ã€ŠChildren of Edenã€‹


 FEAR

    FEAR

    The apple test was one of the various tests we were administered as small children. When we were five we were seated at a table by ourselves and had a bowl of four apples placed before us. The test was administered by a member of the Education Committee, who told us to imagine three other children sitting around the table with us and to decide what we wanted to do with our apples. After we¡¯d made our decision about what we wanted to do with our apples we were told that one of the children at the table hadn¡¯t eaten for a day and were asked to make a new decision about what we wanted to do with our apples. After that we were told that one of the children at the table had grabbed all of the apples for themselves and we were asked to say what we intended to do about it. There were other tests as well, tests that when we were older we realized were intended to evaluate certain elements of our personalities: selfishness, compassion, aggression, laziness, intelligence, leadership, inventiveness, curiosity, sociability, perceptiveness, sagacity; the list was extensive.

    At the age of seven we still had no way of knowing the depth of seriousness behind the tests to which we had been subjected. This didn¡¯t mean that the strangeness of them had not succeeded in piquing our interest. For Kevin what was behind the tests that we were being administered was a subject of insatiable fascination. He had to know what the reason was for those tests, and formulated a plan for acquiring the answers he was desperate to know. He befriended a boy named Tom, who, at four years old, would soon be beginning his testing. Kevin thought that he had developed a good enough understanding about what the Education Committee was using the tests to determine and planned to use Tom to test his theory. He told him that for the apple test he should first take all the apples for himself, then refuse to share any of them with the child that hadn¡¯t eaten for a day and then to fight the child that grabbed all of the apples to get them back. Not knowing if the boy had followed through with what Kevin had told him to do we couldn¡¯t be sure that his sudden death¡ªsaid to have been from an aggressive infection he¡¯d contracted¡ªwas related to his answers on his tests being the antithesis of what the Education Committee was looking for. There were no such doubts for Kevin. He was unshakeable in his conviction that the boy had been killed, and that he¡¯d been killed because he¡¯d failed all of his tests.

    The incident with Tom changed Kevin in ways from which he would never recover. The guilt, fear and paranoia that the incident instilled in him dictated his every thought and action. He became odd. He had conspiracy theories about everything; about whether there really were sharks that would eat you if you swam beyond the end of the sea cliffs, about whether there really were bears and wolves the size of houses in the forest on the other side of Guardian Mountain, about whether there had really been a nuclear world war that had wiped out most of humanity and turned the world into a barren wasteland where chaos reigned.

    There were five of us in our group: Kevin, Miranda, Lisa, Darren, and me, Hannah. Our friendship was the product of the close working relationships that our parents shared, for example my mother was a member of the Education Committee and Miranda¡¯s father was the Head Librarian. Believing that it was essential to his survival Kevin had learned to exercise the utmost discretion with his suspicions; we four were the only ones Kevin trusted with his conspiracy theories and we took our responsibility as the repositories for them very seriously. The secrecy that being trusted by him required of us made our strong bonds of friendship even stronger. When we started school an effort was made by the school to widen our social circles. In class our teachers placed us in groups with children from different groups to encourage new friendships. This method took time to produce results; during lunch breaks and after school we¡¯d all regroup in our original cliques and spend our time telling each other about the children with whom we¡¯d been thrown together. Almost all of the other children responded to the program positively by making new friends and breaking away from their close knit circles. The five of us were different. The closeness of our group was such that no amount of contact with any new children could make us break away from our group or admit any new members into it.

    Of the four of us I was the one that Kevin trusted the most. The two of us had a special bond that neither of us had with any of the other members of the group. I was the only one who knew about Kevin¡¯s involvement in the incident with Tom. About a week after Tom¡¯s death he came to me shaking and incoherent, refusing to say anything unless he was absolutely certain there was no possibility of us being overheard. The only place he said he would feel safe was the beach. We walked there along the river that flowed from the lake to the ocean. He didn¡¯t say a word while we were walking and kept scanning our surroundings to see if we were being watched or followed. I didn¡¯t know what to make of Kevin during this period when he was living in constant fear of things only he believed were real. Before I¡¯d learned how to deal with him Kevin scared me a lot with the things he would say, mostly because they made him sound like a crazy person but also because a part of me thought it was possible that he wasn¡¯t just being paranoid. The more he talked about the things he was afraid of the less irrational he sounded.

    ¡°People have been coming by our house every day.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not unusual; everybody¡¯s very social with each other.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t understand, people are coming to our house as many as three or four times a day.¡±

    ¡°Kevin, that¡¯s not unusual.¡±

    ¡°They either ask me to leave or they make sure I stay. That means they want me gone so they can talk with my parents about me or they want me to stay so they can observe me.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re seeing things that aren¡¯t there; you need to stop this paranoia business of yours.¡±

    ¡°Your mother¡¯s visited more than anybody else.¡±

    ¡°My mother?¡±

    ¡°She was also the last council representative to visit Tom¡¯s house, it was about a week before he died; I was watching his house.¡±

    ¡°What does this have to do with anything?¡±

    ¡°Your mother saw me, when she was visiting him. I was watching his house from behind a bank and some of the ground gave way under me; she turned toward the noise and saw me. I think they did something to Tom, and I think they want to do the same thing to me.¡±

    For years Kevin would say things like this that made us question his mental stability. Fortunately by the time we realized that he wasn¡¯t crazy, that Prospera was a far more dangerous place than anybody knew, nothing had happened to him yet. We were able to call on him for guidance and advice on how to navigate the situations we found ourselves in that were increasingly fraught with peril as the truth about Prospera revealed itself to us.

    PROSPERA

    Year 142

    When we were twelve years old

    Hannah

    Prospera is a village located between the ocean and Guardian Mountain, a mountain so high it appeared to touch the sky. On the other side of Guardian Mountain was Eternal Forest, which we were told was so named because when viewed from the top of Guardian Mountain it stretched as far as the eye could see. Growing up we were told that nobody who went into the forest ever came back alive because of the giant bears and wolves that lived there. In school we were shown pictures that illustrated their ferocious teeth and claws and their size compared to us humans. These pictures along with descriptions of how their noses were able to easily pick up the scent of humans were enough to stop all of us from so much as entertaining the thought of going into the forest. Well, almost all of us. Kevin didn¡¯t believe this story or any of the other stories we were told about what was beyond Prospera. What frightened him was what was within Prospera.

    I was too busy to spend as much time speculating as to what about what we were told was true and what wasn¡¯t. When I was twelve I was told that I had been selected to become a member of the Ethics Committee when I was twenty and had finished my schooling. To be selected to be a member of the Ethics Committee was a rare and tremendous honour. Prospera was governed by a collection of committees that oversaw every aspect of village life. There was the Ethics Committee, the Education Committee, the Committee on Public Health, the Committee on Harmonious Community Co-Habitation, the Food Committee and the Committee on Water, Energy and Infrastructure. The purview of the Ethics Committee was to oversee the rules of conduct of the village and the villagers¡¯ adherence to those rules. It was their job to pay close attention to everything that happened in the village and to decide if it was in the village¡¯s best interests to respond to something by enforcing the rules in such a way as to stop it or to change the rules to accommodate it; consequently the work of the Ethics Committee has a direct impact on almost every other committee and on almost every aspect of life in Prospera, making it the most powerful committee of them all. The members of the Ethics Committee were a diverse mix of ages, though most of them were either middle aged or old. To be selected to be member of the Ethics Committee meant being identified as one of the finest people in the whole village, someone with exceptional intelligence, maturity and ability. I was honoured to have been chosen and so were my parents.

    My mother was especially proud of me and was determined to ensure that I remained on track for the appointment. As one of the senior members of the Education Committee and a village prefect¡ªsomeone with the vested authority to inspect and advise on all village matters¡ªshe understood completely the challenge that lay ahead of me to continue to prove that I was deserving of the place for which I had been selected and had been tasked with the responsibility of overseeing my education. Every week she brought home books from the library for me to read and admonished me not to allow anybody to see them and not to tell anybody about what was in them. Her stern countenance and tone of voice when she said this to me were scary enough to me as a twelve year old to obey her without protest. I suspected that the books my mother brought home with her from the library were the much whispered about ¡®Dark Books¡¯, volumes that only the highest ranking officials in Prospera were permitted to access.

    We¡¯d only learned a small amount about the world beyond Prospera during our schooling, most of it concerning the many wars humanity had waged with particular emphasis on the nuclear world war over a hundred years ago that had driven the founders of Prospera to create a safe place far away from the madness of the rest of the world. The primary focus of our education was to equip us with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to be perfect Prospera citizens. The books from which my mother taught me contained information that went far beyond the tales of war, disease, famine, hunger and slavery that were taught to all of the school children. At times the knowledge threatened to overwhelm me; it was staggering to be learning about people like Abraham Lincoln and the things they¡¯d done which, had I not been chosen to serve on the Ethics Committee, I never would have known about. Whenever I reacted emotionally to the knowledge that I was being entrusted with my mother would have to calm me down and remind me of the importance of not allowing anybody to learn that I knew things they didn¡¯t, that they never would.

    ¡°Mom, isn¡¯t this wrong? There¡¯s so much here that¡¯s being kept from everybody.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what was decided, it¡¯s not our place to question it.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s not wrong.¡±

    ¡°Hannah, you have been chosen to be a future member of the Ethics Committee because it is believed that you can handle the burden of knowing what the others don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Who decided that? What about me led them to make that decision? How do they know that the others can¡¯t handle this knowledge if they¡¯ve never exposed them to it?¡±

    ¡°HANNAH! You need to stop this! You are not to breathe a word of this to anybody, and you cannot draw any attention to yourself by acting any differently as a result of what you¡¯ve learnt, understand?¡± She asked me in the dead serious tone of voice she always used when she talked to me about the need for me to maintain secrecy.

    ¡°I understand.¡±

    ¡°Now, what was the primary reason for Napoleon¡¯s defeat?¡±

    ¡°He underestimated the difficulty he¡¯d have in conquering Russia; his hubris and ambition was his undoing.¡±

    ¡°As it was for many others throughout history; you¡¯ll notice we don¡¯t encourage those personality traits here.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t personality traits natural? What happens to those that are born with traits that you don¡¯t want to encourage?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s a lesson for when you¡¯re older.¡±

    Like Kevin had done after learning of Tom¡¯s death for which he held himself responsible, I had to learn how to keep my feelings to myself and not give anybody any reason to suspect that there was anything about me that had changed. This proved especially challenging for me when I was with my friends, in particular Kevin, who I was not at all comfortable with deceiving. In the five years since the incident with Tom, the special bond that Kevin and I shared had become even stronger. We were closer to each other than we were to anybody else, and at the sensitive age of twelve there was the blossoming of an undeniable attraction between us that neither of us had the courage to talk about; our friendship meant too much to us for us to jeopardize it by needlessly complicating things, and there was also the fact that courtships between children under the age of eighteen were against the rules. According to Freud, human sexuality, when not handled with the appropriate maturity, was a dangerous and potentially destructive thing, hence the decision by the Ethics Committee not to allow courtships under the age of eighteen. Had Kevin and I acted on our feelings and been discovered there was no telling what the consequences would be for us.

    Midway through the school year we were assigned our optimal careers based on the aptitudes we¡¯d displayed during our six years of school and were separated into different educational courses depending on the careers that had been selected for us. To compensate for the small number of people in the village and the amount of work that went into maintaining the standards of the village it was often the case that children were assigned more than one career. Darren had been told that he was going to be a writer and a teacher; I was going to continue being mentored by my mother; Miranda would be studying only music because of her prodigious talent on the violin and Lisa¡¯s excellence in science made studying to become a doctor the logical choice for her. Kevin, much to all of our surprise, was to be apprenticed as a carpenter and stable hand. Surprise at this decision was not confined to our group of five, it was universal. Kevin was one of the smartest children; everybody knew that and was expecting him to be selected for one of the more important careers. I wasn¡¯t just surprised by the decision, I was outraged. My mother was one of the senior members of the Education Committee; in all likelihood she had played a major role in the decision to banish Kevin to the stables. The second I got home from school I angrily questioned her about it and found myself once again on the receiving end of a peremptory caution.

    ¡°If he was sent to work in the stables it¡¯s because that¡¯s the best place for him.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not true; he¡¯s smarter than all of us, he should have been selected for one of the careers we were selected for.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not all about intelligence, other personality factors are taken into account as well.¡±

    ¡°Like what? What is Kevin lacking that makes him so unsuitable for anything important?¡±

    ¡°All of the jobs in the village are important, and as to why Kevin was selected for the careers for which he¡¯s been selected, I can¡¯t share that with you, not yet.¡±

    ¡°Why not? Kevin has just been cruelly stripped of any opportunity to be anything meaningful for the rest of his life and you¡¯re telling me you can¡¯t tell me why! What are you keeping from me?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t tell you Hannah, please stop this, you have no idea of what the repercussions would be were that information to get out or if you keep asking these questions without any discretion.¡±

    ¡°Mom, just tell me¡­¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s going to the stables; that¡¯s the end of it! It could¡¯ve been a lot worse, that¡¯s all I¡¯ll tell you.¡±

    Following Kevin¡¯s assignment to the stables I saw him a lot less. The details of the schedule that he¡¯d been put on were that he would spend the morning with us at school then go to the wood shop for two hours then to the stables for another two hours. I saw him in the mornings at school and didn¡¯t see him again until the next morning at school. I could only think that despite our best efforts to keep Kevin¡¯s paranoia and distrust a secret there were members of the governing authorities that knew about that side of him and decided that it was in the best interests of the village for him not to be in a position of any influence. I spent increasing amounts of time thinking about what Kevin had repeatedly said to me over the years about truths being kept from us. I walked through the village feeling distrustful of those around me, observing them with the same suspicion as Kevin. We became closer after he was sent to work in the wood shop and the stables even though we were spending a fraction of the time together than we used to. It confirmed a lot of what he¡¯d been saying for years about the governing authorities having secret agendas upon which they based all of their decisions. I stopped thinking he was crazy and with my mother refusing to answer any of my questions he became the only person I felt I could trust. I also felt sorry for him. Jobs like working in the stables and as a carpenter were given to those who didn¡¯t have the talent or the intelligence to pursue anything artistic or intellectual. Kevin had intelligence in abundance and should have been assigned a career that would have allowed him to play an important role in shaping Prospera¡¯s future.

    If one of the goals of sending Kevin to work in the stables was to keep us apart, it failed. Every once in a while I¡¯d go to see him and we¡¯d steal a couple of horses and go for a ride down to the beach, all the way to where Guardian Mountain stretched out into the ocean, which we referred to as the sea cliffs. We were as far away from the village as you could get and felt a sense of privacy and safety there that we couldn¡¯t feel anywhere else. Kevin didn¡¯t appear to be angry or despondent about being assigned to work in the stables. He was completely sanguine about it, as if there was nothing at all unusual about it. His behaviour didn¡¯t make any sense; the career for which he¡¯d been chosen was well beneath his capabilities and should have made him more paranoid and disillusioned. I couldn¡¯t understand why he wasn¡¯t.

    ¡°Are you really okay with being a carpenter and a stable worker?¡± I asked him shortly after we¡¯d dismounted and tethered our horses to a tree.

    ¡°It¡¯s nothing I wasn¡¯t expecting, with all of my suspicions and distrustfulness I was never going to be put in a position that allowed me to have any influence.¡±

    ¡°But the stables are so beneath you.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say that Hannah; we live in an egalitarian society, remember?¡± He said sarcastically.

    ¡°How can it be egalitarian if you¡¯ve been treated so unfairly?¡±

    ¡°It probably could have been worse.¡±

    ¡°My mother said the same thing, that it could¡¯ve been worse.¡±

    ¡°She knows a lot more about what goes on around here than we do, so we should trust that she¡¯s telling the truth.¡±

    ¡°What do you think she meant by ¡®It could have been worse¡¯?¡±

    ¡°I think what she meant was that I could¡¯ve been put on a fishing crew.¡±

    ¡°Why would that have been worse?¡±

    ¡°Remember not that long ago there was that fishing boat that returned from sea with one less crew member, they said that he fell overboard and then got eaten by a shark?¡±

    ¡°You think they did something to him, like Tom?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m saying working in the stables is not the worst thing.¡±

    Only then did I fully understand the fear that Kevin had been living in since the death of Tom five years ago. He was terrified that there would come a time when it was decided that it was too dangerous to allow him to continue to be a citizen of Prospera and should that day come he would be powerless to do anything about it. His fate was not in his own hands, it was in the hands of people with enough power to arbitrarily dictate the trajectory of the life of anybody in the village. He¡¯d spent years feeling out of place and struggling to determine if he had a place in Prospera and ultimately realized that he didn¡¯t have one and that there was every possibility he was going to pay the price for that. He¡¯d accepted that and had since let go of much of his fear and paranoia.

    ¡°Last week I came down here late at night and went for a swim; I swam all the way past the cliffs and spent about an hour just floating, waiting for a shark to attack me.¡±

    ¡°Why in the world would you do that?! You could¡¯ve been killed!¡±

    ¡°Nothing happened; the sharks they warned us about were just another lie, it¡¯s probably the same with the bears and the wolves that they told us live in the forest, which is why next week, when the moon is full, I¡¯m planning on swimming around the sea cliffs and going into the woods.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s insane! What you¡¯re talking about doing is far too dangerous; you mustn¡¯t go through with it!¡±

    ¡°I need to know the truth Hannah; if I¡¯m to suffer the same fate as Tom I at least want to have known the truth.¡±

    That day at the beach was the first time I¡¯d seen what a free person looked like. Kevin sat next to me on the beach looking out at the ocean with a look of blatant defiance on his face. The warnings about bears and sharks and wolves that we¡¯d been given meant nothing to him, all that mattered to him was obtaining the truth behind what we as Prospera citizens had been brought up to believe.

    I wasn¡¯t too young to understand that what I felt for Kevin was love. His rebelliousness, the originality of it, drew me to him ineluctably. I wished I had his freedom, his willingness to question what was blindly accepted as truth. I didn¡¯t know how I would cope with suddenly losing him to a mysterious illness or some freak accident; the fact that such an event could occur at any moment made my love for him all the more profound and excruciating.

    Miranda

    I was being pushed to the limit of what I was capable of enduring. Mr Parker, the orchestra director and conductor, was making us practice seven hours a day non-stop, all because Julie, the orchestra¡¯s first chair violinist who I was chosen to fill in for at the last minute, fell and broke her arm. He could have at least changed the program to something like Bach and Mozart; instead he¡¯d stubbornly chosen to stick with Bruch and Dvorak, two of my least favourite composers. It was all I could do to get through rehearsals without breaking my violin across my knee. I hated Bruch and Dvorak that much and Mr Parker¡¯s insistence that we start again from the top every time I made even the slightest mistake was driving me crazy.

    Hannah, Darren and Lisa were all that was standing between me and a complete meltdown; without their friendship I wasn¡¯t sure if I would have lasted as long as I did, that and me constantly reminding myself that things could have been worse for me, like they were for Kevin, who¡¯d been sent to work in the stables. I¡¯d never had the kind of relationship with Kevin that Hannah and Darren had; honestly I found all of his paranoid ramblings about conspiracies and secrets to be annoying and a little unsettling. He sounded crazy when he talked about that stuff, enough for me to question if it was safe for us to be spending so much time with him. But Hannah liked him and couldn¡¯t imagine him not being a part of her life and Darren with his curiosity and roaming mind enjoyed engaging Kevin in discussions about the extent of what was being kept from us and how much influence our lives were under unbeknownst to us, leaving Lisa and I with no choice but to endure him.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Just recently Hannah had told us about Kevin¡¯s plan to swim around Guardian Mountain and explore Eternal Forest late at night. This was after she¡¯d told us about how he¡¯d gone swimming beyond the sea cliffs in the shark infested waters. How stupid! And Hannah had sounded proud of him when she¡¯d told us about it! He was going to get her into trouble the same way he¡¯d gotten himself into trouble and gotten himself sent to the stables. From the way she was talking when she was telling us about Kevin¡¯s idiotic plan it was clear to us that she was intrigued by the idea and was thinking of going with him. Hannah and Kevin were dangerous together because she was just like him. She was every bit as curious as Kevin was about the real workings of Prospera only she didn¡¯t have the same heedlessness that he did to seek out the answers. They had a co-dependant relationship: Kevin relied on Hannah for trustworthy companionship and Hannah relied on Kevin as a resource for uncovering truths about Prospera. Lisa had made this observation about them. She was the smartest one in our group of five; Hannah¡¯s constant assertions that it was actually Kevin were nonsense. Lisa was also the most beautiful girl in the village, at least I thought so. When I was with her it took all I had to stop myself giving away my feelings. There was no evidence of anybody in Prospera being attracted to a member of the same gender, as such I couldn¡¯t be sure what the reaction would be were my feelings to become public knowledge. To be on the safe side I decided to keep my feelings concealed. We all knew that what had happened to Kevin with his career placement was no accident, it was the product of him sticking his nose too many times into places it had no business being. I contented myself with Lisa¡¯s friendship and made sure not to do anything when we were together that would arouse anybody¡¯s suspicions.

    There was one person who did have suspicions about me and my feelings for Lisa. When we were all together Kevin looked at me and Lisa with eyes that could see more than I wanted them to see. The good thing was that there was nothing malicious or judgmental in them. That was the one thing I did like about Kevin; his disdain for the rules meant that you needn¡¯t fear him reporting anything you said or did to the governing authorities. In that regard I understood Hannah¡¯s absolute and unwavering trust in him, but I wasn¡¯t about to trust him to the extent that I agreed to go along with his outrageous plan to explore Eternal Forest.

    After a few days of displaying perceptible interest in the idea Hannah had decided that she was going to go with him. To my great shock Lisa told me when we were walking home from one of my rehearsals that she¡¯d decided to go with them too.

