Callum: A Noughts and Crosses Short Story

by Malorie Blackman

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Dedication

  What would have happened if …?

  Callum takes place within the timeline of …

  Chapter One. Tears

  Chapter Two. Escape

  Chapter Three. Going Once …

  Chapter Four. Why?

  Chapter Five. Painful Wounds

  Chapter Six. Want It All

  Chapter Seven. Let Me Help

  Chapter Eight. Shelter In The Storm

  Chapter Nine. Maybe Tomorrow

  Read on for an extract from Noughts & Crosses

  About the Author

  Also by Malorie Blackman

  Copyright

  About the Book

  In a hostile alternative society, the pale-skinned noughts are treated as inferiors by the ruling dark-skinned Crosses.

  Callum is a nought. Sephy is a Cross. In their world, they simply don’t fit – it’s as clear as black and white. But their innocent childhood friendship has grown into intense, burning love – and they have to find a way to be together.

  Then Sephy is kidnapped, and Callum is faced with a choice – his love for Sephy or his loyalty to his brother. And once that choice is made, there can be no looking back.

  An explosive, powerful and passionate short story, set during the timeline of Malorie Blackman’s original dystopian bestseller, Noughts and Crosses.

  For Neil and Lizzy,

  Mum and Wendy,

  with love – as always.

  What would have happened if … ?

  Callum takes place within the timeline of Noughts and Crosses.

  At this point in time, Sephy, a Cross, has been kidnapped by the Liberation Militia (LM) and is being held for ransom, thanks to the betrayal of her best friend and childhood playmate, Callum, who is a nought. This story takes place as the others in Callum’s LM cell go to pick up the ransom money from Kamal, Sephy’s father, leaving Sephy alone with Callum, as his prisoner.

  one. Tears

  SEPHY MUST’VE DOZED off. Her eyelashes are spiky from where she’s only just stopped crying. The tracks of her tears have dried on her cheeks.

  Tears caused by me.

  Sephy told me once that I was the only one who could ever make her cry. I’ve never told this to her, or to anyone else for that matter, but it works the other way round as well.

  How long have I been standing here now, looking down at her?

  Too long.

  The thoughts in my head are driving me crazy. Damn, but she’s beautiful. Even more beautiful than I remember. And I remember a lot. I watch Sephy and memories of the two of us play in my head on an incessant loop. Some are bad, some are good. Some make me smile.

  Some hurt.

  Right now, the ones that hurt dominate. I’m standing right next to her and I don’t think I’ve ever felt quite so far away, not even when she went away to Chivers Boarding School. To think that once, another lifetime ago, Sephy pleaded with me to run away with her. She poured out her heart to me in a letter, a letter I read too late.

  She cared for me – once.

  And now, as I stand watching her, I can’t stop thinking about what might have been … I can’t stop imagining the two of us together. My body burns at the thought of it. Sephy and I might’ve been together for ever.

  We might’ve … flown.

  Maybe in a parallel universe somewhere, Sephy and I are together and happy. Maybe in a parallel universe somewhere, there’s no one but me and Sephy, like Adam and Eve. If Heaven exists, then that would be it.

  But what’s the point of thinking that way?

  Better to deal with what is, rather than what might have been or some alternate reality somewhere else.

  Sephy is our hostage, a prisoner of the Liberation Militia, and I’ve been left behind to watch her whilst the others pick up the ransom we’ve demanded from her father, Kamal Hadley. Will he pay it? It’s not like we’re asking for peanuts, but he can afford it – and more. There’s no such thing as a broke politician. But Sephy’s dad is such a shit. I wouldn’t put it past him to have the police lying in wait, or to try and hand over a rucksack full of newspaper instead of money. I still don’t understand how Sephy turned out the way she did when she’s got such a bastard for a dad and such a stuck-up bitch like Jasmine Hadley for a mother. Her sister Minerva is no better. The few times I’ve come across Sephy’s sister, she’s always looked at me like I was something particularly revolting that had just been vomited all over her. How ironic, then, that Sephy should be the one in our clutches instead of any other member of her family. How ironic that Sephy, who has always supported the Liberation Militia’s aim of equality for and between noughts and Crosses, should now be subject to our tender mercies.

