Blemished, The (13 page)

“O
kay,” he said. “I’ll tell you everything about my dad. But first I need to tell you about my sister, Eve.” He took a deep breath and began.

“Eve was full of fun. She was really pretty and bubbly and she had this wayward streak about her. I guess that’s why she was always getting in trouble, and why her and Mum fought a lot.

“I was young at the time and I didn’t know what was going on. Apparently Eve stayed out late at night, getting in with the wrong crowd. She hated what we were – Children of the GEM – and tried to rebel against it. According to Dad she was this close to joining the Resistance and leaving us.” He mimed an inch with his fingers.

“We lived in London at the time and my dad worked in the Ministry. He had a really good job. I mean, he was one of the bigwigs. The film stars and the beauty contests – they were mainly my dad’s idea. He realised that Britain could be put on the map by the beautiful women in our country. He was one of the first to see the potential to make everyone beautiful. Eve hated what Dad did. She used to say that she didn’t want to be shallow like the rest, she wanted to be somebody.

“And then she got involved with this guy. I never met him or really knew much about it but sometimes she’d wander into my room with her eyes wide and dreamy. She wore these slogan t-shirts and ripped jeans – her hair messy and make-up smeared on like she’d put it on her fingertips and just dragged them across her face. One time, she stared into my mirror smudging this black stuff onto her eyes and asking me how she looked – telling me how she wanted to look good for Johnny. I was scared of her that night. She was hiding out from my dad and acting weird, staggering around like she couldn’t stand up properly. I guess she was drunk… or something. Anyway I said she looked okay, although obviously she looked beautiful. I guess they all do… we all do.

“She started disappearing for months at a time, coming back for money and then
leaving again. It killed my mum. She’s a good mum, she only ever wants us to be safe and whenever Eve wasn’t with us she worried. I grew up with this pattern – seeing my sister climbing through the window at night, stealing things, giving me a quick hug and then disappearing. I would get food for her, noticing every time that she grew thinner and thinner.”

He took a deep breath. All the time he talked he kept his gaze on the wall; I imagined his eyes glazed in the darkness, reliving past memories and past pain.

“Then one day she came back, not long ago, only a few months, and she brought something with her. A bump. She was pregnant. She was pregnant with the child of a Resister.” He laughed without humour. “Pregnancy is taboo for GEMs too, you know. We’re meant to take a pill every day to stop us from conceiving. We donate our sperm and eggs to a bank and they save it for when we want children. Then they take the genes and enhance them into whatever it is you want in your child and grow it for you.

“Eve was pregnant and the low-life responsible left her. She ran back to us. There was a huge fight between her and my dad and the neighbours called the Enforcers.” Sebastian’s voice cracked. “They took her away. My dad lost his job and they banished us from London. That’s when we moved here.”

I placed my hand on his arm. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he said. He finally turned to me, his eyes glassy with tears.

“But I don’t understand. You said your dad was a supporter?” I said gently.

“He is now. I think watching his daughter be dragged away like that turned him. He hates the Ministry now. There is a farm house, around five miles out of the town centre; no one knows it exists because it is tucked away on the moors. We’re going t
o move there. Right now all he’s doing is pretending to act the part of a responsible citizen while we set everything up… food… electricity. He’s even buying some animals.”

“Animals?” I asked, shocked. The Ministry controlled the intake of produce like milk and cheese. We only saw them on market stalls or in GEM shops. “What kind of animals?”

“A couple of cows, a goat and some hens. Maybe a horse to pull a plough.”

I grinned. “That sounds amazing. To have control over everything like that and live your own life.” My smile faded. “So one of these days you’re just going to… disappear?”

He chuckled into the darkness and then gently stroked my face with the back of his hand. “I will always find a way to contact you, Mina, no matter where you are.”

I swallowed dryly, as I thought about not having Sebastian in my life. Part of me didn’t like it one bit. Before Area 14 I didn’t even have friends to be dependent on
, and now I was growing more and more attached to the people here: Sebastian, Daniel and Angela.

“But if you’
re ever in trouble,” he leaned in closer to me, his eyes boring into mine, “find the farm. You will be safe there.”

I left Sebastian feeling almost as though some sort of intimate ceremony had been cast between us. When I climbed into bed I still felt his presence with me, his words in my ear and his touch to my face. We had arranged to meet the next night and I found myself up and ready for school early, wanting the day to go as quickly as possible. I left before my dad woke up with a hangover and chewed toast on the way.

At school, Angela told me that Daniel was much better and I instantly felt guilty, partly for not worrying about his headache and partly because in some way I felt as though I was betraying him by meeting Sebastian. I didn’t tell Angela about meeting Sebastian, but I did tell her about the fight with my dad and him stopping me from seeing her outside school. She looked heartbroken and I wished I could share that heartbreak but I was still too excited about meeting Sebastian in secret.