    ¡°Why are you going with them?¡±

    ¡°Every time Kevin does something like go swimming in the ocean beyond the cliffs the more convinced I become that he¡¯s right about us being lied to about everything.¡±

    ¡°Since when are you so interested in Kevin¡¯s paranoid theories?¡±

    ¡°How can I not be interested? He¡¯s always being proven right; there are things happening here that are being kept from us.¡±

    ¡°And why do you care about that?¡±

    ¡°If you don¡¯t believe him then why are you so scared?¡±

    ¡°Did you ever consider that what¡¯s being kept from us is being kept from us for a reason?¡±

    ¡°If we¡¯re being asked to give our lives to Prospera, doing everything they tell us to do, don¡¯t we deserve to know what those reasons are?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re going no matter what, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯m coming with,¡± I said, my words devoid of conviction, ¡°how does Darren feel about this?¡±

    ¡°He knows, but he¡¯ll never come; he¡¯s an even bigger coward than you are.¡±

    ¡°Why are you talking like this? Calling me a coward, talking about wanting to know what¡¯s being kept from us; I¡¯ve never heard you talk like this before.¡±

    ¡°I guess I¡¯m just excited, this is my first time doing something like this.¡±

    ¡°When are we going?¡±

    ¡°Two nights from now; the full moon will give us plenty of light to help us move through the forest.¡±

    Waiting those two days for the night to come when we¡¯d be heading into the forest, I questioned why it was that I was the only one of us who wasn¡¯t preoccupied with thoughts about what was being kept from us. Most likely it was because I thought Prospera was all but perfect and that part of what made it so was that there were things we weren¡¯t made aware of. My love of music was ignited when I was a small child and my parents took me to the open air auditorium on the banks of the lake to listen to the orchestra playing a full evening of Mozart. That evening everybody was dressed in their black with white trim formal robes. The concert didn¡¯t start until the sun had gone down, at which point the lanterns that were on the either end of each aisle and in front of and behind the orchestra were lit and the orchestra performed Mozart¡¯s Sinfonia Concertante. Behind the orchestra, while the orchestra was performing, lanterns on lily pads floated on the surface of the lake, and the stars above us were shining more brightly than I¡¯ve ever seen since. Everything about that evening was magnificent, from the music to the ambient lighting provided by the lanterns to the brilliance of the night sky; any place that could evoke the feelings I had that night was a place that I felt people should be thankful to be citizens of. Everybody in Prospera felt the same way I did. They went about their lives as doctors, carpenters, writers, musicians and bureaucrats without any concern for what went on behind the closed doors of the offices of the committee members. Were my friends wrong to be so concerned or were I and the rest of Prospera wrong to not be concerned? I was the least smart one in the group and wondered if that was the difference, if my lack of curiosity was the result of my intellectual inadequacy.

    Whenever I felt down on myself like this it was usually Lisa to whom I turned for comforting. This time I went to Darren, the only one I hadn¡¯t talked to yet about this insane plan of Kevin¡¯s. Finding him wasn¡¯t difficult. When looking for Darren the library was always the first place everyone looked, on the second floor in the reading area. Darren wasn¡¯t the easiest person to talk to. His absorption in his writing made him an aloof and often frustrating person to talk to. Were it not for the four of us making an active effort to include him he would have been completely isolated. I in particular had difficulty communicating with Darren. Due to my intense focus on my music I wasn¡¯t as well read as the others and often found myself unable to follow a conversation they¡¯d be having. Ordinarily I tried to avoid being alone with Darren; the awkwardness between us when we were alone could at times be suffocating. On this occasion I had no choice, he was the only one left whose opinion on Kevin¡¯s plan I was yet to hear. I found him, as always, sitting in a chair on the second floor and reading, that afternoon it was Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Darren hated it when his reading was disturbed and he never made any effort to hide it. That day was different; he was keen to hear all about what Kevin was planning.

    ¡°I can understand their curiosity. I myself have felt similarly, what¡¯s missing from me is the motivation to act on my feelings, they obviously don¡¯t have that problem,¡± he said when I asked him what he thought of the plan.

    ¡°So you don¡¯t think it¡¯s crazy?¡±

    ¡°I think it¡¯s understandable but I also think they¡¯re being excessively reckless; who knows what¡¯s out there?¡±

    ¡°Exactly! Can¡¯t you talk to them, make them see that?¡±

    ¡°People will make their own decisions from which it¡¯s unlikely they can be dissuaded.¡±

    ¡°Why did I come to you? You¡¯re never any help.¡±

    ¡°The only reason you¡¯d come to me to talk about anything is if I¡¯m the only person left you haven¡¯t talked to, which means Lisa and Hannah have decided to go with Kevin and you¡¯re torn over whether to go with them.¡±

    ¡°Why did you say that their decision to explore the forest is understandable?¡±

    ¡°Look out there,¡± he said to me, gesturing with his head toward one of the large floor to ceiling windows. The library was situated on one of the higher plateaus at the base of Guardian Mountain. From the window I was looking out of you could see nearly all of Prospera, ¡°what you see is all we¡¯ll ever know, Prospera is going to be our home until we die; it¡¯s only natural that there would be individuals for whom that is not enough.¡±

    ¡°Are you one of those individuals who wonder about the world beyond Prospera?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but I have no intention of leaving to discover it. It¡¯s peaceful here, and I¡¯m free to spend all of my time reading and writing.¡±

    ¡°The others talk as if we have no freedom, as if our lives are constantly at the mercy of others.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re right about that, but understanding Prospera requires an understanding of the concept of freedom in its entirety.¡±

    ¡°So who¡¯s right? Our friends or the governing authorities?¡±

    ¡°They both are, but my inclination is to trust the governing authorities.¡±

    ¡°What should I do then?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s as I said, you have to make your own decision based on your feelings; it¡¯s the only way you can be confident that you¡¯re making the right decision.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m leaving here feeling the same way I did when I came.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to go?¡±

    ¡°I think so. If they get into trouble I¡¯d like to at least know that I was in a position to help them.¡±

    ¡°Good luck then.¡±

    I realized, after I¡¯d left the library and was walking home to my residential area that I had almost nothing in common with the other four members of our group. They were all erudite, curious, and, barring Darren, fearless. I was none of those things, I was utterly content and fearful of what would happen to us were we to cross into terrain we¡¯d been consistently warned to avoid. Do I belong with them? I wondered as I made my way home, becoming so absorbed in the question that I almost failed to notice Hannah¡¯s mother, Diane, approaching from the opposite direction. With their thick red sashes that they wore around their chests and shoulders the prefects of Prospera were impossible to miss. I had always been very fond of Hannah¡¯s mother; she was encouraging about my music and was highly knowledgeable about music herself; whenever I visited Hannah at her house Diane and I enjoyed long conversations about our favourite pieces and composers and the performances of the Prospera Orchestra. I wasn¡¯t in the right frame of mind to have a conversation with Diane; if we spoke for too long she would know that something wasn¡¯t right.

    ¡°Miranda,¡± she called to me, shaking me free from my thoughts.

    ¡°Oh, Mrs Weston, hi,¡± I responded distractedly.

    ¡°How are your rehearsals going? We¡¯re all looking forward to your big debut.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re going okay.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good to hear; Dvorak¡¯s Violin Concerto is one of my favourite pieces so I¡¯m especially looking forward to your performance.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Something¡¯s bothering you; is it the concert? Because if it is you shouldn¡¯t let it bother you; you¡¯re one of the most talented violinists I¡¯ve ever seen, you¡¯ll be just fine.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, Mrs Weston.¡±

    ¡°Okay, you just keep working hard and remember that nobody¡¯s going to pillory you if you make a few mistakes, so just relax.¡±

    With those final words of reassurance she continued on her way and left me to further contemplate my friends¡¯ opinions of Prospera. It made no sense to me that anybody would entertain such dark thoughts about Prospera when everybody was as wonderful as Diane. Not wishing to suffer any more mental anguish I put all thoughts of Kevin and his ridiculous plan out of my mind and continued on home, where I resumed my preparations for the concert.

    Lisa

    The only way to get to the forest was the ocean, to swim around the sea cliffs and enter the forest from the beach on the other side. We weren¡¯t going to have much time to explore the forest; we¡¯d had to leave late and would have to return before sunrise to avoid detection. Once we were safely away from the residential areas we moved with great haste. Kevin, Hannah and I moved forward confidently and purposefully while Miranda¡¯s fear and reluctance held her back and slowed us down. Twice she asked us if we were sure we were doing the right thing, to which Kevin responded that if she wasn¡¯t sure she should stay behind. Having a slim window of only a few hours in which to operate, Miranda¡¯s reservations were costing us time of which we could afford to lose little. I didn¡¯t understand why she¡¯d chosen to come and wished that she had changed her mind and gone back.

    All the preparations for our trip had been taken care of by Kevin. He brought two lanterns for us to use in case the moonlight wasn¡¯t enough, a machete for clearing brush, towels for us to dry off with when we returned to the Prospera side of the sea cliffs and had instructed all of us to bring along a dry change of clothes to change into when we returned that we left behind in some bushes before we swam out into the ocean. Part of me could see why Hannah was so drawn to Kevin. He was rebellious, unafraid, smart and reliable. I was impressed with him that night, with his organisation and leadership. He was like a rock you could hold onto knowing fully that it would remain solidly in place. I swam out into the sub-zero water behind him under the bright full moon without any fear of the sharks we¡¯d been told were twenty times our size or even of what would happen to us should we be caught.

    The ocean that night was calm, making it easier for us to swim. Even with the gentle tide it was still a hard swim, the sea cliffs stretched out far into the ocean and we were forced to take a rest when we reached their endpoint. The cliffs being so craggy there were places for us to slip our fingers into and hold onto while we caught our breath. The swim to the beach on the other side was less taxing and took less time due to us swimming with the tide and not against it. After reaching the shore Hannah, Miranda and I needed a break to replenish ourselves. While we were doing so Kevin lit the two lanterns with the machete and a piece of flint and got ready to go into the forest.

    I still don¡¯t know what we were expecting to find that night. We followed Kevin as he cleared a path through the forest not sure of where we were going or what we were looking for exactly. As disappointed as we were by the lack of discovery it was still a thrill to be breaking the rules in such an extreme way; we walked forward feeling a quiet sense of exhilaration despite not coming across anything out of the ordinary. After walking for what felt like half an hour without encountering anything our enthusiasm for continuing started to decline and we started entertaining thoughts about turning around and returning to Prospera. Shortly thereafter, Kevin saw something.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± He said, looking far in the distance to his right.

    We all halted behind him, and focused our vision in the direction in which he was looking. Not far away from us was a strange stretch of darkness, completely obscuring our view of anything beyond it.

    ¡°Are we going to check it out?¡± Hannah asked, her tone of voice devoid of any sense of fear.

    ¡°You all wait here,¡± Kevin said before slowly making his way forward, holding his lantern outstretched before him and his machete above him, poised to strike.

    Miranda stood a short distance behind Hannah and I, completely terrified, and I must confess that so was I. Only at that moment did it dawn on me what an insane idea this whole excursion was and how stupid we were for going along with it. Hannah, standing next to me, was clearly not feeling the same way Miranda and I were. She watched Kevin walking away from us with an expression of absolute confidence in him on her face. I found it staggering that Hannah¡¯s faith in Kevin could be so unwavering that she would wait for him to return from unknown territory with absolute certainty that he would. Even after he went beyond the darkness and we couldn¡¯t see the light from his lantern anymore, Hannah remained calm and patient, her confidence in Kevin¡¯s eventual return unshakable. Her faith in him proved not to be misplaced. Kevin soon emerged from behind the darkness and signalled to us with his lantern to join him. We did, and discovered something beyond extraordinary.

    The barrier of darkness that Kevin had seen was the outer walls of a house. Kevin led us into a large courtyard in which we were surrounded on three sides by houses that were all deserted and clearly had been for a very long time. The wooden walls were rotten, the doors and windows were broken with vegetation growing out of them; one house had a tree growing through the roof. The strangeness of what we were looking at was bone-chilling, the thoughts and feelings it evoked were too overwhelming for us to make sense of. We remained frozen in place, looking around us in disbelief.

    As you might expect, Kevin and Hannah responded to our discovery of this ghost town very differently than the way Miranda and I did. They were fascinated by what was around us and after quickly overcoming their paralysis they wasted no time exploring the area. They inspected both the insides and the outsides of the houses, studying them thoroughly. Kevin even left us to check if there were any other groupings of houses like the one we were standing in the middle of.

    ¡°There are more over here,¡± he yelled excitedly when he found some.

    The rest of us ran over to him and there found another set of houses in the same state of extreme disrepair. It was utterly surreal what we¡¯d come across; several minutes had passed since we¡¯d made the initial discovery and I was still too disconcerted to say anything.

    ¡°What do you think happened to the people here?¡± Hannah asked Kevin, who was examining everything more closely than she was.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but if I were to guess I¡¯d say Prospera had something to do with them not being here anymore.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say that!¡± Miranda said to him.

    In all of my confusion I hadn¡¯t given any thought to how all of this must be affecting Miranda. I turned to look at her and saw that she was deeply shaken by what was around us and went over to her to provide her with comfort.

    ¡°Whoever these people were they definitely had some sort of connection to Prospera, given that they were so close. But look at these houses; they¡¯re nothing at all like the houses in Prospera. In Prospera the houses are two levels high with the lower level constructed of stone and the top level of Spruce. These houses are only one level high and the wood that was used to build them is of a much lower quality than what we use in Prospera,¡± Kevin said, knocking on the wall of one of the houses to make his point, ¡°And look over there, the trees in that part of land that we crossed to get here are a lot lower than the others in the forest. I think that land was cleared, probably for farming purposes, which means that whoever was here had plans to stay.¡±

    I listened to what Kevin was saying and was impressed that he was able to deduce so much in such a short space of time from so little. But what he had deduced only left me with more questions, and with a greater sense of fear of what would happen to us should we be discovered.

    ¡°Do you think the people here were all killed?¡± Hannah asked, amazingly calmly.

    ¡°Why do you two always have to jump to the worst possible conclusions about Prospera? The people here might have been saved from their lowly living conditions and brought to live with us in the village, maybe some of us are their descendents,¡± Miranda said.

    ¡°Not likely, a disruption that big would have been recorded in the village¡¯s history. They didn¡¯t want us to know about this place, which means that whatever happened here wasn¡¯t good,¡± Kevin responded, an explanation that I agreed with.

    ¡°Stop talking!¡± Miranda shouted at him. I quickly lifted up my hand and placed it over her mouth to stop her from making any more noise.

    My arms around her, I could feel the trembling of her body. This was a lot more than Miranda could handle. It wasn¡¯t in her nature to be dubious of Prospera. She wouldn¡¯t be able to withstand remaining here very much longer; for the sake of her psychological stability we had to leave.

    ¡°Hey guys, I think we should go,¡± I said to Hannah and Kevin, who were immersed in their exploration.

    ¡°Why? There could be more of these, and maybe even some other interesting stuff,¡± Hannah responded. She was enjoying herself too much to entertain thoughts of leaving.

    ¡°That¡¯s true, but if Kevin¡¯s right and people in Prospera are worried about others finding out what¡¯s here it¡¯s reasonable to assume that they¡¯re monitoring these locations somehow to ensure that nobody takes news of the existence of everything that¡¯s here back with them to Prospera, in which case the longer we stay and the further we explore the more likely it is that we¡¯re going to get caught,¡± I said to her.

    Hannah looked at me with an expression of irritation, clearly not satisfied with the reason I¡¯d proffered for wanting to leave. Kevin looked at me and understood that what I was really worried about was Miranda and that I wanted us to leave for her sake.

    ¡°She¡¯s right, the longer we stay here the more dangerous it is for us. We should leave,¡± Kevin said peremptorily, not allowing for any further debate on the issue.

    We turned around and began walking back the way we came, Hannah making no secret of her frustration with the decision that Kevin had made. I¡¯d always thought of Kevin as being so consumed by his distrust of Prospera that he didn¡¯t concern himself very much with thoughts about us; agreeing to leave upon seeing the state that Miranda was in changed my opinion of him. From the position of the moon in the sky we were able to tell that we hadn¡¯t spent nearly as much time in the forest as we¡¯d planned. It didn¡¯t matter though, not to me at least. We¡¯d learned more than we¡¯d hoped to learn when we¡¯d decided to do this and were returning to Prospera, all of us, as irreversibly changed individuals. After years of listening to Kevin¡¯s psychotic ramblings we¡¯d all come face to face with the irrefutable proof of what Kevin had been saying for most of his life. There were lies in Prospera, and from what we¡¯d seen they were big lies. When we returned to Prospera it would be with the knowledge that we couldn¡¯t take anything in the village at face value.

    My biggest concern was the lasting effect this was going to have on Miranda. She had been deeply shaken by the events of the night and I doubted her ability to recover from them. Our whole lives we¡¯d been told that as citizens of Prospera we would never need fear anything or any person. We couldn¡¯t go on believing that and for someone like Miranda that was disturbing. She needed to feel that she was in a place where she was safe, that she was surrounded by people she could trust. What happened as we were making our way out of the forest destroyed any chance there was of her feeling that way about Prospera ever again.

    ¡°What was that?¡± Kevin asked, stopping in his tracks and turning around.

    ¡°What was what?¡± Hannah asked, perplexed.

    Being so focused on comforting Miranda I hadn¡¯t heard anything either, and Miranda was in no frame of mind to have picked up on any subtle noises either.

    ¡°There was a rustling, it was faint but I definitely heard it.¡±

    ¡°Maybe it was just the wind, or an animal,¡± Hannah said.

    Her suggestion was quickly followed by a second rustling sound, one which we all heard.

    ¡°That was not the wind. Blow out the lanterns, we don¡¯t want them seeing our faces, and RUN!¡± Kevin said.

    With only the moonlight illuminating our path forward we ran like our lives depended on it, which it was entirely possible they did. The sound of the ocean was our guide out of the forest. We followed behind Kevin who charted a course for us free from impediments. Per his instructions when we got to the beach we threw the lanterns far into the ocean and wasted no time getting into the water and commencing the swim back. Depleted from our run through the forest and the swim earlier we were forced to once again grab hold of the cliffs at their turning point and catch our breaths before undertaking the second half of the swim back to Prospera. Being stationary for the first time since Kevin had said ¡®RUN!¡¯, Hannah took it as an opportunity to find out why he¡¯d done so.

    ¡°What did you see?¡± She asked him, her breathing heavy from the run, the swim and the freezing water we were in.

    ¡°Something darted from behind one tree to another.¡±

    ¡°Was it human?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, it moved too fast, but from the shape of the silhouette I saw I¡¯d say yes.¡±

    ¡°So those areas were being monitored,¡± I said, shocked to learn that what I¡¯d said to get us to leave for Miranda¡¯s sake was actually true, ¡°Do you think they saw us?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. They were far away and they were behind us so there¡¯s a good chance they didn¡¯t get a good enough look at us. But we did turn around when we heard that first rustling and we were holding the lanterns, so maybe they did.¡±

    ¡°Oh my God, we¡¯re in trouble! We¡¯re in so much trouble!¡±

    ¡°Miranda, calm down. Kevin¡¯s probably right; it¡¯s highly likely they didn¡¯t see us given how far away they were, if it even was a person,¡± I said to her, hoping to calm her down so that her anxiety didn¡¯t cause any trouble for us when we got back.

    ¡°But what if we were seen? What¡¯s going to happen to us?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re just going to have to wait and see, since we don¡¯t have any choice but to return to Prospera,¡± Kevin said calmly.

    ¡°This is all your fault, you and your crazy suspicions, if it weren¡¯t for you we wouldn¡¯t be in danger.¡±

    ¡°As we all just saw they were more than suspicions, and nobody forced you to come with us, you said you wanted to,¡± Hannah snapped at Miranda.

    Hannah¡¯s reprimand was enough to silence Miranda for the remainder of our journey back to Prospera. We completed our swim to the shore, changed out of our wet clothes, dried ourselves and changed into our dry clothes without any of us saying a word to each other. Kevin changed separately behind the bushes where we¡¯d all left our dry clothes. The anxiety among the three of us was palpable. Hannah tried to hide hers but I could see it; as much as she wanted to be like Kevin she wasn¡¯t.

    ¡°Be careful on your way home, be very quiet and keep an eye out for anybody that might be watching you; if in the coming days you feel that something is off you need to talk to one of us about it so that we can deal with it,¡± Kevin said to us when we were all changed and ready to leave.

    We agreed and walked along the beach in silence until we reached the edge of the corn fields through which we¡¯d walked when we were leaving Prospera. Unlike earlier that night when we¡¯d all walked together, on our way back home we split up in different directions due to us living in different residential areas. Because we lived in the same residential area Miranda and I walked home together.

    Having gone through such a terrifying experience in the forest we made our way home greatly aware of the possibility that we were being watched the way we were possibly being watched in the forest. Miranda¡¯s distress, having been forced by Hannah to keep it contained, had increased to an unmanageably high level ever since she¡¯d been silenced by her at the cliffs. When we were safely on our own deep inside the corn fields she released everything she¡¯d been holding in and with no one else around it fell to me to help her through the enormity of her outpouring.

    ¡°I¡¯m scared, Lisa. I think we¡¯re in trouble, I think something¡¯s going to happen to us like what Kevin says about that boy that died when we were younger or the other one that didn¡¯t come back on the fishing boat; I don¡¯t want to die,¡± she cried into my shoulder as I held her against me.

    Miranda had every right to be scared. We had seen things we were never meant to see, things that pointed to an episode in Prospera¡¯s history that was never meant to be uncovered. If it was a person that Kevin had seen in the forest and if they had seen our faces we were definitely going to have some form of action taken against us, the question was what the nature of that action would be. Could we place our faith in Prospera being a place of compassion? Or should we be as concerned as Kevin was about the mysterious deaths in the village? This was what I was thinking as I was comforting Miranda, because I was worried too. The four of us were on our own in a village of five thousand people, all of whom we were going to need to be on constant guard against with only each other to turn to, as Miranda had turned to me that night in the corn field.

 FEAR part 2

    Darren

    Things were certainly different after the night the four of them decided to explore Eternal Forest. The change in them was remarkable; each was different in their own unique way. Hannah had become a great deal more introverted, Miranda was a wreck, Lisa had taken it upon herself to help Miranda through her distress and Kevin withdrew himself from us completely. The day after they¡¯d returned they asked me to meet them at the beach and told me all about what they¡¯d gone through. It was a fascinating story; imagining what it must have been like to be there I understood why they had all been so affected by the experience and why they were reacting to it in such different ways. Kevin was coming to terms with being proven right having been dismissed as crazy by everyone but Hannah for so many years; Hannah was struggling with deciding whether to continue believing in Prospera or not; Miranda had had her whole world shattered and Lisa was the only one not so absorbed in her own thoughts that she was able to recognize how desperately Miranda needed help and was giving it to her as a way of dealing with her own feelings.

    I wondered how I would have felt had I been there, if I would have been able to digest the knowledge of a ghost town existing just outside Prospera without it affecting me as much as it had my friends. I too had doubts and suspicions about Prospera, which¡ªapart from what I¡¯d shared with Miranda when she came to see me in the library and with Kevin whenever we talked¡ªI¡¯d never shared with anyone. Prospera was clearly more than a haven that was established to be a safe refuge from the nuclear war that had left the rest of the world in ruin. There were things at play here that went beyond the objective of creating a safe place for people to live. Prospera had a definite set of mechanics to it that were designed for the continued achievement of some very specific goals. There were those who knew what those mechanics and goals were; undoubtedly the members of the Ethics Committee were some of those people, as well as certain members of the Education Committee. I was certain that the knowledge we were taught was carefully selected and taught to us in a way that ensured the achievement of those goals. I respected Kevin for his refusal to accept Prospera as it appeared and I admired his dogged pursuit for answers. I didn¡¯t have his courage, and even though it was possible his curiosity would lead to him facing serious consequences someday I still wished I was more like him, because I knew that I would go on for the rest of my days questioning Prospera without ever seeking out the answers.

