch, staring at him. He was... beautiful. White skin, black hair that was slightly too long so it fell across his face. I checked his hands and smiled when I saw the nails. It's strange. I'd always thought of myself as a monster but on him the same traits were transformed and I found myself looking down at my brown hands with disgust.

He stirred, opening his eyes. They were a dark brown, making the ring of silver seem even brighter. For a few seconds we sat there, staring at each other and then he spoke. “You're not... human.”

“No.” I reached forward, placing my palm up as I extended my razors in order to show friendship instead of hostility. He looked down at them and then reached out, palm facing upwards, his razors uncurling. They were slightly shorter then mine but thicker, stronger. We gently touched, our razors meeting point to point as a greeting. “How did you know?” I asked as I removed my hand.

“I sense feelings, thoughts surrounding those feelings. You were sad that you'd changed yourself.”

“Yes.” I allowed myself to retreat into my mind for a few seconds, carefully shielding myself before returning to the conversation. He must have felt what I had done for he looked at me quizzically. “You hide from me... why?”

“I don't like you in my head.”

He tipped his head in acknowledgment then glanced at his cage. “Can you get me out?”

I stood up, studying the top of the cage. It should open somehow for there were no other ways to get in – but if it was meant to open someone had shut it for good. “I don't think so,” I said hesitantly.

“If you dropped the cage it would open.”

“It doesn’t work like that. The force would kill you.”

He was silent for a minute. “I'll die anyway. The man will return.”

I took the opportunity to ask, “Who did this to you?”

“I don't know. He was... different.”

“Different? Different how?” I felt a moment of panic. It couldn't be a Genetic, could it?

“He didn't feel angry, like most of them do. It was confusing.” He moved onto his knees, his head tilted at an angle to stop it from banging on the roof. “I wish for you to drop me. I do not want to die an animal.”

“You don't have to die at all.”  I wouldn't be strong enough to hold the cage if I dropped it. I flicked out a razor and did an experimental scratch against the metal – it created a hole sure enough but it would most likely wear down my razor before the metal was cut.

“I feel frustration.”

“Yeah, well, I’m trying.”

He looked at me. “No. The frustration is from the ones who are coming.”

I shook my head. “No ones-“ I cut my own sentence short as I felt the signals tug at my brain. He had a wider range then me, apparently. Which would make him fairly powerful… oh spices.

“I’m going to have to come back,” I said softly, slipping down onto the branch.

He shook his head violently. “No. You must drop me. I won’t die by their hands.” I ignored him and started to climb down, his voice calling after me, “Please! Don’t leave me like this!”

I dropped the last few feet to the ground and ran for cover. I was fairly lucky in that there were a lot of bushes – picking one, I threw myself into the middle. Too late I realized this was a mistake as the bushes scratched me, drawing long slivers of blood on my face and arms. Landing on the ground, I winced as I adjusted my position, trying to arrange it so it no longer hurt.

I didn’t wait very long – after what felt like a matter of seconds Riko and another man entered my line of view. I recognized the brain signal straight away – this was the man who had brought me the food. The signal was stronger then ever, much stronger then Riko’s even though they looked the same age. I took the opportunity to study him – he moved gracefully but slowly, taking his time to walk across to the cabin. He had dark brown and as his head turned I caught sight of what looked to be almost grey eyes.

“Why won’t you just tell me what’s going on?” Riko was saying as he walked after the man.

“I did.”

“Come on, Jayce, saying ‘I found a Genetic’ really isn’t that helpful. There’s tons of them out here.”

I frowned slightly. No, there wasn’t. I would feel it if there were. Admittedly I hadn’t felt the Pure until just a little while ago but if there were ‘tons’ – which I was fairly sure was a lot – then I would have felt at least a few, right?

Jayce turned, glancing at Riko with a small smile. “I said I have a Genetic.” Riko stopped walking and just stood there for a second. “Have? As in, here?”

“Yes.” Jayce indicated to the cage hanging in the tree and Riko looked upwards, craning his neck. “Huh," he said after a moment. “And theres a Genetic in there?”

“Yeah. A male Pure.” Jayce disappeared into the cabin and returned a few seconds, carrying something small in his hand that I didn’t recognize. “It’s not the one that killed Dave, though.”

