by Lauren James
“It’s still spreading, then.”
Dad comes in with the dogs at his heels. He startles when we both swing around to look at him, dreading bad news. “You both seem very… Look, I don’t want you two worrying about everything. It’ll most likely all be fine. It’s just a small bug; it’s all going to blow over in time.”
“But what if you and Mum catch it?” I say desperately.
“We won’t, Lowrie,” he says gently. “I’m sure of it. We didn’t mean to scare you yesterday with all that talk about emergency protocols. Really. It’ll be fine.”
I bite my lip and nod.
He grabs a toasted teacake and slathers it with butter and marmalade, before eating it standing up. “I don’t suppose I can persuade either of you two to come and dig the herbaceous border with me?”
“Dad, it’s raining,” I say, appalled.
“Thought not,” he says glumly and whistles for the dogs. They suffer through the indignity of having tartan fleece coats put on in stiff silence, then follow him out into the garden to supervise the digging of the herbaceous border. Mum’s family have owned the manor for generations, but as soon as Dad married her, and took her last name, the gardens became his masterpiece.
“Don’t look at me like that – it’s not that cold, old boy,” I hear Dad say to Albert as they walk away.
I don’t know how Dad can garden given everything that’s going on. But maybe it’s no different to me and Shen getting drunk. Just another distraction technique.
MyWaves05
I’m going to give the hellscape of a dating app one last chance to redeem itself for every terrible human being who it has claimed is my 98%-matched soulmate. Then it’s going wherever it is that apps go when they are sent to recycle bin hell.
Posted on 11 Jun 2027
Rizzz on 11 Jun 2027
Replying to @MyWaves05
I don’t want to say “I told you so”, but…
MyWaves05 on 11 Jun 2027
Replying to @Rizzz
Tell me again why didn’t I make an account when you were still on there.
Rizzz on 11 Jun 2027
Replying to @MyWaves05
Be right back, reactivating my profile now.
MyWaves05 on 11 Jun 2027
Replying to @Rizzz
Wait, are you serious?
Rizzz on 11 Jun 2027
Replying to @MyWaves05
Deadly.
MyWaves05
Sometimes life pleasantly surprises me, because there are sometimes good things as well as bad. Just when I’d given up hope of anything but mediocrity and despair too.
Posted on 12 Jun 2027
MyWaves05
I donated a uterine sample to the fertility research today. It was a bit like a smear test – kind of scary, but I felt comfortable and safe, and it was so fast! If you’re been thinking about donating, I highly recommend it – they need all the data they can get.
Posted on 13 Jun 2027
Unhako_neko on 13 Jun 2027
Replying to @MyWaves05
Oh damn, I’ve been meaning to book mine. Thanks for the push, Maya!
MyWaves05
@Rizzz TOMORROW
Posted on 14 Jun 2027
Rizzz on 14 Jun 2027
Replying to @MyWaves05
Tomorrow!!
MyWaves05
So @Rizzz and I went on a date today and he brought me flowers and chocolate. Straight off the bat. Honestly, this boy.
Posted on 15 Jun 2027
Rizzz on 15 Jun 2027
Replying to @MyWaves05
This is my one opportunity, I’m not going to
squander it.
MyWaves05 on 15 Jun 2027
Replying to @Rizzz
Today was pretty much the best day of my life, so I think you did an OK job of it.
MyWaves05
Third date report: @Rizzz is so charming, it’s suspicious, and never fails to render me completely immobile.
Posted on 24 Jun 2027
Rizzz on 24 Jun 2027
Replying to @MyWaves05
Yikes. I think we need to get date #4 started immediately, times a-wastin’.
MyWaves05 on 24 Jun 2027
Replying to @Rizzz
If you feel we must.
MyWaves05
I am honestly so stunned that I’ve actually graduated. I’m a qualified nurse! I feel like I’ve been living in a grey cloud of fear since the sterility started. But I did it! And I’m so excited to get into a hospital and start helping people.
