Days Like This Read online

  ‘There is not.’ Alice’s voice was high and wobbly.

  ‘What’s going on here?’ Their father had entered the room in that stealthy way of his. ‘What’s she saying to you, Alice?’ he demanded.

  ‘Nothing,’ Alice sobbed.

  ‘Why is she upset?’ He swung around to face Lily, grabbing her hard on the upper arm.

  ‘She’s done nothing, Dada, honestly, we were just arguing, that’s all. Let her go. She’s… she’s been using the moisturiser in my bathroom, that’s all,’ Alice stammered.

  Pym put his arms around Alice with the same gentleness that Lily and Daniel had once known. Lily looked away.

  When he left, Alice shuffled her chair closer to Lily’s, reaching out tentatively to touch the finger marks on Lily’s arm. ‘Sorry Lilla, I didn’t mean to get you in trouble. I’m sure they love you, too. I know they do.’

  Lily put her arm around her sister’s shoulders.

  ‘They do love you, Lily,’ Alice said quietly. ‘And I know they love Daniel and he’ll come home soon, you’ll see.’

  She turned back to her rivers.

  Lily was at her screen when she heard the familiar sounds of fighting coming from the street. She ran to the window in the bathroom, but was too late. The street was empty. She stayed to watch, hoping whoever it was would return.

  ‘What are you doing? Get down from there at once!’ Pym shouted.

  Her father’s sudden appearance in the doorway startled Lily. She wobbled before jumping down from the edge of the bath. It would be easier if she could lock the bathroom door, but a few days after Daniel had gone her father had come upstairs and removed the lock. It wasn’t right that he had taken away her privacy. And his abrupt arrival now made her suspicious that he’d been spying on her. She peered around the bathroom, but there was no surveillance camera that she could see.

  Lily crossed her arms tightly over her chest and waited, glaring at her father. She thought if she could keep conversation to a minimum, she could avoid an outright fight.

  Lily tried slipping past, but he barred her exit. He wasn’t a particularly big man, but his presence was strangely dominant.

  ‘What are you looking for out there all the time?’ her father said.

  ‘Why do you care?’

  ‘What are you looking for?’ Pym said again. He seemed to have forgotten that he’d already asked that question. Lily had noticed that same inability to concentrate in her mother, too.

  ‘I’m watching the Blacktroopers out there attacking people for no reason,’ she answered.

  ‘Get down. It doesn’t do anyone any good.’

  ‘Where do those kids out there come from?’ Lily said.

  Pym ignored her and turned to go back down the stairs.

  ‘Do they want to sabotage your wonderful life? Are they anti-Committee?’ she shouted.

  That made him pause and turn to look at her, but he wasn’t going to be drawn. His refusal to explain anything was so frustrating. No wonder Daniel had been furious all the time.

  ‘Max will be here tomorrow night for dinner and he wants to say hello, as usual. Dress properly and no talk about Blacktroopers attacking people. Understood?’ Pym said coldly.

  Oh God, not again. Lily took a deep breath. ‘I … do… not… want… to … see … Max!’ She spoke each word clearly. ‘Just because he’s “important”.’

  Pym looked at her and didn’t deny it.

  So Max must be Committee.

  ‘Why aren’t you Committee, Dad? Is there something wrong with you?’ She wanted to stir him.

  ‘Just do as you’re told,’ he said, then turned his back on her and went down the stairs.

  Lily gritted her teeth. Not much longer, she thought. She waited for a minute and then climbed back onto the edge of the bath.

  The image of her father’s face stayed with her. He had looked even more fake than usual. It was like someone had taken an iron and smoothed out his skin to get rid of wrinkles and press his body free of bulges. He was a smooth, flat man. How old was he? Fifty-four, and Megan was a year younger. It was unnatural.

  On an impulse, Lily jumped off the bath and followed her father down the stairs. She was just in time to see the door to her parents’ wing of the house slam shut. She watched the closed door for a while and then walked down the hall passage towards the front of the house.

