Out There (8 page)

Throwing my bag on the ground, I ran up to my room and slammed the door shut behind me. I sat on the floor with my back against the wall and the leaflet in my hands. I was so close that I was beginning to feel faint.

So close to
what
though, I was still unsure. Something inside me was just screaming that I had figured it out. Figured
what
out, again I wasn't really sure. I partly thought that I had exaggerated the whole thing in my mind. Most people would probably have thought,
an unregistered leaflet, so what?
But, from my experience at the archives, I knew they never made mistakes. Our entire city never made mistakes. So when my inextinguishable curiosity, about anything and everything, was paired with an anomaly, which one would rarely encounter, I was a moth to the flame.

Taking in a deep breath, I slowly flipped the thin cover to reveal the first page. For a moment I didn't quite know what it was. There were several pictures with bios next to them all scattered around the three or four pages. As I flipped through, it suddenly dawned on me that maybe this leaflet was part of the book Lexi had given me and it had just fallen out when I was reading it.

I sighed and leant my head back against the wall. So much anticipation and worrying for nothing. I let out an exasperated laugh and threw the leaflet across the room. What I was unaware of was that paper couldn't move very far, so it just lifted up into the air and sailed back down again.

I stared at it. It almost felt as though it was mocking me, drifting through the air like that…

Or what if it was helping me, as strange as it seemed?

I suddenly remembered how I found it earlier in the archives. It just gracefully sailed off the shelf like a dream. But that made me remember how I found it the day before. It was held between those two books which, had they not been there, would have made the leaflet fall right out. So it must have been separate from the book Lexi gave me.

Hope rushed through my veins and I grabbed the leaflet off the ground and opened it again. I read a few of the bios. Some were of men and some were of women. The title at the top read:
The top twenty people that had the most positive effect on our planet
.

It was the most unusual thing I had ever seen: a leaflet about people that
helped
the world, with an equal representation from each gender. The most surprising part was that the authors were women, so it had to be genuine as everyone knew women were always true, even pre-Movement.

The sheer fact that women had written about the goodness in men was enough to make me feel dizzy. As I read it became clear that, if these records were correct, these people had actually done some important things. Like developing cures for deadly diseases, or saving lives, or creating movements against oppression, or working to save the planet from dying.

They never taught anyone anything like this before and I was stunned. The old joke was that the best thing men ever did for the planet was go extinct. I knew for certain that if what it said in the leaflet was true, which I was sure it was, then it had to be shared. It would have been a crime to hide away information from the community like that. Our Oath said that we would be honest and fair and true, so I felt it my duty to inform someone of my discovery.

The whole thing sounded crazy:
men doing good?
But as crazy as it was I decided to tell Mother about it and see if it was something worth sharing with the rest of the community. There were advantages to being the daughter of the Leader.

So, as soon as my mother walked through the door after work, I was all ready and waiting to tell her about everything I had found.

I was sitting on the sofa that faced the front door when she walked in.

Mother jumped when she saw me. “Ava what on earth are you doing up so late?”

I sprang off the sofa and rushed over to talk to her. “I wanted to ask you about something.”

“Could you give me one second, darling? It's been a long day.” She walked into the living room and put her bag down.

“Oh sure. How was work?”

“Fine, tiring. We had a lot to cover today.” She took her coat off and put it in the closet.

“Like what?” I sat on the sofa where I was before.

“Ava, you know I can't tell you that.”

“Really? But you could tell me before.”

“Well, as Leader I cannot disclose any information to you before I do so to the whole community. You know that.” She took a seat next to me on the sofa.

“Yeah, but why can't you just say what it was you were working on?”

“I guess I could tell you that. I just don't want to say too much by accident. It would be unfair. And I did promise the entire community a few nights ago that I would always be fair.”

“I'll stop you if you say too much, promise.”

She laughed lightly and put her hand on my knee. “Oh Ava, I have missed you.”

“You didn't answer my question,” I said teasingly.

“We were discussing the Repopulation Phase.”

My eyes lit up. “Now I really want to know more.”

“See, I told you it would be harder than if I just didn't say anything.”

“But, Mother… please? For me?”

“You'll find out soon enough. What was it you wanted to talk to me about before?”

I remembered. “Oh, yeah. So I was at the archives today and I found this.” I held out the leaflet.

She stared at me in shock. “Did you take this? You could have just told me there was something you wanted to show me and I would have gone to the archives with you.”

“First of all, you would never have had time. And secondly,

yes I took it only because it wasn't registered.”

She blinked several times. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I'm sure.”

“But that's impossible.”

“That's what I thought too, but then I read it. And I was completely shocked at what it said.”

“What did it say?” She had a puzzled expression on her face. “Well, it's called
the top twenty people that had the most positive effect on our planet
and it's about these men and women who did good things for their communities. And it's pre-Movement.”

She just stared at me in shock, so I continued, “I know it's crazy and hard to believe, but it has some really amazing stuff in it and I was just so impressed. But I thought I should probably ask you what you thought about it first before I start assuming things.”