“How do you know?”

“Wouldn’t be in that cage if it was. Doc showed me the results of Dave’s autopsy – whoever did it has one hell of a power punch. It was kind of like a mental sledgehammer.”

“Ah.” Riko glanced upwards again. “So why is it still here, then? Shouldn’t we, you know… do something about it?”

“Not yet.” Jayce moved over to the tree, looking up with the same small smile on his face. “Would you do me a favour and go feed Man and Boi? I’ve got some things I need to do.”

Riko nodded. “Sure. I’ll be back in thirty, okay?” He disappeared from view, his signal growing weaker. Jayce waited a few minutes and then turned. “You really shouldn’t hide in there, it’s got pretty nasty thorns.”

I froze. He couldn’t know, surely? I knew that if I moved the bushes would rustle so I had remained perfectly still, breathing slowly through my nose to create as little noise as possible. It couldn’t be me he was talking to, right? Even I thought this I was proved wrong as he crouched down, looking directly at me. “It really can’t be comfortable, Willow.”

I slowly stood up, feeling embarrassed. “How did you know I was there?”

“I looked.” He straightened, his gaze sliding over the cuts on my face and arms. “I see you already met the thorns. You really shouldn’t leap into blackberry bushes.”

“So now you kill me?” I asked bluntly.

He made a small noise in the back of his throat. “What kind of question is that?”

“I don’t know. That wasn’t much of an answer,” I replied.

“Fair enough.” He looked amused. “I’m not a murder, Willow.”

“You’re going to kill him.” I looked up at the cage in the tree. I could still hear the Pure’s voice, begging me to drop him.

“What’s hanging in that cage is an animal.” Jayce’s smile disappeared behind a frown.

“A defenceless one,” I replied angrily. How could he just pretend that he wasn’t killing someone, a person? I know you have all pretended that Genetic’s are animals for so long that some of you truly believe it. But how can you look into our eyes and think we deserve to die, even now?

“When did you come to hole, Willow?” Jayce said abruptly, changing the conversation.

I shrugged. “Yesterday.”

“And why hole in particular?”

“I want to get to Benka.” Although to be honest now I wasn’t so sure. The Pure… it seemed impossible to believe what I was looking for could be right here. But his range had been larger then mine. Sure, range didn’t automatically mean strength but it was a safe guess that the Pure was strong. If I had time I would be able to feel how strong but I would need to be able to concentrate for that.

“Well, you’re a long way away then, aren’t you?” As I nodded he continued, “Your pretty far from hole, too.”

“The forest is interesting.”

“Hey Jayce-“ Riko slowly trailed off as he caught sight of me. “Willow. What are you doing here?”

“She wanted to free the pure,” Jayce relied, his gaze fixed on me. Riko glanced up at the cage above our heads, than looked at Jayce as if waiting to see his reaction.

“I think we can oblige.” Jayce said, his eyes never leaving mine. He wasn’t lying, which made me puzzled. He really was going to release the Pure – why? I had no doubt Jayce was planning to kill him before; how had our meeting changed things?

Riko didn’t question Jayce, which seemed odd. He was clearly unhappy about the proceedings as Jayce pulled out a small black box from his pocket; when he pressed a button it in the cage began to lower. After a few minutes I could see the Pure’s worried face peering down at us.

When the cage reached the ground, Jayce used the small object he had in his hand to unlock it. The Pure rose hesitantly, his movements stiff from the cramped space he had inhabited. “Well, what are you waiting for?” Jayce asked when we didn’t move, his arms crossed across his chest. “Get.”

The Pure grabbed my hand and ran, pulling me along after him. After a few minutes he slowed down, peering cautiously into the foliage behind us. “I don’t think their following us,” he panted.

“They’re not,” I replied quietly. “You know, he wasn’t lying when he said he’d free you.”

“He did free me but he doesn’t plan to leave it that way.”

“How do you know?” I asked with a frown.

“I felt it. They never planned to let us get away.”

“We need to hide, then.”

“I saw a small village nearby-“

I shook my head. “No. It’s not a friendly town. I rent a building on the edge of the forest; if we wait for the dark you might not get noticed.”

