As soon as the door shut behind him, the room let out a collective breath. Reed swallowed and looked at Nathan. “What was that about?”
“Just the foreman; he comes in every now and then to check on us. There’s no schedule, so it keeps us on our toes. He reports you if you’re not working well or seem to have ‘attitude.’ If you do your job right, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Nothing to be afraid of. Reed pressed down a box flap with his thumb. Then why do I keep getting the idea there is?
With the foreman gone, the questions resumed, and the rest of the morning was spent talking about Hollywood, celebrities, and movies. The foreman did not return.
At noon, the whistle blew again, and the workers took a break for lunch. Reed ate with a few of the other teens from his belt, but Nathan sat alone on a packing crate on the other side of the room. That seemed a little strange to Reed; Nathan was a nice guy.
During the rest of the afternoon, Reed found himself watching his neighbor. There was nothing extraordinary about him. He was average height with an average build. His light brown hair, cut short and combed straight down except above his forehead, spiked sharply up above his hazel eyes, as if surprised to see his face so close. His face itself was genial in a nice, homey way. In every way, he seemed to be ordinary. But there was something else, something Reed could not put a finger on. Nathan was not like everyone else, and Reed had no idea why.
Chapter 5
Finally, the whistle sounded for the last time that day. The belts turned until the last part was taken off and packed, when their humming rumble finally shut off. The room was quiet for the first time since morning. Reed yawned and stretched his stiff fingers. “That was one of the longest days I’ve ever had,” he commented to Nathan as the workers gathered up their belongings.
“You’ll get used to it,” Nathan said, smiling as he pulled on his hoodie. “It’s not bad after a while. See you tomorrow!”
He was one of the first to leave. Reed closed up his station as he had seen the others do before joining the rush out the door. In the hallway, more workers crowded out of other rooms and poured through the hall. Reed shouldered his way through the crowd.
As he passed through the foyer on his way to the front door, he spied Nathan at the front desk. The young man leaned casually on the counter, talking to the receptionist. She was preparing to leave, but she listened anyway, nodding as she dug through her purse. Just after Reed caught sight of the pair, Nathan straightened and disappeared into the crowd.
Reed wondered what business Nathan had with the receptionist after hours. Their conversation hadn’t looked very professional. Maybe he was an admirer. Reed grinned at the thought, then shrugged. What did it matter? He didn’t even know the other boy. Dismissing the incident, Reed followed the rest of the workers out the front door into the gathering evening.
The sky was still overcast, but a bitter wind had sprung up, making it even colder than the morning had been. Reed shivered and zipped his windbreaker up to his throat. By the time he reached the park’s gate, he was chilled to the bone. Reagan and Riley were waiting for him, bundled up in their warm jackets with hands shoved deep in their pockets.
“Well, how was it?” Reagan’s voice sounded muffled through his coat collar.
“Long,” replied Reed, trying to keep his teeth from chattering, “but not as bad as it could have been. It’s freezing; let’s get out of here.”
On the bus, he settled into his seat and leaned back with a sigh. The warm air was already thawing him out, and he’d been on his feet since lunch. Life looked more cheerful from this perspective.
When they arrived back at the Hill and unloaded in front of the Mushroom, the line at the cafeteria door stretched back far into the parking lot. Reagan sized it up at a glance. “This won’t get any shorter for a while. Let’s go back to the room.”
They reached the welcome warmth of the dorm and hurried up the stairs into the hall. “Whew!” exclaimed Reagan as he closed the door to their room behind him. “It’s way colder out there than it was earlier! I guess it blew in this afternoon.” He flipped on the light bar above the sink and tossed his briefcase onto his bed. “Home sweet home! Well, not quite, I guess.”
Reed turned away. A rising bitterness suddenly choked his throat. “No, it’s not,” he growled, jamming clenched fists into his pockets. “And it never will be.”
Fortunately, neither of his roommates heard him; Riley had just turned on the tap and was scrubbing his blackened hands.
