by Gemma Malley
That evening, when Anna returned from Female Bathroom 2, she found the game in full flow, with Sheila the Surplus and Tania her master. The sight immediately made her stomach clench with apprehension. Tania was a year younger than Anna, and a year older than Sheila. She had been at Grange Hall almost since birth and was a tall, large-boned girl with dark brown hair and even darker eyes. She towered above Sheila, who was so slight she looked as though a gust of wind might blow her over at any minute.
Sheila’s hair was a pale orange colour, the same colour as the freckles which covered her fragile, almost bluish skin. This, combined with her fragile frame and watery blue eyes, made her an easy target for bullying and insults; her steely determination and refusal to acquiesce to her bullies’ demands had only made humiliating her more attractive to her attackers. Until a couple of years before, when Anna had reluctantly begun to protect her, prompted mainly by the fact that Sheila had begun to follow her around, making her fights Anna’s fights, Sheila had been target practice for every bully at Grange Hall.
As Anna walked past, she averted her eyes, refusing the various invitations to watch, and trying to convince herself that the game was nothing to do with her. But as she reached her bed, she could hear the cries and taunts emanating from the other side of the dormitory getting louder, and reluctantly she turned to look. Then she frowned. To her surprise, Sheila was not face down on the floor with Tania’s foot on the back of her head, or completing some humiliating task. Rather, she was simply standing beside Tania’s bed, tears streaming down her face and her body trembling as she shook her head.
Anna looked away, but the noise from the watching Surpluses was becoming deafening, and eventually Anna turned round again. Sheila was still standing in front of Tania, now with red marks on her cheeks, no doubt the result of a slap or two. Other than that, she could see no other physical damage.
Biting her lip, she walked back towards the cluster of Surpluses. Tania was towering over Sheila, her eyes boring into hers, saying over and over again in a low voice, ‘Say it. Say it. Say it.’ Sheila, meanwhile, was shaking her head, her hands drawn into little fists.
Anna watched them for a few seconds. ‘It’s time for bed,’ she said. ‘You can stop the game now.’
A few of the Surpluses turned to her with strange looks in their eyes, and Tania, without moving her eyes from Sheila’s, shook her head. ‘She hasn’t done what I told her to do yet. The game can’t stop until she’s done it.’
Anna’s eyes shifted to Sheila. ‘Come on, Sheila,’ she urged, ‘just do what she said, then we’ll all go to bed.’
‘No, I won’t.’ Sheila’s voice was soft, and low, but it was also determined, and Anna felt her stomach sink. You weren’t allowed to say no. That was the rule. You had to do what the Legal told you; that was the whole point. No one ever said no. Why did Sheila have to be so defiant?
‘Sheila, it’s a game. You have to do what she says,’ Anna said, feeling the electricity around her as the other Surpluses stared in excitement at the scene unfolding before them.
‘I won’t,’ Sheila said simply. ‘I won’t.’
Anna looked at Tania. ‘What did you ask her to do?’ she asked. ‘Because if it involved leaving the dormitory or saying something to House Matron then you know that’s not allowed.’
Tania smiled icily. ‘I just asked her to say something, that’s all. And she won’t do it. So until she does, the game isn’t ending. OK?’
‘Say something?’ Anna asked uncertainly. ‘Is that all?’
She looked at Sheila. ‘Sheila, come on. Just say it. Whatever it is.’
Sheila shook her head. Her face was white with fury or fear – Anna couldn’t tell which.
‘What did you ask her to say?’ she asked Tania.
‘I told her to tell me that she hates her parents. That her parents are criminal scum and that they deserve to die,’ Tania said triumphantly.
‘I’ll never say it,’ Sheila said softly. ‘I don’t care what you do to me, I won’t say it.’
‘You have to say it,’ Tania said angrily. ‘I am your master. You have to do as I tell you, otherwise we are all going to beat you. And if you still won’t say it, then I’ll tell House Matron you don’t Know Your Place.’
