Days Like This (5 page)

Even though what she saw was often chilling, Lily found some small release in what she could spot outside her secret window. Lily had no idea why Pym and Megan had boarded up every other window except this small one in the upstairs bathroom. Maybe because it was frosted glass and you couldn’t see out, but the frosting only went three-quarters of the way up. If Lily stood on the very edge of the bath and strained up, she could see a bit of the garden, a bit of the road and a bit of the Wall.

The Wall was built of pale stone so that when the sun rose, it glowed like an opal. In the twilight, it was luminous and ghostly. The polished stone looked slippery. There were no handholds or footholds and it curved inwards at the top. It looked as if it had been designed to keep people in as well as out.

From the window, Lily often saw the Blacktroopers patrolling the street. They marched in groups or travelled in their high black vehicles. Sometimes she saw young people like her, but never just strolling along. Whenever Lily saw them, there were Blacktroopers chasing them. She’d seen the troopers attack, too, and heard the muffled screams of their captives. It was sickening, but she watched anyway, silently cheering on the young people, urging them to get away.

Sometimes they fell and didn’t get back up. Then the Blacktroopers would roll them up in black plastic and throw them in their vans. This was what was outside. This was what she would have to contend with when she escaped.

Lily figured her best bet would be to get over the Wall. She remembered how Max had talked about people outside the Wall who defied the Committee. But that was a long time ago, right after the Wall went up. If those people were even still alive and Lily could find them, maybe they would help her look for Daniel. Lily couldn’t stand the idea of doing nothing as more and more Fridays passed with the Blacktroopers filling up the house with fear.

Lily was worried about Alice, too. She would try to persuade Alice to come, but she doubted her little sister would agree. If Alice did refuse, Lily would have to go without her. She’d return for her when she’d found Daniel. It sounded simple in theory.

‘Lily.’ It was her father, yelling up the stairs. She ignored him.

‘Don’t make me come and get you,’ he called.

Lily hesitated, before reluctantly climbing down from the bath to stand in the doorway. Yes, she would make him come up and get her. He took the stairs two at a time, agile. Her mother followed. Her father held something in his hand, a blue circular thing that looked like a piece of jewellery.

‘What’s that?’

‘It’s a security bracelet. From now on you have to wear it at all times,’ Pym said.

‘Why?’

‘It’s to keep you safely inside,’ Pym said.

‘You already keep me inside.’

‘Well, now an alarm will go off if you go outside – it’s a precaution.’

‘Against what?’

Her father looked away.

‘Against what?’ Lily demanded.

‘Against you escaping,’ Megan said quietly.

Lily’s stomach lurched. She was too late. They knew.

‘How does it stop me from escaping?’ She was aware that the blood had drained from her face.

Pym looked at her shrewdly. ‘As I said, an alarm will go off if you attempt to leave the house. And the bracelet may hurt you,’ he added after the briefest pause.

‘Hurt me? How?’ Lily said.

‘No need to find that out. Just stay inside,’ Pym said curtly.

‘It’s dangerous out there,’ Megan said. ‘You saw what they’re capable of with …’ she faltered.

‘With Sherbet,’ Pym said. ‘And you can hear them out there. Anyone who isn’t authorised to be on the streets is in danger. it’s just the way it is.’

Authorised. That was a new one. Lily could have asked why she was such a threat to the Blacktroopers, but avoiding the bracelet was her immediate problem. She had to buy time while she sorted out how she would get away.

‘You don’t have to put that thing on me. You can trust me. I won’t go outside. I promise,’ Lily said.

‘Alice has one, too,’ Megan said quickly. ‘She let us put it on, no trouble.’

‘Well, I’m not wearing it,’ Lily said, folding her arms.

Pym took a step closer. ‘You have to, it’s the Committee’s ruling. Either you put it on or we call the Blacktroopers to put it on for you. Do you want them to do it?’

‘Tell me where you sent Daniel. Tell me if he’s even still alive and I’ll think about it,’ Lily said.

