Blemished, The (19 page)

D
aniel and I took turns in the bathroom and managed a brief nap. I hadn’t been home and I wondered if my dad had even noticed. There was something going on, I knew it, but I had other things to deal with now: saying goodbye to my best friend’s mum.

Angela led her down the stairs, dressed in a smart skirt and a blouse. Her eyes were wet with tears and I ran over to hug her.

“Is today the day I get to see Paul?” Theresa asked sadly.

“Yes,” Angela replied. “Yes, it is.”

Theresa grinned like a teenager. “Oh! At last.”

My dad was true to his word. Things were arranged perfectly. The car came on time. Theresa’s carer was a lovely, kind woman. As Angela and Daniel took it in turns to say goodbye I felt sadder than I had in a very long time. I thought about the day Dad turned to me and told me that he believed my mum to be dead. On that day I hadn’t cried. I’d felt numb inside. Yet, watching Angela cling to her confused mother brought tears welling up in my eyes, and they soon rolled freely down my cheeks.

“You’re a good girl, Mina,” Theresa said to me as we embraced. “I know that in my heart.”

I didn’t want to let go, but when I did my face was soaked with more tears. I cried because it wasn’t true. I wasn’t good. I broke rules and laws. I met with boys in secret. I was a bad, bad person.

Angela broke down as the last car door slammed and Daniel put his arms around her. I went over to them both and Angela pulled me into the hug. Both of them wrapped themselves around me and I realised something then. They were my family.

*

It was Saturday. I wanted to stay at Angela’s and avoid everything at home but there was no point. Angela and Daniel wanted to come with me to avoid their empty house. We all wanted to avoid something.

I opened the door to my house and froze. “What are you doing
here?”

A man i
n a leather coat sat comfortably at our kitchen table, the man that my Dad introduced to me as Matthew. Daniel moved closer to me.

“Have you been out
all
night?” he said. “I can see you’re going to be a lot of hard work.”

“What are you talking about?” I snapped. “Who let you in here and where is my dad?”

“Mina, I think you need to take a seat––”

“Don’t tell me what to do. Tell me where my dad is.”

“Fine,” he said. Matthew picked up a small manila envelope and tossed it to me. “This will explain everything.”

I stared suspiciously at the envelope in my hands. My dad’s handwriting spelled out my name on the front cover. I ripped it open and flattened out the lined paper inside.

Mina,

Forgive me for what I am about to do.

There are things that I have kept from you and for that reason I am ashamed. Now I am going to do the one thing I swore I never would, but I have no choice. I have left you and for now I cannot explain why. But I have left you security and I promise that we will see each other again.

Oh, Mina. I am so very sorry that I have left it until now to tell you that you have other family members in Area 14. I have a younger brother. You have met him. His name is Matthew and he is your uncle. Now I leave you in his guardianship, and I can assure you that you are in safe hands.

You cannot stay in Area 14. It is not safe. Matthew will help you leave.

Remember our training, Mina. You are the strongest and most powerful person I know and I am incredibly proud that you are my daughter. I will see you soon.

With all my love,

Your father

I staggered backwards into one of the kitchen chairs, barely conscious of its existence. The tears in my eyes blurred the words on the page.

“I’m sorry you had to find out like this,” Matthew said. “We were going to explain everything to you, but your dad had a very small window in which he needed to… do what he needs to do.”

“What’s going on?” Daniel said angrily. “Why is she crying?”

I handed him the note. Angela took it and read it aloud.

“So now I have no one too,” I mumbled.

“You have an uncle,” Matthew said gently.

“What? You?” I stood up from my seat. The kitchen table began to shake and my palms itched. Pots and pans jangled. “How do I know you really are my uncle? How do I know that my dad wasn’t forced to write that note?” I pointed to the paper. “You could have killed him. You could be evil.”

Matthew got to his feet and approached. Before I even realised it, I’d moved the table, slamming it into him, creating a barrier between us.

“Mina, stop it,” he said. He reached into his coat and I pushed the table back against him, pinning him to the wall. “Let me take this out of my jacket. I swear I won’t hurt you.”

“How do we know that’s true,” Daniel chipped in.

Matthew didn’t look at Daniel – instead he focussed his eyes on me. They were level and genuine. I wanted to believe him.