  Lily stopped at the front door and put the palms of her hands against it. It was made of a solid, gold-coloured wood. Leadlight glass had once filled the top third, but that was now boarded up. When people used to visit, their silhouettes had made shapes on the glass. Lily leaned against the door. It was bizarre to think that there had been a time when air had flowed in and out whenever someone opened this door. Real, outside air. A time when you could smell the beginning and end of the seasons and the promise of rain.

  In the time before the warming had really taken hold, the windows in the house had been made of only single glass rather than the double layers that were in place now. Once, there had been no need for air-conditioning because the old house walls were enough to keep in the cool. During really hot spells, the heat would gradually work it’s way into the corners, filling them up until a cool change came.

  Now change never came. The air inside was always cool and humidity-controlled.

  Despite the heat outside, the lock on the door was cool to Lily’s touch. Lily tightened her grip and turned it. It moved easily. She released the lock and waited. Nothing happened, but maybe that was because she was holding her left arm behind her back to keep the bracelet well away from the opening. She didn’t exactly know what the bracelet would do if she went outside, but she was determined to find out. The outside air descended on her, incredibly hot and alive. Surprisingly, it smelled dusty and Lily rubbed her nose and tried not to sneeze.

  Behind her was the silence of the house, full of stale air hanging between sterile walls. From the open door she could only see the front fence and it’s high gate.

  On each side of the high front gate clipped camellias stood in terracotta pots with seashells embossed on the front. Plants were trained in patterns up the fence. Lily knew the plants only survived because of her family’s water privilege. Lavender bushes and gardenias and roses tumbled together, but even that tumbling looked carefully disciplined. It wasn’t hard to spot her father’s unimaginative hand.

  It was a miracle he’d left the native fig with it’s smooth, cool branches that she used to climb with Daniel. Lily would’ve thought the falling leaves would’ve spoiled the look of Pym’s perfectly manicured garden.

  Lily knew she couldn’t stand in the doorway forever, but still she hesitated. At least I’m not too afraid to admit to being afraid, she thought. She was afraid of her bracelet. She was afraid of how cold her parents were and she was afraid she’d never see Daniel again.

  She moved her left arm cautiously towards the open door. Heat stroked her skin and she wriggled her fingers. She stepped forward. The toes of her shoes touched the edge of the doorstep. With a deep breath, she stepped outside, looking up at the vast blue sky.

  A deafening wailing filled the courtyard. Lily covered her ears, but dropped her hands when she realised the noise was coming from her bracelet. She staggered back, but the screeching followed her and now pain joined the noise. The bracelet was tightening around her wrist. Lily inserted a finger under the plastic to try to stop the tightening. The bracelet bit into the soft pad of her index finger and she had to yank it free.

  How could she stop it cutting off her hand? Already her fingers tingled and her hand was filling up with blood.

  She stumbled backwards inside the house and slammed the door, wrenching at her wrist, tearing at the skin with her nails, trying anything to rip off the bracelet, but it continued to tighten. Lily fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face.

  Pym came down the hallway.

  ‘Do something. Get it off me!’ Lily screamed.

  He didn’t move and now her mother joi
ned him, running lightly down the corridor. Alice followed, her face white. She turned her own bracelet around and around, as if she was worried it would crush her wrist, too. Skin bulged up around Lily’s bracelet and blood began to ooze from her wrist.

  ‘Dada, make it stop!’ Alice shouted. She threw herself down beside Lily and grabbed at her wrist.

  Their father just stood there, watching.

  ‘Pym …’ Their mother put her hand on his arm, the top half of her body leaning towards Lily. ‘Pym,’ Megan said again, more intensely, as if finally she’d found some of the empathy that had gone missing all those years ago. Alice heard it, too.

  ‘Make him take it off, Mumma, make him,’ Alice pleaded.

  Lily could barely breathe; all her senses were focussed on the pain. She curled her body over her hand and cradled her wrist. Blood seeped through her fingers and puddled on the polished floor. Her ears rang and the cries of Alice and her mother faded as if they were retreating down the hall.

  When Lily came around the pain was gone, replaced instead by a dull, throbbing ache. She lay on her side and looked at her bloodied hand. At least the bracelet had loosened, even if it had left an ugly, raw wound around her wrist. Alice was kneeling beside her, trying to dab at the blood with a tissue. Tears streamed down her face and dripped onto Lily.

