Chapter nine

Silence had ensued on us as we sat there, arm over shoulders, neither looking at the other. It was him that spoke first.

“There was three doors in his room, did you see? Each had a number. One. Three. Two. I was numbered after the doors in my mother’s room. One. Three. Two. She always told me it was numbered that way because that was what my father liked; he never liked the norm. Yet it was his idea.”

“What was his idea?” I knew it was a small thing to say after what he had revealed, but I knew not what else to say.

“There’s a camera over there, in the corner, always the left, never the right. He’s blind in his left eye, doesn’t trust the right of anything. It takes less than half a second for them to see it, 3 minutes for them to call him, five minutes for them to deliberate. That’s 8 minutes. It will take another 30 seconds for them to get here. That gives 8 and a half minutes.” He looked at the clock hanging on the wall. “It’s been seven.”

“What’s going to happen?” His words struck me with confusion, but a gleam of understanding.

“You can’t be trusted, not anywhere anymore. I’m sorry.”

But I didn’t care about myself. “What about you?”

“I’m a child, they can change my mind.” He glanced at the clock and I followed his gaze; eight minutes.

I hurried my speech. “Don’t let them do that, no matter what, don’t let them change your mind. You’re the only hope there is.”

“There’s no hope for anyone. You can’t save a place which has nowhere to go.”

And as they rushed through the doors, I realised what Backland was; it was an experiment.

I didn’t see the person that grabbed me, just felt their hands entwine around my arms. With forced I pushed back, allowing my whole body to fall with my weight. We went down together. I was up in a moment, eyeing the room with a vicious gaze. There were too many people. But I didn’t get a chance to consider that before another person grabbed me. I let my elbow slide back, aiming for where I hoped their ribs were. I hit air. More hands, slipping around my arms, around me. I struggled, flailed, kicked. Even if I had gotten away I don’t know where I would have gone.

I gave up.