As Anna watched Sheila standing bravely before Tania, her little back stiff and her eyelashes heavy with salty tears, she found herself thinking of Peter, hearing his words echoing around her head: ‘Your parents love you, Anna Covey. They love you.’
Then she braced herself. ‘Sheila, you have to say it,’ she said flatly. ‘It’s true, after all.’
Sheila’s eyes narrowed and she shook her head fiercely. ‘It isn’t true,’ she said in a low voice. ‘And I won’t say it.’
Tania was getting red in the face. ‘She will bend to my authority,’ she said hotly. ‘I am her master now. She will do whatever I tell her to.’
‘You are not my master,’ Sheila said suddenly. ‘No one is my master. I’m not a Surplus. My parents love me and I’m Legal, and I hate you. I hate you all.’
Tania stared at her, her mouth wide open, then she drew her hand back and slapped her hard around the face again. Then she pushed Sheila to the floor and started to kick her.
‘You do not talk to your master like that,’ she screamed. ‘You will learn some respect. You are a Surplus, Sheila. Do you hear? You are scum. You don’t deserve to breathe the same air as me. You don’t deserve to be in the same room as me. You’re scum, Sheila, you’re worthless.’ Tania looked around, her eyes flashing. ‘You’re all worthless,’ she said angrily. ‘You’re all scum. All of you.’
Charlotte, a short, stocky Pending who slept in the next but one bed to Anna, muscled forward at this point.
‘If anyone’s scum, you are,’ she said, folding her arms and looking at Tania menacingly. ‘You can’t even cook properly. You’re scum and useless and no one’s ever going to want to employ you and you’re going to end up being put down because there won’t be anything else to do with you.’
‘I can cook,’ Tania said, drawing herself up to her full height and taking her eyes off Sheila to glare at Charlotte. ‘And I can sew better than you too. No one will want to employ you because you’re too ugly to have in a nice house. No one would want to look at you all day, even if you learn Decorum and make yourself invisible. You’ll still be ugly.’
Anna glanced to the floor and watched Sheila inch away from Tania, wincing slightly from the pain, but her face still defiant. Charlotte wasn’t inching anywhere, though. Instead, she hurled herself at Tania, grabbing her by the hair and forcing her to the ground.
‘Useless . . . little . . . Surplus,’ she spat as she slapped Tania around the face. Tania wriggled on to her side and managed to aim a kick at Charlotte, who fell away, crying out with the pain. But before Tania could get up, Sheila appeared from nowhere, hurling herself on to Tania and punching her with little fists.
‘Stop,’ screamed Anna fiercely. ‘The game is over. It’s time for bed.’
‘I don’t want to go to bed,’ Charlotte said, looking Anna directly in the eye. ‘I don’t feel like it.’
Anna’s eyes narrowed. ‘Surplus Charlotte, Know Your Place,’ she growled. ‘I say it’s time for bed, and you will do as I say.’
Tania pushed Sheila off her and stood up. ‘And what if we don’t?’ she asked, her voice challenging. ‘Then what?’
‘Then you’ll be punished,’ Anna said fiercely. ‘I am a Prefect.’
‘I am a Prefect,’ Tania mocked, and a couple of the Surpluses laughed. ‘Well, Prefects have to Learn Their Place too,’ she said, pulling herself up to her full height and looking to the other Surpluses for moral support. ‘Maybe it’s time you played the game, Anna. Maybe it’s time you stopped being so high and mighty and remembered who you are. What you are. Just a Surplus, like the rest of us.’
Anna stared at her. ‘I know I’m a Surplus,’ she said angrily. ‘I Know My Place. I think it’s you who doesn’t.’
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‘Really? Well, maybe you’re right. Maybe My Place isn’t in this dormitory,’ Tania said, her eyes flashing. ‘Maybe My Place is in another dormitory. Or on the corridor. Or on the Outside. Maybe My Place is somewhere completely different. What then?’
She stared at Anna for a moment, then tossed her head back and charged towards the door, opening it and motioning for the other Surpluses to join her. Charlotte followed cautiously, and Anna pulled Sheila back.
‘You stay here,’ she ordered. ‘You stay right here.’