  ‘He stopped it, Lilla, see, he stopped it.’ Alice gestured towards their father, who was holding a small black remote control. His thumb stroked a tiny keypad. Lily cringed – if he could stop the bracelet from contracting, he could just as easily start it again.

  ‘You disobeyed the rules, Lily,’ he said. ‘You shouldn’t have tried to go outside. You know that’s forbidden and now I hope you’ve learned the consequences of disobedience.’

  ‘But look at her hand,’ Alice cried. ‘How could you do that to her?’

  ‘Quiet, Alice.’ The pain had dried out Lily’s voice. ‘Leave it.’ But why should Alice accept what their parents had done? At least Alice still cared.

  ‘Why’s it so important not to go outside?’ Alice persisted.

  ‘You’re not allowed out there. End of story,’ Pym said. ‘Let this be a lesson to you, Alice. You must never, ever go outside.’ His voice was softer when he spoke to her.

  ‘You can, why can’t we? Did Daniel try and go outside? Is that what happened to him?’ Alice’s tears filled her voice.

  There was a swift intake of breath from Megan.

  ‘Don’t speak about him,’ Pym said sharply.

  Alice wasn’t ready to give up. ‘Why didn’t you warn us properly?’ she said, holding out her own bracelet as if it were a poisonous snake. ‘Why didn’it you tell us it would hurt so badly?’

  ‘You needn’t worry, Alice,’ their father said.

  Alice avoided his eyes and shuffled closer to Lily. ‘Come, Lilla, I’ll clean you up.’ She hunched over Lily, all gawky elbows and knees, trying to protect Lily with her body.

  ‘I’ll do it,’ their mother said. Her face was very pale. She helped Lily to her feet and cradled her hand and for an instant Lily thought the pain was worth it. She leaned her head towards her mother’s shoulder, but Megan tensed up and so Lily moved away again.

  Pym disappeared back into his wing of the house, but not before glowering at Lily and fingering the button on the black remote control in warning. Perhaps Megan would speak now he’d gone. She’d dressed the wound and was carefully cleaning the underside of the bracelet to remove the blood.

  ‘Let me take it off,’ Lily said.

  Megan shook her head. ‘it’s the Committees rules,’ she said softly, as if that explained everything, and with a brief pat to Lily’s injured hand, she walked away.

  Alice slumped against the wall. ‘I can’t believe it,’ she said softly.

  ‘I don’t think you’re in danger,’ Lily said. ‘But I need your help, Alice. Will you help me?’

  Alice nodded without even asking what Lily needed. Lily hugged her, blinking back tears and helping Alice wipe away hers.

  FIVE

  Lily stumbled upstairs, cradling her stinging wrist. On impulse, she went into Daniel’s room instead of her own, closing the door behind her. She’d almost given up on finding clues to help her crack the Committees firewall, but she found it comforting to be around Daniel’s things. She was reeling from what had just happened. Her parents might be cruel and unkind, but they had never before hurt her physically. She couldn’t shake the image of her father watching her, almost enjoying her agony, when he could have easily stopped the bracelet from tightening with the press of a button.

  Lily flopped down on Daniel’s bed, curling herself into a ball around her injured hand. She couldn’t stop the tears that welled and ran into the pillow beneath her cheek. Lily tried to imagine that the pain was flowing out with her tears, seeping into Daniel’s pillow. The thought was soothing and the dull headache that had been with her for days eased a tiny bit.

  She wished Daniel was here. With him gone, it seemed as if her world was closing in more than ever. She thought of the Wall outside that had gone up with no explanation. It was just the beginning of their imprisonment. She could almost feel walls around her when she stretched out her hands. They blocked out what she could know, what she could learn, where she could go, who she could know; her future. Instead of growing, it was like she was enclosed in a room that was getting smaller by the day.

  Breathing deeply, she let her gaze slip around Daniel’s room. Something caught her eye – a tiny white triangle sticking out from behind his computer screen.