  The Liberation Militia have her now.

  Thanks to me.

  She would never have fallen into our hands if I hadn’t set her up.

  I betrayed her.

  That thought, more than any other, rips strips off what’s left of my soul like some kind of insatiable hell-hound.

  I betrayed her.

  Now every time she looks my way, her hatred for me inflicts third-degree burns up and down my body. And how can I blame her?

  What’s going to happen when the others get back? What’s going to happen to Sephy if her dad pays the ransom?

  Is it likely that he will?

  My brother Jude seems to think so.

  I’m praying, like I’ve never prayed before, that he won’t. That might buy Sephy another day or two, but even that is doubtful. Whatever her dad decides to do, Sephy is as good as dead. It’s a question of when, not if.

  God, please, if you’re out there …

  But when did God – or anyone else for that matter – listen to any prayer of mine, let alone answer it?

  The future stretches out before me like a long, hot desert road. I know only too well what Andrew and Jude and Leila and the others expect me to do. Once Kamal Hadley has paid up, it’ll be my job to … to get rid of Sephy.

  Get rid of …?

  Tell it like it is, Callum.

  It’ll be my job to … to kill her and bury her in the surrounding forest where she’ll never be found.

  And I’ll have to do it. What choice do I have?

  It’s her or me – or both of us.

  Stop thinking about it, Callum. You’re not fifteen any more. You’re not the idealistic kid who thought that, deep down, somewhere, somehow, in some way, life had to be fair.

  I know better now.

  And yet, if I know so much better, why am I in this tiny, windowless box of a room, standing by Sephy’s bed and staring down at her like some kind of low-life, no-class, predatory stalker?

  Maybe because it’s the only way I can look at her without her contemptuous glare burning holes straight through me. Maybe because I look at her as she sleeps and she reminds me of what I used to be, what I might have been.

  And I hate her so much for reminding me.

  And I love her so much for the exact same thing.

  Jeez, this is doing my head in.

  I’ve got to stop this. It does no good to brood on ifs and buts and maybes. ‘If only’ has to be one of the most pitiful phrases in the English language. I have to deal with what I’ve got now – which is my friends in the Liberation Militia, my brother Jude and the LM cause. At last, I have a reason to fight, to live.

  So why do I feel so dead inside?

  I need to think. I’ve got to sort out my head before the others get back.

  But I don’t want to leave Sephy alone in this room.

 
; I’ll sit here on the floor, just so I can keep an eye on her. Just to make sure she doesn’t try anything desperate when she wakes. Just so she doesn’t feel quite so alone. This concrete floor is cold and bloody hard but I need to stay put.

  And think.

  two. Escape

  SEPHY OPENED HER eyes and looked straight at me. And I didn’t miss the way her body recoiled at the sight. I was still sitting on the hard, cold floor where I’d sat for the last hour, my back against the wall. Sephy sat up slowly, rubbing the sleep out of her wary eyes. She didn’t take her gaze off me for a second. As I got to my feet, I waited for her to speak. She said nothing. She placed one hand over her stomach and began to rub it slowly, unaware that she was even doing it.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ I asked, pointing to her stomach. Stupid question. Jude had hand-delivered a crippling punch with as much venom as he could muster. And even though I’d felt his blow like it had been directed at me, I hadn’t stopped him. Even though my mind had screamed out ‘NO!’ I hadn’t said a word. I answered my own question. ‘You’re hurting.’

  Silence.

  ‘Would you like some water? Or some aspirin?’

  Sephy shook her head. She frowned, straining to hear beyond the silence between us. ‘Are we alone?’ she asked at last.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘The others have gone to pick up the ransom?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I see. Are you here to gloat?’ Sephy asked.