    Due to Miranda being unable to perform in the concert because of her inability to get her nerves under control the concert of Bruch and Dvorak that had been scheduled for that Friday night had to be cancelled, which set in motion a series of events that were truly bizarre. Kevin was informed that he was being removed from the stables and would be spending more time at school with extra lessons added on to compensate for the time he¡¯d spent working in the stables. Lisa was assigned to work after school in the village clinic as an assistant and Hannah¡¯s workload was increased. They were all also given extra duties to perform in the village in the evenings. Lisa was to assist with the lighting of the lanterns throughout the village, Kevin would help with the transportation of firewood to the various pick-up points in all four of the residential areas, and Hannah would be working with her mother in the library. Miranda wasn¡¯t given any additional tasks, and was told to spend as much time at home as she needed to recuperate. It was obvious that the objective of these changes was to keep them too occupied to spend much time together and that since I was the only one not placed on a revised schedule this was all related to the night they went into the forest. The four of them weren¡¯t the only ones who had their schedules amended. Around twenty five other students were issued revised schedules, a clear attempt to conceal the fact that my friends were being targeted. We weren¡¯t fooled by this move, and in the few hours a week that we were able to meet we discussed all that was happening and all of us¡ªbar Miranda¡ªunderstood that we were being kept apart.

    ¡°They know about us, they know what we were doing that night; it¡¯s the only explanation,¡± Lisa said one evening when we all took a walk to the beach.

    ¡°Maybe that¡¯s not the case; you three aren¡¯t the only ones that have been given extra responsibilities; you¡¯re reading too much into this,¡± Miranda said, looking to prevent another discussion about the secret workings of Prospera.

    ¡°We¡¯re not reading too much into this,¡± Hannah responded, not interested in sparing Miranda from any further anxiety, ¡°We are definitely the reason for this; the question is given what we know why haven¡¯t they taken stronger action against us?¡±

    ¡°My guess is that it¡¯s because of you,¡± Kevin said to her.

    ¡°Me? Why me?¡±

    ¡°Your grandfather¡¯s the head of the Ethics Committee, he¡¯s getting older, you¡¯ve been selected to be a future member of the Ethics Committee; you¡¯re probably going to take over the position someday, making you too valuable for them to take strong action against.¡±

    ¡°You think the plan is for me to take over as the head of the Ethics Committee someday?¡±

    ¡°The head of the Ethics Committee before your grandfather was your great grandfather; I¡¯d say the chances of you being given the position in the future are quite high.¡±

    ¡°That kind of nepotism is not what Prospera is about, absolute equality is the core founding principle of Prospera.¡±

    ¡°If Kevin is right about this then it means that Hannah¡¯s family is probably the most responsible for the establishment of Prospera,¡± I said.

    ¡°Good thing we¡¯re all friends with her, she may have unknowingly saved all of our lives,¡± Lisa said dryly.

    ¡°Do you know what this means Hannah? It means that one day you¡¯re going to know all of the secrets of this place, and it¡¯s going to be up to you to decide what to do with them,¡± Kevin said to her, causing Hannah to realize for the first time the seriousness of the position for which she had been selected.

    ¡°What if that¡¯s too much responsibility for me? What if I make the wrong decision and do a lot of damage?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sure part of the reason they picked you is because they were confident you would make the right decisions,¡± Kevin said, looking to reassure her.

    ¡°But you just said that the only reason they picked me is because I¡¯m the committee head¡¯s granddaughter.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say that was the only reason. The position is far too important for them to assign it solely on those grounds.¡±

    ¡°Going back to what Lisa said, it begs the question of what would have happened to us were it not for our connection to Hannah, and is it right that we¡¯ve been spared from a worse fate because of her?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we have been spared, not yet anyway. It could be they¡¯ve decided to observe and evaluate us for a while before they make their final decision about us,¡± Kevin responded.

    ¡°Who¡¯s ¡®they¡¯? Would you guys listen to yourselves? You sound crazy! You have your schedules changed and you start talking about people wanting to kill us and Hannah becoming the most important person in the village. You¡¯re reading too much into this one small thing! Why can¡¯t you just leave things alone?!¡± Miranda said hysterically, bringing an end to our conversation.

    Seeing what the trip to the forest had done to Miranda¡¯s mental state we had all developed tremendous sympathy for her, none of us more so than Lisa. Whenever Miranda had one of her outbursts Lisa was quick to go to her and comfort her and calm her, as she did then. The strain they were all under was becoming increasingly apparent, not just their psychological strain but also the physical strain they were under from performing all of the additional duties they had been assigned. I felt terrible for my friends and what they were going through and for them having to keep all that they were feeling to themselves when they were around others in the village so as not to be the recipients of any unwanted attention. How many others like them were there in the village? People walking around with doubts and fears that they were forced to repress out of fear of the repercussions they might face from one of the committees. Just what was beneath the surface of Prospera that was so dangerous that the committees were justified in their utilization of secret methods to keep it contained beneath the surface?

    The methods employed for performing functions in Prospera were all quite simple: horses and bicycles were used for transport, horses and rudimentary tools were used for agriculture and pigeons delivered messages for people. It was what went unseen that one had to struggle to make sense of. The ultimate goal, I believed, was to prevent Prospera from spiralling into the chaos that had driven the people of the outside world to destroy themselves with nuclear weapons. To accomplish that goal a complicated set of constraints had been designed which were rigorously enforced. It was in that system that we were asked to place our faith, to believe in the promise that as citizens of Prospera we would never be the victims of such senseless mass violence. For people like Miranda that promise was enough for them to wholeheartedly embrace Prospera and ensconce themselves in the guaranteed safety and sense of belonging that Prospera bestowed upon its citizens. What did that mean for people like Lisa, Hannah, Kevin and I? Did we not belong in Prospera? Was there no place for us here? If so, then what were we to do? Where were we to go?

    Our futures in Prospera were unclear. Not possessing the same level of belief and trust in Prospera as others our places here were anything but certain. We were outsiders in a village established to protect people from the outside. We couldn¡¯t lay claim to the same sense of guaranteed safety that those who had absolute faith in Prospera could. What did it say about Prospera that as twelve year olds we were living in fear of being the victims of grave consequences for the crime of being too inquisitive? And how was it possible for us to be the citizens Prospera wanted us to be when we were having these thoughts? Was it inevitable that we would have action taken against us by the governing authorities?

    I knew that I wasn¡¯t the only one having these thoughts. Looking around at my friends I could see that they were all struggling with the same emotions that Miranda was incapable of containing, and with no one to turn to but each other it was imperative that we continued to develop our skills at hiding our emotions, for all we knew our survival depended on it.

    The children at 14 years of age

    Hannah

    All of the teenagers in the village were required to participate in the collection of the resources that our village depended upon. The point of this exercise was for us to develop an appreciation for the work that went into providing people with everything that they needed. I was going to be picking the cotton that was used to make most of the fabric that we used in Prospera, Lisa would be working in the orchards picking fruit; Miranda would be helping to collect flowers from the flower fields that were given to people to brighten up their homes and Darren was going to be milking cows. We were all worried about Kevin. He was going to be going out on a fishing boat. Our fear was that it wouldn¡¯t be long before Kevin went out to sea one day and didn¡¯t return.

    Following the changes to our schedules that occurred subsequent to our excursion into the forest Kevin had been removed from the stables and returned to school full time, an intriguing decision by the Education Committee. They may have thought that they¡¯d acted too hastily in expelling him to the stables and had aroused too much suspicion with their decision. They also could have decided that it was foolish of them to waste his intelligence by having him work in the stables and that in was in the best interests of Prospera for them to find a way to integrate him into the important functions of the village. Or maybe they just wanted him to be in a place where they¡¯d be able to easily keep an eye on him.

    The past two years had seen us having to adapt to great change in our lives. Not only were we still dealing with the fallout from our excursion into the forest, we were also forced to cope with a much heavier workload as we had reached an age at which we were to start developing a sense of independence in preparation for us taking on a wide range of important responsibilities when we turned twenty. During this time my relationship with my mother had undergone a transformation. No longer feeling that I could trust her I was communicating with her much less. This state of affairs between us wasn¡¯t easy to live with, as the preparations for my future position on the Ethics Committee were growing more serious. The books I was reading were increasingly challenging; the ideas and philosophies they contained within them that I had to give my opinion on left me feeling uneasy. One book in particular, 1984 by George Orwell, depicted a society in which people are constantly being watched and made to believe the world they live in is radically different from reality through a consistent campaign of misinformation. I was asked to write two essays about the book, one about what I thought of ¡°The Party¡¯s¡± motives and actions and one about the citizens of Airstrip One and what ¡°The Party¡¯s¡± method of governance meant for them. I realized, not far into the book, that I was reading it because of the parallels that existed between it and Prospera. But what was I to say about these parallels? Was I expected to defend the necessity of some of those commonalities that I¡¯d perceived or express discomfort with them and denounce them? Unsure of what side I was supposed to come down on I wrote essays that were critical of some aspects of Orwell¡¯s Big Brother state and approving of some others. Only there was nothing about the mechanics of the Big Brother state that I was comfortable with. The people had no freedom and lived lives of poverty, ignorance and suffering. The one area where there were no commonalities between Prospera and Airstrip One was that unlike Airstrip One, Prospera was thriving and had been for generations, giving rise to the question of whether the problem was the ideas they shared or the implementation of those ideas.

    The day that my mother and I sat down for my first lesson after we¡¯d been informed of my selection for a future position on the Ethics Committee she told me that the decisions I would face as a member of the committee would be extremely difficult decisions that I would have to resolve by weighing my own internal conflicts against the much larger picture of Prospera as a whole, its future and that of its people. None of it was going to be easy, just as it hadn¡¯t been easy for me to think about the parallels between Airstrip One and Prospera.

    My mother didn¡¯t comment on the essays that I¡¯d written, which came as no surprise to me. I understood that my uncoerced thoughts were being evaluated as indicators of the suitability of my personality to the job of being a member of the Ethics Committee. The silence between my mother and me in all other areas of our lives wasn¡¯t only the product of her loss of my trust. She had also been maintaining something of a distance from me, beginning not long after the night we¡¯d gone into the forest. With everything that had happened since that night it was impossible for us to go on believing that nobody knew about what we¡¯d done. We were all operating on the likely assumption that we hadn¡¯t gone undiscovered that night, which made us feel perpetually afraid and paranoid. If the governing authorities disapproved of what we¡¯d done as an intolerably subversive act why hadn¡¯t they acted yet? Apart from the change in our schedules and Kevin¡¯s return to life as a student there¡¯d been no actions taken by any of the committees that were sufficiently out of the ordinary to arouse suspicion. There was my mother¡¯s coldness toward me which, though I strongly suspected was because she knew we¡¯d gone into the forest, I couldn¡¯t definitively say was the reason for it. Nevertheless, that my mother would adopt a different approach with me because she knew something that concerned me that she wouldn¡¯t share with me only made me trust her that much less.

    We were all happy to have Kevin back in school with us full time. His ability to notice things that the rest of us might miss made his presence reassuring, and I liked being able to talk with him without having to go all the way to the stables to do so. Since realizing that what I felt for Kevin was love his physical proximity came to mean a great deal more to me, as challenging as it was for me to be around him without revealing my feelings. The consequences if you were caught being romantically involved with someone before the age of eighteen was an appearance before the Committee on Harmonious Community Co-habitation, a group of senior Prospera officials whose identities were kept secret by the piece of white fabric that covered their faces and the written notes with which they communicated that prevented their voices from being heard. None of us knew what punishments they¡¯d handed down previously for the offence and without any punishment guidelines putting yourself in a position to be on the receiving end of one was something we all avoided. For a brief period I toyed with the idea of using the protected status that Darren had suggested I might have to get away with seeing Kevin before the age when we were allowed to see each other. Such a show of disregard for the rules, I realized instantly, would not be tolerated. Then there was the additional complication of not knowing if Kevin felt the same way about me as I did about him. Nothing about his behaviour toward me suggested that he did, but then you could say the same about my behaviour toward him. I doubted that this was due to him working to keep his feelings from manifesting in any form that could draw unwanted attention to him. It wasn¡¯t Kevin¡¯s style to regulate his behaviour to appease our superiors, certainly not when something as big as giving expression to profound feelings he had was involved. Could he have changed without me knowing it? He¡¯d spoken of being okay with working in the stables and enjoying the peace of it, the sincerity of such statements I never believed. With his intelligence he must have been grateful to be back in school and might have decided against doing anything that might jeopardize the place to which he had been returned.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

    Kevin had undergone a dramatic change in the aftermath of our excursion into Eternal Forest. Having obtained the proof he¡¯d been seeking for so long he appeared to have lost an essential part of himself. Perhaps the discovery of what he¡¯d been searching for his whole life had robbed him of his sense of purpose, perhaps he felt guilty for what the consequences of that night had been, particularly for Miranda. Or maybe he was afraid that us being discovered in the forest meant that his days were numbered, that, like Tom, he would soon be another mysterious death. If that fear wasn¡¯t baseless then I had very little time left to let him know how I felt about him, and that meant once again disregarding the rules of Prospera.

    I needed to let him know how I felt about him without my actions alerting the governing authorities to the fact that something significant had occurred between me and Kevin that merited looking into. The perfect opportunity to do so would be during the annual month-long camping trip we took to the cabins that were located on the other side of a rock formation that separated the campsite from the rest of Prospera. Getting there required us to walk through a ravine between Guardian Mountain and the rock formation. This camping trip was another exercise intended to strengthen our sense of independence and self-sufficiency. During our high school years we went there for one month every year and had to fend entirely for ourselves, only being allowed to return to the village to collect food once a day or in the event of an emergency. If I told him during this time when we were cut off from the village we¡¯d have plenty of time to adjust to what might happen between us before it was time to return to the village.

    Having decided that it was during this Prospera tradition that I would tell Kevin how I felt about him, the day when we would be leaving for the camping trip couldn¡¯t arrive soon enough.

    Miranda

    This year¡¯s camping trip would be our second. I was dreading it, having had a terrible time at the first one. It had been less than a year since the night we¡¯d ventured into Eternal Forest and after just two days in that isolated place I asked to return to the village and my parents. My request was granted. Lisa asked if she could return as well to be with me. Her request was denied.

    I had resolved to try and get through the camping trip this time, and to get through it without having to rely on Lisa too much. For two years the support that I¡¯d gotten from Lisa had been unwavering as I¡¯d struggled to overcome my anxiety from coming face to face with the truth that Kevin had been right all along. That night in the forest had the profound effect on me that it did because I loved Prospera the way I knew it and didn¡¯t want to think about it being the place Kevin said it was. The idea that there was more to Prospera in addition to that deserted village that was being kept from us because it wasn¡¯t consistent with the utopia we were made to believe Prospera was troubled me to no end. My idea of Prospera had been transformed from one of goodness and honesty into a darker image of lies and deceit. I couldn¡¯t keep myself together thinking that I was living in a place that I could no longer trust I was safe in, surrounded by people whom I used to think I need not fear that I now needed to always be on guard against.

    Only my friends brought me a sense of stability. They visited me often and stayed for an amount of time that I knew was inconvenient for them given how many responsibilities they had. Kevin visited often, which surprised me. It wasn¡¯t like him to take such an interest in someone who wasn¡¯t Hannah. The time he spent with me wasn¡¯t rich in conversation; Kevin had trouble making small talk with people and most of the time he spent with me was spent in silence. There were only two things Kevin was able to really talk about: his conspiracy theories (which could no longer be considered so) and Hannah. It was clear from the way he talked about Hannah that she occupied a place in his life that was separate from all else (whether or not he loved her I couldn¡¯t be sure). Hannah being the only real point of connection between us I constantly steered us in that direction and from there we¡¯d veer into other areas of conversation. We talked about how things might be with Hannah as the head of the Ethics Committee, if she would bring an end to some of the secrecy and institute change or if she would maintain the status quo. Kevin told me about the jobs that they all had, that the girls were enjoying theirs while he and Darren ended every day tired and smelling. I asked him if he was afraid to be working on a fishing boat given the men that had been lost at sea and he answered that he had no choice but to watch his back and hope that he would be okay.

    Kevin¡¯s visits were out of a sense of guilt he felt over the fractured state of my mind which was the product of the night we went into the forest, which was his idea. I could¡¯ve said something to try and relieve him of his guilt so he wouldn¡¯t feel the need to keep visiting me but the truth was that even though his visits involved a great deal of awkwardness between us I appreciated his company. He was one of only four people I could trust and of those four he was the one I trusted the most because he¡¯d been right all along. His visits made me feel safe; I had no desire to free him from the obligation he seemed to feel he had to me.

    I was a burden on my friends; I hadn¡¯t taken such leave of my mind that I was incapable of seeing that. I wasn¡¯t about to push them away though, without them visiting me every day it would only be a matter of time before I was consumed by fear and paranoia and turned into a person that did not exist in Prospera: someone incapable of being productive and unwilling to be social.

    Kevin had often talked about identifiers, traits that he believed the people who suffered mysterious deaths possessed that were contrary to what a Prospera citizen was supposed to embody, traits that had made them targets. Fearful of becoming one of those targets I was determined to show that I was putting my anxiety problems behind me. That started with me showing that I could manage on my own for a month during our annual camping trip.

    We left at noon, the fifty-six of us making the journey on foot from school in the direction of the campsite. Five students had been given the responsibility of riding into town every day to procure our food provisions, they were riding horses that had wagons attached to them stocked with our provisions for the rest of the day. Kevin, because of his knowledge of horses and his general dependability to get things done, was one of those on horseback. As always, the five of us travelled together. It was a long walk, one that would take us across Prospera, past the farms, barns, plantations, pastures, canals and workshops. To be nice Kevin offered to allow me to ride with him not long after we¡¯d set off. My initial response was to decline his offer, but after prodding by Hannah and Lisa I agreed. I climbed up and sat behind him with my legs over the side and one arm around his waist for support. The look I saw on Hannah¡¯s face when I took my place behind Kevin said it all about her feelings for him. As of late Kevin had been displaying a much more caring, considerate side of himself and Hannah was clearly very pleased with the change he¡¯d undergone.

    That Hannah was in love with Kevin was no secret. Lisa, Darren and I had known that for years. What we couldn¡¯t tell was if Kevin was in love with Hannah, and if he was would they be allowed to be together given that Hannah was on track to become a member of the Ethics Committee and Kevin was someone who the governing authorities were clearly suspicious of and had been for years. We didn¡¯t know how things were going to work when we were allowed to enter into courtships, if we¡¯d be granted permission to pursue relationships with those for whom we had strong romantic feelings or if, like our careers, there would be a selection process that we didn¡¯t have any say in at all. Either way, when the time came for us to enter into courtships I was going to have a lot of problems. Lisa was still the only person for whom I had feelings that could be described as romantic. I couldn¡¯t rid myself of those feelings and I had no intention of doing so. Without knowing if it was acceptable for me to have the feelings I had it was too much of a risk for me to seek clarification on the issue, leaving me with no choice but to keep them to myself forever.

    We arrived at the campsite roughly an hour after we¡¯d departed and immediately made our way to the cabins to which we¡¯d been assigned to leave our things, meet our cabin mates and take a rest. Each cabin was a two bedroom unit, with one bedroom for two boys and one for two girls. My housemates were Grant, an oboist from the orchestra whom I was familiar with, Steven, a young actor, and Penny, a promising playwright. At least I thought these were going to be my cabin mates. Soon after arriving at the cabin Lisa appeared and peremptorily told Penny that they were swapping places.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that against the rules?¡± Penny asked, thrown by Lisa¡¯s actions.

    ¡°What rules? There are no adults here,¡± Lisa responded.

    ¡°We were all assigned the cabins we would be staying in; we can¡¯t just swap.¡±

    ¡°Yes we can, and in case you haven¡¯t noticed, I¡¯m not asking.¡±

    With that Lisa strode with her bags into one of the bedrooms and left Penny with no choice but to take her things and leave for the cabin that Lisa was supposed to be staying in.

    ¡°Why did you do that?¡± I followed Lisa into our bedroom and asked her.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to leave you all by yourself with these people you barely know, not when you¡¯re still having such a hard time.¡±

    ¡°Thanks.¡±

    My plan had been to get through the month-long camping trip with as little help from my friends as possible; that plan went out the window with Lisa¡¯s extraordinary act of kindness. Naturally a big part of me was excited about the prospect of having Lisa as my roommate because of my feelings for her. Just having her close was enough to give me hope that someday we could be together.

    Later that evening, after we¡¯d stored away our things and spent some time getting to know our cabin mates, we all gathered on the beach to witness the lighting of the ceremonial bonfire that symbolized the commencement of the camping trip. The large pyre of logs surrounding kindling had been constructed by Kevin and three other boys. Just as it had been the previous year the atmosphere on the beach amongst everybody was one of unfamiliar and exhilarating freedom. Everybody mingled effortlessly with each other and waited in anticipation of the lighting of the pyre. The person who had been selected to light the ceremonial pyre was Kevin. Watching him walking toward the pyre holding the torch with which he¡¯d be lighting it, I looked around and saw something that I was seeing for the first time: in the eyes of everybody on the beach we saw the same respect for Kevin that we had. For that to be the case it would mean that they had the same questions about Prospera that we did. Had I been alone then, in believing that Prospera was a place in which secrets and deception did not exist? Did the fact that all of these children who also had questions about Prospera had not faced any consequences mean that I was safe?

    Standing on the beach and watching the pyre go up in flames I started for the first time in years to think of myself as being part of something bigger than our circle of five friends, and when Lisa stood next to me and put her arm around me and smiled at me I felt that I had at last arrived at a place from which I could begin to recover from what had been two horrible years.

    Lisa

    We were all surprised to see the deference with which Kevin was being treated by the other children on the camping trip. Somehow over time, without us knowing it, he had achieved an elevated status among the children of the village. News of his various exploits had obviously made their way around and turned him into a revered figure. Hannah was the most surprised of us all. She had always thought that the four of us were the only ones who knew about Kevin and everything he got up to and that she was the only one who appreciated what he was looking for enough to regard him with respect. She was seeing for the first time that that wasn¡¯t the case and, judging by her reaction, it unnerved her.