We met at the same place. At first we weren’t sure what to say to each other, but then Sebastian began to tell me all about London.

“It’s loud,” he said, “and very brash. In your face. There are TV screens
everywhere
and they talk to you––”

“What? Directly?”

“Yup, they know your name and everything.” He mimicked a posh female voice. “
Good morning Mr Sebastian Cole, would you be interested in today’s special rate? Touch the screen for amazing bargains!
And then people touch the screen and order whatever they want.”

“And it appears?”

He laughed. “No! Of course not! You can’t reach into the screen and pull objects out.”

I blushed and was glad of the cover of the night sky.

“But they do deliver it to your house or work. You can even get products delivered to places like the restaurant you are eating in or the Café you’re drinking in. You can book events – I used to do that a lot – say if you wanted to go to the cinema or use the tube.”

“How do they know it’s you?”

“From our Plan-Its.” He removed the small, white rectangle from his pocket. “We all have one registered to our names and addresses. We use them to browse the web so they know the things we like. When you’re stood in a public place the adverts target you. Like, I drink a lot of coffee so the adverts would be for local Cafés. And the Ministry has records of your fingerprints so you just touch the screen for identification and it takes the payment out of your bank.” He shrugged as though it was all mundane.

“I’ve seen you use these.” I stroked the white plastic. “The words flash across your eyes.”

“We wear special contact lenses. It projects an image, a really tiny one, onto our retinas so that we don’t need a display. It makes everything more instant.”

I shook my head. “It’s like a whole new world.”

Sebastian laughed at my amazement. He paused. The mood turned more serious “Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Are you in love with Daniel Gibson?”

“W
hat?” I said.

“The boy from the carpenters,” Sebastian added.

My mouth flapped open and shut. “Why would you ask me that? How do you even know who Daniel is?”

“I’ve seen him around,” said Sebastian. His head hung lower, staring at his feet, as though embarrassed. “And I often see you with him.”

“Yes, and Angela, his adoptive sister,” I snapped. “He built our basement for us and Dad is teaching him to read.”

I thought I saw him smirk in the darkness and I didn’t like it. “He can’t read?”

“No,” I said bluntly. “But only because Blemished boys don’t go to school. They get apprenticeships when they are old enough instead. He isn’t stupid.”

“You never answered my question,” Sebastian prompted. “Are you in love with him?”

“No,” I said hesitantly, “he is my best friend’s brother… kind of. He’s just a friend.” I pulled my sleeves, wondering why Sebastian’s question bothered me so much.

“I’m sorry. It’s just I saw you with him a few times. And it’s just that… I don’t know anything about that part of your life.”

I moved forwards and put both hands on his arms. He turned to look at me; we were so close I could feel his breath on my face. “We are just friends. We could never be anything more anyway because Angela is so in love with him. I could never break her heart.”

Sebastian broke from my arms and turned around. “So that means you want to?”

“No!”

“Don’t lie to me,” he said bitterly.

“I’m not lying.”

“Are you sure about that?”

I didn’t answer.

“Just go, Mina,” he said.

“Wait, Sebastian––”

“Just go.”

“Will I see you here tomorrow?”

He paused. “Yes.”

*

At school the next day I moped. I moped and I thought about Sebastian’s questions. How w
as I supposed to know how I felt about Daniel? How was I supposed to know how I felt about Sebastian? I didn’t know about boys or feelings or any of that.

I hadn’t seen Daniel for days. All the time we were apart I’d been trying to ignore it, but Sebastian had torn everything open. I missed him. No, it was more than that. I
needed
him. But when I was with Sebastian I didn’t think about Daniel. And now, Sebastian was mad at me and everything had gone wrong.

During my days of being grounded Angela chatted incessantly at school. It was nice because it made the most of our time together. She had told me about how she was teaching Daniel to read and really enjoying it, that he was getting a lot better and that he seemed a little sad but she didn’t know why. But on this day Angela didn’t chat to me. She was uncharacteristically silent.

“Are you all right?” I asked whilst gardening. We were working in pairs to re-pot the seedlings inside the greenhouse. It was sweltering under the glass and the afternoon sun. I pulled my headscarf back a little to let some heat out.

“I’m fine,” she said.

“You are not fine, Angela Dixon. Please tell me what is wrong. I know that my dad is being a total arse at the moment but I’ll help you, I swear.”

Her face scrunched up as though she was about to cry. I wanted to put my arm around her but didn’t want to draw attention to us. “Is it your mum?”