  Slowly I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak.

  ‘Yeah, right. Go away, Callum.’ Sephy lay down and turned away. I was effectively dismissed.

  I was going to leave her alone, I really was, but somehow my feet had other ideas. Two strides later, I was at her side. I sat down at the edge of the bed, beyond weary. The unnatural stillness of her prone body indicated that she was very aware of me, but she still wouldn’t look at me.

  Sephy, don’t treat me like I’m invisible. Please, don’t do that. Not you, of all people. Not you too …

  The words filled my head to overflowing but never left my mouth. I was being stupid. After what I’d done, was it likely that she was going to leap into my arms and smother me with kisses?

  Maybe not, but I would’ve settled for a smile. One simple, genuine smile.

  But that was asking too much.

  What could I say to get her to look at me the way she used to? What could I do to help her, to make her stop hurting? To show her that I still … remembered the two of us in better times? No, not better, just more … innocent.

  Tentatively, I replaced her hand with my own to rub her abdomen in gentle circles. Touching her was like touching lightning. A painful jolt of electricity stung my fingers and shot up my arm to cascade through my entire body. Sephy turned to look at me, her eyes wide.

  ‘W-what’re you doing?’ she asked.

  ‘You’re hurting.’

  ‘Like you care.’

  We regarded each other.

  ‘I care,’ I replied at last.

  Tears clouded Sephy’s eyes. ‘Then let me go. Please.’

  I didn’t reply. We both knew the answer to that one.

  ‘Why’re you in here?’ Sephy asked with a sudden burst of anger. ‘Are you afraid I’ll somehow dematerialize if you don’t keep your eyes on me twenty-four-seven and then you’ll get the blame?’

  ‘I want to make sure you’re OK.’

  ‘Oh, please. Spare me the platitudes,’ Sephy scoffed.

  ‘It’s the truth.’

  ‘Well, as you can see, I’m fine. Never been better.’ Sephy removed my hand from her stomach. ‘So feel free to leave the door open on your way out.’

  Once again she turned away from me, muttering something under her breath.

  ‘What did you say?’ I asked sharply.

  ‘Nothing. I didn’t say anything,’ Sephy denied. ‘Go away.’

  I knew what I’d heard. At least … at least, I thought I knew. It was something like, ‘stupid to think you ever loved me …’ I looked down at Sephy on the bed and the world stopped. Time stopped. At that moment, it was like I was looking down at myself and all the things I’d done and become since Sephy and I had been apart.

  That’s when I made my decision. And though every sense, every cell, every part of me roared, ‘NO!’ I knew I was going to ignore them all and be damned. Literally. I got to my feet and moved back a couple of paces.

  ‘Sephy, stand up.’

  Sephy turned to eye me warily. Moments ticked by, moments neither of us could afford to waste. But at last she did as I asked. I moved closer to her, trying to pretend I didn’t see the way she flinched, trying to ignore the fear that darkened her honey-brown eyes. A stillness crept over her as she waited with trepidation to see what I’d do next. I took one of her resistant hands in mine.

  ‘Come with me.’ I started pulling her after me. She instantly tried to pull away.

  ‘Sephy, we have to get out of here.’

  ‘Callum, please …’ Sephy’s voice trembled. ‘P-please don’t kill me …’

  I stilled. Is that what she thought … ? ‘I’m not going to kill you.’

  Sephy snatched her hand out of mine. ‘What’s that then?’ she asked, pointing to the waistband of my trousers.

  I glanced down, then saw the hand gun she was pointing to, its stock visible above my belt. The gun I’d forgotten that I was carrying, to be honest. It was a stupid place to carry a gun, really, but I had the safety on, so there was no danger of shooting off my bits. In our cell it was compulsory for every member to carry a gun at all times.

  ‘Sephy, you have to trust me.’