Her face was tight and she said sharply, “Ava, I thought you knew that men often lied about themselves to seem better than they were. Haven't you ever seen artefacts about men boasting achievements that we all know they would never have had the character to achieve?”

“Well yes, but this one is different.”

“How so?” Mother stood and walked over to the fireplace. “It's written by women.”

She turned with wide eyes. Slowly she turned back and pushed some of the buttons on the fireplace and it came on in full blaze.

“Ava, I need to tell you something.” She walked over and sat next to me. “Now I know you have always been taught that men are the root of all evil. But the truth is, they were more than that.”

I stared at her in awe, transfixed by what she would say next.

“Men were not only evil, they were also manipulative.”

Some wisp of hope in me vanished.

“So much so that they had ways to get into people's heads and make them believe things that weren't true. Most women were in fact so mystified by the lies of men that they didn't even know what was happening to them. So, when the world was crashing down around them, they finally realised that they had been tricked all those years and they took action. And that is why we are so fortunate to be here today. Do you understand?”

“Not really.”

“This leaflet,” she said, snatching it out of my hands, “was a mistake. We don't like to give you children artefacts like this because it confuses you.”

“How would it confuse me?”

“Don't you see? Men were so manipulative that for a moment you believed their lies, and you were only reading about it. These women that wrote this did it while under man's spell.”

“But I don't get why you don't keep artefacts like these.”

“Because even though it is something from pre-Movement, and we try to preserve everything we can, sometimes it is too hard for you to understand.”

“Understand what?”

“Oh Ava, it's pretty pointless for me to try explaining this to you. But those of us that have lived through the times of men know their deceitfulness. Your mind is young and impressionable and the last thing we want is for you to get the wrong idea about men. They were all evil, it's as simple as that.”

She stood up and walked back over to the fireplace, the little blue cover poking out of her hand.

“Mother, was my father evil?”

She whipped around. “Excuse me?”

“I know that everyone had a father because there was no other way to create children back then, but does that mean that even though you needed him to make me, he's evil too?”

Mother's eyes blazed stronger than the fire burning behind her, then they froze over like ice. “Your father was merely a necessity to get you, because a child is the most precious thing anyone can have. But, apart from that, he was pure evil, just like the rest of them.”

She glanced at the leaflet in her hand then, with a flick of her wrist, threw it into the fire.

“Goodnight, Ava.”

And as she walked away, I watched any hope of gaining a deeper understanding burn into nothing.

Chapter Four

Ava, Later That Night

“Katelyn, wake up.”

“Five more minutes.”

I shook her shoulder harder. “Kay it's me.”

“Ava?”

“Yes,” I whispered, “wake up girl.”

She rolled over in her bed to face me. “What on earth are you doing in here?”

“I had an idea.”

Katelyn groaned and buried her head under her blanket.

I yanked it off her and said gleefully, “It's a great idea.”

“I'm sure it is, but can't it wait for later? Like when the sun is actually shining later?” She reached out for the blanket.

“No, not really.”

She sat up and yawned. “What it is?”

“OK, so I was up tonight and I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about our discussion at the café earlier and how things were so different before because of Sylvia Carter, blah blah, and it gave me an idea.”

“Wait, how did you even get in here?” She looked around trying to figure it out.

“I climbed through the window, but that's beside the point.” “Fine, let's hear your mastermind idea that couldn't have waited until the morning.”

“If we want to know what's outside the Bubble then there's only one way to find out…”

“I don't see how this is related to our conversation at the café, but go on.”

“We have to go outside!” I exclaimed, jumping slightly.

“Outside what?”

“The Bubble!”

“Are you crazy?”

“No! I'm totally serious.”

“Maybe you didn't really wake me up, maybe this is all a dream.”

“Katelyn, it's not funny, I mean it.”

“What, you just want the two of us to waltz outside of the Bubble into the unknown because you're a little curious?”

“Well, not just the two of us, I thought Lexi, Jade and Bri might want to come too.”

“You really are crazy. Who is going to want to go outside of the Bubble? Especially at this time of night.”

“You?”

She snatched the blanket out of my hands. “I'm going to sleep.”

“No!” I grabbed it back. “Please Katelyn, for me? Haven't you ever wondered what's out there?”

“How would we even
get
outside the Bubble? Have you thought of that?”

“Don't worry, I've got it all covered.”

She stared at me for what felt like forever. I chewed my lip and waited for her to say something.

“Fine. But only because I have to make sure you don't do anything stupid.”

I threw my arms around her tiny body. “Kay, you're the best.”

“Uhuh, let's just go.”

Soon she was changed and we were sneaking out of her window back on to the street. When we got there, Bri was huddled up in her thin jacket waiting for us.

“Wait, you already convinced Bri?” Katelyn said as she saw her.

“Well, did you expect me to get you then go back for her when she lives next door?”

Bri gave a little wave and said, “Hey Katelyn.”

“Hey,” Katelyn said and waved back. “So remind me again Bri, why are we friends with the crazy lady?”

I gave Katelyn a light shove. “Listen, when my idea works you'll all be eating your words.”

“And when it doesn't work, you'll be getting your own cake.” She linked arms with Bri. “Come on, let's go get the others.”