Posted on 8 Jul 2027
Rizzz on 8 Jul 2027
Replying to @MyWaves05
I am so proud of you. You’ve worked so hard for this.
MyWaves05 on 8 Jul 2027
Replying to @Rizzz
Chinese tonight to celebrate?
Rizzz on 8 Jul 2027
Replying to @MyWaves05
I guess we could … if there wasn’t this pesky surprise party planned for you…
MyWaves05 on 8 Jul 2027
Replying to @Rizzz
EVEN BETTER
MyWaves05
I was in London visiting @Rizzz when the Oxford bomb went off, so I’m OK. Everyone in my family is safe too. Thinking of everyone who was at the fertility clinic at the time of the attack. <3
Posted on 26 Aug 2027
MyWaves05
There’s still no news on who is behind these fertility clinic attacks, but I hope you all call your MP and encourage them to support the bill to move all IVF stocks to a secure, secret facility immediately. It’s not worth putting lives at risk by advertising the locations of embryos. This is too political now. There is more at stake than just the loss of possible babies. A hundred people were killed in the Oxford attack. The population is dropping quickly enough as it is – we need to stop doing this to ourselves too.
Posted on 28 Aug 2027
MyWaves05
OK, these Babygrow things are really cute, I admit. Look at that little leg kicking!
RT @Blueburnedskies #Babygrow update! The baby is doing well. We decided to find out the gender – we’re having a boy! Here are some of our favourite app screenshots from the last week.
Posted on 4 Sep 2027
CHAPTER 19
Shen and I are still sitting at the breakfast table, trying not to talk about the terrible sense of dread we’re both feeling, when we hear a car pull up.
“That’s Baba’s car!” Shen says, and jumps up.
He must be back from helping Mum at the hospital. He’ll have news. We run to the front door in time to see Feng climbing out of the car. Victoria and Albert jump up his legs in delight, as Dad greets him, wiping compost off his hands.
“Margaret is still at the hospital,” I hear Feng tell Dad, as we walk up. “Three people were gone before we got to them.”
“No,” I breathe, freezing in my tracks.
Feng turns, surprised to see us. He looks pale. “Lowrie, Shen,” he says, and then stops. He puts a hand to his head. “I feel a bit…” He leans back against the car door.
“Baba!” Shen cries just as Feng slips forward on to the ground, his body starting to judder uncontrollably. Shen leaps for him, catching him as he shakes and convulses. “No.” His voice, usually solid, has splintered into broken glass.
The journey to the hospital disappears in a blurring rush of movement and panic. All I can focus on are the logistics – carefully stretching Feng out in the back seat, keeping him still as he shakes, bracing when the car turns corners, scrambling out to open the gates – while Dad drives faster and faster, turning back every now and then to look at Feng over his shoulder.
When we pull to a stop in front of the hospital, Jia and Mum are waiting for us with a stretcher, and they rush Feng inside. Jia pushes Shen gently out into the waiting room when we try to follow them on to the ward. “Stay here, bao bei.” The doors bang shut, and Shen, my parents and I are left staring at the closed door. My heart pounds in my ears.
>
Shen makes a small, helpless noise. He’s crying, tears pooling at the corners of his eyes. He wipes them away with the side of his hand in annoyance.
“It’s going to be OK,” Dad says, but his voice is weak. He rattles his car keys in his palm, a jangling frenetic beat that matches the quivering of my muscles. “Let’s go and sit down.”
His deep, steady voice calms me, and I press my fingertips to Shen’s arm to guide him over to the waiting-room area. I don’t know whether I should touch him. Every muscle in his body is tense. He won’t look at me.
Shen folds himself into a chair and ducks his head, shoulder blades drawing up, pulling at his hair like he wants to use it to extract the thoughts from his brain.
I sit next to him and carefully slip my arms around his waist. I hesitate, then press my forehead into the space between his shoulder blades.