  Lily raised herself carefully, wincing at the stab of pain in her head. Tears blurred her vision, but she brushed them away, squinting at the tiny white triangle. She stood unsteadily and twisted Daniel’s screen around. Taped to the back of the monitor was a little folded square of paper, a small corner of which had peeled away.

  Heart hammering, Lily prised the paper away. Written in Daniel’s scrawling writing were a brief set of technical instructions, clearly relating to computer access. Also written in tiny writing were lists of numbers, all of them crossed out except for one.

  The movement had brought Lily’s headache back with a vengeance. It was like someone was thumping a drum inside her head, and yelling at high volume. She retched, squeezing her eyes shut to try and block out even the dim light in Dan’s bedroom. The little square of paper she was holding was exactly what she had been searching for, but she couldn’t do anything about it until her headache eased.

  Lily pushed the paper into her pocket and, holding her head, staggered back to her bedroom, lowering herself onto her bed. When Alice came to check on her, Lily whispered to please leave her alone.

  The headache persisted for almost the entire night. Lily had a new understanding of what Daniel had gone through in the days before he disappeared. She was relieved when she finally felt herself slipping into an exhausted sleep.

  The headache had eased by morning and Lily hurried to Daniel’s room, not wanting to waste any more time. She stared at the scrap of paper covered in her brother’s scrawl. She felt like an idiot for not having found it earlier.

  Lily turned on Dan’s screen and followed his written instructions. At first she couldn’t get past the usual educational software. But when she tried again, working more rapidly, she was able to enter a black screen which threw up a single blinking command query.

  With shaking fingers, she typed in Daniel’s thirteen-digit code. It was only when some kind of directory appeared that Lily acknowledged Daniel truly had found a back door to the Committees central data system. She felt a stab of pride and admiration for his cleverness.

  Lily stared at the directory page, trying to figure out what it meant. A lot of it was incomprehensible technical and scientific jargon. Lily pressed her fingers to her forehead, forcing herself to concentrate.

  She ran the cursor slowly down the index, passing over obscure listings about ‘Fresh commodities’, ‘Centres for Scientific Rejuvenation 1–4’, ‘Geotherma
l Capabilities’, ‘Indicators for the Effective Application of Testosterone, Oestrogen, Pregnenolone, DHEA, Progesterone, Cortisol, Melatonin, Insulin’, ‘Expanded Scientific Formulae’, ‘Enhanced Immune Function, Rapid Wound Healing and Greater Endurance in Subjects’. She banged the desk, frustrated. What the hell did it all mean?

  But then, two thirds of the way down the index, Lily struck gold. She clicked on a heading that linked to an article titled, ‘Case study: Harvesting’ and quickly scanned the first few lines. It was a case study of a seventeen-year-old girl, ‘Subject A103-superior’. From what Lily could gather, the girl had become ‘hormonally lucrative’ and had been ‘donated’ and transferred to CSR-1 for ‘harvesting purposes’. Lily’s head swam.

  Before she could begin deciphering the dense text and scientific symbols that followed, a warning message flashed up on the screen. INTRUDER DETECTED. PROHIBITED ACCESS. The computer shut down abruptly.

  There was no longer any doubt that teenagers were being harvested, though the exact nature and purpose of this harvesting was still unclear. She knew instinctively that Daniel was a victim like the girl in the case study. And Lily realised she’d have to be stupid to think it wasn’t going to happen to her, too.

  Lily stared at the black computer screen, another terrible thought forming. Was it coincidental that Daniel had been taken shortly after he had accessed this restricted information? He hadn’t mentioned seeing a warning message, but their last conversation had been interrupted. The fact was, if the Committee had traced the breach back to Daniel, they would just as easily trace this one back to her.

  Lily knew she would have to leave her parents’ house immediately. There was no way she was going to risk becoming Subject A-whatever like the poor girl with no name in the case study. She left Daniel’s room, closing the door quietly behind her, and went to find Alice.

  ‘How’s your head –’ Alice began, but Lily interrupted her.

  ‘I need your help, Alice,’ she said. ‘Right now. I want you to make smoothies for Pym and Megan. And I want you to put this into the mixture.’ Lily held out a small bottle.