He shook his head as well. “Its not safe here. I cannot wait for night.”

“Theres no where for you to go.” The thought of him leaving made me feel sick inside. I would be alone again, the only Genetic in a human’s world.

He paused, staring at me. “I do not wish to leave,” he said quietly and I knew he felt the same way.

“Then come stay with me.”

“I can’t.” He exteneded his hand in our greeting, alm up with razors extended. “So I’ll never see you again,” I said flatly, disappointment washing over me in a tidal wave of emotion.

“I won’t be far. I have hidden in the forests for years – it was only by a foolish mistake I was caught. I will not make that mistake again.”

“But I thought you said it was unsafe?”

“In the outer forest, yes. Not where I’m going.”

I reached out and touched my razors to his. “Two days. We will find each other.”

“In the second night,” he promised.

*~*~*~*~*~

“I don’t understand why we let him go,” Riko said angrily. “He’s dangerous; we’re supposed to be protecting the town.”

“Yes,” Jayce said simply as he raised the cage back into the trees. “We are.”

Riko paused, looking at him long and hard. “It’d be nice if you filled me in on this genius plan of yours.”

“I saw an opportunity and I took it.”

“This is about Willow, isn’t it?” Riko asked hesitantly, knowing he was making a fool of himself by getting angry. “But she’s human.”

“Yes.”

He was missing something and it only frustrated him more. “Then what is it?”

“Just a theory I’m working on.” Jayce slid the controller back into his pocket. “I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”

*~*~*~*~*~*

By the time I got back to my house the sun was setting. Picking up my shopping, I put the tins in the cupboards. The white box was for keeping things cold I had discovered – I believe it is called a fridge - so I put the cold things in there. Pulling out a can, I hunted through the drawers for a tin opener. There was none and I stared at my food with frustration. I probably could eat the vegies, I reasoned with myself – but I wanted to save them for later. If the ‘fridge’ stopped them from going squishy, it would be a good idea to keep them just in case I needed to leave in a hurry. Out here I could hunt but veggies would be scarce.

I don’t understand why you make things so difficult to eat, either. I mean you have to eat, so why lock your food away in metal tins? In the end I retrieved my knife from my pocket and set about trying to cut the metal. It was a difficult task – a few times my knife slipped and by the time I got the tin open I had a couple of deep cuts across my palms.

I blocked the pain while I ate and then washed my hands to get rid of the blood. They seemed to be fairly deep and in the end I found some white material in a cupboard to wrap around my palms in an attempt to stop the bleeding. I had just finished wrapping my hands when the door knocked; I opened it to find a young girl. She was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, her long blond hair moving slightly with the breeze. Green eyes blinked up at me.

“Hello!” She said cheerfully. “I’m Lex. I’ve brought you something.” She picked up a basket I hadn’t noticed by her feet, handing it over to me. It was filled with different objects, all different colors and sizes. “We know your only staying a few days but we wanted to welcome you anyway.”

“We?” I moved inside to put the basket on the edge of my bed.

“Well, Sara mainly. Have you meet her yet? She runs the store. But a few other people chipped in as well.” Lex followed me into the house, still chatting away.

I looked at the basket, then around my room. I didn’t have anything – I hadn’t been expecting this. Moving to the kitchen, I pulled out a few cans and handed them to her. “I don’t have much,” I said awkwardly.

She looked at the tins in her hands and laughed. “You don’t have to give us anything back, silly. It was a gift.” She set the tins down on the bench and I frowned slightly. Gift. I wasn’t familiar with the term. Still, she said I didn’t have to give anything back so maybe it was okay.

Lex was looking around my room with interest – it was bare, everything the same as when I had first arrived. “You don’t have much stuff, do you?” She asked after a moment.

“I left most of it on the bus. I had to get off in a hurry.”

“Oh.” Lex sat on my bed, bouncing slightly. “So where did you come from?”

“A city. It’s a few days travel.”

“Yeah, but what city?”

There you go with the name thing again. It was a city, why did a name matter? I didn’t even know it! “Just a city,” I said after a slight pause.