Mum comes to sit with us while I hold him tightly. I let my parents’ reassurances blunt and drop away. I can’t think of anything to say that might help, but that’s OK. I just need to be here, holding him the way that he would hold me, if this was my father. There’s nothing else I can do except be here for him.
Feng can’t die. It can’t happen. I refuse to accept it.
We sit together for hours, waiting for news. As the day goes on, more and more patients are brought in on stretchers or in wheelchairs. I feel sick myself, just at seeing everyone I know looking weak and pale like this.
At around midday, Mrs Jackson comes in, pushing Mrs Fletcher in a wheelchair. The tight lines of panic on Mrs Jackson’s face are carefully hidden behind a blank expression. Ms Bard is carried in by Mr Fields, who looks terrified. More and more people come in. Each new patient disappears behind the swinging doors of the ward, one after the other. Nobody comes out again.
The whole time, I hold on to Shen’s hand. His grip never loosens on mine. He never speaks. I wish desperately that there was something I could do to fix this. I’ve only seen Shen look this soul-broken once before – when he begged and begged his parents to give him a baby brother for Christmas, and they explained to us both for the first time that no children would be born ever again.
Shen’s tablet dings, and he moves quickly to answer it. “Mama.”
I listen, holding my breath, as they speak for a moment in rapid Chinese. Shen looks over and sees how carefully I’m listening. He switches into English. Jia follows suit. “He’s going to be all right, Mama, isn’t he? Has he woken up?” Shen asks, his voice cracking.
“… Not yet. But it’s very early. We’re doing everything we can. I don’t want you to worry. We don’t think that the disease is contagious to you or Lowrie. You don’t have to worry about catching it.”
“I wasn’t worried about that,” Shen insists, voice thick. “Can I come and see him?”
Jia is silent for a moment, then she says, “It’s best if you wait until later, I think. For now, you should stay with Lowrie and her parents. I’ll talk to you soon. I love you.”
The call ends, and Shen’s shoulders drop. I hook my fingers over his palm, pulling his hand into my lap, and rub my thumb over his lifeline, waiting for him to say something. Such a long time passes that I compose whole speeches in my head, revising every word to make it as reassuring as I can. I don’t say any of it out loud.
When I go to the toilet a while later, I see Mum and Dad standing close together in the hallway, their heads ducked towards each other. I slow down, listening.
“What are we going to do?” Mum whispers. She wipes at her eyes, and I realise with a horrified shock that she’s crying. “If there’s no way to stop it...”
“They’ll be fine,” Dad says, tugging her under his arm and kissing the top of her head. “We’ve prepared them for this. They have each other. They won’t be alone.” He squeezes his eyes tightly shut.
“I’m so scared for them,” Mum says.
I take a step back, and another, and quietly go back to the waiting room before they notice me. I don’t want them to know I’ve heard. I don’t know why, but somehow that would make it all real. My throat is full of something thick and terrible. I drop into the chair next to Shen, closing my eyes. What is happening? Why are they so – so certain that we’re going to be left on our own? Do they really think they’re all going to die from this illness?
I’ve always known that my parents will die one day. It has been a disconcerting, uncomfortable fact in the back of my mind since I was a child. Our parents were already old when we were born – it’s extremely unlikely they will still be alive by the time we’re thirty. They are going to die. Soon. But is it going to happen right now? I thought it would be years, hopefully decades. Is this the end? Is this what destroys us all?
Beside me, Shen stirs, waking me. I hadn’t realised I’d fallen asleep. “Lowrie?” he says. The words are hoarse.
“Yes? Are you…” I twist to inspect his face. “Are you OK?”
“No one’s come in for ages.”
Mitch turns to look at us, flashing purple.
Shaking myself, I glance down at my watch – one p.m. – and then I look around. Somehow, we’re completely on our own. Mum and Dad didn’t come back from the drinks machine. Only Mitch is left, pacing backwards and forwards across the waiting room impatiently as he guards us.
Everywhere is still and silent. I swallow. “Do you think we should go and see what’s happening?”