“Just give me this one chance to prove it to you. I won’t come near you. Just let me show you something.” He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out something rectangular shaped – a photograph. He threw it over to me and it fluttered in the air and fell to the floor.

I bent and lifted the photograph, turning it over to its picture side. It was old with dog-eared corners. In the photograph a woman clung on to two boys, one older than the other. I recognised the woman as my grandma. I could see that the older boy was my dad from the familiar eyes. The younger boy could be Matthew, there was some resemblance.

“So you have a photograph,” I said. “It isn’t much evidence.”

Matthew shook his head. “You’re named after our mother. Her middle name was Wilhelmina, after your great-grandmother. When you were born I came to visit and held you in my arms, you were so tiny, born in July, during a heat wave. Anna, your mum, was so protective of you. You should have seen the way she fussed over you. I was eighteen when you were born and you are the only baby I have ever held in my arms.”

I let the table nudge back a bit. “Why don’t I know you? Why did you only visit once?”

“I joined the Resistance,” he replied. “I fought in London for a few years. There was a lot of heat on me. I moved to Area 14 in hiding. Your father came here partly because of me, partly for other reasons.”

“What other reasons? Why has he left?” I asked.

“I can’t tell you,” he said.

My muscles relaxed and I lost my grip on the table. The pans stopped rattling. “Why can’t you tell me?”

Matthew sighed and moved the table away. “In case he fails, Mina. If you don’t know anything then they can’t get it out of you.”

The realisation sunk in and my legs weakened, jellified. I sat back down on a kitchen chair and Angela moved near me to put an arm across my shoulders.

“I’m sorry, I understand how sudden all of this must seem,” Matthew said.

He looked awkward and fidgeted with his clothes. The more I stared at him the more I saw my dad, the square jaw, kind hazel eyes. Matthew was not as bulky as my dad but taller, and his hair was darker.

“In the letter it says that I can’t stay in Area 14. Where am I going to go?” I asked.

Matthew hesitated as though debating whether to tell me something. “To the Clans. In Scotland.”  

“T
he Clans? In
Scotland
? I don’t understand.”

“I’ve heard of them,” Daniel interjected with a nod. “They live outside the Ministry laws.”

“That’s right,” Matthew said. “You must be Daniel. John mentioned you.”

“Get back to the explanation,” I snapped. “This is my life we’re talking about.”

Matthew chuckled. “John said you were stubborn and feisty.” He moved the table to its rightful position and pulled up a chair. Angela and Daniel took seats as well. “Scotland is independent, a little secret that the Ministry keeps from everyone. I wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn’t even heard of Scotland, I bet that bit of history failed to make it into the curriculum.” He rolled his eyes. “The people there live in Clans, a little like the Areas here except that they have their own laws. They live off the land and in small communities, some camping, some in disused army barracks. I’m going to get you there and it is in the Clans that your dad is going to join us.”

“What about us,” Angela blurted out. “The Professor paid for our mum to go into a care home. We have no one.”

“Well, actually,” Matthew said. “John told me to ask you both if you wanted to join us. He didn’t want to see you on your own either and thought you might prefer the life in the Clans.”

Angela’s face brightened. “Really?”

“But you need to be aware,” Matthew warned. “It is
not
going to be an easy ride getting out of here. We’ll be on the run. There may be Enforcers chasing us. Living in the Clans won’t be easy either – it might be hard to fit in. They are suspicious of strangers and you may not be welcomed with open arms.”

“Do they have the Operation?” Angela asked.

Matthew shook his head. “Absolutely not. And people are not arrested for having children. In fact it is encouraged.”

“Then I want to go,” Angela said. She nodded firmly and I could tell by the way her chin was set that she meant it.

“What about your mum?” I asked. “You’ll never be able to visit.”

Angela flinched. “She’s safe now. I have to live my own life.”

“That makes sense,” Matthew said. “You’re a brave young woman, I can see that.” He turned to Daniel. “What about you?”

“I’m not leaving Mina,” he said simply.

I rolled my eyes. “What if I don’t want you to come?”

He looked hurt. “You don’t want me to come?”

“Of course I do,” I admitted. “I was just being––”

The television screen in the next room cut me off. It played a warning message. A town meeting was being called.

*

“We interrupt this programming for news from Area 14,” said the attractive blonde woman on our television screen. “In what can only be described as the worst terrorist attack in recent years the home of good citizen and school-teacher Margaret Murgatroyd has been violated.”