Reed turned to the window and stared out, unseeing. Blast it all! He was cold, he was mad, and he did not want to be here. What was worse, he’d almost forgotten that. He had been content with his first day. But how could he be? He’d been dragged here against his will—dragged. He was supposed to be angry; he was angry. He had to hold on to that. He had to. Never forget and never let go.
Reagan’s voice broke into his thoughts. “Wanna wash up, too?”
Reed nodded and turned to the sink, trying to shake off his dark mood. As the water splashed over his face, the angry blaze died to a smolder. It really wasn’t so bad here. Today had been tolerable. Perhaps this place would surprise him. He turned off the tap, shaking the water out of his eyes.
Reagan, sitting on the desk, tossed him a towel. “Here. Ready for supper?”
“Sure,” he replied from behind the towel and then, forcing a grin, “I’m starved.”
Supper was much like the night before. Reed sat with his roommates and their friends at a long table and found he was beginning to pick up some of the other teens’ names. Again, Reagan was the focal point of attention, and Riley put in an occasional word. Reed, who was quite hungry, alternated his attention between the pizza on his plate and the group’s conversation.
The talk at the table centered mostly on the latest news of the Hill. The main topic was the prank that had been played in Dorm Fourteen the night before.
“Apparently, somebody decided to give everybody on the hall a surprise,” explained one of the boys. “So he got some red drink mix and put it in all the shower heads in both bathrooms.” Everyone laughed.
“The only problem was he forgot one of the heads wasn’t working right and a plumber was supposed to come fix it. The RD took the plumber up and turned on the shower to show him what was wrong with it.” The boy could hardly continue as he choked with laughter. “Oh, dude! The head wasn’t working right to begin with but, with that stuff in it, it, like, blew up! Red stuff went everywhere—all over the room, the plumber, and the RD!”
The rest of the story was drowned out as the whole table howled. Reed laughed along with the rest. It felt good to unwind after a long day on his feet, and the laughter was refreshing against the stark melancholy of everything else in this place.
Later, when the three roommates were strolling away from the Mushroom, Reed brought the prank up again. “So do I need to start watching my back? I mean, do things like that shower trick happen around here very often?”
Reagan chuckled. “There’s a fair amount of pranking, but the RDs usually don’t get involved. They let us play tricks on each other as long as we don’t break too many rules.”
“Or they don’t get shower nozzles blown up in their faces,” added Riley, sticking a toothpick in his mouth.
“So what keeps people from breaking the rules all the time? Or, you know, doing the summer camp or college kinda stuff?”
“Who says anything does?” Reagan flipped up his coat collar. “Stuff like that goes on all the time. But I guess if there was something that kept things from getting completely out of hand, it would be… well, fear—fear of getting caught, fear of what might happen, fear of―you know who. Everybody here lives in terror of the Council. Of course, rules get broken, and all kinds of things go on behind their backs, but nobody dares to cross the Council openly.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “You’ll find out eventually, but they have certain rules they’re willing to let
slide and some they crack down on hard. Fortunately for us, it usually works out in our favor, so we don’t worry about it all that much. We’ve got other things on our minds.” He stared at the sidewalk for a moment. “But who are we fooling?” he said quietly. “Every kid on the Hill lives with a constant fear. We can never escape the Council. It haunts us, Reed. We laugh, play around, have some fun, but it’s still there. We can’t get away from it.”
Reed shivered. Suddenly, the lonely street lamps, the empty sidewalks, and the dim shapes of the dorms above seemed to have fallen under the watch of some spreading, sinister presence, something powerful enough to hold five thousand young people in its inescapable grip. Reed shivered again. A chilling sensation crept up his spine. Eyes were fixed on him—invisible, unblinking eyes. He was being watched.
Reagan mistook the shiver for one of cold. “Let’s hurry up and get inside. It’s freezing tonight. But remember,” he added, “there’s nothing to worry about if you just do what they say and don’t rock the boat. They’ll leave you alone that way.”