  ‘I’ve already made that mistake – remember?’ Sephy said bitterly. ‘There are plenty of new mistakes for me to make without repeating any. At least, I thought so until this moment.’

  ‘This moment?’ I frowned.

  ‘I’ve run out of time, haven’t I? You’re going to kill me.’

  I clamped my lips together. She really believed …

  Callum, you betrayed her, so why are you surprised? You asked her to meet you just so Jude and the others in your LM cell could kidnap her and hold her to ransom.

  But the fact that she thought I could kill her without a moment’s hesitation … Every time I thought I couldn’t feel any lower, that I couldn’t hurt any worse inside, Sephy always found a way to prove me wrong.

  ‘Is this where you d-drag me outside and send a bullet through my brain?’ Sephy whispered, her whole body trembling now.

  A second or two passed before I could trust myself to speak. ‘No, this is where I help you to escape.’

  three. Going Once …

  SEPHY STARED AT me. ‘W-what?’

  ‘You heard me, but we have to hurry. You need to be long gone before the others get back.’

  And still the shadow of suspicion clouded her eyes.

  It hurt.

  ‘Do you want to get back to your parents or not?’ I held out my hand. ‘This is a one time, never-to-be-repeated offer – going once, going twice …’

  ‘OK! OK!’ Sephy said quickly, putting her hand in mine.

  Her head tilted to one side as she scrutinized me. And the clouds in her eyes hadn’t dissipated. I forced myself not to look away.

  ‘You have to trust me,’ I said quietly. ‘Now let’s get out of here.’

  Sephy nodded.

  Callum, don’t do this …

  The dissenting voice inside my head had tried relentless shouting to no avail, so now it was an incessant, insistent whisper. A shout I could zone out, like so much static. This insidious, whispering voice inside my head was harder to ignore. This was madness. And even if I took Sephy back to her parents, how on earth was I going to explain her disappearance to Jude and the others? There was nothing I could say that they’d believe.

  If I did this I’d be signing my own death warrant …

  Sephy or me … ?

  Me or Sephy … ?

  We reached the front doo
r. I let go of Sephy’s hand, pulled my gun out of my waistband and flicked off the safety.

  ‘Callum, what—?’

  ‘Shush!’ Turning to Sephy, I placed a finger against my lips, scowling at her. As she looked from my face to the gun and back again, her expression revealed that she was still more afraid of me than of anything or anyone that might be outside the cabin. Swallowing hard, I turned away. Slowly, I opened the door. Jude and the others shouldn’t be back for at least another couple of hours, but I hadn’t lived this long by assuming anything. I dropped my gun hand to my side so that I wouldn’t alert anyone skulking as to what I was holding.

  The coast looked clear. The two cars we had were gone; Jude and Morgan had taken one car, Pete and Leila had taken the other. I should’ve planned this better. I should’ve disabled one car and taken off in the other with Sephy whilst the others were in the back of the cabin. I shook my head. No, that would’ve been far more dangerous. We’d have stood more chance of getting caught if I’d tried to sneak Sephy out of the cabin whilst the others were there. Both of us would’ve ended up with bullets in our backs. Let’s face it, there was no fool-proof way to do this.

  I stepped outside, the night air cool and welcome on my fevered face. The newly minted moon was nearly full and low in the sky. All around us the leaves on the trees whispered in the night breeze. And I knew what they were whispering.

  This was pure insanity.

  I was going to get us both killed.

  Better to turn round and lock Sephy back in her room. Better to wait for the others to arrive with the ransom and then follow my orders. But that was the trouble, because I knew – deep down in a place I could barely stand to acknowledge – that I wouldn’t be able to do it. I just couldn’t. So this was the only alternative.

  A slim chance against no chance at all.

  A swift look round was all I needed to show that we were still alone. I turned back to Sephy and beckoned her towards me. She hesitated. I put the safety back on my automatic and replaced it beneath my waistband. And still Sephy hesitated. I glared at her with impatience.