“Yes.” A tear escaped and she wiped it away quickly. “Yesterday she left the bath running and it flooded the bathroom. Then she ran out into the garden without her clothes. She’s losing her mind, Mina. It’s not just confusion and vagueness anymore. She’s just getting too difficult, I can’t––”

“That’s it. I’m asking my dad for help,” I said. Angela tried to interrupt but I put my hand up to stop her. “Angela you can’t cope with this on your own. You’re fourteen.”

She wiped her nose with her sleeve. “Do you really think he’ll help?”

“Listen, no matter what is going on between me and Dad he would never let another human being suffer. He’ll think of something, I swear.”

Angela smiled and her back straightened. It was as though the weight of the world had just been lifted from her shoulders. I went back to the seedlings feeling lighter myself.

“Mina.”

I looked up. Billie had come over. “Hi, Billie.”

“It’s been nearly a month since…” she trailed off. “Will you come wi
th me? I want to water the bulbs.”

“Of course,” I said.

We walked together in silence. Billie carried a green plastic watering can. When we reached the corner where we planted the Daffodils she tipped the water ceremoniously over the bulbs.

“Have you heard anything?” I asked.

She shook her head. “But I didn’t expect to. No one ever hears.” She sniffed. “It’s Twitching Sunday this weekend.”

“Don’t think about it,” I said.

“I can’t help but,” she said with a shrug. “I’ll have to watch. I’ll just have to.” The watering can emptied and she placed it on the grass at the edge of the lawn. “Mina, I need to tell you something. I go walking at night. I have done every night since Emily was taken. I don’t sleep you see.” She paused. “I saw you.”

I felt my blood run cold in my veins. “What do you mean?”

She moved closer to me. “You know what I mean. You and that GEM.” Her eyes darted around us and I swallowed dryly. “That’s how it started, with Emily. She got involved with one of
them
and then it happened. You can’t trust them, Mina, it’s all an act. He’ll take you to that Café, in the back room.”

I gulped because I knew exactly which Café she was talking about. “Please don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t,” she said. “I’m just telling you this because you’re my… friend. I don’t want you to end up like my sister. I really don’t.” Billie broke eye contact and stared behind me; she shook her head and walked away.

I turned. It was Sebastian.

“What are you doing? Anyone could see,” I said.

“I’m sorry,” he said. His eyes pleaded with me. “I just needed to give you this.” He pressed a folded piece of paper into my hands. I quickly tucked it into my headscarf.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw familiar red curls – Mrs Murgatroyd approaching. “You have to leave,
now
.”

Sebastian smiled at the teacher
. “I’m sorry,” he said smoothly without any indication he was lying, “I saw this Blemished get her tunic caught as I was passing and stopped to help. It won’t happen again.”

“Thank you Mr Cole, you should head back to your class,” the teacher said with a hint of venom in her voice. “Miss Hart, would you accompany me to my office?”

*

“Step in, Miss Hart,” she said with forced sweetness, holding open the door to a meticulously tidy room.

I obeyed.

“Take a seat.” She gestured to a plastic chair opposite a large wooden desk. Mrs Mugatroyd casually walked around the desk and took residence in a plush leather recliner.

Aside from a laptop and a small pot plant there was very little on her desk. She had no photographs of family. The walls were bare and painted a stale grey.

“Do I need to remind you of the code of conduct at this school?” She raised a pencilled eyebrow and smiled, somehow making the action look threatening.

I shook my head feebly.

Mrs Murgatroyd placed both hands on the desk, the action deliberate and measured, almost practised.

“What you need, Miss Hart, is discipline.” She chuckled. “It is actually what all of you Blemished need. You see, some of you don’t seem to know your place. You don’t understand that you are here to serve the rest of us because you have no right in this world. You are
Blemished.
Your genes are useless. You carry inside you all the things that make this world
dirty
.” She sneered, disgusted. “Disease ridden. You’re worse than rats.”

She spat her words and I jumped. Panic built in my chest and I felt claustrophobic, wanting nothing more than to run out of the room. Sweat formed in between my shoulder blades despite my body feeling cold and shaky.

Mrs Murgatroyd sighed. “I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, that you would heed my warning. I actually thought that you were clever enough to know when you are beaten, Miss Hart, and when you need to back down to the victor. But it would seem I was wrong, and it pains me very much to have to do this.”

Her hand moved very slowly to the edge of the desk and disappeared from view. I heard the scrape of wood against wood as she pulled open a drawer. There was a fumbling noise. Her hand reached inside. Throughout all of these actions she maintained my eye contact. Her hand withdrew containing an object. It was a long, thin and flexible – a whip. She flicked it down onto the desk and I flinched.