She frowned like that wasn’t a proper answer but didn’t press the mater, instead choosing to ask, “How’d you end up in hole then?”

I shrugged. “No where else around here. How long have you been in hole?”

“I don’t know, about two years I guess. Me and my brother moved here from Benka. See, a few years ago a Genetic was caught on a SourceBox and police went crazy looking for it. A lot of people left the city cuz it got kinda dangerous. But I don’t know, I guess there were a few Genetics in the city cause all of a sudden they started appearing in the woods. That’s when Jayce started working for the Sheriff,” she added.

I frowned darkly. “To hunt down the Genetics.”

“No! He just makes sure they stay away, that’s all,” Lex replied forecefully. “A few months after we first got here a girl was killed by a Pure she ran into in the forest. So he keeps the Genetics away.”

“A Genetic wouldn’t kill a human.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do,” I muttered, looking down at my feet.

Lex looked at my strangely, then shrugged. “You’re kind of weird, you know.”

‘Weird’ was another term I wasn’t familiar with so I just smiled and said “Thanks.”

She smiled too. “So who have you met in hole? You’ve met Abe, right? Well, you’re renting this room off him so you must’ve.” I nodded in confirmation and her smile grew. “Good. He’s really nice. Then there’s Sara and Riko and Jayce and Sherieff Walker and Mr and Mrs Shiro, she’s the doctor. She’s really good, too – I hurt my arm a few months ago and she fixed it really well. Did you hurt your hands? I bet she could fix them if you showed her. Have you shown her?”

I was a little surprised by the abrupt subject change and stammered, “I, uh, well-“

“Lex. Don’t be rude.” I turned to find Jayce standing in the open doorway. His eyes flickered to me and then back to the girl. “It’s none of your business,” he finished stiffly.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry,” Lex replied, dropping her gaze to the floor.

“What are you doing here anyway?” Jayce glanced at me. “I’m sorry, she’s just curious seeing as your new in town.”

“She brought me a gift. I didn’t have to give anything back.” I indicated to the basket lying on the bed.

Lex brightened instantly. “Sara asked me to bring it to her.”

“Ah. Well, I think it’s time you left.” Jayce tipped his head towards the door. 

Lex slid off the bed.”It was nice meeting you.” She ran to the door and Jayce sighed slightly.“I’m sorry for the intrusion. She asks a lot of questions and she can be very blunt.”

“She called me weird.” I picked up the basket and moved it to the bench.

Jayce chuckled quietly. “Yeah, well, I’m sorry if she offended you.”

“I like her. Will you ask her to come visit me again?”

Lex poked her head around the door – apparently she hadn’t gone very far. “I’d love to.” She glanced up at Jayce. “Can I? Please?”

Jayce’s smile vanished almost instantly. He tried to hide his annoyance but his eyes darkened, giving him away. “We’ll see. Sorry again, Willow.” He left the cabin and I saw Lex disappear into Abe’s house with him. I carefully closed the door then leant my head against it, exhaling slowly. Lex seemed really nice and I meant it when I said I wanted to see her again. But Jayce... I wasn’t sure if I feared him or hated him. A mixture of both, I guess. In my mind I could see his eyes darkening; whatever the case, I wanted to stay away from him. And I’ll have to make sure the Pure does too.

My mind drifted to what Lex had said. So thats why Fame had needed me – they had tried to capture the Genetic but hadn’t succeeded. But if Lex was right and all the Genetics had left Benka, then going there wasn’t my best option. And the Pure was beginning to seem more and more like the one I was looking for.

I realized suddenly that I was meant to be checking in with Fame regarding my progress. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a slip of paper from my wallet. It had a phone number on it and I left the cabin, walking up the path to Abe’s house. This time I knocked a lot more gently – after a few minutes he appeared at the door. “Willow. What can I do for you?”

“Do you have a telephone I can use?”

“Yes, of course.” He disappeared, returning a few seconds later with a silver object in his hand. “It’s a cordless handset so you can take it outside for privacy if you want.”