She hated even speaking that thought aloud. Daniel was alive, he had to be.

Her parents said nothing.

‘Well then, I won’t wear it,’ Lily said.

Now more than ever, Lily wanted to be out with the groups of young people she’d seen from her window; out looking for Daniel.

Lily darted past them. She made it to the top of the stairs before her father caught her by the arm.

‘No, you don’t,’ he said.

Lily managed to shake free and ran into her bedroom, trying to slam the door, but she wasn’t quick enough. Her father pushed it open easily. She dodged around her bed, but he followed, a grim look on his smoothly suntanned face.

‘You’ll do as you are ordered.’ He grabbed her shoulders, forcing her backwards onto the bed.

‘Put the bracelet on her,’ he yelled at Megan. He was surprisingly strong. Her mother hovered by the bed.

‘For heaven’s sake, Megan. Hurry up,’ he snapped.

‘Alice has one, too,’ Megan said again, as if that made a difference. ‘Come on now be a good girl.’

Megan grasped Lily’s arm and tried to close the bracelet around her wrist, but Lily kicked and thrashed, fighting them viciously. Her father had her legs pinned with his knees and he was squeezing her shoulders.

‘Get off me!’ She twisted around and bit him on the hand, getting him right at the fleshy part between thumb and finger and sinking in her teeth. It must have hurt, but he didn’t flinch, just gave her a swift slap.

‘It’s the ruling,’ he shouted as he held her down, veins popping in his neck, his hand bleeding onto her covers. The word ‘ruling’ only made her thrash and scream more. Megan clicked the device in place. Lily was glad to see that her mothers hands were shaking.

‘Stupid girl,’ her father said, finally releasing her. He got up and both her parents left the room, slamming Lily’s door behind them.

Lily examined the bracelet. It was pale blue and if you looked closely you could see metal cords threaded inside it. What were they for? Lily found a pair of scissors in her drawer. She’d cut if off, then she’d get out of there. She couldn’t lose any more time.

But it was useless. No matter how hard she sawed at the hard plastic, she barely made a scratch. In her frustration, the scissors slipped and the blade dug deep into her wrist. She yelped and Alice burst into the room.

‘What’s wrong, Lilla? Have you cut yourself? Let me help.’ Alice put a tissue on the cut and then bound it clumsily with a scarf. ‘Is that better?’ she asked.

‘Yes, Alice, thanks.’

Alice flopped down on the bed and leaned her head on Lily’s shoulder. ‘I miss Dan, Lily. I wish they’d tell us where he’s gone.’ Her thumb crept to her mouth.

Lily put her arm around her sister, wincing because her shoulder hurt.

‘I don’t know, Alice. I miss him too. Let me see that.’ She pointed to Alice’s bracelet.

Alice held up her wrist. ‘it’s pretty, isn’t it? Pink. I wasn’t going to go anywhere, you know,’ Alice added resentfully. ‘But I hate those Blacktroopers. They killed my bird. I hate rulings and I hate the …’ She glanced around.

‘There’s no one else here, Alice. Who do you hate?’ She knew perfectly well, but hearing it was gratifying.

‘The Committee,’ Alice whispered, and then flushed.

‘They can’t hear you, Alice, it’s all right. I hate them too. Pigs!’

Lily bent closer to look at Alice’s pink bracelet. ‘There aren’t any wires in yours,’ she said.

‘Oh.’ Alice peered at it. ‘Maybe it’s because you’re older,’ she said hesitantly.

I don’t think that’s it
, Lily thought, but looking at her fragile sister, she didn’t say it.

The earth tremors started up then, another consequence of the damage the people of the past had done to their world. The tremors were coming more often lately and for a longer time. Alice buried her head in Lily’s shoulder.

‘I hate the tremors too, Lily.’

‘They’ll stop soon,’ Lily said, and they did.

