“Oh, hey, Georgie,” he chuckled nervously. I stared at his fingers intensely as he twirled them around and played with them. “How are you feeling?”
I wanted to shout, lost, confused, and pissed off. Where was he when I came back? Did he think I died? He promised to protect me, and here I was severely injured. But what I needed most, was for him to fill in all the missing pieces so I glanced at his face and narrowed my eyes. “I’m okay.” I adjusted the pillow behind me with my head. “Colin, listen, I wanted to talk to you last night, but May wouldn’t let me. So, I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry for slapping you.”
He looked over his shoulder and spoke with a detached tone, “Oh, you remember that?”
“Yes,” I said with a bit of uncertainty. What was going on with him? He was really starting to freak me out. I kept trying to read the expression on his face but he was constantly turning his head. “Why?”
He rested his forehead against the door. “I just heard you couldn’t remember anything, that’s all.”
“I can remember most of what happened up there.” He was looking at the floor again. “Would you just look me in the eye for God’s sake!” He looked at me but I still didn’t feel like I had his full attention. “I need your help. There is a huge chunk missing of what happened that I can’t remember. I thought that you might remember for me.”
Colin folded his arms across his chest and began tapping his right foot. “You ran off, remember?” There was a snarky tone to his voice.
“Oh, I remember that. You totally deserved it,” I added with a bit of attitude.
“It was a joke!” he snapped.
“And you were the only one who found it funny.” I sifted through everything that happened during that joke and I recalled the part where I said I loved him. “Are you acting weird because I said I love you? Or did we have another fight out there that you aren’t telling me about?”
My gut was telling me it was because I said those three big words. To be honest, I knew I cared for him deeply. I more than liked him. And he almost always sent my teenage hormones reeling. But love? That was too strong of a word and I shouldn’t have used it. It was a heat of the moment kind of thing and I wished I could have taken the words back. I mean, I thought he was dead. In any tragic situation, sometimes people said things they didn’t mean. Maybe I’d tell him that eventually, but I didn’t mean to say those words when I said them.
Colin stared at the floor, in a daze. “Neither,” he finally answered.
I was baffled. “Then what happened? I don’t understand. Why are you acting so strange?”
He took small steps away from the door. “I’m just glad that you’re okay.” He turned and walked down the hall, leaving me alone. His words sounded meaningful enough.
“Colin, wait!” I shouted, hoping that he might turn around and come back. “Come back! I have more questions!” He ignored me. The sound of his footsteps against the muddy floor continued then faded in the distance.
Minutes later, Grace poked her head through the open doorway. I smiled at her as she rushed to my bedside. “Oh, Georgie,” she exhaled. “I was so worried about you.”
I smiled. “I asked to see you last night, you know?”
“Yeah,” she grumbled. “My mom wouldn’t let me see you.” She picked up one of my hands. “Are you feeling any better?”
“Not really.”
“Did you see Colin?”
“He was just here.”
“Well, what did he say?
“Absolutely nothing.”
Grace raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“There is something really weird going on with him. It’s driving me crazy because I can’t remember a portion of what happened when we were up there and I feel like he knows and is keeping it from me. Have you heard him say anything?”
“No. You know I’d tell you if I did.”
“I know.”
Grace stayed with me for another hour. It was a Monday so she had to go to school, but she told me she’d be back to check on me.
Throughout the day, I had numerous visitors, but Colin never came back. After our conversation, I was pretty sure he was going to avoid me. But he would only be able to avoid me for a little while. Because I was regaining the use of my arms and it would only be a matter of time before I could use my legs. And when I regained the use of my legs, I would stop at nothing until I figured out just what exactly Colin Martin was hiding from me.
Frankie remained by my side for most of the day, always eager to help me or get me something I needed. My mom let her miss school for the day so she could spend time with me. She had me convinced that she might actually make a great nurse in the future. “Here.” She reached behind my head. “Let me fluff your pillow.” Sitting up, I watched her punch the pillow several times, bunch it up and pull it apart, then she patted it, until it was extra fluffy. “There,” she said as she sat back down. “How does that feel?”
I nestled into it and smiled. “Great. Thanks, sis.”
She nodded. “Anytime.” Frankie lifted her knees to her chest and hugged them. “So, when did May say that you could get outta here?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Well, can you walk?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t tried to yet.” The upper part of my legs were still as stiff as a board, but I could roll my ankles. “Maybe in a day or two,” I said with confidence.
“Do you know why Colin Martin wasn’t hurt as bad as you?” Frankie asked, with a puzzled look on her face.
What I wanted to say was, “you tell me.” My sister was the colony gossip queen. Nobody would say anything important when she was in hearing range, because they knew better. Normally, I hated that she could never keep a secret but, her last question sparked a genius idea. I frowned. “No. I don’t know why. But you can find out for me.”
She pointed to her chest, looking astonished. “Who, me?”
“Yeah, you.”
Frankie scrunched her face together. “Well, what is it exactly that you want me to do?”