“Thanks." I took the handset he offered me and walked back into the grass. Lying down, I took a few seconds to enjoy the grass tickling my body, laughing quietly to myself. After a quick check that I was alone – the only signal came from Abe, who was definitely still in the house - I carefully pressed the numbers on the handset in the order they appeared on the paper, like Fame had shown me. Then I pressed the phone against my ear. It rang briefly and then Fame answered with a curt, “Hello.”

“It’s Willow.”

“You were meant to call last night.”

“I ran into a few problems. I’m not in Benka but I think I know where it’s hiding.”

“Where are you then?”

I racked my brain, trying to think of what Riko had said the town was really called – I couldn’t remember though, I hadn’t really been paying attention. “I’m not sure. The locals call it hole. Its in a forest on some mountains, though.”

Fame sighed slightly. “We’ll trace the call, then. You said you know where the Genetic is?”

“No. I think I know where it is. Is it possible for you to give me an exact power reading that the SourceBox got? I can know for certain, then.”

“Are you able to access a private fax machine?”

“I don’t think so.” No idea what that was. “But how can’t you just play the signal?”

“I think you misunderstand the technology, Willow. Once we find your location we will see about getting information to you. In the meantime, if you do not contact me on time – in exactly forty-eight hours – we will need to revisit the terms of this arrangement.”

“I’ll phone.” I hung up, tapping the ground as I thought. There had to be another way to tell if the Pure was what I was looking for. From the way Fame had talked, I had presumed I would meet someone with abilities like mine, a powerful Genetic who would be undeniably the one I was looking for. Now I was starting to realize how foolish I had been.

Rising to my feet, I returned the phone to Abe and went back to my cabin. Closing the door, I carefully unwrapped the material from my hands. They were stained with blood so I threw them in the bin; by the look of things at least my hands had stopped bleeding. They still stung but the pain was easy enough to block. At least my wrist is fine. I thought to myself. It was still bruised slightly but I’d been using it the past two days without needing to block the pain.

I turned my attention to the basket, unpacking it and placing the contents on the bench. I had some food, some towels and a bottle of dark red stuff that looked a little like blood. But the label had a picture of food so I figured it wasn’t. Blood, I mean.

Grabbing a food box, I opened it cautiously, peering at the small brown squares sitting amongst the paper. “Strange.” It didn’t look like any food I had seen before. Picking one up, I sniffed it cautiously. It smelled nice enough so I popped one in my mouth – it was amazing! Picking up the box, I moved to my bed. Kicking off my shoes and taking off my jacket, I crawled under the covers. Eating another square, I closed my eyes and let the bliss wash over me. I would never have to go back to my old life, I told myself firmly. Never.

*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Upstairs. Now,” Jayce growled, slamming the door shut behind him.

Lex glared at him, arms crossed angrily. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” she snapped.

Jayce looked down at her, furious. “Didn’t do anything wrong? You basically went against everything I told you! You can’t do that, Lex. I can’t protect both you and the town.”

“Well, maybe you should just pick one and stick with it!” Lex burst into tears and ran up the stairs. After a few minutes Jayce followed, knocking on her bedroom door. “Go away!” Her voice was muffled.

“Open the door, Lex.” When she didn’t reply his voice grew hard. “Now, Lex.”

After a few seconds she opened the door, immediately returning to her bed and burying her head into the pillows. “I’m not talking to you.”

“Fine by me but you’re going to listen. When I make a rule, I make it for a reason. You’re almost eleven and you’re old enough to know that talking to strangers is not okay.”

“Sara asked me to!” Lex cried, a new wave of tears washing down her cheeks.

“Sara asked you to go into Willow’s house and talk to her?”

“Well, no, but it’s not like I did anything wrong!”

“You broke a direct rule, Lex. You should have just given her the basket and left. I know you know that.”

She buried her face into the pillows, crying harder. “I just wanted a friend.”

“Yeah well, Willow ain’t it.” He stood up. “I don’t want you going near her.”

“But she’s nice.”

Jayce frowned deeply. “Look at me, Lex.” When she looked up he leant forward, making his point clear. “If you break the rules again you won’t be let out of here for a month. You don’t go near her. Understand?”

“Yes.” As he straightened up to leave she yelled after him, “I hate you!”

He sighed slightly as he moved down the stairs. “Name someone who doesn’t.”