“Will it come off?” he asks.
“I don’t think so,” I answer. I put my arm next to his. “They are the same. Except for yours says one and mine says two.” I smile.
“That they are. We will forever be branded by some random letters and numbers, but at least ours match.” He laughs out loud.
I can’t remember when I heard any of us laugh for real.
“What’s happening?” I ask.
“Well,” he begins. “I hid the knives under the mattress. There is one on each side.”
I reach under my side of the bed, feeling the blade just under where my pillow is.
“How are we going to get out of here? I have to get to Shae and Syl, and these guys are too connected to The Elected to be a safe place for us,” I whisper.
“I don’t know yet, but Shawn, Eli, and I talked over a few ideas. The only problem, we haven’t seen one spot that looks out or leads us back out to the stadium, they must keep the exits well hidden, thus the use of the blindfolds. As for being a part of The Elected, you’re right, we have to get out of this place.”
“I saw outside,” I say excitedly.
“Liz.” A squeaky voice comes from just outside our cubby.
“Dia,” I smile, “what are you doing?”
“Mommy and I would like to invite you and Jake to our pod cubby. She wants to talk to you. We are in cubby S!”
“We accept,” Jake responds for us both.
Dia smiles and skips as she goes back to tell my mom that we have accepted her invitation.
“As you were.”
“I saw the stadium through a large window in the president’s office.”
“What president?”
“The man in the suit is President of The Facility, R. J. Timothy III.”
“Wow,” Jake says, exasperated.
“I’m not sure that way out would be an option, but it might be. He always has, at the very least ten guards with him at all times, we would have to be armed.”
“We will figure something out,” Jake assures me as he kisses me on the top of the head.
We lay for a moment longer thinking about the events of the day. After a few more minutes of silence, we get up and walk out of our cubby on the search for my mom and Dia in cubicle S.
When we find their home, my mom is busying herself by tidying up, which she always did at home in the R9. My sister is sitting on the floor, coloring on a scrap of paper with a single yellow crayon. She colors with her lips parted, eyes with intense concentration. The all yellow flower that she is drawing with yellow grass and yellow trees seem to be a welcome change from the all-white that is all around us.
“Nice picture, Dia,” I say, startling them both.
“Oh, heavens Elizabeth…Liz, I didn’t see you there,” my mom laughs while holding her chest.
“Sorry Mom,” I snort.
A moment of shear embarrassment flashes over me. I snorted in front of Jake. What a girly moment of weakness. He doesn’t seem to have noticed, either that, or he didn’t mind.
“Tome in, Tome in,” Dia announces, standing to her feet, tucking the crayon into her pocket.
She bends over, picking up the picture she had just finished after adding a beautiful sun.
“This is for you, Jake.” She beams while handing the ripped page to him.
He looks at the picture for a moment. He carefully and gently folds the paper, putting it in his pocket. “It’s perfect,” Jake compliments.
Dia runs, jumping into Jake’s arms, and I smile. I never once thought Jake would get to meet my mom and little sister. Her braid bobs back and forth as she hugs Jake with all her might.
“Did you have something you wanted to talk to us about?” I ask my mom, ignoring the hugs going on next to me.
“Yes,” my mom says. “Dia, will you go say hello to Eli for me?”
“But why, mudder?” she asks while still hanging from Jake’s neck.
“I need to talk to Liz and your new friend.”
“Otay,” she says with a pout as she climbs down my boyfriend and runs off, her long braid flowing behind her.
“What is all this about, Mrs. Towers?” Jake wonders.
“Oh my, call me Penelope, or Nel, if you want to,” she gets excited at the thought of Nel.
“Alright…Nel it is, then.”
They both smile at one another. I guess my mom has chosen to take a new name too. Nel fits her, though. She has always been much more than some housewife, she has always been amazing. Even when my father was not around, she took care of four kids on her own.
“I like it, Mama,” I say.
“Please, come sit down,” she offers while hugging me tight.
Jake and I take a chair each while my mother sits on her bed. I look at her, wondering if she has something to say or is wanting to get to know Jake better.
“What’s going on, Mom?” I prod.
“Come closer,” she whispers, motioning us to close the gap.
We move in closer to hear her. Now I know she has something to say, if she didn’t, then she wouldn’t be so discrete.
“We need to get out of this place soon,” she whispers, softer still. “And I know how to do it.”
Chapter Sixteen
I look at my mom for a moment, wondering where all of this is coming from. I know why we are needing to get out of this place, but Mom and Dia are safer here than they would be out there.
I think, anyways.
“What’s going on?” Jake breaks the silence.
“There are some sad things going on here,” she whispers, “I mean besides the whole The Elected thing. I have seen people