A wide grin spread across my lips. “Do what you do best, my little talking parrot.”
If Frankie, the one person with the best hearing in the entire colony, couldn’t pick up something about what was going on with Colin Martin, then I was pretty much screwed.
She nodded and smirked. “I like that idea.”
Chapter 13: Be Careful What You Say Around Little Birds
Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased.
~ Daniel 12:14
By day three, May had me up and walking. “You’re doing great,” she gushed as she escorted me from my bed to the opposite side of the room.
My legs were still wobbly, but getting out of the bed felt good for a change. I’d only been immobile for three days, but it felt like an eternity. I wasn’t the type of person who liked to stay put for too long. Before my accident I was always on the go. A few hours earlier, I had reached the point where I contemplated pulling strands of my hair out just to give myself something to do. “So, how long do you think it’s going to be before I can return to what’s left of civilization?” I joked.
May smiled. “I’m going to recommend that you stay in the infirmary at least one more night.”
“That’s all?” I questioned. Honestly, I expected her to say two more, at the least.
“Do you want to stay longer?” she asked, trying to keep a serious face.
I couldn’t reply fast enough. “No.”
“Well, then.” May helped me back into bed. “Tomorrow it is.”
Finally something I could look forward to. Tomorrow, I was going to be in my own room, I could see my friends, and if Frankie didn’t pull through, I was going to get to the bottom of the Colin Martin situation. But, I had a lot of faith in my kid sister.
* * *
An hour later my mother came in and brought my lunch. She set the tray down next to me and kissed me on the cheek. “And how’s
my brave girl doing?” she cooed.
I rolled my eyes. “Mom, you’re talking to me like I’m two years old. I’m a big girl. I’m fine.” Now I was walking. I was able to use my arms too. The only part of me that wasn’t the same was my memory. Not all of it had come back yet.
Frankie checked in with me every few hours reporting some piece of gossip that had no value to me. Like Colin flirting with Molly Edwards or that Mr. Baker had a massive booger hanging out of his nose and no one bothered to tell him. She might have more to report but she was probably waiting until my mother left. My parents were always scolding her for being a big mouth.
What pissed me off more than anything was that Colin didn’t seem concerned at all? He went right back to his flirtatious ways. Closing my eyes, I envisioned him running his hand along Molly Edwards thigh and it made me grind my teeth. I thought there was something between us. I thought he cared about me, the way I cared about him, but I guess I was wrong.
“So, Mom,” I changed the subject. “What am I missing out there, anything good?”
My mother rubbed my hand. “Not really, if you ask me, you’re better off in here alone. I’m sure you don’t want everyone asking you a million questions if you don’t even know the answers to them yourself.”
I nodded. She was right. I didn’t feel like facing the crowd. For one, like my mother said, I didn’t know the answers. And two, even if I did, what if I couldn’t handle the truth? Then I’d be barraged by question after question, feeling like I was drowning in a deep, dark pool of misery. I imagined I would feel a lot like May did, every time someone asked her about Monica.
My thoughts were interrupted when my mother rose out of her seat. “Where are you going?” I asked. She just got here and she was already leaving.
“Your father and I gave that letter we found with your things to Mark Baker. We’re supposed to meet with him to discuss it.”
I nearly shot up out of my bed, outraged. “What? Why in the hell would you do that?” Mark Baker was a sneaky, conniving weasel of a man who could not be trusted.
My mother shrugged. “I don’t like it any more than you do, but your father thought he might be able to help.”
“Right,” I said sarcastically. It pissed me off that my father was such a poor judge of character. Mr. Baker, walked around here like he owned the place. Technically, my father owned the place because he was the one who started building the underground colony and invited the other families to join. Mr. Baker took his position on the council way too seriously. I said before that we needed the rules and order to avoid chaos, but he took it to the extreme and the cost didn‘t matter. Mr. Baker would sacrifice his own children for the sake of our little colony, and that struck me as the type of person who was obsessed with control, order, and being superior to everyone else. A lot like someone else I learned about when I went to an actual high school—Hitler.
“I’ll be back later,” my mother announced as she waved goodbye to me at the door.
“See you later, Mom.”
Shortly after my mother left, Grace stopped in to check on me. We made small talk for about an hour, then she left because she said she was on kitchen duty for dinner. Which meant that she was serving the food.
Frankie rushed in minutes after. She lingered at the foot of my bed, with both of her hands clamped over her mouth. Her eyes were bulging out, like she was going to explode if she didn’t say what she needed to soon.
“Well.” I looked around the room, warily. “Did you find something out?”
She nodded, lowering her hands. “Something. Something big!”
“Tell me!” I yelled, then caught myself. “Tell me,” I repeated in a lower voice.
She skipped over to the chair next to my bed and plopped down into it. “After lunch,” she began, “I followed Colin Martin to Mr. Baker’s quarters.”
My stomach lurched. “Did he see you?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“Are you sure?” Sometimes when she was hiding, she wasn’t so subtle.