    After lighting the pyre Kevin returned to us and the five of us did what we always did and talked amongst ourselves. This was our second time doing this camping trip and the process by which we were supposed to grow as human beings remained a mystery to us. We had been given no specific tasks or responsibilities to accomplish during our time here; we were left to our own devices for thirty days with nothing to do but look for ways to pass the time until the trip was over. Last year after the trip had ended we¡¯d returned to the village without feeling any more mature. Most of the other children had returned feeling that the trip had been a success; they¡¯d made new friends and had enjoyed the experience of being away from their families and on their own for an extended period of time. The four of us that had stayed for the duration of the trip had not had the same experience. We¡¯d spent our time there keeping to ourselves and worried about Miranda, who¡¯d had to return to her parents. This had only been a few months after the events that had taken place that night in the forest and we were all still adjusting to living with what we¡¯d seen and been through that night. This year it appeared, on that first day at least, that things would be different. For starters, after we¡¯d spent some time talking amongst ourselves, Miranda separated from us and went to talk to a group of children she knew from her music classes from two years ago when she was taking them. Watching Miranda break away from us to be with others was a beautiful sight. For far too long Miranda¡¯s friendliness and effervescence had been held prisoner by her fear of what would happen to us should the governing authorities decide to take action against us and by her anxiety over her inability to continue trusting those around her. Encouraged by what we were seeing, Kevin, Hannah, Darren and I felt a collective weight lift from our shoulders. If Miranda could turn the page then so could we.

    The first morning of the trip, confronted with the question of what I was going to spend all of my time there doing, I walked aimlessly out of the cabin in search of something with which to while away my morning. Most of the other children were at the beach, swimming in the ocean now that it was summer and the water was warmer, playing games like volleyball, or just sitting and talking. Miranda was sitting with the children from her music classes that she¡¯d spent most of the previous evening talking with. I saw Hannah and Darren sitting together on a blanket talking and decided to join them. Kevin had ridden into town with the other boys that had been tasked with collecting our food every day; we had to wait for them to return before we could have breakfast.

    ¡°So, what are you two going to do with your time here?¡± I asked when I reached them.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got an idea for a play that I think I¡¯m going to work on,¡± Darren responded.

    ¡°I¡¯m not doing anything; I¡¯ve been so busy with my lessons with my mother that I just want to clear my mind,¡± Hannah said.

    Seeing the three of us together, Miranda left the group that she¡¯d been sitting with and started walking over to us.

    ¡°Is it just me or is she a completely different person than she was this time yesterday?¡± I asked as Miranda was making her way across the beach to us.

    ¡°It¡¯s not just you, she¡¯s definitely changed. This morning before he rode out she asked Kevin if he¡¯d bring her violin back with him so that she could start making up for the two years of practice that she¡¯d lost,¡± Hannah said to me.

    This was highly encouraging news. Miranda was far and away the most talented young musician in the village and for her not to be expressing that talent was an absolute waste.

    I was left then as the only one who didn¡¯t know what to do with all of the time we were going to have there. I hadn¡¯t brought along any of my biology books to further my studies in a personal capacity, nor did I have any hobbies with which I could occupy myself. I realized that having spent the past two years worrying about Miranda and making sure that she was okay that I had surrendered myself entirely to that cause and had lost a great deal of my sense of self in the process. My devotion to Miranda was attributable to two reasons. The first was that she had come with us into the forest having not wanted to and none of us had tried to stop her. The second was what I¡¯d thought when we were leaving Prospera that night: that I wished she hadn¡¯t come along with us because she was just slowing us down. I found I couldn¡¯t forgive myself for having thought that; Miranda was a kind, sweet and caring person and didn¡¯t deserve to have people thinking such things about her. Like Kevin I too had had difficulty forming truly close relationships with others and had been considered by those around me to be a cold and distant person. Miranda had changed that; she¡¯d changed me. During the past two years that I had devoted to her I had become much more aware of and concerned about the feelings of others. I was a better person because of Miranda and felt indebted to her for bringing about that change in me.

    Miranda wasted no time in getting reacquainted with her violin. Kevin and the other boys returned with our food provisions, we cooked and ate breakfast, took turns showering and when I exited the bathroom, having been the last one to shower, it was to the sound of Miranda playing the violin. I walked to our room wrapped in a towel and was arrested by the sight of her standing in the centre of the room looking like she had been transported to the world of music. Her face was the picture of absorption, her bowing arm swung back and forth with grace and purpose; she swayed in tune with the music as if her entire body was an extension of the instrument, which, being a prodigy, it was. I was witnessing the perfect fusion of artist and instrument, working together to vividly bring to life the composer¡¯s music. I stood in the doorway of our room just watching and listening, mesmerized by her brilliance.

    ¡°It¡¯s amazing that you can pick that up and play Bach like that having not touched it in two years,¡± I said to her when she was done playing, entering the room and closing the door behind me.

    ¡°The Saraband from his Unaccompanied Partita no.2 is one of my favourite pieces, I¡¯ll always be able to pick up a violin and play it.¡±

    ¡°I wish I had your talent,¡± I said, taking off my towel and getting the clothes I¡¯d be changing into from my chest of drawers.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to be a doctor, working to keep people healthy and living longer. That¡¯s a practical purpose, it¡¯s more important than what I do,¡± Miranda responded, after a delay.

    ¡°But that¡¯s not talent.¡±

    ¡°I feel like what you do is more impressive than what I do, because it takes real work and commitment; you¡¯re not just relying on what you were born with.¡±

    It was remarkable that she was so wonderful given the talent she possessed and the weight of expectation that was on her shoulders. Was it all a front? Was she keeping the strain that she was feeling hidden from us, or did she feel no strain at all and was able to easily weather the burdens her talent placed upon her? Watching her playing the violin in our room was really the first time I¡¯d paid close attention to her playing and it forced upon me the realization that although we¡¯d known each other our entire lives I didn¡¯t know her as well as I should have. I didn¡¯t know what her fears were aside from what our excursion into Eternal Forest had caused her to fear, what she envisioned her future looking like, any romantic feelings she might have developed for any of the boys, any talents she had aside from the violin. The more I thought about it the more Miranda came to seem like a stranger to me. I decided then that I would spend my time here learning as much about her as I could and that when we left here we would be as close as friends could be.

 FEAR part 3

    Darren

    Only when I decided to put pen to paper on something serious did I come to fully appreciate how restricted we were as citizens of Prospera. Our small world left us with little experience to draw on, making writing a challenge. For the most part writers in Prospera borrowed from the plays and novels from the outside world that were available at the library. The reality that none of us gave voice to was that this wasn¡¯t good enough. A writer¡¯s ambition is to be original, to write stories that open the reader¡¯s mind to ways of looking at things they¡¯d never before considered. In this respect too we were restricted. Every work produced by a writer went through an extensive screening process to determine its suitability. Before it was approved to be added to the library it needed to be cleared first by the Education Committee then by the Ethics Committee. If the work failed to get the approval of either committee it never saw the light of the day and the author was instructed to never speak about that work with anyone.

    Since the advent of the curious series of events that had followed the excursion the others had taken into Eternal Forest we all agreed to be completely open with each other, including Hannah, who had broken the secrecy she¡¯d been sworn to by telling us about the books she was reading and the work she was doing as she was being prepared for her future position on the Ethics Committee. I asked her to ask her mother about the screening process written works underwent and she said that they were screened for certain ¡®risk factors¡¯, and if those ¡®risk factors¡¯ exceeded a certain level the work was quashed. As to what those ¡®risk factors¡¯ were, her mother told her that she wasn¡¯t ready for that information yet.

    ¡°What do you think these ¡®risk factors¡¯ are?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know; ask Kevin, he¡¯ll probably have a theory and chances are he¡¯ll be right,¡± she answered.

    I didn¡¯t ask Kevin; I was afraid his answer would further deteriorate my enthusiasm for writing. How did Kevin go on? I wondered, having lost all of his faith in Prospera and not trusting any of its citizens. Very quickly I realized that my question was an academic one. Kevin had to go on because he was trapped, as were the rest of us. Surrounded by a high mountain, an endless forest and an ocean, Prospera was a place that made no secret of it¡¯s refusal to let you out. More than anything else I would have liked to write about that, the feeling I had of being trapped, of being in a place that would be the only place I would ever know. Without even bothering to think about writing it I knew that such a story would be considered ¡®unsuitable¡¯ and quashed. I was certain that making people deeply contemplate the isolated nature of our lives as Prospera citizens would be classified as an unallowable risk factor.

    The idea I had that I had planned on spending my time on the camping trip exploring was about an old fisherman who¡¯s had a hard life who finds a young boy unconscious in a boat that¡¯s adrift at sea and takes him home with him and raises him as his own until the boy¡¯s parents that had abandoned him find him and try to take him back. I was envisioning a tale about hardship giving rise to compassion inspired partly by the imagery of Ernest Hemingway¡¯s The Old Man and the Sea and a short story I¡¯d read about an old Jewish woman who helps a lost German child find her parents during World War 2, the war that led to the nuclear world war that had destroyed most of the outside world. I was confident that I would be allowed to stage the play. The plot addressed a number of themes that I was sure the members of the Education and Ethics committees would approve of. The old man¡¯s compassion served as an example of how one was supposed to treat one¡¯s fellow man and the boy¡¯s parents were an example of the kind of selfishness that had no place in Prospera.

    I retrieved my pad and pencil from my cottage and staked out a remote spot for myself on the beach far away from the cottage where I could work in peace. Walking there I passed a boy and a girl kissing behind one of the cottages, a major violation of the rules regarding courtships. This wasn¡¯t the first time I¡¯d seen this sort of behaviour and I wasn¡¯t the only one who¡¯d seen it. From the whispers I¡¯d overheard this was a relatively common occurrence throughout the camp, as it had apparently been the previous year. Given that we were going through puberty and were here entirely unsupervised this wasn¡¯t an unexpected development, in fact it was irrational to think that the adults weren¡¯t expecting it to happen, making it quite possible that the inevitably of it was part of the reason they¡¯d sent us here. No doubt Kevin would have a theory on that too.

    Kevin had been strangely quiet and detached on this trip. His paranoia normally caused him to avoid contact with others but this was different; this time he was avoiding us as well. I wasn¡¯t the only one who noticed this; Hannah, Lisa and Miranda were just as confused by it as I was, particularly Hannah. She came to see me once at the spot where I was doing my writing to talk about Kevin¡¯s avoidance of us, having been driven to distress by it.

    ¡°Do you think it¡¯s us? Do you think he doesn¡¯t trust us anymore?¡± She asked me, grasping for an answer.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s not it. My feeling is that he¡¯s struggling to understand where he stands in the village; he was sent to work in the stables for close to a year then told to return to school and now he¡¯s been entrusted with the responsibility of collecting our provisions every day. I think he¡¯s torn between believing that he¡¯s safe and continuing to be afraid and sceptical.¡±

    ¡°Kevin? Afraid? Sceptical, yes, but afraid he is not; there is nobody in Prospera who has more contempt for the rules than he does.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t see it, do you?¡±

    ¡°See what?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re the one who¡¯s closest to Kevin and yet you don¡¯t understand him. He¡¯s more afraid than all of us. He does the things that he does because he wants to know what it is we really need to be afraid of; he¡¯s terrified of what he might discover.¡±

    ¡°Do you think that¡¯s why he hasn¡¯t told me he has feelings for me?¡±

    ¡°He has feelings for you?¡±

    ¡°I think so, I mean, he must; I¡¯m the one that he trusts the most.¡±

    ¡°That just means that he trusts you, it doesn¡¯t necessarily mean that he has romantic feelings for you.¡±

    ¡°If not me then who? There couldn¡¯t be someone else.¡±

    ¡°Maybe that¡¯s why we¡¯ve been seeing so little of him, because there is someone else.¡±

    I was being cruel, making a joke like that, when I knew, as we all did, that Hannah had had feelings for Kevin for years. She walked away from me in the direction of the cottages clearly disconcerted by my suggestion that Kevin was avoiding us because there was another girl in the picture.

    I wasn¡¯t expecting Hannah to give in to the same juvenile emotions that so many of the other children had given in to; I thought of her as being too mature for that sort of thing. It was the first time that she was displaying such anxiousness over her feelings for Kevin and whether he shared them. Was it this place? Was the freedom we were enjoying here causing us to lose our ability to control ourselves? Is that why we were here? To have our control tested? And if so, who would be reporting the results of the test?

    Unsure of the reasons for this camping trip I decided to keep to myself for the remainder of it and not get involved with anything of the sort that was causing Hannah to have palpitations. Not that I was interested in such pursuits. My play was coming together nicely and I couldn¡¯t conceive of diverting any of my attention away from it and toward something frivolous. Fuelled by a sense that I was creating something that was truly special I was able to finish my play in a matter of days and gave it to Lisa to read with Miranda in their cottage. Their differing personalities created the potential for different interpretations, and if they had different interpretations and both still thought it was good it would mean that the play was able to reach people on various levels and that would make it an unqualified success. To my immense delight they both enjoyed it, which meant moving on to the next phase and rehearsing it. One of Miranda and Lisa¡¯s roommates, Steven, was an actor. I asked them if they¡¯d ask him if he¡¯d be willing to play the role of the fisherman and they told me that he would, leaving me with only the roles of the couple that abandon the boy to cast. I wanted to keep the circle of people who knew about my play as small as possible so I asked Kevin if he¡¯d do me the huge favour of playing the father and to my surprise he agreed. Feeling bad about the fun I¡¯d had at Hannah¡¯s expense that day on the beach I thought I¡¯d offer her the role of the mother, thinking that the close scenes between her and Kevin could at long last kick-start a romance that had seemed inevitable for a frustratingly long amount of time. Strangely, she said no, even after I¡¯d told her that Kevin had agreed to play the father. I went to Lisa and Miranda with the news and they too found her refusal strange given the opportunity it represented. Perhaps thinking that with Hannah¡¯s refusal to play the mother I was desperate for an actress Miranda volunteered to play the role and, eager to start rehearsals, I said okay.

    For the location of rehearsals I selected a clearing in the woods between the back row cottages and Guardian Mountain and we each brought a folding chair to sit on while we watched the scenes being rehearsed. The opening scene was the moment when the fisherman finds the boy, pulls him into his boat with him and returns with him to his house. Steven performed this scene by himself, as he would be performing all of his scenes during rehearsals since we couldn¡¯t get an actor of the appropriate age to play the boy. His performance was perfect, there was no need for us to go over or redo anything. Kevin and Miranda were next, doing the scene in which the couple that go on to abandon the boy start discussing the idea of having children. It was a romantic scene, featuring a great deal of physical contact and intimacy that Kevin and Miranda pulled off with a level of realism that astonished all of us. Without taking any cues from me they walked into and out of each other¡¯s arms, took the other¡¯s hand, took hold of the other from behind and nestled their chin on their shoulder with such perfect timing and execution that as a couple they were a marvel to behold.

    They monopolised our attention, rendering us oblivious to Hannah¡¯s reaction to what we were seeing. The final act of the scene called for a kiss between the two characters, a kiss which Miranda and Kevin lingered on for longer than was necessary. The silence that prevailed among us for the duration of Miranda and Kevin¡¯s scene and especially during and immediately after the kiss was vacuous. It was broken by the sound of twigs and dry leaves on the ground being crunched as Hannah ran away from us as fast as her legs would carry her. Apart from Steven, her reaction was understood by us all. Miranda was the first to react and run after her, leaving the rest of us behind to wonder if this was going to change the way we all felt about each other as friends.

    Hannah

    How could they do this?! How could they do this?! I thought to myself as I ran through the forest. Miranda knew I had feelings for Kevin; Kevin must have known that I had feelings for him; how could they do that to me?! How could they embarrass me like that in front of all the others?!

    I ran without any destination in mind, thinking only of getting as far away from all of them as I could. When I was out of the forest and had ran past the two rows of cabins I was on the beach and could go no further. I paced up and down in a fog of confusion, unable to understand how I¡¯d missed the existence of feelings between Miranda and Kevin. When Kevin had offered to give her a ride to the campsite I¡¯d thought he was just being nice. How long had I been oblivious to this? And was I the only one who was oblivious to it?

    Miranda came running out of the forest toward me just as I was in the middle of these thoughts, and at that moment the sight of her was more than I could handle.

    ¡°No! Go away!¡± I yelled at her when I saw her making her way toward me.

    ¡°Hannah, wait!¡± She yelled after me when I started walking away from her, ¡°Hannah!¡±

    ¡°How could you?! You know how I feel about him!¡±

    ¡°Hannah, it was only a scene; the only reason I did it was because you refused.¡±

    ¡°That was more than a scene! There is something between you and Kevin; that was made obvious by that scene you did.¡±

    ¡°We were just acting; there is nothing between me and Kevin, there couldn¡¯t be.¡±

    ¡°How can you expect me to believe that after what I just saw?!¡±

    ¡°Because I like Lisa!¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    In an instant, all of the anger and confusion that I was feeling dissipated and was replaced by a confusion that was even more difficult to overcome.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    ¡°You like Lisa? What does that even mean? A girl liking another girl? What is that?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it¡¯s how I feel and I can¡¯t do anything about my feelings because I¡¯m afraid that if I do something will happen to me. I don¡¯t know what to do¡­¡±

    Miranda started crying then; being the only one there it was up to me to comfort her. She sobbed and heaved in my arms as I continued my struggle to make sense of what she¡¯d just disclosed to me. Never before had I heard of anything as bizarre as someone being attracted to someone else of the same gender. Miranda was right to be afraid. Most likely the reason we¡¯d never heard of anything like it before was because the governing authorities had decided that such relationships were a threat to Prospera¡¯s existence.

    Having been angry at Miranda only moments earlier I held onto her fearful of one day suddenly losing my friend, because what this meant was that like Kevin, Miranda was in mortal danger.

    ¡°You mustn¡¯t say a word about this to anyone else, it¡¯s too dangerous.¡±

    Too depleted to talk, Miranda nodded her assent.

    ¡°I think we should tell Kevin though, if anything were to happen we¡¯d need his help in handling it.¡±

    ¡°Okay, but nobody else can find out.¡±

    ¡°You know we can trust him.¡±

    I felt so bad for Miranda. She¡¯d gone through absolute hell coming to grips with what our trip into the forest had exposed us to and the whole time she was dealing with this as well. We were all relieved to see Miranda coming out of her shell and socializing with different people but the reality was that she still needed our unyielding support and she needed it now as much as she did following our return from the forest. I would be there for her, as would Kevin, and we would need to convince the others not to start worrying about her any less based on the change they¡¯d seen in her on this camping trip.

    I walked her back to her cabin and made sure she climbed into bed so she could have a rest. She desperately needed one and I wasn¡¯t going to leave her side until Lisa returned and could take over watching over her from me. I didn¡¯t need to wait very long, Lisa returned after just over an hour, at which point Miranda was asleep.

    ¡°What happened with her?¡± She asked me softly to avoid waking Miranda, who had fallen asleep.

    ¡°She had to deal with too much for one day I think; the rehearsal, chasing after me after my reaction to the rehearsal; it all took a severe toll on her.¡±

    ¡°Okay, I understand. Did you two talk, about what happened at the rehearsal, because if you¡¯re worried about Miranda and Kevin you should know¡­¡±

    ¡°I know; it was ridiculous of me to react the way I did. I think it¡¯s this place, it¡¯s not just my emotions that are getting away from me, it¡¯s everybody¡¯s; Darren and Kevin have both observed it.¡±

    I couldn¡¯t believe the way I¡¯d behaved. Losing control of my emotions was no excuse for me treating Miranda the way I had. We had all undertaken to be nothing but accommodating and gentle with her and because of petty jealousy on my part I had potentially set her back years. More and more, the question of what the point of the camping trip was troubled me. Everything that was going on during the camping trip was in complete violation of so many rules and already in just a few days things that we never would have imagined doing in the village had become commonplace. A boy and a girl had been caught in bed together; four boys had gotten into a fistfight that Kevin had had to break up. If things kept going like this there was no telling what would end up happening. The Education Committee must have known that in the absence of adult supervision these sorts of things would happen, so why then would they send us here when they were so vigilant in ensuring that none of the things that were happening here happened when we were in the village?

    As I always did when I was plagued by uncertainty, I sought out Kevin. Having had this experience with Miranda I understood why he was keeping to himself and wished that I had come to understand it sooner. I found him sitting on an old, large, rotting tree trunk on the shore not too far away from the cabins. He¡¯d chosen it as the place where he preferred to spend most of his time because it afforded him privacy and if ever we needed him we¡¯d know exactly where to find him. Kevin was so far ahead of us in deciphering Prospera that whenever we were struggling with something just the sight of him proved calming. Afraid of any awkwardness there might be between us following my reaction to seeing him kissing Miranda I didn¡¯t approach him with the same ease with which I would ordinarily approach him. In typical Kevin fashion he responded to my approach with a disarming smile, reassuring me that I could talk with him without having to worry about any discomfort between us stemming from what had occurred earlier.

    ¡°Did you and Miranda talk?¡± He asked me after I¡¯d taken a seat next to him on the trunk.

    ¡°Yeah, everything¡¯s fine, but there was something she told me that she¡¯s been keeping to herself for years that could place her in a lot of danger.¡±

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°She told me that she likes Lisa; she¡¯s attracted to her.¡±

    ¡°Oh that, I already knew about that,¡± he responded nonchalantly.

    ¡°She told you? She didn¡¯t tell me that you already knew when I said we should tell you.¡±

    ¡°She didn¡¯t tell me, I noticed it a long time ago, it was impossible to miss.¡±

    ¡°How could you notice it? There¡¯s never been anything like it in Prospera before, how can you recognize something without knowing what it is?¡±

    ¡°Just because you¡¯ve never seen something before doesn¡¯t mean it can¡¯t be real. You can tell from the way Miranda looks at Lisa that her feelings for her are very real.¡±

    ¡°Do you think we¡¯ve never come across anything like this before because whenever it has come up the governing authorities have ¡®dealt with it¡¯?¡±

    ¡°If that¡¯s why you think this puts Miranda in danger, you¡¯re right; I can easily see them regarding this as a problem capable of destabilizing the village that needs to be ¡®dealt with¡¯ as you say. You¡¯re the only one who knows?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°We need to make sure it stays that way, especially while we¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re isolating yourself this way because you think there¡¯s a reason for us to be careful while we¡¯re here; what is it?¡±

    ¡°I think we¡¯re being watched while we¡¯re here, it¡¯s the only explanation for why we¡¯re here that makes sense.¡±

    ¡°How can they be watching us, we¡¯re here by ourselves. If we are being watched it would mean that some of the other students here are the ones doing it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I think, that¡¯s why I¡¯m keeping away from all of them.¡±

    ¡°If they wanted one of the students to spy for them wouldn¡¯t they have asked me? Wouldn¡¯t it be better from their perspective to keep the number of people who know about their clandestine activities to a minimum?¡±

    ¡°It could be they don¡¯t trust you as much anymore, or it could be they don¡¯t want to overburden you.¡±

    ¡°Who do you think it is?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know; I¡¯ve been watching them all since day one trying to spot something out of the ordinary but so far nothing.¡±

    ¡°How do I know it¡¯s not you, sitting here and watching everybody; wouldn¡¯t that make you the likeliest candidate?¡± I asked him jokingly.