Reed nodded, but the watched feeling would not leave him. He understood exactly what Reagan meant about feeling haunted. Already, a cold fear was stealing over him. He thrust it back quickly. He had to hold this off. Fear would shut and lock the cell door of his imprisonment in this place, and he refused to resign himself so easily. He would fight it. Remember: never forget and never let go.
But, even as the thought crossed his mind, he realized how hopeless it was. He couldn’t hold off fear forever. It always came creeping back like a wolf that returns as the fire dies down. Perhaps it really was best to follow Reagan’s advice and not stir up any trouble. Maybe he could have a decent life that way.
As the three entered the dorm, another force joined the angry thunderhead within Reed, an icy flow that oozed in, pooling, rising, and filling all the little corners of his mind—fear. A brooding stillness fell across the icy surface, and the hush was thick with a terrible power poised to unleash its fury. But Reed had no concept of the danger. As he swung open the door, he asked Reagan, “Do you think I could use your computer tonight?”
“Sure. Just be careful what you do,” Reagan cautioned in a low voice. “You know what I mean.”
“Yeah,” said Reed softly, “I know.”
Chapter 6
Over the next couple of days, Reed began to settle into the routine of life on the Hill: up at seven, breakfast, work, lunch, more work, off at five, and supper. He even ate each night with his roommates and the same group of their friends. But, the more he learned about his new home, the greater it seemed to grow and the wider its possibilities seemed to blossom. It was almost like a coconut, Reed thought: tough and unpleasant to start with but pretty great once you got past the outside. A whole new world was opening in front of him, and the pulsating life of it nearly took his breath away. Everything was new, everything was different, and everything seemed to be clamoring for his attention.
Even the girl behind the front desk at the factory wasn’t the typical receptionist. Reed hadn’t talked to her since their first encounter, but her constant cheerfulness radiated like sunbeams into the gray foyer every morning. He could feel it even on his short walks through the lobby each day.
Someone else who struck him as a little unusual was Nathan. Everything Reed had observed about him on his first day remained unchanged. He didn’t talk much but, when he did, it wasn’t with the awkward fumbles of a poor conversationalist. Despite his affable disposition, he kept to himself, even at lunch. Sometimes he took his lunch and slipped out of the room for the noon break.
Reed watched him day after day. All the little details jumbled together and began to form an overall impression; there was something underneath the squeaky-clean exterior. It was like the set for a TV commercial, built to be believable but too perfect to be real. Reed’s curiosity was roused and tinged with a hint of suspicion.
One day, he decided to get to the bottom of the matter. When the noon whistle screeched, he picked up his lunch and walked over to the crate where Nathan sat by himself. “Mind if I sit here?”
Nathan, his mouth full, smiled and shook his head. Reed sat down. They ate their sub sandwiches and made small talk for a while before Reed got down to business. “So can I ask you a question?”
Nathan bit off the end of a carrot. “Sure, go ahead.”
Reed opened his mouth and then stopped. He had no idea how to bring up the subject. His mind groped for anything to say instead. “I was wondering where you go when you leave the room with your lunch sometimes.” Random, but it was the best he could do at the moment.
Nathan swallowed his mouthful. “Well,” he said lightly, “since my company’s usually not in high demand in here, I go eat with friends in another room.”
Hmm. Reed finished off a package of crackers. So he does have friends. He dusted crumbs off his fingers and tried to make the best of a pointless question. “That’s cool. In another packing room?”
“No.”
Short answer—very short. It sparked Reed’s curiosity. “Well then, where? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“A break room for the office employees. I know a couple of them.”
Office people—why did that ring a bell? Then he remembered: that scene between Nathan and the receptionist. Things were getting more interesting. Perhaps it was time to dig a little deeper.