Slowly, she marched out into the corridor to survey the scene. Tania and Charlotte were running down the corridor, knocking on dormitory doors and screaming out ‘Know Your Place, Surpluses, Know Your Place.’ One or two doors opened and nervous-looking female Surpluses poked their heads out; they were soon dragged into the corridor by Charlotte or Tania.
Anna slammed her own dormitory door to get their attention.
‘You will get back inside,’ she shouted, ‘and you will all go to bed. Now.’
Tania looked at her and laughed. ‘Or what, Surplus Anna? Or you’ll tell us off? Run to House Matron?’
‘Or I’ll beat you myself,’ Anna said fiercely. ‘You are Surplus, Tania, and you are to behave as a Surplus, to follow the rules and do as you are told. You have no right to exist, Surplus Tania, and if you can’t behave properly, then . . .’
‘Then what?’ Tania asked. Her eyes were wild and she looked dizzy with exhilaration.
‘Then you will be sent to Solitary.’
Silence fell along the corridor and Tania’s face went white as Mrs Pincent suddenly appeared.
‘And beaten,’ Mrs Pincent continued, walking towards Anna, her face impenetrable. ‘Anna, I heard you offer to beat Tania yourself. I would be most obliged.’
Anna looked at Mrs Pincent uncertainly. She had never been asked to beat a Surplus before. Surpluses weren’t supposed to raise their fist to anyone, not outside the strictures of the game.
‘Now,’ Mrs Pincent said forcefully. ‘So that everyone can see what happens to a Surplus who thinks they are above the rules, who thinks that they can do as they please and insult Mother Nature and humankind’s generosity in keeping them alive.’
Anna moved hesitantly towards Tania, who looked at her defiantly.
‘Hit her,’ ordered Mrs Pincent, who was now walking towards her. ‘Make her know her Sins. Help her to learn from her mistakes and to understand what being a Surplus means. Make her see that she is unwanted, a burden; that every step she takes along these corridors are steps that she has stolen. Make her see that she is worthless, that if she dies no one will care, that in fact the world will be better off with her not trespassing on it. Make her understand all that, Anna.’
Mrs Pincent’s voice was low and menacing, and Anna found herself trembling. Tania had to understand, she told herself. Tania had to learn, for her own sake. For all their sakes.
Slowly, she drew her hand back to swipe Tania across the face. Tania looked at her for a moment, then her eyes flicked up to Mrs Pincent and back again. And then she smiled at Anna, a mocking smile full of hatred and contempt.
Anna held her gaze for a second or so, and pulled her hand back again. Frustration and anger were bubbling up inside her and she wanted to vent her rage, but somehow she couldn’t do it. However much she wanted Tania to Learn Her Place, she couldn’t hit her. And the realisation frightened her, particularly as another smile began to wend its way across Tania’s face.
‘Hit me then,’ Tania hissed. ‘Go on. Or aren’t you as tough as you think, Surplus Anna?’
Anna stared at her, but still she found herself paralysed.
‘Thank you, Anna,’ Mrs Pincent said eventually. ‘Surplus Tania will spend the rest of the night in Solitary, as will Surplus Charlotte, after spending some time in my office. The rest of you will forfeit breakfast tomorrow and will have additional chores every evening this week.’
Immediately, the look of insolence in Tania’s eyes was replaced by fear, and Anna watched silently as she and Charlotte were taken away and the corridor quickly emptied.
‘Go and brush your teeth, and then I want lights out,’ she said, on autopilot, as she walked back into her dormitory, trying to work out why she felt so uncomfortable, trying to work out why she hadn’t been able to punish Tania. ‘Surpluses need good teeth,’ she continued, echoing the words she’d heard Mrs Pincent say so many times. ‘No one’s going to pay for dental treatment for a Surplus.’
Then, slowly, she walked over and checked on Sheila, who was sitting on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest.
‘Go and brush your teeth, Surplus Sheila,’ Anna said flatly. Then she looked around at the onlookers. ‘No more games until I say so. Does everyone understand? We are all Surplus here, and maybe we need to remember that for a few weeks.’