    ¡°You¡¯re learning,¡± he responded approvingly.

    ¡°Is there anything that you would be doing, if you believed like all of the others that we were totally free here to do whatever we wanted?¡±

    ¡°You mean is there any girl who I would be spending my time here with?¡±

    ¡°Well, is there?¡±

    ¡°We shouldn¡¯t talk about this.¡±

    ¡°I had planned on not talking about what happened at that rehearsal but I can¡¯t ignore it; you know why I acted the way I did, I need to know how you feel about it.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s too dangerous for us to be having this conversation; whatever plans they have for you don¡¯t involve me, so whatever you¡¯re thinking you need to forget it.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t forget it. I love you, Kevin; how am I supposed to forget that?¡±

    ¡°Hannah¡­¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know how you feel, I think I do but I don¡¯t know, so if you just tell me that you don¡¯t love me I won¡¯t speak of this again.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t say that.¡±

    ¡°So you do love me then?¡±

    ¡°Of course I love you Hannah, but they won¡¯t allow us to be together.¡±

    ¡°But if we love each other¡­¡±

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t work that way. One of Lisa¡¯s roommates before she left her cabin to stay with Miranda was a boy who is being trained to one day work producing medicines from the plants and herbs in the medicinal greenhouses; the girl who was supposed to be Miranda¡¯s roommate, Penny, is going to be a playwright, one of Miranda¡¯s male roommates, Steven, is an actor; do you get what I¡¯m saying?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re rooming us with people who they think are perfect matches for us; that¡¯s sick.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s one of the reasons we¡¯re here, I realized that the moment I learned who all of our roommates were to be. Do you understand now? Just because we have feelings for each other it doesn¡¯t mean they¡¯ll allow us to be together; they¡¯ve got their own plans for all of us.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll talk to my mother, and to my grandfather, if they know how strongly we feel about each other maybe they¡¯ll allow us to be together.¡±

    ¡°All that would do is put us in danger; please tell me you won¡¯t talk with them about this.¡±

    ¡°You really are terrified, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°One person is already dead because of me, and because of me all of you are now in danger, I don¡¯t want to be responsible for the same thing happening to any of you, that¡¯s why ever since what happened in the forest I¡¯ve been trying to remain as anonymous as possible.¡±

    ¡°We all thought that you¡¯d lost interest having found the proof you¡¯d been searching for.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s still too much I don¡¯t know for me to have lost interest, and if we¡¯re all in danger then I can¡¯t afford to be any less watchful.¡±

    The image of Prospera that we had been brought up to embrace, that of a paradise, didn¡¯t seem compatible with the many burdens that we were having to carry at such a young age: Miranda and her attraction to Lisa, Kevin and his concern for all of our safety, me and my awareness of the knowledge that was being kept from everyone else. We were only fourteen and we were carrying burdens that were either breaking us, as was the case with me and my feelings for Kevin, or had broken us, as was the case with Miranda. That evening, as Kevin and I sat together watching the waves crashing into the shore, I began to feel what he had felt since he was just a small child, a strong sense of the inherent wrongness of much of what made up Prospera. I felt sick thinking about how I could have been oblivious to it for so long. Fortunately Kevin was there. He put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to him, allowing me to feel, for that moment at least, that somehow we would all get through this.

    Miranda

    Rehearsing that scene with Kevin, I had felt something strong enough to make me feel like I was being dishonest to Hannah when I told her that there was nothing between me and Kevin. From the first moment of physical contact between us during the scene I felt something that I never expected I would feel with a boy. The feeling kept growing throughout the scene and exploded into something I couldn¡¯t make the slightest sense of when we kissed. I was in love with Lisa; I shouldn¡¯t have experienced the feeling that I did when my lips were pressed against Kevin¡¯s, a feeling so strange it caused me to freeze and keep my lips pressed against Kevin¡¯s. All this time had I been misinterpreting the feelings I had for Lisa as romantic attraction? Were the feelings that I had for Lisa and that I had felt with Kevin the product of emotional instability on my part? Or was it Kevin in particular for whom these feelings had been aroused? Like Hannah I too had developed a deep level of trust in Kevin, it was possible that was the cause of my reaction and not any genuine feelings of attraction. But if the trust that I had in Kevin was causing me to be attracted to him then I was going to continue being attracted to him; how was I going to keep this from getting between me and Hannah again?

    I¡¯d told her about my attraction to Lisa to disabuse her of the idea of me being attracted to Kevin and had consequently given myself an added worry: people now knew about my attraction to Lisa. I didn¡¯t think that there was any reason for me not to trust Kevin to keep my secret safe but the idea of no longer being alone in knowing about it was a scary thought, scary enough to cause me to have my first anxiety episode in months. Thankfully by then Hannah had stopped being angry, and kindly held me before walking me back to my cabin where she stayed with me until I¡¯d fallen asleep. When I woke up Lisa was there, laying in her bed and reading a book. It was dark out and perfectly silent; night had fallen. Had she stayed up late so that when I woke up she could be there for me? I wondered.

    ¡°Hey,¡± she said to me when she saw that I was up, after which she put down her book and got out of bed and came to sit next to me on mine.

    ¡°Are you okay? Do you want me to get you anything? Some juice, some milk, some food?¡± She asked, gently stroking my face.

    ¡°Some milk, please.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    She left to get me some milk from the kitchen, returning shortly with a big glass filled to the brim.

    ¡°Here,¡± she said, handing me the milk and retaking her seat next to me on the bed.

    Having been asleep for several hours my throat was dry and the creamy milk quenched my thirst wonderfully; I drank the full glass in one go and finished it wishing for more.

    ¡°Want some more?¡± Lisa asked me.

    ¡°No, thanks,¡± I answered, not wanting to ask too much of Lisa.

    She took the glass from me and set it down on the nightstand between our beds and climbed under the covers next to me in bed, putting her arm around me so that my head was resting against her breast.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you glad I kicked that other girl out of here and took her place as your roommate?¡±

    ¡°Well at first I thought that you were being a bit pushy but now I¡¯m glad that you did it; I¡¯m happy you¡¯re here.¡±

    ¡°I still can¡¯t get over Hannah¡¯s reaction; how could she ever think that there was something between you and Kevin?¡±

    ¡°It was the realism of the scene, her reaction wasn¡¯t based on any pre-existing suspicions she had.¡±

    ¡°You two were believable as a couple; I guess if I was Hannah I also would¡¯ve been worried.¡±

    ¡°She understands now that there¡¯s nothing for her to worry about, hopefully starting tomorrow this whole thing will be behind us.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really amazing, you know that? For you to be the most gifted classical musician in the village and a talented actress is really incredible. I¡¯m beginning to wonder if there¡¯s anything you can¡¯t do.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I¡¯d call myself a talented actress; that was the first time I¡¯d ever tried acting.¡±

    ¡°Which makes it all the more impressive, and I¡¯m not the only one who thinks so, Darren was saying that if he gets to stage the play he might ask you to play the role again.¡±

    ¡°What about Kevin? He was pretty good too.¡±

    ¡°He was, but he only agreed to do it because it was going to be in front of a small group and to do Darren a favour, no way will he perform on stage in front of an audience of six hundred.¡±

    ¡°It was surprising though, wasn¡¯t it? That he was so natural. He¡¯s always so dark and distant; I wasn¡¯t expecting him to be as good as he was.¡±

    ¡°None of us were, except maybe Hannah. She¡¯s probably always known about that side of him, it¡¯s probably why she¡¯s always liked him.¡±

    ¡°Do you think what happened today is going to change anything between those two? I mean we can¡¯t pretend anymore that Kevin doesn¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll have to wait and see. When Hannah left here she said she was going to look for Kevin, maybe they¡¯ll work it out.¡±

    Lisa and I had never been as close as we were that night. I put my arm around her midriff and held her tightly, not to take advantage of the opportunity I¡¯d been presented with to enjoy intimate physical contact with the girl I had feelings for but because I was so glad to have her as my friend. Lying with her I wasn¡¯t thinking about the softness of her breast under my cheek, I was thinking about the past two years during which all four of my friends had been with me nearly every moment of every day. The episode that I¡¯d had earlier following my confrontation with Hannah was not going to consign me to my bed for days as previous episodes had. I didn¡¯t feel the same sense of fear and isolation that night as I did when I had had all of my previous episodes. How could I, when I was warmly ensconced in Lisa¡¯s arms.

 FEAR part 4

    Lisa

    I woke up the following morning to the sound of music. Miranda and Grant, our roommate who played the oboe, were playing a duet. The music was beautiful; Miranda and Grant were in perfect harmony. I sat up in bed and listened to their playing, enjoying the music and trying to put a name to the piece they were playing that sounded so familiar to me. Before I could find the name I was looking for, their performance came to an end. I got out of bed while there was silence and exited the bedroom to find Miranda and Grant standing in the sitting room part of the common area of the cabin and looking over some sheet music that they had opened up on a stand. I said good morning to them and proceeded to the bathroom to take care of my expulsions and ablutions.

    ¡°Is there any coffee?¡± I asked them when I emerged from the bathroom.

    ¡°There¡¯s some in the pot, and there¡¯s enough oil in the cooker for you to heat it up, and there¡¯s bacon in the pan on the counter in case you¡¯re hungry,¡± Miranda answered before quickly returning her attention to Grant and the sheet music.

    I wasn¡¯t feeling hungry so I just poured myself a cup of coffee and took a seat on the sofa close to where Miranda and Grant were busy looking over their sheet music.

    ¡°What was that you were playing before I came out? It sounded familiar to me but I couldn¡¯t get the name.¡±

    ¡°It was Bach¡¯s Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C minor; we were playing the first Allegro,¡± Miranda answered.

    ¡°You don¡¯t sound like someone who hasn¡¯t played in two years,¡± I said to her.

    ¡°Thanks, but I¡¯ve still got a long way to go before I¡¯m ready to rejoin the orchestra.¡±

    ¡°You sound like you¡¯re already ready, it kind of sounded like you were carrying Grant a little when you were playing,¡± I said jokingly.

    ¡°Don¡¯t say that,¡± Miranda playfully admonished me.

    ¡°It¡¯s true, she was, but then anybody who plays with her will find it difficult to match her, she¡¯s so talented,¡± Grant said.

    Miranda blushed upon receiving this praise from Grant, and I felt¡­threatened. Of course I was delighted that Miranda was pursuing a return to the orchestra with so much determination but it was clear from watching her with Grant that her music was so important to her that it would always take priority over everything else, including me. Then there was Grant. From the way he talked about Miranda and looked at her the attraction that he felt toward her was obvious. That morning there was no room anywhere for me in Miranda¡¯s world of music and that left me feeling like an unwelcome intruder.

    For a long time a debate had raged among Darren, Hannah and Miranda as to who was the smartest member of our group: me or Kevin. Spending my time on this trip watching and listening to Miranda so that I could truly know and understand her, my feeling was that the smartest person in our group was most probably her. Her brilliance didn¡¯t manifest itself in the form of high test scores or an acute sense of perception, as was the case with me and Kevin respectively. It was unique and special, only revealing itself to those who had the patience and perspicacity required to see it. I was beginning to see it, to appreciate it, and the more I did the more I was drawn to her. I found I couldn¡¯t take my eyes off her when she was playing. As I came to understand her interpretation of the music the complete scale of her artistry became too wondrous to behold for me to look elsewhere even for a second. Miranda had, without knowing it, made herself the primary object of my attention. I thought about her constantly; when I was with our other friends and she wasn¡¯t there with us because she was busy practising I felt her absence keenly, when I saw her with the musicians she was constantly practising with I felt angry and jealous.

    The anger that I was feeling blindsided me. After two years of making myself more available to Miranda than any of our other friends it hurt to be pushed aside by her the way I had been so that she could spend more time with her musician friends. I thought that she was treating me with a great amount of insensitivity and was showing a lack of appreciation for all that I¡¯d done for her. The angrier I got at her the less concerned I became with keeping her from being exposed to anything that might lead her to have another episode. At night when we went to bed I snuffed out my lantern as soon as I climbed under the covers and slept on my side so that I was facing away from her. I became increasingly cold toward her. If she asked me if I wanted us to do something together after she was done practising with her musician friends I said no, when we were with other members of our circle I spoke with them and all but ignored her. Whenever I treated her this way she got the hurt, confused look on her face that was generally a precursor to an episode. Seeing that look on her face, I didn¡¯t care. I didn¡¯t care that she was hurt by my indifference to her because she showed no signs of caring about how I felt when she¡¯d been ignoring me when she was with her musician friends.

    It never entered my mind at the time how irrational I was being. Things between me and Miranda had changed too much for me to respond rationally to the present state of events. The things that she was doing drew a response from me that was purely emotional, and with the sheer number of emotions that I was confronting¡ªeverything from anger to jealousy to feelings of inferiority¡ªthere was no space for any level-headed thinking. The coldness between us persisted until one night, while I was lying in bed facing away from her pretending to be asleep, she sat on my bed and asked me why I was treating her so coldly.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Please tell me why you¡¯re treating me this way. You¡¯ve been doing it for days and I don¡¯t understand why and it¡¯s getting harder and harder for me to live with the state of things between us. Please, just tell me what I did wrong,¡± she pleaded with me.

    Her voice was tremulous; I could hear that she was in a bad way, on the brink of a collapse. The sound of it penetrated and shattered the hard exterior that I had been adopting with her. I turned over, sat up in bed, put my hands gently on her face and wiped away her tears with my thumbs.

    ¡°I was just jealous. You were spending so much time with them and you looked so much more engaged with them than you do with me; I was worried that you preferred their company over mine and that you¡¯d be spending more time with them and forget about me.¡±

    ¡°Forget about you? Are you listening to yourself? I could never forget about you,¡± she said, putting her hands on my face, looking into my eyes and smiling at me.

    What happened next was as unexpected as it was unfathomable. Miranda was looking into my eyes and in hers I saw a glow that I was seeing for the first time. As if hypnotized by Miranda¡¯s eyes my body lurched forward without me consciously instructing it to. Our lips met, and strangely, even though I¡¯d never heard or conceived of relations between two girls, kissing her felt like the most natural thing in the world. Miranda returned my kiss and without any pause or trepidation our arms were around each other¡¯s bodies and we were kissing each other like long-lost lovers that had just been reunited. We handed ourselves over to each other so quickly and so completely that this was obviously something that we had both wanted for a long time. But how could I want something without knowing that I wanted it? Miranda kissed me and ran her hand down along the side of my body and all I could think of was that I wanted her to go further, to grab my breasts, to put her hand between my legs. Passion and sexual greed flowing from some mysterious place within me entirely overcame me and impelled me to do to Miranda what I wanted done to me. I flipped our positions on the bed so that I was on top and I slid my hand under her pants, entering her with my fingers and kissing her aggressively as I moved to and fro with my fingers, increasing the speed and range of my movement the wetter my hand became. It ended with a full body contraction from Miranda and a deep vocal expression of pleasure that I muffled by strongly putting my mouth over hers. We were completely exhausted, sweating and out of breath. To further add to my confusion I was feeling more emotionally and physically fulfilled than I¡¯d ever imagined was possible.

    By doing what we¡¯d done we had entered into a place that was fraught with uncertainty and peril. We didn¡¯t know if what we were doing was natural even though there was nothing about it that felt unnatural. My mind raced that night asking if the feelings that had precipitated our passionate coupling could be trusted to last, if we were going to be able to keep seeing each other when we returned to the village, if we¡¯d be able to cope with not seeing each other or what the consequences would be if we were found out. That night, however, none of that mattered. We fell asleep holding on to each other in bed thinking only about the remarkable discovery we¡¯d made, that of a love between us that defied convention, that bound us together in every intimate way because it was exclusively ours.

    Darren

    There were undeniably very specific reasons for the adults sending us on this trip. We had witnessed too many incidences of behaviour that would not be tolerated in Prospera for the adults not to have conceived of the possibility of these things happening in this environment. Kevin felt the same way, and had formulated the theory that we were being watched by some of the other children who would be reporting to the adults when we returned. His theory was certainly plausible, but I believed that there was a different reason for this camping trip. I believed that the purpose of it had something to do with our psychology, and that the experiences we had here would in some way contribute to our development into ideal Prospera citizens. In the brief time that we¡¯d been on the camping trip I¡¯d noticed changes in the others that I hadn¡¯t seen in a full year in the main village. Miranda was looking like the Miranda we knew from before the night they¡¯d gone into the forest; Hannah and Kevin were no longer avoiding the feelings they shared; Lisa was displaying her emotions more, and I was writing with a greater level of clarity and fluency. On this camping trip we had enjoyed unprecedented freedom that had enabled us to experiment and explore in ways we wouldn¡¯t be allowed to in the main village and the experience had been transformative.

    Disappointingly, a series of events unfolded when we returned to the main village that confirmed Kevin¡¯s theory and discredited mine. The four boys that had gotten into the fight that Kevin had had to break up were all assigned to the worst job in the village: shovelling manure from all the animal stocks and carting it in wheelbarrows to the farms to be used as fertilizer. Those that had been openly engaging in romantic activity also received sanctions in the form of undesirable physical labour, though not all of them, which I found strange. Hannah, Kevin, Lisa and I, got together and decided for Miranda¡¯s sake that we shouldn¡¯t tell her that we were being watched on the camping trip by the other children and that the developments that had occurred upon our return regarding occupational assignments was the product of that surveillance.

    Miranda had returned to the orchestra since returning and appeared to have put most of her anxiety problems behind her. Not long after we returned to the main village and she had returned to the orchestra the concert that she was meant to be the star of two years ago was staged and Miranda was nothing short of breathtaking. She looked stunning in a flowing black dress and she commanded everybody¡¯s undivided attention with the way she stepped onto the stage and made it her own. The first piece played on the night, to get the audience warmed up, was Schubert¡¯s Sonata for Violin and Piano in A Major. This was followed by Mozart¡¯s Violin Concerto no. 2, the Andante being played especially beautifully by Miranda. Bach¡¯s Concerto for Oboe and Violin in C Minor was next, which Miranda played with Grant with whom she had been practising during the camping trip. The evening was capped off by Dvorak¡¯s dramatic Violin Concerto in A Minor and then Bruch¡¯s Violin Concerto no. 1 in G Minor, difficult pieces which Miranda played absolutely flawlessly.

    When the concert was over, the first person to get out of their seat and lead the standing ovation was Lisa, who applauded rapturously for Miranda with tears in her eyes and to whom Miranda directed a special bow. Thanks to the camping trip Miranda was back, that made me okay with whatever the underlying purpose of it was.

 FEAR part 5

    When we were 16 years old

    Hannah

    Things stabilized after our return from our camping trip and remained stable thereafter. We took part in our third camping trip and, knowing what was really going on, kept to ourselves for the duration of the entire trip without telling Miranda why for the sake of her continued mental health.

    Like they had done on the previous year¡¯s camping trip Lisa and Miranda shared a room, only this time it wasn¡¯t because Lisa rudely evicted the girl who was supposed to be Miranda¡¯s roommate. She spoke to my mother before the camping trip was due to commence and expressed her concern for Miranda¡¯s mental state and her desire to ensure it remained stable and asked my mother if she would make it so that they were roomed together in the same cabin. They were, and the boy who was in training to be a homeopath who was supposed to be Lisa¡¯s roommate during the last camping trip was placed in the cabin with them. Lisa and Miranda had become much closer, almost inseparable, since the previous years camping trip. If ever she had time available Lisa would attend Miranda¡¯s practices with the orchestra. The two of them were spending more time with each other and less time with the rest of us, even having sleepovers to which I was never invited. I wondered if the feelings that Miranda had for Lisa that I¡¯d learned about during the last camping trip had developed into something real. I hadn¡¯t seen anything in the way they interacted with each other in public that suggested that there was a physical relationship between them, but then the five of us had become experts at being secretive.

    As for me and Kevin, nothing had happened between us romantically either during or after the camping trip, so great was his fear that he would be the subject of the ultimate punishment should we be caught together. I completely understood his apprehension. Kevin hadn¡¯t been subjected to any excessive attention for close to two years and I knew he was much happier and more relaxed not worrying about any imminent threat to him.

    For me the past two years had brought with them an enormous amount of knowledge. It had been decided by my mother and some of the others who were overseeing my special education that it was time I started learning about the policies according to which Prospera was governed that none of the citizens outside of a select few high ranking officials knew about. The first thing I asked her about when I was told this was the camping trip and the reasons we were sent on it every year.

    ¡°The point of the camping trip is to instil in all of you a greater sense of independence and maturity by placing you in an environment that gives you the freedom to behave as you wish and to confront and resolve any issues you might have that you¡¯re afraid to address in the main village. The manner in which you conduct yourselves on the camping trip gives us information that we use to better understand your character as individuals,¡± she answered impassively.

    ¡°So you were having us watched?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we had five students observing you who reported to us when you all returned, they¡¯re also being readied for official positions; I can¡¯t tell you their names just yet.¡±

    ¡°What about our cabin mates? Do you room us with people who you think are perfect matches for us?¡±

    ¡°Yes, it works. Your father and I were cabin mates, as were all of your friends¡¯ parents. Who figured that out? Was it you?¡±

    ¡°It was Kevin; does that surprise you?¡±

    ¡°No, not at all. He¡¯s exceptionally bright, and he scored the highest points on the camping trip; his maturity, leadership and organisational skills are second to none.¡±

    ¡°The children who didn¡¯t score well, they were the ones who received new occupational assignments, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right, the occupation you¡¯re assigned is based on your natural skills but also on your personality index which we start compiling when you¡¯re two years old.¡±

    Listening to my mother talk I was astounded that she could remain so impassive when talking about things such as secretly monitoring and analyzing people and deciding the course of their lives. Equally astounding was how everything she said confirmed what Kevin had believed about Prospera since he was a small child: that there was a sophisticated program of testing, observation and quantification going on that dictated life in Prospera. I wasn¡¯t sure if I was ready to be a part of this convoluted and secret system, a misgiving I expressed to my mother.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I felt the same way when all of this was shared with me, but always remember that you¡¯ve been chosen to carry out this responsibility because we believe that you¡¯re ready.¡±

    Part of this new phase of learning that I was being introduced to was to travel around the village with my mother as she carried out her tasks as a Prospera prefect. One day a week I would be excused from school and would go with my mother in the morning to the Central Administration building and assist her with her work before we set out around the village on horseback. The days we did this varied to ensure that our visits couldn¡¯t be prepared for and because there were particular aspects of Prospera that were best inspected on certain days. With winter almost upon us most of the visits we were making were to check up on the progress being made in readying the village for what was always a harsh winter. The stockpiling of provisions was the most important aspect of preparing Prospera for winter; that was our main priority. We travelled to farms and talked with farmers about their expected yields, we travelled to the greenhouses where vegetables would be grown during the winter and inspected the preparations being made there, we talked with the cattle ranchers about the livestock numbers and their readiness for slaughtering, we went to the mill to check on the amount of grain that was being processed and stored, we visited the oil well and the oil refinery to find out if enough oil was being pumped, refined and stored, we visited the lumber yard where the wood that we would need for heating our homes was being cut and stockpiled, we checked on the work being done on the village¡¯s water network, where the grease that had been applied to the pipes the previous year to keep them from freezing was being scraped off so that new grease could be applied to the pipes.