Reed pulled his mind to a halt. What was wrong with him? It would be the most natural thing in the world if Nathan had a crush on the receptionist, and it was none of Reed’s business. He hardly knew the other boy. Shut your mouth and finish your sandwich.
That resolve didn’t last long. They ate in silence for half a minute before Reed’s curiosity overpowered him. “Is one of them that girl at the front desk? You know, the blonde one?”
The top to Nathan’s water bottle jumped out of his hand and rolled to the floor. He scooped it up in an instant. “Excuse me?”
“You know, the receptionist at the front desk; is she one of your friends?”
Nathan replaced the bottle cap deliberately and shot him an odd look. “Yes,” he said. “Why?”
“Oh, I was just thinking.” Reed swung one leg smugly and tried not to sound overly pleased with his sleuthing. “She seems like a nice girl. How do you know her?”
Nathan was really eyeing him now, more than the situation required, Reed thought. “We’re in a small group together,” he answered guardedly.
“Cool.” Reed bit into an Oreo. “What kinda group?” His instincts warned him to stop his questioning, but he ignored his better sense.
“It’s kinda hard to explain…”
The whistle broke in, sounding the end of lunch break. Nathan leapt off the crate.
“Back to work!” he said, snatching up the remnants of his lunch and dashing for the nearest trashcan.
Reed pondered the short interview during the remainder of the afternoon. He didn’t know if he’d succeeded in his original mission or if he’d struck on something new. There was no doubt that something was going on between Nathan and the receptionist, but why would Nathan be so nervous about it? It was the most natural thing in the world. But there had been something odd in his manner and face. Reed had been right in the first place: there was more going on here than met the eye.
When five o’clock came, Nathan, as usual, was one of the first out of his station and through the door. Reed watched him leave as he shut down his own station. “Watch,” he told himself. “Ten bucks says he’ll be hitting up his girl.”
Sure enough, as Reed was swept through the lobby in the rush for the door, he caught sight of Nathan by the front desk, arranging pens in a cup and listening. The girl was talking, leaning both elbows on the desk. The crowd swallowed them in an instant, but that was all it took to cement the situation in Reed’s mind. He grinned. Sparks were flying, but if Nathan wanted his little game to be a secret, Reed could play along.
Outside, his grin faded. The icy air and sharp
wind that seeped through his light jacket smacked him back into reality. “Man, I can’t wait to get paid,” he hissed through chattering teeth, pulling the windbreaker tight around him. “Then I’ll buy a…” He spent the rest of the walk to the gate thinking of all the things he wanted or needed. A thick, warm coat was at the top of the list.
By the time he reached the main entrance, thoroughly chilled, Nathan and his affairs were completely out of his mind. He waited for Reagan and Riley before climbing onto the bus.
After getting comfortably settled and exchanging the usual greetings, Reagan loosened his collar and stretched out his legs. “So I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready for a little fun. How ’bout going into town tonight?”
Reed jumped at the chance. “Sure!” He hadn’t seen much of the city so far. “What’ll we do?”
“Oh, maybe hang out at a coffee shop or catch a movie.” Reagan folded his hands behind his head. “Or we could just walk around if you want to see the sights.”
“That would be great! Oh,” Reed looked down at his jacket and thought of the relatively short walk from the factory, “but…”
“Aw, don’t worry about that,” Reagan reassured him. “Between Riley and me, I’m sure we’ve got one you can borrow. Payday’s still a ways off, and you don’t want to miss out on everything until you can get your own.”
Chapter 7
Night had already fallen when they set off toward the city below. Reed burrowed into the welcome warmth of Riley’s leather jacket and decided that cold weather wasn’t so bad inside a coat. “How far a walk is it?” he asked after a moment.
“That depends on where you want to go.” Reagan looped a red plaid scarf around his neck and tucked it inside his pea coat. “It’s about twenty minutes to the Boulevard, where most of the good stuff is.”
“Good stuff, meaning?”
When Stars Go Out Page 4