Contribute (Holo, #2)
Page 29
People came and went from our house to offer condolences. I caught my reflection in the parlor window, in a black dress instead of holofied uniform, and for a long moment I wondered if the shell of the person staring at me was actually a hologram. I had to cut off one of my curls in the bathroom and leave it behind to believe again.
Last night, I slept with Mom in the room she set up for Benji when he came back to guard the vertexes, on the same quilt I wanted to inherit. I’ve taken a lot of showers. Benji and Rita should be here. Not me.
We only have electricity for half days, and food is being rationed until the economy recovers. President Lee has reassured everyone it’s temporary. She stated that we “cannot allow what they stole from us to be our defining moment.” She promised we should have things back to “business as usual” in no time. I doubt we’ll ever see normal again.
In a later news brief, she mentioned the government will study the nanoholocom program “to provide innovation and freedom in our lives.” Then she said that if we would like “to gain a free world of integrated holotechnology with less focus on commerce and menial work, we must be willing to lose some independence to make fundamental choices about global connectivity.” Dad and I agreed that government basically wants to replicate Solbiluna-8. Mom said we’re being paranoid.
Tonight, Dominick and I held our annual beach bonfire—without Rita. It wasn’t the same, but it’s all we have. He gave me a new, black leather journal that I’m writing in now. At first I was afraid to write in it, afraid that it would cost more people their lives. Dominick convinced me that writing will help me recover, make sense of the insanity. We spent most of the night in silence, survivors who know the risks, sacrifices, and losses we’ve endured. Maybe someday it will feel worth it. I think about the untold stories of Benji, Rita, Nolan, Katherine, and the others who contributed to our cause and lost their lives. No one even knows about Katherine Kirkwood and her sacrifice, or mourned her death. She’s somewhere lost in time. I will remember her, remember them, write about them in my journal. When the world is ready, they will hear their stories. They will hear what happened to us. We can’t repeat the same mistakes.
We need to make it count.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
WRITING CONTRIBUTE WAS not the journey I expected. It’s like I stepped through a vertex into the brave new world of publishing. I want to express my gratitude to online bloggers, my local community, and early fans for their support of CONSIDER and anticipation of CONTRIBUTE. Your continued excitement and kindness got me through many ups and downs in the last year.
First, I’d like to thank Mari Kesselring and Megan Naidl from North Star Editions for their reassurance after the sale of Jolly Fish Press. To my new agent, Kathleen Rushall, for stepping in when I needed help even though you were in the middle of vacation. To my editor, TJ da Roza, for your commitment and protection of the series, I will always value our friendship.
To the Sweet Sixteen authors, thank you for sharing a fabulous debut year with me. You are all such amazing people.
To the Philip K. Dick award committee, I still can’t believe it.
To Michelle Cusolito, for sending your feedback all the way from Ireland.
To Elyse Baggen and Laura LaTour, for being my local cheerleaders.
To Kristine Asselin and Erin Bow, you know what you did.
To Kylee and Dan for your quick feedback and answers to strange questions.
To Trish and Carolyn, for listening, laughing, and keeping me real.
And of course, to my husband, Eladio and daughters, Kylee and Chloe, for your love and patience as I run through to discover what’s on the other side.
KRISTY ACEVEDO IS a YA writer, high school English teacher, and huge Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Harry Potter fan. When she was a child, her “big sister” from the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program fostered her love of books by bringing her to the public library every Wednesday for seven years.
A member of SCBWI, she has her M.A.T. in English and graduated summa cum laude from Bridgewater State University. Consider, her debut novel, won the 2015 PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Children’s Book Discovery Award and was a finalist for the 2017 Philip K. Dick Award for Science Fiction. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, two daughters, and two cats.
Follow her on Twitter at @kristyace
Visit her online at kristyacevedo.com
Table of Contents
Part 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Part 2.
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Part 3.
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Epilogue
Acknowledgements