When was the last time she had slept without waking with a scream trying to force its way through her lips or a cold sweat soaking her sheets? Marcus and Nicolas revisited her every night, lying still on concrete slabs, speaking to each other in parched voices, or turning to stare at Gabi in accusation. Then there were the dreams where the doctors came, when it was Gabi on the slab, arms and legs immobilized. Dr. Yancy carved away at her with a scalpel while Dr. Gearhart smoothed Gabi’s hair from her forehead, crooning bits of doctrine in her ear. On such nights, Gabi would wake up sobbing into her pillow and tiptoe down the hall to Gram’s room, just as her grandmother had left it but for the suitcase, which was now hidden in Gabi’s closet under a pile of dirty laundry. Curling up in Gram’s bed on the bad nights and the suitcase’s secret presence fortified her.
Gabi’s body was getting stronger as well. At first they kept to her brother’s room and worked on building Gabi’s strength with the weights. After the first day, which consisted of a few short sets of curls with three-pound weights followed by a few sit-ups and stretching, Gabi felt like she was in traction. When she woke up, she was so sore that she couldn’t even bend over the sink to brush her teeth. It got easier, though, as they kept with it, and the stash of hidden pills grew bigger. Gabi didn’t dare flush the medicine down the toilet, since flushes were metered and restricted by household according to the number of inhabitants, and she didn’t want the horrid stuff getting into the water supply. She hid them in Gram’s suitcase instead.
The weather was still too harsh to do anything outside, though it showed signs of breaking soon—a reminder that Gabi didn’t have much time. After a week in the confines of Mathew’s room, the siblings grew bolder. Mathew set up an obstacle course all around the house, excluding their father’s room, Gram’s, and Gabi’s—because of all the books. There were things to climb under and over and stations with weights to lift or calisthenics to perform. Mathew would do it first to demonstrate, then Gabi would go. He had a knack for pushing her without going too far. When she got dizzy or her arms and legs gave out, Mathew would get her some water and let her rest on the couch while he set up the next exercise or did some reps on his own. Mathew’s belief that Gabi could do it, and his excitement when she reached some new goal, was infectious. If he ever wondered why she was suddenly so determined to get stronger, he never asked.
Mathew received his invitation to sit for the exam just a week after Gram’s memorial, to no one’s great surprise. He was a natural choice for a Witness team with his athletic grace and leadership ability. He no longer had to attend after-school tutorials, and his final weeks of in-class time would be devoted to preparation for the written portion of the exam. This meant Gabi now had an escort to and from school each day who even Bradley Fiske wouldn’t dare tangle with, and Mathew had a devoted tutor to help him study. No invitation came for Gabi, but it didn’t worry her. Yet. Youth Consecration Camp, where young fellows received their vocations as Messengers or Translators, was in a week. After she’d gotten her calling, she would be eligible for recruitment just in time to make the teams. She was improving at Training Period every day, which gave her some small reason to hope.
Within a few days of training with Mathew, Gabi noticed that her breathing came easier, though the ache along the sides of her neck grew more intense. No amount of stretching or massage could relieve it, but the odd sensation was a small price to pay for coming back to life. After a couple of weeks, she could do a dozen reps of any exercise with the three-pound weights, astonishing even Mathew with her rapid progress. He graduated her to five-pound weights and began making the obstacles around the house more challenging. Her cheeks had a pinkish hue to them now, and the wasted flesh on her bones began to curve with muscle. Her head no longer dipped forward as if she were trying to hide out in the cave of her own chest.
For Mathew, the most entertaining part of Gabi’s transformation was her increased appetite. Before, she had to force herself to finish even a third of the lesser portion on her plate. Gabi’s leftovers were what Gram had used to supplement Mathew’s diet and make compost, since the waste reclamation crew didn’t expect to see prepared food in the bins. Food waste, when it happened, was usually due to the condition of the rations when they arrived. Now Gabi was hungry all day long, and keeping both her and Mathew satisfied was becoming a challenge. When they ate with the council families at the temple cafeteria on Saturday afternoons, they loaded up their trays and shoved rolls stuffed with tinned meat into their pockets for later. Sometimes Mathew would give her one of his extra rolls, just for the pleasure of watching her devour it.
Hunger was a novel experience for Gabi, and she caught herself looking at the people around her in a new way. According to doctrine, the sin of gluttony used to be widespread across North America and beyond.
