Total pages in book: 210
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 200837 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1004(@200wpm)___ 803(@250wpm)___ 669(@300wpm)
“If I had the power to kill people or save them…” But I don’t finish. I just sigh.
“Well. Your uncertainty has been noted.”
“It’s kind of a tough decision. Kill one to save more? Or save the only one you love?” I’m not looking at her when I say this. “I guess we know where your man stands.”
I expect her to object. Make up some kind of excuse. But she doesn’t. She blows out a breath, flops back on the bed, and stares up at the ceiling. “That’s what I said too.”
“What? That he doesn’t love you? It’s probably for the best. People in love do crazy shit to keep that love. In my experience, anyway.”
“You were in love once and did something crazy?”
“Me? No.” I kinda laugh. “I’m not into it. But I’ve seen lots of men do very stupid things for love. All you gotta do is watch the fuckin’ screens. They’ve got those true crime shows running all the time. There’s a bar I go to”—I nod my head behind me—“down there, just past the ruins, and they play that true-crime shit on the screens all day and night. It’s a terrible idea if you ask me. They should just put a game on like every other fuckin’ bar in town.”
“A screen is…?”
I sigh. Because this has to be an act and I feel like I’m getting played. “A TV, a screen, a television.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You’ve never seen a screen? Your man never took you to the movies and got you popcorn and candy, then kissed you in the dark?” I’m joking, but not really. I am expecting an answer.
“What’s popcorn?”
“Really?” I cock an eyebrow at her. “That’s your answer? What’s popcorn?”
“I’ve never heard of it, I’m sorry.”
“You’ve never eaten corn?”
“No.”
My laugh comes out as a huff. “You’re winding me up, now. It’s corn. It’s in everything. It’s fuckin’ poison, if you ask me. But still, it’s in everything. Every city grows corn.”
She sighs, like she’s tired of this conversation. Or maybe I’m boring her. “I don’t know what to tell you, Tyse. Maybe we have a different name for it, and I would recognize it if I saw it. But I have never heard of corn.”
She’s not lying. If she is, she’s psychopathically good at it. She has either truly never seen or eaten corn or her memory is just fucked. Those are the only two explanations.
Either way, this is bad.
“So, Clara. What do you want to do?”
“I haven’t a clue. I don’t think I’m going home, though.”
“You mentioned friends? Other… Maidens?”
“Yeah. Haryet. But if she were here, wouldn’t she have made a disturbance as well? And if that was the case, she would’ve been in that room with me. Or you’d have been sent to find her instead of me. And you didn’t find her. So she’s not here.”
“Could she, perhaps, be in another room down there?”
“Wouldn’t that have triggered an alarm?”
“Should’ve. But who knows? I sure wouldn’t. That’s the first time I’ve ever been down below the ground floor. I got a call from my friend, Stayn, asking me to check it out. It’s possible that Haryet is the one who triggered the alarm, woke up, wandered away, and then you showed up after she was gone.”
Clara sits up again, her face bright with hope. “Do you really think so?”
“No.”
She smiles. Then chuckles. “Then why did you even say that?”
“Because it’s possible. I just don’t think it happened. But I don’t think you’re from some other version of Tau City, either.”
She stares me straight in the eyes. “You think I’m lying.”
“No. I actually don’t. I think… you got hurt somehow and it’s affected your memory. I think you need to go to the health center and get checked out. I think you should let me take you there.”
She deflates and bows her head, looking down at her fidgeting hands in her lap. Then she sighs and gives in. “OK.”
I nod. “OK. The phone and food should be here soon. Then we’ll go down.” She doesn’t say anything or look up. “If you’re too tired to walk back up tonight, I’ll piggyback ya.”
This makes her scoff. “I don’t think that’ll be an issue.” Then, slowly, she raises her eyes to meet mine. “I’m not coming back up here.”
“Why not?”
She just exhales again—this one sounding even more tired and defeated than the last—and then crawls up the bed, turning her back to me.
She doesn’t say anything else and about ten minutes later, I know why. She’s sleeping.
I think about what she said, about not coming back up here. She’s probably right. She’s not gonna have to worry about that ten-story hike up the stairwell because in all likelihood, I’m gonna take her to the health center, hand her over to the Tau City doctors, and they are going to label her as mentally ill.