I clapped a hand over my mouth. Daniel looked at me with wide eyes and we shared a moment of sheer terror.

“You didn’t,” Angela mumbled.

“Area 14, due to this attack, the Ministry has decided you
must
attend a town-meeting at 3pm. All Blemished citizens must stay within the allotted zones.”

Matthew turned to us. “What the hell have you done?”

We moved away from the screen and down to the basement to talk. Matthew’s face had tightened and his lips were stretched into a thin line.

“Please tell me you didn’t have anything to do with that attack,” he said directly to me. “Because if you have we are in deep, deep trouble.”

“It was all my fault,” Daniel blurted out. “That
woman
made Mina’s life hell. She bullied and humiliated her. I wanted revenge.”

“I helped,” I said. “We both broke into her house and we spray painted the walls.” I stared down at my feet, realising just how childish it all sounded in the cold light of day. “I’m so sorry.”

“This is an act of terrorism,” he said, pacing the basement. “If we’re lucky they’ll blame it on the Resistance and have done with it. But this woman knows you and knows that you’ve got a big fat grudge against her.”

“What do we do?” I said in a small voice.

“The priority here is that you do not get found out.”

Daniel nodded in agreement.

“What if me handing myself in could save lives?” I said.

“Absolutely not.” Matthew turned to face me. He looked furious and I wished for the ground to swallow me whole. “I promised your dad that I would get you to Scotland in safety and that is what I will do.”

Angela pushed her hand into mine. “Everything is going to be okay.”

Somehow I didn’t feel as though that were true.

“I’m not sure I can get us to the Clans this quickly,” Matthew said pacing the floor. “I had it set up for days from now. We need somewhere to hide.”

“I know somewhere,” I said.

I thought of Sebastian’s promise to me, that if I was ever in trouble he would help. I just hoped that he wouldn’t turn away my family.

“Is it safe?” he asked.

“I think so. There is a farmhouse hidden by woods a few miles out of the town. It’s hidden by a forest and there is no electricity used in the property so the Ministry don’t know that it exists. The people there will help us.”

“How do you know all this?” Daniel asked. “Who lives there?”

I gulped. “Sebastian’s family.”

Daniel looked at me incredulously. “You’re going to trust a GEM?”

“Yes,” I said firmly. “I am.”

“I think we should trust him,” Angela said. “He thinks a lot of Mina and from what she’s told me his family will help.”

Matthew stared at each one of us in turn. He looked like a young man who had just bitten off far more than he could chew and I didn’t blame him. Two of us were fugitives and all of us orphans, at least for the foreseeable future. I couldn’t quite believe that we’d come to this in just a matter of days.

“All right,” he said eventually. “We take clothes and food and make our way there during the town meeting. Now go and pack a bag each. Daniel, you will have to take John’s clothes. All of you take a nap for one hour; you look like you’ve not slept a wink. We meet in the kitchen at 2:50pm.” He sighed. “Let’s just hope this plan works.” He looked straight at me. “What a way to be introduced into the family. Talk about a baptism of fire.”

I failed to meet his eyes as we passed. On my way upstairs I tried not to think of my dad, instead I thought of the future, of starting a new life in a place where I could make my own choices. Angela and Daniel helped me pack and when we were done I curled up with Angela on my bed. Daniel went to sleep in my dad’s room.

“I’m so glad you’re coming with me,” I said to my best friend.

“Thank you for wanting me to come,” she said sleepily. “I don’t want to stay here anyway.” She paused. “Your dad will come back you know.”

“You really think so?”

“He’s not the kind of man who abandons his daughter.”

I drifted into sleep thinking the exact opposite. I awoke to the sound of the door being broken down.

“Mina!” Matthew shouted.

I jumped out of bed, woke Angela and then ran into Dad’s room where Daniel was collecting his things and running out. We all tumbled down the stairs with our backpacks ready. Matthew had barricaded the door with the kitchen table.

“The Enforcers are here to arrest you,” he said, straining against the weight of the table. “Get more things to barricade the door and then down to the basement.”

With shaking hands I helped drag the fridge, all of the kitchen chairs and a cabinet to block the door. It wasn’t enough but it gave us time. My heart pounded. Matthew’s expression remained grim. We left the kitchen for the basement. It wouldn’t hold for long. I doubted if we would make it out alive.