    These trips that I took with my mother opened my eyes to the level of authority and responsibility that she had. The people that we visited spoke with her with deep respect and my mother displayed extensive knowledge about everything that she dealt with, whether it was agriculture, infrastructure, education or health. The efficiency and purpose with which she went about her tasks was impressive; in a short space of time my perception of my mother had been transformed and I quickly had to adjust to this new image of my mother which, in some ways, unsettled me. The respect with which people spoke with my mother I could tell was tinged with fear; she clearly wielded enormous power. I would learn how much when we visited the home of Martha, the mother of a six year old girl named Samantha who loved reading and was always coming to the library. My mother was acting on news she¡¯d received that Martha was pregnant. We were joined at the house by one of the village¡¯s midwives, who examined Martha and left the house after a quick word in my mother¡¯s ear. What happened next kept me awake for two nights straight. My mother sat down and said to Martha, chillingly calmly, that the population of Prospera was at the limit of what the village¡¯s resources were capable of sustaining and that a midwife would be visiting her in the coming days to terminate the pregnancy. That said, we left and moved on to the next item on our itinerary for the day. My mother hadn¡¯t displayed even the slightest bit of emotion when telling Martha that her unborn child was going to be killed or when Martha completely broke down after receiving the news. This wasn¡¯t an easy job that my mother was doing, the decisions that she faced were all challenging and her workload was immense. Watching her left me with more doubts about my ability to do what I¡¯d been selected for and about my belief in the policies of Prospera. I couldn¡¯t get Martha¡¯s tears or my mother¡¯s cold treatment of her out of my mind. The scenes that I¡¯d witnessed were not commensurate with the egalitarianism Prospera was supposed to stand for; Martha had been the victim of cruelty by someone who had been given the authority to victimise if that was the prescribed remedy to a problem. My fear of my mother grew. Had she been behind the death of Tom and the other mysterious deaths in the village, most of them children? Was I expected to do the same one day? I couldn¡¯t imagine myself doing what I¡¯d seen my mother do to Martha and the thought that I might have to someday was a weight on my mind that threatened to break me.

    I had been explicitly told not to share any of what I was learning with anyone else, but the only way that I could reach some kind of peace with what I had been exposed to was to get Kevin¡¯s opinion on it and to include his perspective in my thinking. The problem was that Kevin had changed. Long gone was the boundary-pushing crusader for truth, replaced by a quiescent, model Prospera citizen. He attended school every day, went out on the fishing boat every Friday like he was told, and had stopped talking about and trying to uncover secrets and conspiracies. He¡¯d remained the person he¡¯d been on our second camping trip and hadn¡¯t told us why. We all had our theories, the most credible of which came from Darren, who hypothesized that Kevin was continuing to keep to himself because if we were being watched on the camping trip there was a good chance we were always being watched. Personally I thought the reason that Kevin was keeping to himself and trying to be inconspicuous was that he¡¯d at long last arrived at a place of comfort with his place in Prospera. Every day after school Kevin liked to sit on one of the benches by the lake reading or just sitting alone with his thoughts. Like when we were on the camping trip, one of the reasons he did this was so that we¡¯d always know where to find him. In the end I didn¡¯t go to him and share with him the experiences that I¡¯d had with my mother. I didn¡¯t want to cause him any unnecessary concern and at some point I was going to need to stop depending on him every time I was having a hard time with something in Prospera and I decided that time was now.

    The day after my mother had informed Martha of what was going to happen with her pregnancy I secretly paid her a visit to check on how she was doing. Remarkably she was doing rather well, displaying none of the despair that she¡¯d displayed the previous day. On closer inspection I saw that her demeanour was anything but normal. From her tone of voice and her smile it was disturbingly obvious how hard she was working to keep the person she¡¯d been the previous day repressed. The words with which she spoke to me were equally disturbing.

    ¡°I understand now. I was being selfish before, thinking only about my own feelings; it¡¯s not right for me to put myself before Prospera.¡±

    I didn¡¯t stay any longer after she said this to see if I could get her to tell me the truth. She was terrified of me. By joining my mother on all of her official trips I had become associated with the absolute authority she possessed that so many feared. I didn¡¯t want this. I didn¡¯t want to be feared, to be regarded with wariness, to be cut off from my fellow Prospera citizens by a barrier of authority. The future of isolation to which my mother had consigned me by having me accompany her as she carried out her duties was one which I couldn¡¯t see myself being able to function in. The worst part was that at this point there was no way out for me. I had had information shared with me that was considered deadly in the wrong hands and being in possession of that information I was expected to bear the burden of the responsibility that it carried with it. And it was my burden to bear alone, for as much as I had Kevin, Darren, Miranda and Lisa, the fact remained that I would be the only one of us on the Ethics Committee making decisions on and addressing issues like maintaining a manageable population level. I was alone, surrounded by people who now feared me and facing a future of constant moral conflict. Not even Kevin could help me with this.

    Miranda

    Stolen novel; please report.

    The danger involved in what we were doing was ever present in mine and Lisa¡¯s minds. During our sleepovers at each other¡¯s houses we took the utmost care late at night to ensure we made as little noise as possible, when we were out in the open we made sure not to touch each other or talk to each other too intimately, if ever we were secretly approached by a boy we dismissed him as gently as we could.

    We¡¯d been together for two years and had in that time all but perfected our ability to keep our relationship a secret. There were times, however, when we couldn¡¯t help ourselves and took an extraordinary risk by ducking behind a wall or some bushes to steal a kiss, or we¡¯d make a plan to both ask to go the bathroom at the same time during school and we¡¯d go into one of the stalls and kiss and sometimes even make love. We felt an urge to be with each other physically because of our love for each other but it was also the taboo nature of our relationship that gave us a constant thrill. On a few occasions we¡¯d very nearly gotten caught¡ªa couple of times during our sleepovers when we¡¯d been together in the same bed and our parents had come in to check on us and we¡¯d had to lie and tell them that we were snuggling together because it was so cold, and once when we were in a bathroom stall and somebody entered the bathroom while I was going down on Lisa. Once the coast was clear, the exhilaration we felt from having almost been caught had us going at each other harder than before. Our need to keep the truth about ourselves a secret sobered the mood between us sometimes when we were alone. As much fun as it was to sneak around and be in our own secret world the idea that what we were doing was something that was deemed unacceptable was a burden on us both. We loved each other and didn¡¯t see how the fact that we were two girls made that wrong. It affected Lisa much more than it did me. She said to me often that it upset her that we needed to be afraid of being with each other.

    ¡°Kevin¡¯s right, there are things about Prospera that are deeply wrong,¡± she said to me one night during one of our sleepovers.

    ¡°Maybe we are allowed to be together, maybe there¡¯s never been a couple like us before because we¡¯re the first, not because it¡¯s not allowed,¡± I responded, trying to alleviate her despondency.

    ¡°You know that¡¯s not true, but thanks for saying it. That¡¯s what I love about you; you¡¯re so positive and optimistic.¡±

    Moments like these, when we felt as if the uncertainty of our situation didn¡¯t matter, were becoming fewer and farther between. Lisa¡¯s anxiety and anger over our situation was growing inexorably. The times when she would talk about the inherent wrongness of our need to fear what would happen to us should we be discovered were increasing in number and the discontent she felt was manifesting in various areas of her life; in an unexpected role reversal I was having to regularly calm and reassure her. The area of her life that was the most affected by her discontent was her schoolwork. As part of her medical training Lisa was required to perform an exercise that involved synthesizing dry poppy buds into an anaesthetic, administering it to a pig, cutting the pig open, removing a kidney and sewing the pig up again without the pig waking up in the middle of surgery or experiencing any post-op difficulties. The exercise didn¡¯t go well. Lisa¡¯s anaesthetic was improperly prepared and the pig woke up in the middle of the operation, requiring Lisa¡¯s supervisor to quickly slit it¡¯s throat and hold it down while it bled to death. Failing the exercise affected Lisa deeply. She sought me out as soon as she was excused by her supervisor and pulled me out of my orchestra rehearsal so that we could go to her house and make love. Her parents being away at work, we were free to make as much noise as we wanted. Lisa was exceptionally forceful, pouring all of her frustration with herself for failing her exam as well as her constantly growing frustration with our situation into me. Her body felt heavier than usual on top of me with all of the pressure she was pushing down on me with, her tongue battered into my mouth and her fingers, rather than slipping into me, felt more like they were puncturing me. She was coming apart and I wasn¡¯t doing an effective job of holding her together, making our situation more dangerous and difficult to manage. Our plan had been to remain as inconspicuous as possible but with Miranda pulling me out of rehearsals so that we could make love it was only going to be a matter of time before we drew attention to ourselves and were caught. Added to all of this was the unstoppable march of time. Lisa and I had been together for two years, in another two years we would be eighteen, the age at which we were expected to be seen enjoying the permission we had to take romantic partners. What were Lisa and I going to do if people found it odd that we didn¡¯t have boyfriends and were continuing to spend all of our time with each other? Suspicion about us was going to grow and the increased attention we would receive would make it impossible for us to be together. We were running out of time, we both knew it. Soon we would be forced to separate and partner with boys for the sake of giving ourselves the appearance of normalcy. The thought of having to do so made my skin crawl. I couldn¡¯t imagine being intimate with anyone but Lisa, certainly not a boy, and seeing Lisa with someone else would cause me too much pain. The only boy who I could picture myself being comfortable feigning intimacy with was Kevin, but that would mean taking him away from Hannah and that was out of the question.

    Lisa and I never talked about what we would do when that time came. The inevitability of it was too painful for us to give voice to. All we could do was make the most of the little time that we had left. When we were together I did my best to make sure we didn¡¯t rush through things. If ever Lisa was using my body as an outlet for her anger I would kiss her softly and hold her tightly and not allow her fingers to enter me until she had calmed down so that we could properly enjoy being with each other; on our sleepovers we stayed up so late kissing and pleasuring each other that the following day at school we would be dozing off during our classes. The strength of the bond that we shared was incredible. From the occasional gossip that we heard it sounded as if none of the other couples that had gotten together during the camping trips had stayed together. What Lisa and I had was special, in the face of frightening unknowns and surrounded by people from whom we needed to hide our true selves we had continued seeing each other and had fallen deeper in love. What existed between us couldn¡¯t have been shameful if we were willing to risk so much to continue being together, it just couldn¡¯t. As I thought about this I was having ever greater amounts of my time consumed by thoughts about the unfairness of what we were facing. Unlike Lisa, who felt mostly anger, what I mostly felt was disappointment in Prospera for being so narrow minded. Ever since our second camping trip during which I had reconnected with my friends and had had Lisa reciprocate my feelings for her, my faith in Prospera had been steadily recovering and now, with the strain that our secrecy was placing on me and Lisa, that faith was starting to erode again. Slipping into the shell of panic and mistrust into which I¡¯d slipped before wasn¡¯t an option, nor was it something I could see happening any time in the future. Lisa needed me and I needed to be there for her. Lisa and I would remain together and we would remain strong for each other, because in this environment of fear, worry and mistrust we were each other¡¯s only hope.

    Lisa

    I couldn¡¯t understand the lack of anger that Miranda was feeling. The sneaking around and hiding that we were doing was making me feel subhuman and I couldn¡¯t look past the wrongness of that. The fear that we were living in required me to suppress everything that I was feeling when I was in a place where I could be seen and when I was at home with my parents. The only time I could express all of the negative feelings that were constantly threatening to burst out of me was when I was with Miranda. My expression of my anger when I was with Miranda upset her and created tension between us. I didn¡¯t like that I was doing that, but I couldn¡¯t help the way I was feeling. Every day I would go around the village and see people that I¡¯d grown up with and trusted and would wonder if Miranda and I would be safe from them if the truth about us were to get out.

    Hannah¡¯s mother in particular caused me the most unease. Growing up she had been a maternal figure to me as she had been to so many others: kind, sweet, giving and welcoming. For four years Miranda had been telling us about the things that she¡¯d been learning as she was being prepared for her place on the Ethics Committee and about what her mother was like as an instructor and what she¡¯d told us shocked us all. She told us about the measures that were being taken to keep the population of Prospera below a certain limit, about the reasons behind our cabin pairings on the camping trips, about the staggering amount of knowledge that was being kept from the citizens of Prospera because it was decided long ago that the village would be destabilized if people were to have access to such knowledge, and she described her mother as a cold, stern woman who did the things she told us about without showing the slightest bit of conflict or remorse. Miranda was never included in these conversations; we thought it best to exclude her from them to prevent them from having an impact on her fragile mind. After hearing all of Hannah¡¯s stories her mother became the person I feared the most and trusted the least. The person we saw, who went through the village smiling, greeting and chatting with people was not, according to Hannah, who she really was, and if we¡¯d been so fooled by her just how deep did the deception go in Prospera?

    I wasn¡¯t expecting to become entwined with Miranda to the extent that I had. I¡¯d never been one for relying on people; in fact it was the exact opposite: I¡¯d always felt a strong pull toward isolation and solipsism. Miranda had changed that about me. The guilt that I had felt that had impelled me to be there for her as much as I could had opened my mind to the idea of real friendship and from there the closeness between us grew to the point where it wasn¡¯t enough for us to be just friends. The night during the camping trip when I¡¯d kissed her had been my expression of my desire for us to cross the only boundary that remained between us. Part of me wondered, however, if I was only with Miranda because of the strong attachment I felt to her as my closest friend and not because I was actually attracted to girls. Before that night when Miranda¡¯s tears had melted the cold fa?ade that I was presenting to her I¡¯d never so much as entertained the idea of being with a girl. I¡¯d always looked at Darren and thought that the two of us would make a great pair. Like me he was solipsistic, reserved and utterly devoted to his academic and occupational pursuits.

    Lately the thought that Miranda and I were getting too deeply involved had been troubling me. As the person who had played the biggest role in helping Miranda to overcome her anxiety problems I was wary of us developing feelings for each other that were too deep, afraid of what it would do to her should our relationship come to an end for some reason. The responsibility that I felt for Miranda¡¯s mental wellbeing required me to ensure that our relationship didn¡¯t suck us in too deep, which was hard to do given how obsessed with her I¡¯d become. It was getting to be that I couldn¡¯t stop thinking about what it was like being with her, what she smelled like, what she felt like, what she tasted like. My growing obsession with her body and her sexuality was making me do things that put us in danger. Using Miranda¡¯s body to express any emotion I was feeling was the only way I could think of to do so. When I was happy I used sex to show her how happy she made me; when I was angry I used sex to show her how outraged I was by our inability to freely be who we were.

    But were my feelings for her real? They felt real, but I wasn¡¯t sure. It was possible that the feelings I had for Miranda were a combination of the sympathy I felt for her, my admiration of her talent and the sense of injustice I felt about our situation. I had to admit that engaging in something forbidden that required us to be careful and secretive to avoid getting ourselves into trouble was exciting and I enjoyed feeling the moral indignation that I felt I was entitled to. I knew that Miranda¡¯s feelings for me were real. She¡¯d confessed to me that she¡¯d had feelings for me for years and that had I not kissed her that night she most probably wouldn¡¯t have told me how she felt, meaning we would never have gotten together. Knowing that her feelings for me were genuine and that she¡¯d had them a long time increased my concern about the seriousness of our relationship. I couldn¡¯t leave her; if I did, I would destroy her.

    Complicating all of my thoughts about my relationship with Miranda was the close relationship that had developed between Darren and Penny, the playwright that I¡¯d evicted from Miranda¡¯s room on the camping trip two years ago. The play that Darren had been writing and rehearsing on that camping trip had been staged and had been a success. Penny, impressed by the quality of Darren¡¯s writing, had asked him for his input on something she was writing and they¡¯d remained close since. I¡¯d see them walking together or working together and I would experience unbidden feelings of jealousy. The way I felt about Darren was nothing like the way I felt about Miranda. Darren had always been, to me, someone with whom I had enough in common for us to be comfortable companions. Miranda was emotional, brilliant, fragile and complicated; the multifaceted nature of her changed me every day in ways I always had to adjust to. The person I was when I was with Miranda wasn¡¯t the real me. I didn¡¯t like personal drama, tension or insecurity. My relationship with Miranda had made all of these things the arenas in which I was living my life. My academics were suffering and my mind, of which I used to have complete control, had become unpredictable and a challenge for me to get a hold of. At times the pressure I was feeling from these various directions came dangerously close to overwhelming me and whenever that happened there was only one way for me to deal with it: go to Miranda. I¡¯d do things like pull her out her orchestra rehearsals so that we could go somewhere where we could be intimate with each other; I¡¯d show up at her house in the evening or at night and say that I was there for our sleepover and Miranda would have to quickly lie and say she¡¯d forgotten to ask her parents if it was okay, to which they would always say that it wasn¡¯t a problem at all. Miranda being the only person with whom I could share my feelings did present problems though. Because of the fragility of her mind I had to be extra careful not to say anything that she couldn¡¯t handle so that she wouldn¡¯t have another precipitous mental collapse. This left me most times with physical, sexual expression as my only means of communication. Without the ability to give voice to much of what I was feeling those feelings remained trapped within me, growing more pernicious with time. I was going to crack, I could feel it.

 FEAR part 6

    Darren

    At the age of sixteen, with two years remaining until we graduated from school, all of the students were presented with an assignment. If we could come up with an idea, be it an invention, an innovation or a guiding principle, that proved beneficial to the village we would be allowed to graduate early. Should we decide to accept the assignment we would have a year to submit our idea for consideration. We could work as individuals or in groups that consisted of as many people as we wanted and whomever we wanted. Very rarely had a student or a group of students come up with an idea that was good enough to be implemented by the village and earn them early graduation. The last time had been a long time ago, before we were born. They wouldn¡¯t tell us who it was or what their idea had been; that was the way Prospera worked, no individual¡¯s contributions were singled out for praise.

    Earning the reward of early graduation required an idea that was novel and transformational. The idea of coming up with such an idea intrigued me; the sooner I graduated the sooner I could start focusing solely on my writing. Whether the others would be interested in doing this with me I wasn¡¯t sure. Miranda and Lisa seemed to only have time for each other, Hannah was always busy with her mother and Kevin was still as isolated and reticent as he had been on the camping trip two years ago. I thought about asking Penny to help me but ended up deciding against it. This wasn¡¯t her sort of thing; truth be told she wasn¡¯t a great intellect. Her writing was average and her stories and themes lacked depth. My guess was that she¡¯d been approved for a career in writing because her particular brand of writing appealed to a specific type of reader, one who didn¡¯t view literature as something that needed to be challenging. I was spending a lot of time with her because after years of the perennially serious friendship I¡¯d had with the other four it was nice to have a normal friendship for a change. That and the drift that the five of us had been undergoing had left me feeling isolated and in need of a friend.

    I didn¡¯t know where we all stood with each other anymore. We had once made a pact when we were children to always be completely honest with each other and now our friendship was fraying at that critical linkage that had kept us close all our lives. I didn¡¯t know what the reason was for Miranda and Lisa spending all of their time together, Hannah wasn¡¯t sharing as much information about what she was learning as she used to, and Kevin showed no signs of bringing an end to his self-imposed seclusion. Our friendship had gone through periods of strain before, always brought about by our struggles with some new revelation that we¡¯d made about Prospera. This time was different. We were much less informed about what was going on in each other¡¯s lives and the strain in our friendship was not the result of any collective concern. I thought of the early graduation project as an opportunity for us to strengthen the bonds of our friendship that were weaker than they¡¯d ever been before.

    I went to each of them and asked them if they would meet me at the beach; they all agreed and they all showed up. It was the first time in weeks that the five of us were together like this, time was it was every day that we were together. The atmosphere among us was uncomfortable, as if nobody wanted to be there and they all couldn¡¯t wait for the moment when they¡¯d be able to leave.

    ¡°I know it¡¯s not usual for me to be doing something like this but I called you all here to ask if you¡¯d be interested in working on the early graduation project together.¡±

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning on pursuing that,¡± Lisa answered.

    ¡°Me neither,¡± ¡°Neither was I,¡± ¡°I¡¯m not interested in that,¡± the rest quickly followed with.

    ¡°I¡¯m not asking because I care about doing something to help the village, I¡¯m asking because it would mean we¡¯d be working on something together.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so special about that?¡± Hannah asked.

    ¡°You can¡¯t tell me you¡¯re not aware of what¡¯s been happening with us. We¡¯re drifting apart, I don¡¯t know why, but we are. I thought that if the five of us were working on a project together it would allow us to deal with it.¡±

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you ask Penny to do it with you?¡± Lisa asked sharply.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t about Penny, it¡¯s about us.¡±

    ¡°Since when do you care about us as a group? You¡¯re always off on your own reading or writing,¡± Lisa responded, sharply again.