The Surpluses shrugged and nodded and filed out to the bathrooms to brush their teeth. Anna followed, and soon found Sheila standing next to her at the basin.
‘You know, Anna, I’m not a Surplus,’ Sheila whispered almost silently, wincing at the pain of moving her cheeks. ‘And one day they’ll realise and I’ll be free. And when I am, I’m going to have Surplus Tania as my housekeeper and I’m going to punish her every day. And I’ll have you as my housekeeper too, Anna, but I won’t punish you at all. Unless you deserve it, that is.’
And with her eyes fixed straight ahead, Sheila picked up her toothbrush and began to clean her teeth.
Chapter Eight
The next day, Tania and Charlotte arrived back from Solitary in time for morning training. Neither acknowledged their fellow Surpluses. Telltale red weals were evident on their cheeks and hands, and Anna suspected that more were hidden by their overalls. Under their eyes they both bore the signs of a sleepless night – dark shadows and drooping eyelids.
Anna, who was feeling tired herself, not to mention hungry from a lack of breakfast, also couldn’t help noticing that Peter was missing from the class. Not that she cared. In many ways, she was relieved – he had made her angry with his taunts about her parents, angrier than she’d realised. She wouldn’t have been surprised to learn that he, too, had spent the night in Solitary for some misdemeanour. In fact, she’d half expected him to arrive with Charlotte and Tania.
But he didn’t turn up. There was no knock at the door; no last minute interruptions.
Once everyone had noted Tania and Charlotte’s appearance, the story of last night’s games having spread swiftly around the class, the Surpluses soon started whispering about Peter’s absence instead, nudging each other and looking meaningfully at the empty desk next to Anna where Peter usually sat. She, though, was far too proud to get involved in their gossiping. Instead, she stared ahead purposefully, trying to ignore her rumbling stomach and listening intently to Mrs Dawson explain how Surpluses had to master Invisibility – the ability to be on hand constantly and yet never have their presence felt. In truth, she decided, it was probably a good thing Peter wasn’t there. Mrs Dawson had a firm expression on her face, and Peter never failed to perform badly in this class, never left without some punishment or other being imposed on him.
Where Mrs Pincent was small in height and stature, Mrs Dawson was large – about a hundred and eighty-eight centimetres and with rolls of flesh that wobbled as she moved. Her hair, although pinned up in a chignon like Mrs Pincent’s, somehow managed to break free regularly, meaning that she constantly had to sweep it back off her face.
Anna liked Mrs Dawson and was determined to do well in her class. Decorum was very important for Surpluses. Mrs Pincent said that Legals considered Decorum one of the most attractive skills in a Surplus, male or female.
‘It should be as if you don’t exist at all,’ Mrs Dawson said, her voice firm. ‘You should blend into the background as you go about your chores, and yet, when you are needed, you should be there immediately. It is a great skill, and one that you will learn with practice . . .’
Anna nodded seriously,
and imagined herself in Mrs Sharpe’s house, appearing out of the shadows when she was needed, blending into the background when she wasn’t. The perfect Surplus. A true Valuable Asset.
‘And how might you ensure that your presence is not felt? Tania?’
Anna allowed herself to glance quickly at Tania, who was staring resolutely ahead.
‘Keep our eyes lowered,’ Tania said, her voice quivering slightly, last night’s defiance all but gone from her voice.
‘And?’ Mrs Dawson asked.
‘Not talk, or offer our opinions,’ Tania continued quietly. ‘Not think or read or do anything that might distract us.’
‘That’s right,’ Mrs Dawson said, looking at Tania thoughtfully. ‘What about you, Charlotte? Do you have anything to add?’
Charlotte, who was sporting a black eye and a defeated expression, bit her lip. ‘To anticipate the requirements of our Legals,’ she said hesitantly. ‘To always be thinking about what they might need or want . . .’
Mrs Dawson nodded. ‘That’s right, Charlotte. To always be thinking about what Legals might want. And what about the things you might want, Charlotte? What about those?’