Lily woke to the sound of the water moon. Lily loved to hear the cascading water and she loved to watch how it fell, drifting gently sideways. She slipped out of bed and crept into the bathroom. From her vantage point, she could see five of the water extractor pipes. They looked sinister; rising high above the roofline like the glistening limbs of an alien creature. Each pipe disgorged a circular spray of water that Lily knew would drench the gardens and flow off roofs to be channelled into water tanks. She concentrated on the water that pitter-pattered from the pipes and reminded her of natural rain, which was a rare phenomenon these days. When it did rain, it usually came in the form of frightening storms, slashing at the house with lightning and thunder and massive hunks of hail. Lily couldn’t escape the fact that though she loved the water moon, it also troubled her. They were obviously fortunate to get it; fresh water was a necessity. Even before the Wall went up and blocked everything out, it was obvious that the water moon didn’t fall on the less fortunate suburb across the wide road outside their house.

‘Why do we have water and they don’t?’ she’d asked her parents back then.

‘Because we are in a prescribed water zone and they aren’t,’ her father had replied airily, as if this was a natural distinction.

‘I know that, Dad, but why
exactly
us and not them? Who says we can have water and they can’t? Are they less important than us?’

‘Accident of birth, I suppose. Or good fortune, call it what you like,’ he’d said, waving his hands like he was describing the colour of someone’s hair. ‘Everyone knows there’s only a limited amount of water to go around. Some people have to get it and we happen to be part of that group. We can afford it, they can’t. Now, for Pete’s sake, can you stop asking questions, Lily? Why can’t you kids just accept things for once in your lives? Just accept.’

‘But what happens if those people never get water?’ Dan had chimed in. ‘What happens if it never rains? Do they just die?’

‘That’s really not our concern,’ their father had said, matter-of-factly.

And that was it.

Lily wobbled on the edge of the bath now because she felt the shooting pain in her head again. The deep ache wasn’t so painful that she couldn’t speak, but it was bad enough to make her cry.

‘Headaches just happen at your age, Lily,’ her mother had said in her flat voice that morning, looking away when she said it.

‘Why do they happen at my age?’ Lily had asked. ‘There’s nothing on the screens to say that head pains are normal at my age. You don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Just accept it,’ her mother said.

‘Like we have to accept that Daniels just disappeared?’

Her mother shrugged.

‘Daniel had head pains, too. Is it something to do with being
hormonally lucrative
?’ Lily said, challengingly

Megan glanced sharply at Lily. ‘Who told you that?’

Lily ignored her question. ‘And tell me, Mum, will I disappear just like Daniel did?’ she said.

Megan’s ominous silence confirmed what Lily already knew.

For the next week, Lily continued to search Daniel’s room every night, waiting until the house was still and dark before slipping into his bedroom. Again and again, she systematically combed through his notes, papers and books. Her efforts yielded precisely nothing. She was desperate. Daniel had definitely been onto something, but she was coming to the conclusion that whatever Daniel had found would stay hidden. It was a deeply depressing thought.

During the day, she did as little schooling as possible, instead working desperately to try and hack into the central data system, making her own notes, being as thorough as possible. Surely if Daniel had found the weakness in their security system, then so could she. She’d convinced herself that she needed Daniel’s information. Sometimes she wondered if she was using this as an excuse to delay because she didn’t have a clear escape plan.

All too quickly it was Friday again and Lily was no closer to hacking the system or finding Daniel’s codes. She had spent the day staring at her screen, but her lack of sleep and her anxiety made it hard to concentrate. She had forced herself to remain quiet when the Blacktroopers had visited that morning, and the rest of the day had been long and empty. Alice was more than usually non-communicative and her parents were distracted and cold when she saw them briefly at dinner.

After dinner, Lily felt as if she would burst out of her skin. Too agitated to stay in bed and with nothing to see that night from the bathroom window except the shining Wall, she crept downstairs and headed towards the door leading to her parents’ wing; an area she was forbidden to go. The house was silent and dark, though the light from the Wall squeezed in around the sealed-up windows that faced in it’s direction. She wondered why the Wall had to be floodlit. Was it to scare people? And which people, exactly?