Shen nods and stands up. He sticks his hands in his trouser pockets, then removes them and wraps his arms around his chest as he follows me on to the ward.
The corridor is bright and clean but eerily empty of the dozens of people who’ve come here in the last few hours.
“Hello?” I call. No reply. My breath starts coming fast and quick.
Finally, we turn a corner and find Mrs Wheeler, the nurse. She’s unconscious on the floor. Shuddering, I kneel to roll her over. She isn’t breathing. I put my fingers against her wrist. There’s no pulse.
Dead.
She’s dead.
I snatch my hand away. Suddenly I’m unable to support my legs, and they crumple beneath me as I slide to the floor. I think I’m going to be sick. I gasp, shuddering and trying to draw in air.
This is happening. This is actually —
“Shadow, stop.” Shen’s voice is strained at the edges. “Please, stop. I can’t do this if you’re…” He breaks off, trembling.
I take a deep breath, and nod. I straighten my shoulders. “Let’s look in there,” I say, nodding my head to the next room. “I think they’re in there.”
MyWaves05
Um, cliff-hanger or what?! If Lyra is actually pregnant, I might cry.
Posted on 30 Sep 2027
MyWaves05
So I keep trying to make @Rizzz read Harry Potter because I want to know what house he’s in – but he won’t. How am I supposed to decide whether we’re a suitable match now? Everyone, please bust his chops about it.
Posted on 19 Nov 2027
Rizzz on 19 Nov 2027
Replying to @MyWaves05
It’s not that culturally important. I think you’re making far too much of a big deal about this.
MyWaves05 on 19 Nov 2027
Replying to @Rizzz
Honestly, Riz, stop pitching such a fit and just download the audiobook.
Rizzz on 19 Nov 2027
Replying to @MyWaves05
I am NOT pitching a FIT. I have NEVER pitched a fit in my LIFE.
MyWaves05 on 19 Nov 2027
Replying to @Rizzz
Yet again, you weasel out of agreeing by pitching another fit.
Rizzz on 19 Nov 2027
Replying to @MyWaves05
I don’t know what you’re talking about and frankly I refuse to address your madness.
Rizzz on 3 Jan 2028
Replying to @MyWaves05
Harry called his son ALBUS SEVERUS? What about Hagrid?! He deserves to be a namesake so much more than SNAPE.
MyWaves05 on 3 Jan 2028
<
br /> Replying to @Rizzz
For someone who had no interest in HP, you read them all mighty fast, huh?
Rizzz on 3 Jan 2028
Replying to @MyWaves05
I don’t know what you’re talking about. They were fine, but the books didn’t change my life or anything.
MyWaves05 on 3 Jan 2028
Replying to @Rizzz
Suurrree, Riz “listen to my feelings about my son, Draco” Stevens.
MyWaves05
TWO BILLION? Wow.
Posted on 4 Feb 2028
NEWSBREAKING.COM
BABYGROW APP CONTINUES
TO TAKE WORLD BY STORM
The Babygrow app passed two billion downloads this week – just as the first wave of simulated babies are starting to be “born”on the child-raising simulation app.
Designed by a team in San Francisco, USA, the app only launched ten months ago and is now downloaded by millions of people every day.
The app works in real time, meaning that early adopters are only just “giving birth” to their simulated offspring this month. The app is fully personalizable to the user, and before a baby is “conceived”, the user is asked to program in their height, weight, skin, eye and hair colour, as well as that of any other parents of the baby (up to three are allowed). This has resulted in a delightfully diverse range of CGI babies, as seen online – the happy new parents are all uploading pictures and videos of their offspring under the hashtag “Babygrow”.
The newborns currently have a limited range of movement, but can respond to sound, light and touch by wriggling their heads and opening and closing their eyes.
The creators of the app have been tight-lipped about how the model will develop as the babies grow up into childhood, but the developers will have plenty of time to code the software, as they will age in real time.
Congratulations to all the new Babygrow “parents”, and good luck to everyone watching jealously as you wait for your baby to be born.