    ¡°I¡¯ve always cared about this group; I wouldn¡¯t have called you all here to ask you this if I didn¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Exactly what project did you have in mind?¡± Kevin asked, I suspected to defuse the tension between us that had escalated remarkably quickly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have anything in mind yet; I thought we¡¯d start by coming up with an idea together.¡±

    ¡°That could take a while; very rarely are ideas considered good enough to earn the reward,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°Some of us don¡¯t have the time to sit around thinking up ideas; Miranda and I are busy with serious studies and Hannah spends most of her time with her mother,¡± Lisa said.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have to devote time to thinking of an idea, you¡¯d just have to think about it casually, and I was thinking we¡¯d all get together once a week to discuss any ideas we might have.¡±

    ¡°I think Darren might be onto something with this; we can¡¯t afford to drift apart from each other, not when there¡¯s nobody else who we can trust,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°Do you want to know why we¡¯ve been drifting apart?¡± Hannah said to him, in a hostile voice that was similar to Lisa¡¯s, ¡°It¡¯s because what held us together was our fascination with your search for the truth about Prospera. Ever since you decided to completely isolate yourself we¡¯ve been drifting apart from each other. You want things to go back to the way they were? Then you need to go back to the way you were.¡±

    ¡°There wouldn¡¯t be any point in that. When those children from the camping trip were punished for their behaviour on the trip I decided to accept that the people who punished them must know all about everything I¡¯ve ever done and that it¡¯s inevitable that I too will face some sort of punishment, only mine will be much more severe.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not going to happen; my mother is sharing everything with me about how Prospera really works; if I hear anything about you being targeted I¡¯ll warn you.¡±

    ¡°And what would I do? Where would I go? We¡¯re trapped here, surrounded by impassable natural obstacles. I¡¯ve resigned myself to my fate.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll talk to my mother, I¡¯ll tell her that you¡¯re not to be touched; she knows how important you are to me, she¡¯ll listen to me.¡±

    ¡°That won¡¯t sway them; their only concern is the smooth running of Prospera and if they view me as a threat to that then they¡¯re going to eliminate me in some way.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t say that! Don¡¯t talk as if there¡¯s no hope!¡± Hannah pleaded with Kevin, grabbing onto his robe and looking at him with tears in her eyes.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°Hannah! You can¡¯t talk like that when Miranda¡¯s around! Have you forgotten about that?¡± Lisa said, aggressively.

    ¡°You can¡¯t protect her for the rest of her life, eventually she¡¯s going to have to acknowledge the truth about what¡¯s going on around her!¡± Hannah said to Lisa, equally aggressively.

    ¡°You think you can protect Kevin, which he just told you can¡¯t be done, so don¡¯t turn on me for wanting to protect Miranda!¡±

    ¡°You only want to protect her because before her breakdown you thought of her as nothing but a nuisance!¡±

    ¡°Shut up! Miranda and I are in love now and that¡¯s all that matters, that¡¯s why I go out of my way to protect her!¡±

    ¡°What do you mean you¡¯re in love?¡± I asked, nonplussed by what I¡¯d just heard.

    ¡°We¡¯ve been together for two years; we¡¯re a couple,¡± Lisa said to me, taking Miranda¡¯s hand in her own.

    ¡°Is what Hannah said true? Did you used to think of me as a nuisance?¡± Miranda asked Lisa in the distressed tone of voice of hers that always made us worry.

    ¡°That was a long time ago; I was a different person then, completely closed off and self absorbed. You changed that about me, you opened my mind and my heart and because of that I fell in love with you.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t get too intimate with each other when we¡¯re out in the open like this; there may be people watching us,¡± Kevin said coolly.

    ¡°Why would you say something like that? Is it because you¡¯re jealous of what we have? You wish you could have it with Kevin, is that it?¡± Lisa said to Hannah.

    Hannah didn¡¯t have a response for this. I looked around at the four of them unable to comprehend what I was witnessing. How had things gotten this bad? Boiling to the surface before me were issues of jealousy, secrecy, resentment and terror. I didn¡¯t know if this much damage could be repaired and was regretting calling everyone here and creating a situation that had led to the release of all of this.

    ¡°Kevin and I aren¡¯t together because we know what the risks involved are. Do you know how much danger you two are in? I asked my mother about the kind of relationship that you have and she told me that it¡¯s not allowed in Prospera. She said that when two people of the same gender like each other it¡¯s called homosexuality and that in the outside world homosexuals were persecuted and the negative perceptions about them created social discord, that¡¯s why it¡¯s not allowed here.¡±

    ¡°Why are you only telling us now?¡± Lisa asked.

    ¡°I only asked my mother about it this morning, and she asked me if there was any reason in particular I was asking her, clearly referencing you two, so you need to be more careful than you have been.¡±

    Hearing this, Miranda¡¯s composure deserted her and Lisa had to quickly comfort her. The rest of us stood and watched hoping that we weren¡¯t seeing the beginnings of a repeat of what Miranda went through four years ago after their excursion into the forest. Hannah looked genuinely, deeply contrite. She knew that she¡¯d gone too far, that she was wrong not to have been considerate of Miranda¡¯s presence and that there was no reason for her to have been so aggressive with Lisa.

    Somehow our friendship had degenerated so much that we were disregarding each other¡¯s feelings and attacking each other without giving it a second thought. Hannah was right, it had been Kevin that had always held us together and it was no coincidence that we¡¯d started drifting apart when he decided to withdraw from us. What did that say about the strength of the rest of us as individuals? That without Kevin at the centre, our group had lost all integrity, had become weak and fragile. If he continued to separate himself from the rest of us there was frankly no hope for our group¡¯s survival. And why was I the only one who didn¡¯t know about Lisa and Miranda? Was I not considered as much a part of the group because of what Hannah had said about me preferring to spend most of my time reading and writing? Had there been previous occasions when I¡¯d been kept out of the loop like this? I had called everyone together so that we could discuss the possibility of doing something that would bring us closer together, but, at that moment, looking around me at Miranda who was distraught and being comforted by Lisa, Hannah whose face betrayed the enormous contrition she was feeling, and Kevin whose impassivity was wholly inappropriate given the situation, I saw that for far too long we had been unfaithful to the pact we had made as children to always be honest with each other. We¡¯d all been going through and dealing with things by ourselves, increasing the distance between us and altering our attitudes about each other.

    Where we went from there wasn¡¯t clear. We were fractured along multiple fault lines and repairing things, at first glance, looked impossible. Lisa walked off supporting Miranda, Kevin stoically followed not long after, leaving me alone with Hannah, who stayed and started crying from the contrition she was feeling. I didn¡¯t know how to act. I was too shaken to provide any meaningful support to Hannah and I couldn¡¯t be sure if that was what she wanted; she was so consumed by guilt that I could imagine her wanting to be left alone to feel it in its entirety. It was hard to accept that the five of us were done as friends but after witnessing that scene on the beach our chances of returning to the way we used to be looked dispiritingly slim. After a while I did go to Hannah and comfort her and when she regained a reasonable amount of her composure I walked her back to her house, the silence between us reflective of the disbelief we were in about the negative turn that our friendship had taken.

    * * *

    On Fridays Kevin didn¡¯t attend school. He went out on the fishing boat with the regular crewmen as well as three other boys around his age to help bring in a haul of fish that would last the entire village a full week. Once collected, the fish, along with meat from slaughtered animals, was salted and placed in clay drums that were lowered into the icy waters of the lake to keep them from perishing. During winter there was no need to utilise this method of preservation as the snow and ice acted as natural preservants.

    Kevin had been a member of the fishing crew for two years and had become a skilled and valuable member of the crew. He understood every aspect of the work and was the de facto mentor of the other young crew members, thanks in large part to the natural leadership skills that Hannah¡¯s mother Diane and others had recognized in him. When they were below deck rowing out to sea he made sure that the rowing wasn¡¯t being done at a pace that couldn¡¯t be managed by some of the weaker ones. Slowly, he taught each one the various aspects of how fishing worked, from how to tie the knots when the nets needed to be repaired to the methods used for identifying the best location for fishing, the most commonly used one being searching for blue herring that are diving in and out of the water. Once they¡¯d gotten there the crew stopped rowing and made their way above deck and got to work unfurling the nets so that they could begin casting. Every week the routine was the same: the first net was pulled out of the sea, tied up and secured to the side of the boat after which the second net was cast which was secured to the opposite side of the boat. Two full nets was always enough to last the entire village a full week, unless we were having a festival or a celebration, so after the second net was pulled out and secured to the boat they returned to the dock where the fish nets were offloaded and opened up on the deck where the fish were salted before being placed in eight large clay drums which were then transported by horse-drawn wagons to the lake where they were lowered onto an underwater platform and sealed.

    During the fishing expedition that he went on the Friday after our contentious meeting at the beach, Kevin experienced what he believed was the fulfilment of what had always been his greatest fear. While the boat was stationary at the location of a shoal of fish and he and three crew members were pulling the second net out of the water one of the other crew members brought one of the oars above deck to push some seaweed off the bow of the boat that had been making it harder to achieve forward movement. When he was done he lifted the oar onto his shoulder and when he turned to head back below deck he struck Kevin hard on the back of his head with the oar, throwing him over the side of the boat and into the water. The contact was purely accidental, but for Kevin there was only one way of interpreting it.

    The knock that he¡¯d sustained wasn¡¯t strong enough to render him unconscious or even to split him open. He hit the water and, upon realizing what had happened and reaching the conclusion that it had been decided that the time had come to ¡®deal with him¡¯, he started swimming.

    ¡°Kevin, where are you going? Come back! You¡¯ll get eaten by a shark if you stay out there!¡± The crew yelled after him.

    Kevin heard them but he had no intention of turning around, stopping or even slowing down. He believed that he had been fortunate enough to escape with his life and he wasn¡¯t going to allow the chance he¡¯d been afforded to save himself slip away. Not caring what direction he was going in, he swam; with all his might he swam. The weather that day was unpleasant, it was cloudy and windy and the ocean was choppy. The crew members on the boat were exhausted from rowing and from pulling up the nets. Rowing after Kevin in those conditions would take too much energy, energy that they needed to quickly get back because the likelihood of a storm was high. They didn¡¯t go after him.

    Kevin swam relentlessly until he looked around him and couldn¡¯t see the boat anywhere. All he could see, far in the distance, were the sea cliffs. With nowhere else to go he swam for the coastline on the other side of the cliffs, intending to come up with a plan for what to do next after he¡¯d taken a moment there to catch his breath.

 ESCAPE part 1

    ESCAPE

    Hannah

    News of Kevin¡¯s disappearance travelled fast. One of the boy¡¯s on the fishing crew was particularly fond of Kevin and was unable to remain calm about what had happened when the boat returned to dock despite being told to do so by the crew leader. He talked loudly and hysterically about how Kevin had been knocked overboard and had swum off into the distance. The people who were gathered at the deck to witness the haul of fish come in all overheard him, returned to the village and started talking about it. There was no time for the governing authorities to take control of the story; the news that Kevin had been knocked overboard by an oar and had swum away spread through the village like wildfire.

    The news reached me when I was walking to the library to do some studying and I overheard it being discussed at our residential area¡¯s food collection point. Upon hearing the news my body and mind completely shut down. I dropped all of the books I was carrying to the floor and stood motionless for a number of seconds. I needed to be shaken out of my paralysis by Esmeralda, the woman who was supervising the food collection point. Returning to full consciousness I quickly picked up the books that I remembered nobody else was supposed to see and ran to the Central Administration building to confront my mother. All I had heard from the conversation that had been taking place at the food collection point was that the fishing boat had returned without Kevin, instantly bringing to mind the incident years ago when a boy of similar age hadn¡¯t returned on the fishing boat and had been declared dead at sea. The weather that day, I remembered, had also been cloudy and windy. The thought entered my mind that perhaps they chose days when there would be bad weather to get rid of somebody on the boat so that they could label it as an accident that had resulted from the bad weather.

    When I reached my mother¡¯s office in the Central Administration building there was no talk of a freak weather related accident. My mother was being informed of the situation by an Ethics Committee staff member who, from what I briefly heard before I entered, was telling her that Kevin may still be alive and that they had a number of options for how to deal with the situation.

    ¡°What did you do?¡± I entered and asked my mother, who was sitting behind her desk.

    ¡°Jacob, could you leave us please,¡± my mother said to him calmly and peremptorily, a request he immediately complied with, ¡°Hannah, sit down, we need to talk.¡±

    ¡°What did you do to Kevin?¡± I asked, unable to restrain my anger.

    ¡°Nobody did anything to Kevin, what happened was an accident.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lying! How could you do this? You know how much he means to me.¡±

    ¡°Hannah, you need to compose yourself. What happened to Kevin was an accident; that oar striking him on the back of his head was pure clumsiness.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡±

    ¡°Is there any reason why Kevin would have interpreted this as a malicious act?¡±

    ¡°Yes, you¡¯ve had it in for him for years, taking him out of school and making him work in the stables, assigning him to the fishing boat which has claimed lives before; he¡¯s known for a long time that you don¡¯t want him as a citizen of Prospera.¡±

    ¡°We had very specific reasons for doing all of those things, reasons that I won¡¯t go into now because we¡¯re pressed for time; Kevin may still be alive and we need to find him, do you know of anywhere that he might have gone?¡±

    ¡°Why do you want to find him?¡±

    ¡°So that we can bring him back safely and explain to him that this was all a misunderstanding and that there is no reason for him to be afraid of anything.¡±

    ¡°How can I believe you, given everything that I know and have seen?¡±

    ¡°Do you think that we wanted to kill Kevin and leave his body out at sea? Killing each other is what they do in the outside world; it is not what we do here! The people who founded Prospera did so to escape all of that, there has never been one single incident of one person killing another person here! You should know better than to suggest as much.¡±  Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    It simply wasn¡¯t possible for me to believe that my mother was telling me the truth, not after all that we¡¯d lived through and not with the way she was speaking to me. It was clear that her tone of voice, her demeanour and the words with which she¡¯d spoken that they were all intended to assuage my doubts. Who is this woman? I asked myself. I had seen so many different sides of my mother that it was becoming impossible for me to identify the real Diane. At that moment the person sitting before me was not my mother, it was the deputy head of the Education Committee and a Prospera prefect whose sole interest was in achieving the most satisfactory outcome to the crisis that she found herself faced with. I didn¡¯t give my mother any information about how they might go about locating Kevin; I didn¡¯t have any information to give and if I did I wouldn¡¯t have given her any of it, to do so would have been a potentially fatal betrayal of Kevin.

    I was scared, more than I¡¯d ever been before. In all the years that we¡¯d been suspicious and distrustful of Prospera never before had what we feared been so real. I had thought often before about the possibility that a day would come when I wouldn¡¯t see Kevin and would never see him again. The day that I had been living in fear of had arrived, and none of the time that I had spent imagining what it would be like had prepared me for what actually losing Kevin would do to me. I walked out of my mother¡¯s office and the Central Administration building feeling numb from head to toe. There was the possibility that he was still alive out there somewhere for me to cling to, but he couldn¡¯t survive on his own and there was nowhere for him to escape to. And what would happen if he was found? Was my mother telling the truth, would he be brought back safely? Or would they finish the job? More than anything else it was the powerlessness I felt that was causing me to desert my body. A crew of fresh men was going to be taking the fishing boat out to look for Kevin, while I could do nothing but wait for news. That news might come soon, informing me that they¡¯d found him alive or that they¡¯d found his body, or it might take days, in which case they would be declaring him dead and would cease searching for him.

    I walked home like an apparition, in despair, feeling hopeless and abandoned, unsure of how I should approach the future. Investing hope in him coming back felt too risky and resigning myself to having lost him forever was too painful. When I arrived home my house was empty, freeing me to express how I was feeling without restraint. I ran up to my room, threw myself on my bed and cried as if Kevin was dead. My body retched with every deep sob, my pillow was soaking wet in a matter of seconds. I curled up into a ball clutching my pillow to my face, screaming into it. The thought of Kevin being gone was tearing me apart from the inside out. Had I been left alone I would have remained in my bed crying and wailing into my pillow until I fell asleep from exhaustion, after which I would have woken up and started crying all over again. Lisa and Miranda arrived at my house not long after I¡¯d thrown myself on my bed and started crying and gave me something more substantial to hold onto than a pillow. Holding onto my friends and letting go of all of my feelings, I was able to eventually get sufficient control of myself to talk through the situation with them.

    ¡°Is he still alive?¡± Lisa asked me when my crying had subsided and I¡¯d removed my head from their shoulders.

    ¡°Possibly, they say he swam away from the boat after he got knocked overboard.¡±

    ¡°There are only two places he could¡¯ve swum to: the other side of either of the sea cliffs,¡± Lisa said.

    ¡°That¡¯s if he didn¡¯t tire himself out swimming and drown,¡± I said, giving voice to a worry I¡¯d only just developed.

    ¡°You know Kevin would never let something like that happen, he¡¯s too strong, which means he¡¯s definitely still alive,¡± Miranda said, her words typifying her trademark optimism, ¡°We have to go look for him.¡±

    ¡°We can¡¯t, if they find out we¡¯re not afraid to swim far out into the ocean it¡¯ll mean big trouble for us,¡± Lisa said, her words typifying her trademark rationality and sagacity.

    ¡°But if we don¡¯t look for him¡­¡±

    ¡°If we go looking for him we might also lead them right to him,¡± Lisa said, cutting off Miranda, ¡°Have you talked to your mother about this?¡± She turned to me and asked.

    I nodded my head, communicating to her that I had.

    ¡°What did she say about what happened?¡±

    ¡°She said that it was an accident, clumsiness on the part of one of the crew members.¡±

    ¡°Do you believe her?¡±

    I shook my head.

    ¡°If Kevin is alive, it¡¯s not in the interests of the governing authorities to bring him back,¡± Lisa said.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± Miranda asked her.

    ¡°He would have been out in the ocean a long time; if he comes back alive it would reveal to everyone that the ocean isn¡¯t as dangerous as they¡¯d been told it is.¡±

    ¡°So then we have to go and look for him and bring him back ourselves, before they find him and do something to him,¡± Miranda said animatedly.

    ¡°No, if Kevin is alive he¡¯s most likely figured all of this out himself; we need to trust that he can take care of himself and figure out a way to get himself to some kind of safety,¡± I said.

    This wasn¡¯t an easy conclusion for me to reach. I trusted Kevin¡¯s intelligence and abilities more than anyone else¡¯s but how could I live with myself if he was still alive and we did nothing to help him and the news reached us that he was dead? I reassured myself about my decision by reminding myself that there was nothing else I could do. Everything that Lisa had said was correct; the risks involved, to us and to Kevin, should we decide to try and find him, were too great. Despite having reached this conclusion and this decision I was still in a state of overwhelming panic. Having Lisa and Miranda there with me was a big help. It felt good not to be attacking and yelling at each other like we had been only a few days earlier on the beach. Not being able to trust my own mother their friendship was all I could count on to aid me in getting through this episode; that we had gotten back to being concerned about and trusting of each other was wonderful.

 ESCAPE part 2

    Miranda

    In the wake of Kevin¡¯s disappearance, Lisa and I decided that the most prudent thing to do would be to take a break from each other physically. Of the five of us the only one who wasn¡¯t guilty of having done anything that might be cause for concern for the governing authorities was Darren; he was the only one who was safe. The three of us had to be extra careful, me and Lisa especially. As it had Hannah, the news of Kevin¡¯s disappearance shattered me and Lisa in more ways than one. It was heartbreaking to think that we¡¯d lost him, and the idea that we could somehow keep everything that we were doing concealed or that if discovered we would be granted leniency was also shattered. As ¡®homosexuals¡¯, the likelihood that a similar fate to that which had befallen Kevin would befall us was so high as to practically be a certainty.

    Unlike when I¡¯d lost my composure on the beach following some of the revelations that had emerged, I reacted to the news about Kevin by employing the same fortitude that I had employed when Lisa started displaying her extreme discontent with our situation. I accepted Lisa¡¯s suggestion that we stop secretly meeting without protest. Following the incident with Kevin, Lisa had let go of her moral indignation and had quickly accepted and adjusted to the fact that we now had incontrovertible evidence that our lives were in danger. We couldn¡¯t be sure that our relationship wasn¡¯t already known about or if our decision not to have any more assignations would actually make us safer; regardless it was a step that the situation necessitated.

    The transition was going to be difficult; for two years our lives had revolved around the physical intimacy we enjoyed in secret. Without it our days would pass in dullness; the time we were together would be consumed with longing. All of that, however, was insignificant when compared to what had happened to Kevin and the pain it was causing Hannah. She was inconsolably distraught when we entered her room and found her on her bed, screaming tears into her pillow. The tremulous feeling of her body when she held onto us was hard to bear. I decided then that there was no explanation for why Hannah was being made to go through this that I would find acceptable. The line that we¡¯d consistently heard growing up was that everything that was done in Prospera was done for the good of us all; this incident with Kevin was not compatible with that at all. Had the pain that this action had inflicted upon Hannah been taken into consideration at all? What about the pain that Kevin¡¯s parents would be feeling? Kevin¡¯s parents would most likely be inclined to believe the governing authorities¡¯ explanation of the situation, which would be that this was an accident and that they were working hard to look for him so that they could bring him back alive. Should Kevin not be returned alive they wouldn¡¯t have to deal with the horrible possibility that their son had been selected and targeted for extermination.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    Over the past two years¡ªand in the past week especially¡ªI had been disillusioned about Prospera to the degree that my illusions could never be reformed. Me and Lisa needing to hide our love because we were afraid we might be punished for it, finding out from Hannah that we would have been punished had we been discovered, and now Kevin, who we all loved and looked up to, was missing under suspicious circumstances. If what was considered to be for the good of us all was denying people the opportunity to be happy by telling them who they are and aren¡¯t allowed to love and getting rid of people who they view as threats then no longer could I believe in Prospera and the foundation of values upon which it was built.

    My final break with Prospera didn¡¯t produce the traumatic response that I had experienced four years ago when we¡¯d gone into the forest and I¡¯d come face to face for the first time with the deception of Prospera. A lot had changed since then, most notably me. I had grown to have unshakeable faith in the steadfast friendship of Lisa, Hannah, Darren and Kevin; their support had replaced the value system of Prospera as the ballast with which I kept myself steady.

    Lisa

    I was going to find out, in the coming days, how far beyond the physical my attraction to Miranda went. I couldn¡¯t lie to myself any more about the jealousy I felt over Darren and Penny¡¯s growing closeness. I needed to know if this meant that my feelings for Miranda were nothing more than superficial in nature, because if they were then they were not worth risking our lives for. I didn¡¯t want anyone close to me having to deal with what all of us who were close to Kevin were dealing with. What they had done to Kevin was nothing short of ruthless. For the sake of maintaining a calm presence in the room I hadn¡¯t shared with Hannah and Miranda that I was just as shaken by the news about Kevin as they were. One of us needed to remain calm and rational, providing clear analysis of the situation and formulating a way forward for us to avoid becoming victims of the sort of tragedy of which Kevin had been a victim.

    My greatest concern was for Miranda. Our relationship had come into being because I had made the first move, kissing her when she was sitting on my bed one of the nights of the camping trip. Should something happen to her it would be my fault, had I not done that we wouldn¡¯t be together and we wouldn¡¯t be in danger. I was concerned for Hannah as well, of course, greatly concerned, but as Miranda¡¯s girlfriend I had a responsibility to her that I didn¡¯t have to Hannah.