“Yes!” She waved me off. “Just be quiet and let me finish.”
“Fine.” I urged her to go on with my eyes.
“So, where was I? Oh, yeah. I followed Colin into Mr. Baker’s quarters and his father and Mr. Edwards were already there. And then, they all started whispering amongst each other.”
“Well, what were they saying?” I found it odd that they were all meeting in secret like that. And why without the other council members?
“I could only make out two things,” Frankie said.
“And?”
“And the only two things I could make out was the word lottery and a name. Your name, Georgina Carver.”
* * *
After Frankie left, I replayed several different scenarios out in my head and none of them worked out right. Maybe they wanted me to go back out there because I’d only found one thing on my list. Or maybe it was because I disobeyed and wandered off when I was told not to. Yeah, I wasn’t buying any of it. The lottery was supposed to be random. So, why was my name being brought up again?
Seriously, hadn’t I suffered enough? Mr. Baker should have hoisted his own rotund body out of that hole and went looking for supplies. Someone needed to kick that bastard off his high horse and it looked like I was going to be the one to do it—as soon as I got out of this damn bed.
Chapter 14: Same Old Me But Not
Let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
~ Leviticus 16:10
“Good morning, Georgina,” May greeted me with a cheerful spike in her voice.
“Morning,” I said glumly. I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful, but I was still seething over the information I collected from Frankie the night before.
If I offended May at all, she didn’t act like I did. She continued on with her polite tone, “I think I should have you walk around the room one more time before I send you back to your quarters. You okay with that?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
During my stay in the infirmary, I’d grown fond of the time I spent with May. Grace was lucky to have her for a mother. She was kind, generous, and selfless. I truly appreciated all the time she had taken with me these last few days.
May strolled over to the side of my bed. “Place both of your arms over my shoulders,” she instructed. I made a circle with my arms and lopped them over May’s head. “Okay. Good,” she said. “Now on three, you’re going to stand.”
“Got it.”
“One… Two… Three.”
I squatted and pushed with my legs as hard as I could. When I stood, I latched my hands onto May’s shoulders and steadied myself. I beamed proudly. My legs felt sturdy, not at all wobbly like they had been the day before. I almost thought about jogging from my bed to the opposite side of the room, but I didn’t.
With May guiding me, I walked slowly, deciding to play it safe. “Did you ever figure out why I couldn’t use my arms or legs when I came in?”
May put a tighter grip on my shoulder as we glided across the floor. “Without a cat scan, I don’t know for sure, but I will say that you took a very hard hit to the head. And you’d be surprised how that can affect the brain. When I worked in surgery, there were a lot of brain injuries and I’ve seen much stranger things than a person not being able to use their limbs for a day.”
That was interesting. I assumed that my immobility had something to do with the hard hit I took to the head. “Really? Like what?” I asked as we turned to walk back the way we came.
“This one time, they rushed in this woman who had a skull fracture and a piece of the skull about a half an inch long got lodged in her brain. She actually started barking at me.”
I laughed. “Like a Golden Retriever?”
“I’d say more like a Yorkie. She was very yippy.” May laughed with me when we stopped at the foot of my bed. “You’re as good as new,” she complemented.
I beamed. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
* * *
May hand delivered me to my mother, who was waiting just outside my room. “Look at you!” my mother squealed as she enveloped me into her arms.
“Back to normal again,” I joked
My mother kissed my hair. “I’m so glad.” She turned to May. “When will the stitches have to come out?”
May smiled. “They are self-dissolving so we don’t have to take them out.”
“Great,” I commented. I had stitches cut out once. I didn’t want to go there again.
“Sweetheart,” my mother began, “why don’t you go into your room? I’m going to walk May back to the infirmary.”
I peeked inside the empty room. “Where’s Frankie?”
My mother smiled. “It’s a Wednesday, silly. She’s in school.”
“Oh.” I had completely forgotten about school. In the back of my mind, I hoped that she wouldn’t make me go back until next week. “Well, I think I’m going to walk around then. I’m so sick and tired of lying down.”
She gave me a stern look. “You’re not going anywhere by yourself. When I come back, I’ll take you on a walk.”
I placed both of my hands on my hips. “Mom, are you serious! Quit treating me like a child! I’m seventeen years old!”
She wagged her finger at me. “Let’s get two things straight. I don’t care how old you are, you’re always going to be my child. Also, you have just been through something traumatic and you need to take your time and recover. I don’t want you running around here making yourself sick.” My mother gave May the come-on-back-me-up look. “Right May?”
May nodded. “Listen to your mother, Georgina.”
I sighed, defeated. “Fine. But can’t I walk with you guys?”
My mother smiled. “Sure.” My mother laced an arm through mine and May did the same with the opposite arm.
As we walked through the chilly, empty hallway I thought that it was kind of nice that nobody was around. Even though we were a small group of people it got overly crowded down here
Famished Page 9