    When we were in Hannah¡¯s room with her, holding her as she cried and discussing the situation with her, Miranda had displayed none of the anxiety that I was expecting from her given what we were dealing with. Her composure was a radical departure from the reactions that we were accustomed to seeing from her. Had she, without my knowing it, transformed to the extent that she no longer needed to lean on us as pillars of support whenever she had an uncomfortable truth revealed to her?

    If Miranda was being more careful and selective about where she placed her trust that was good, she was going to need to be strong, because my feeling was that this turmoil with Kevin was only just beginning.

 ESCAPE part 3

    Hannah

    One day passed, then two, then three, without any news about Kevin, just the same answer of ¡®We¡¯re looking for him, when I have news I¡¯ll share it with you¡¯ that I received from my mother every time I asked her about him. Time dragged by as I waited for news about Kevin. Most of my time I spent sitting on the beach, looking out at the ocean which had claimed him. Lisa and Miranda did their best to be there for me but I was beyond their comforting. As each day gave way to the next my hopes of seeing Kevin grew fainter. The truth was that I didn¡¯t want Miranda and Lisa with me; I just wanted to be alone. Nothing could make me forget about Kevin being gone. I loved him; the pain caused by the thought of him being gone couldn¡¯t be understood by Lisa or Miranda, they still had each other. I felt a need to feel what I was feeling alone, to privately come to terms with the vast multitude of feelings that took turns assailing me: grief over Kevin possibly being dead, regret at not having made more of the time he was with us, confusion over whether I could trust my mother, and, more than any of the others, anger, at Prospera, my mother, my grandfather and at my inability to do anything about my anger. I couldn¡¯t look for him, I couldn¡¯t look for evidence to prove that he¡¯d been the victim of foul play, I couldn¡¯t air any of my suspicions publicly in an attempt to drum up public pressure on the governing authorities to get them to come clean, were I to do any of these things all that would happen was I would end up like Kevin: eliminated for the sake of the greater purpose that Prospera served.

    I wanted to be alone because the truth was that I was alone, we all were. When tragedy struck we had no recourse, no opportunities for closure. The tight-knit community that Prospera was supposed to be was a myth. All of us, as individuals, were subject to the laws of obedience and silence that Prospera demanded we follow for the sake of its continued functioning. First Martha whose baby my mother unilaterally decided would be killed and now the disappearance of Kevin; I¡¯d seen with my own eyes too much of the other side of Prospera for me to believe that it was anything but an evil place. Every day I sat watching the ocean feeling my hope in seeing Kevin again draining away and feeling myself being rapidly consumed by the most opaque sadness. At night I couldn¡¯t sleep. Alone, in the dark, my thoughts were more difficult to live with than they were in the day. After five days there was still no news about Kevin and I was fast approaching the point at which I gave up on ever seeing him again. Until, that fifth night, there was a knock on my bedroom window at a bizarrely late hour.

    ¡°Kevin!¡± I said when I saw his face, more loudly than I should have.

    He was standing to the side of my window on the thin stone ledge that separated the first floor from the second floor. I instantly opened my window and he climbed into my room, taking great pains to be as quite as possible. He was dishevelled, dirty and he smelled, none of which mattered to me. I was just happy to see him, so happy that I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly despite his malodorous scent. There was so much that I wanted to ask him: What happened on the boat? How did he escape? Where had he been sleeping? How had he been surviving? I had so many questions for him racing through my mind that I couldn¡¯t get one out and I ended up not saying anything.

    ¡°Do you have any food in the house? I¡¯m starving,¡± He asked me.

    ¡°Sure, wait here.¡±

    I very quietly left my room and went downstairs to the kitchen to get the plate of food that I hadn¡¯t eaten at dinner due to my loss of appetite. On my plate was a pork chop, salad and a roll of bread. I returned to my room with it and Kevin wasted no time in devouring all of it.

    ¡°This is my first time eating meat in five days; I¡¯ve been sneaking into the village at night and stealing fruit from the orchards and vegetables from the farms.¡±

    ¡°How have you been sneaking in and out of the village? They¡¯ve been watching the coast non-stop since your disappearance.¡±

    ¡°I found a place where I¡¯m able to climb over the mountain. I took a couple of hard falls the first couple of times I tried it but now I¡¯m able to do it almost expertly.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been staying on the other side of the mountain? In the forest?¡±

    ¡°I found a cave where I sleep, and there¡¯s a stream where I get water.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re saying that what happened to you was an accident; that they¡¯re out there looking for you so that they can bring you back.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve seen them in the forest; I¡¯ve had to work really hard to stay out of their sight. And as for what happened to me being an accident, I don¡¯t believe that for a second.¡±

    ¡°It is possible that they¡¯re telling the truth; I mean, why would they try to eliminate you when there were others on the boat watching, some of whom looked up to you and considered you a friend?¡±

    ¡°They wanted it to look like an accident so that they could get away with it. They want me dead, I¡¯ve known that for a long time and this proves it; I can never come back here.¡±

    ¡°Why did you come and see me then?¡±

    ¡°To let you know that I¡¯m still alive, and to tell you that I¡¯m going to try and make contact with the outside world.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t do that! You won¡¯t survive! Nobody who¡¯s ever ventured far into the forest has come back alive!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s what they told us, but I don¡¯t believe anything they¡¯ve ever told us. We already know that what they told us about the sharks in the ocean was a lie; I¡¯ve been living in the forest for a week so what they told us about it being full of bears and wolves the size of houses was also clearly a lie, and I¡¯m willing to bet that what they told us about the outside world being completely obliterated by nuclear bombs was also a lie.¡±

    ¡°What if you¡¯re wrong? What if by coming back here you¡¯d be safe and by going off in search of the outside world you would be putting yourself in danger?¡±

    ¡°Hannah, you know I¡¯m right. This is my only shot at survival, I have to do this. I¡¯m going to sneak into the village one more time tomorrow night to steal as much food as I can and then I¡¯m leaving; this is the last time we¡¯ll ever see each other.¡±

    Kevin left no room for doubting the seriousness of his words. The finality of them was absolute, sucking all of the oxygen out of the room and paralyzing me. It didn¡¯t seem real to me that Kevin would be alive and I wouldn¡¯t be able to see him. The idea of it was so strange that I didn¡¯t know how to react and allowed the moment of our separation to go by without saying or doing anything to create an indelible memory of it. Kevin said good-bye, climbed out of my window and was gone, never to be seen by me again. That night I was up all night, unable to sleep a wink. The next day, during our first recess at school, I pulled Darren, Lisa and Miranda far away from everyone and informed them of Kevin¡¯s appearance at my window and of his plan for escaping to safety. Like I had been they were all relieved to hear that he was still alive and were also doubtful about his ability to make it through the forest, fearful that if he tried it would be the death of him.  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    ¡°You have to talk to your mother again, find out if she was being sincere when she said that they don¡¯t want to do any harm to Kevin,¡± Darren suggested.

    ¡°Do you know how many lies my mother has told? How convincing she¡¯s able to appear when she¡¯s lying? She can¡¯t be trusted.¡±

    ¡°What about your grandfather, the head of the Ethics Committee? Have you spoken to him?¡±

    ¡°I understand him less, far less, than I understand my mother; talking to him is not an option.¡±

    ¡°Is there anything that we can do to help Kevin?¡± Lisa asked, ¡°You said that he was going to be coming back tonight to steal more food from the farms, we could meet him there.¡±

    ¡°He said he hasn¡¯t eaten meat since he¡¯s been gone, we could sneak some out of the drums by the lake for him to eat during his trip, and we could put together some supplies for him: tools, warm clothing, a blanket, definitely a bar of soap,¡± I said.

    ¡°This may be our last chance to save him; are you sure you don¡¯t want to trust your mother and the governing authorities and tell them where he¡¯s going to be tonight?¡± Miranda asked me.

    ¡°No! And don¡¯t you dare tell them behind our backs! You could be condemning him to death if you do!¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that happening, she¡¯s changed, her blind faith in Prospera is long gone,¡± Lisa said, turning her head and looking at Miranda with a smile on her face.

    ¡°Took you long enough,¡± I said to Miranda.

    ¡°I think we should go with Hannah¡¯s idea, we should do everything we can to help Kevin,¡± Lisa said, ¡°We should all bring some food, the clothes will have to come from Darren, and we¡¯ll need to put together a list of the most essential instruments he¡¯ll need.¡±

    We agreed that Lisa was right, and after school got to work collecting everything we thought Kevin might need to help him get through the forest: a piece of flint, a hatchet for chopping wood, a frying pan for cooking, two blankets, a water canteen, a lantern, two small bottles of oil (one for burning and one for cooking), a knife, antiseptic cream and bandages in case he gets hurt and enough meat to last him a few days. The meat we wrapped in paper and tied with a string and placed in a satchel along with everything else, except the blankets which we rolled together and secured to the satchel. Not knowing exactly what time Kevin would be returning to the village we all left our houses as soon as we possibly could and headed to the orchards to wait for him. Because my parents worked late into the night I was the last one to arrive. Lisa, Darren and Miranda were waiting among the apple trees, the most logical place to wait for Kevin since most of the other fruits had been picked for pickling in honey in barrels ahead of the winter.

    It was cold out. At home we would have been under two blankets with a fire burning in our room keeping us warm. Outside, all we had to keep us warm were our thick winter robes that we were wearing over our pyjamas. We sat close together at the base of one of the trees in an effort to keep ourselves warm. We were too nervous to talk, fearful of being heard and detected by someone who might be outside and in our vicinity. The hours went by in utter silence; the wait was so long that Miranda fell asleep on Lisa¡¯s shoulder. They looked really sweet together; it was wrong that what they had was forbidden in Prospera. Waiting for Kevin to arrive that night afforded me plenty of time to reflect on the series of events that had gotten us to where we were as well as on what it all meant for my future in Prospera. With all of the misgivings that I had about the ways in which so many things were done in Prospera I didn¡¯t understand how it could be possible for me to one day assume a role on the Ethics Committee. Things were done in Prospera in a certain way because that¡¯s the way they¡¯d always been done, as head of the Ethics Committee it would be my job to uphold all of those practices and traditions; how could I do that if there were so many that I disagreed with and would always disagree with? I could never look upon Lisa and Miranda as being abnormal because of the way they felt about each other; I could never look upon Kevin¡¯s curiosity and intelligence with anything but admiration, and rather than forcing people to submit to having their babies killed I would try to find a humane way of ensuring the sustainability of Prospera. If I was confident about Prospera¡¯s willingness to adopt the kinds of changes I would want to make as a member of the Ethics Committee I wouldn¡¯t be so dubious about my suitability for the role, and if I wasn¡¯t going to become a member of the Ethics Committee then what was I going to do? I had been studying from the ¡®Dark Books¡¯ so most likely I would be put to work in one of the influential committees like the Education Committee. But would I be happy there? Was it possible for me to be happy in Prospera with everything that I knew, especially with not having Kevin with me?

    None of these thoughts that I was having would be easy to resolve; they were so troubling that I had become completely absorbed in them and had I been alone they would have caused me to miss Kevin¡¯s arrival. Fortunately Darren was alert and was able to spot him as he was moving swiftly from tree to tree grabbing as much low hanging fruit as he could. We waited for him to get close to us before we made our presence known to avoid him getting spooked by us and running off.

    ¡°Kevin!¡± I jumped out from behind the tree and said to him when he was about two trees away.

    ¡°Hannah?¡± He asked, clearly astonished to see me there, ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    ¡°We brought some things for you that we thought would help you on your journey, here,¡± I said, holding out the bag to him.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± he said, taking the bag from me.

    ¡°Are you really going to try and make it to the outside world?¡± Darren asked him.

    ¡°It¡¯s my only option; I can¡¯t come back here and I can¡¯t keep living in the forest forever.¡±

    ¡°Do you really think that you can make it?¡± Lisa asked him.

    ¡°There¡¯s only one way to find out.¡±

    ¡°How will you live in the outside world if you don¡¯t know anything about it?¡± Lisa asked him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine, and like I said, I have no other options.¡±

    ¡°What if the outside world really has been destroyed by nuclear war and is uninhabitable? What will you do, will you come back?¡± Miranda asked him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s what I¡¯ll find, I think that¡¯s a lie they¡¯ve been telling us to scare us into staying here.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re right, will you come back and tell us about the outside world?¡± Miranda asked him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t plan on coming back, no matter what I find.¡±

    ¡°So this is really it then? We¡¯re never going to see you after this?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°I told you that last night.¡±

    I had thought that I had digested most of the shock from Kevin¡¯s announcement the previous night that I wouldn¡¯t be seeing him again. I hadn¡¯t. Looking at him that night I couldn¡¯t accept never seeing him again. At that moment, all at once, my problems with Prospera and my inability to conceive of life without Kevin confluenced and came to a head.

    ¡°I¡¯m coming with you.¡±

    ¡°No, Hannah, it¡¯s too dangerous,¡± Kevin responded.

    ¡°I can¡¯t stay here; I don¡¯t trust this place anymore, and I can¡¯t be happy knowing that you¡¯re out there somewhere and I can¡¯t see you.¡±

    There was silence after I said this. Kevin, I gleaned from the look on his face, was struggling to decide whether he should allow me to join him.

    ¡°I¡¯m coming too.¡±

    ¡°Miranda?¡± Lisa turned to her and asked, flabbergasted by what she¡¯d heard.

    ¡°If we stay here we have two options: we stop seeing each other or we continue seeing each other and live in constant fear of what happened to Kevin happening to us; I don¡¯t want to stay in a place that won¡¯t allow us to be together, so I¡¯m going too,¡± Miranda said to Lisa, taking her face in her hands, ¡°come with us,¡± she said, looking imploringly into Lisa¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°How can we leave? We¡¯ve got no plan, we only packed enough supplies in that bag for one person; what happens if we run out of food and water and still have a long way to go before we¡¯re out of the forest?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t care about any of that; I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll be able to come up with something should that be the case, and this might be the only chance we get to be together without fear of any consequences.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re coming with me we¡¯re going to need to go now, the cave where I¡¯ve been sleeping isn¡¯t close and we¡¯re going to need to wake up early and start moving to avoid being spotted by a search party.¡±

    With that Kevin walked off, leaving it up to us to decide if we were going with him. I followed him without hesitation and was shortly followed by Miranda, pulling Lisa along by her arm.

    ¡°Are you guys seriously leaving? For good?¡± Darren asked from behind us.

    ¡°You¡¯re welcome to come with us,¡± Miranda said back to him, not slowing her gait.

    Darren didn¡¯t follow us; he remained rooted to the ground where he was standing and watched us walk away. None of us were expecting Darren to follow us; four years ago when we went into the forest he was the only one who¡¯d stayed behind.

    Leaving Prospera that night, I felt immeasurably more exhilarated than I had when we¡¯d gone into the forest. This was for good, we were leaving behind our sheltered lives in Prospera to fend for ourselves in the wild, after which we¡¯d have to adapt to whatever awaited us in the outside world. A brand new chapter in our lives was beginning, one that was full of mystery and discovery.

 ESCAPE part 4

    Miranda

    It was an easy decision to follow Hannah and Kevin as they embarked upon leaving Prospera. We were choosing freedom, to be ourselves and to live our lives without them being directed all along the way by Prospera. The five days that Lisa and I had spent without being physically intimate had been torture. When I grabbed her by the hand to bring her along with me was the first time that I had touched her without worrying about anybody watching us and how they might interpret the physical contact between us. That night, running through the orchard behind Kevin and Miranda, I felt the freedom that awaited us once we left Prospera.

    After exiting the apple orchard we ran around behind one of the sheds that housed the apple juice storage tanks. There Kevin told us that the spot where he had been sneaking in and out of Prospera was in the short valley that led to the cabins where we went for the camping trips and that we wouldn¡¯t be getting there by taking the road, we¡¯d be darting through the processing plants where fruit was made into juice and the warehouses where it was stored to avoid detection.

    Upon reaching the valley we followed Kevin through a dense layer of spruce trees on the left hand side of the path to the rock face of the mountain. The three of us stood back and watched as Kevin began his ascent of the rock face. The gradient and surface of the rock face were favourable for climbing, the slope was manageable and the rock was craggy like it was at the sea cliffs; grip was not going to be a problem. Above this first section of the rock face was a ledge, above which was a second section of rock face that we needed to climb to get to a second ledge from where, Kevin informed us, we would be able to all but walk to the top of the mountain. Kevin flew up the rock face to the first ledge and as you would expect Hannah was the first to follow Kevin in undertaking the climb, fearlessly grabbing onto the rock face and climbing up toward the ledge where Kevin was waiting for us. She made it up to him without any problems; not once did a hand or a foot of hers miss a mark or slip from where she¡¯d placed it. Lisa insisted that I go next; she wanted to remain at the bottom to be in a position to catch me should I fall.

    I approached the rock face nervously; my placement of my hands and feet on the protrusions and in the notches that Kevin and Hannah had used to climb up was unsure and I returned to the ground a few times before committing myself to making it all the way up. I made my way up slowly, scared of falling but determined not to disappoint the others. Hannah and Kevin both reached down and helped to pull me up when I was near the ledge, leaving Lisa as the last one to scale the first section of the climb up the mountain. Just like Kevin and Hannah she was fearless and confident and ascended the rock face in what seemed like less time that what Kevin had done it in. You wouldn¡¯t know it from looking at her but Lisa was actually very athletic, in strength and endurance she was a match for people like Kevin who had a much more imposing frame. We scaled the second section of rock face in the same order in which we¡¯d scaled the first and were able to make it to the second ledge without any problems. Getting from the second ledge to where Kevin said we¡¯d be able to walk to the top of the mountain from was the most dangerous part of the climb. To get to it we had to first get to a third, narrower ledge that was ahead of us and slightly above us. Reaching the ledge required us to place our left foot on a protruding piece of rock, leap to the ledge and quickly place one of our hands into a notch in the rock face to secure ourselves. Kevin went first; both to demonstrate how to do it and to be there to grab and secure whichever one of us needed assistance. Hannah went next. She didn¡¯t need Kevin¡¯s help getting up to the ledge but she did need his help to get around him so that Kevin could remain at the edge in case Lisa and I needed his help. I went after Hannah, and like when I¡¯d started climbing the rock face I was apprehensive and my movements lacked confidence. My left leg was shaky as I placed it on the rock protrusion and my right leg, which I was to leap with, was even shakier. The second I made the jump, I knew I¡¯d done it wrong. I hadn¡¯t pushed off the protrusion with enough force and I could feel, as I was travelling through the air, that my trajectory was all wrong. Sensing impending disaster, my mind went blank. When I came too a moment later I had no firm ground beneath my feet; Kevin was holding onto my arm, and Hannah was shouting words at me that, in my paralyzed state, I couldn¡¯t hear.

    ¡°YOUR HAND! GIVE ME YOUR HAND!¡± I eventually heard her saying to me.

    I did, and the two of them pulled me to safety. Kevin and Hannah had looks of enormous relief on their faces when I was safely on the ledge next to them. Below us, Lisa was in tears and covering her mouth with her hands; my perilously close brush with danger had been nerve-wracking for her to watch. There not being any time for us to dwell on anything, Lisa quickly composed herself and perfectly executed her jump up to the ledge. The ledge led to a crevice in the mountain, the gradient of which was gentle enough for us to walk the rest of the way to the top of the mountain.

    From the top of Guardian Mountain we were afforded a view of Prospera that was truly breathtaking. All of the streets were lit by the lanterns, revealing the perfect concentric circles in which the four residential areas were arranged in the middle of which was the conically shaped schoolhouse. With the illumination from the full moon we were able to clearly see the entire village: from the bucolic beauty of the pastures where the livestock grazed, the orchards and the grain fields to the architectural splendour of the Central Administrations Building, the library and the schoolhouse; from the engineering marvel of the mill turning under the power of the waterfall to the waves of the iridescent ocean striking the pristine white sands of the beach; Prospera was undeniably a magnificent place, as an accomplishment it was something to be immensely proud of.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    There was a moment, standing up there and looking down on the splendour of the only home we¡¯d ever known, that I wondered if we were doing the right thing. What were the chances of us ending up in a place that was as safe and comfortable to live in as Prospera? There was every possibility that we were making a huge mistake, and the more I looked down on the outward perfection of Prospera lit brilliantly by the moon the more I doubted the decision to leave that, only minutes earlier, I was fervently in agreement with. The touch of Miranda¡¯s hand as she slipped it into mine and firmly took hold of it relieved me of these doubts by reminding me of why I¡¯d been so eager to join Kevin and Hannah in leaving Prospera.

    ¡°Come on,¡± she whispered to me, pulling me gently by my hand.

    I turned my back on Prospera expecting never to see it again and walked in the direction Kevin was leading us. It was time to climb down the mountain and enter the forest.

    Lisa

    I knew after one day of not sharing any physical intimacy with Miranda that my love for her was real and that my jealousy over Darren and Penny¡¯s closeness was nothing more than mere pettiness. The five days we spent effectively separated from each other were interminable. All I could think of every second was Miranda; how much I missed her touch, how long it would be before I felt it again. These thoughts grew increasingly torturous as the days went by and were threatening to consume me until we got the news about Kevin and being there for Hannah became our only concern.

    From the moment I heard about Kevin¡¯s disappearance I had no doubt that he was fine and that he was probably in hiding someplace where he could plot a way forward, nor did I have any doubt that what happened to him was not an accident. I was pleased to discover that Hannah felt the same way. The calm and composure that she displayed following her initial breakdown upon receiving the news of Kevin¡¯s disappearance was quite remarkable. It was thanks to her excellent suggestions that we were able to put together a comprehensive collection of supplies to aid Kevin. It came as no surprise to me to hear Hannah say to Kevin that she wanted to leave with him; she loved him and as such it was impossible for her to forgive Prospera for trying to kill him. The big shock was Miranda stepping forward and saying that she wanted to go too. I knew that she had changed but I had no idea that she had changed so much that she would want to leave Prospera. I agreed completely with all of her reasons for wanting to leave Prospera; my hesitance in agreeing to go with her was the result of the shock that I was in from hearing her say so confidently that she wanted to leave, not of any misgivings I had about leaving Darren or Prospera behind.

    That night I was easily the most anxious one in our group. Watching Miranda imperil herself by climbing up the side of a mountain put every one of my nerves on edge; watching her jump for the final high ledge and miss and almost fall was more than I could handle. When we were all safely on the third ledge my nerves were able to settle down; the climb up the final part of the mountain was easy and so was the climb down from the top. The part of the mountain that Kevin led us to was one that had suffered an enormous amount of damage. Huge amounts of rock had broken off in what appeared to have been a massive rock slide; to get down to the bottom all we had to do was step from boulder to boulder; we descended to the ground in a fraction of the time it took us to climb up the other side.

    ¡°Stay close to me, the forest gets darker the deeper in we go, even with the moonlight we¡¯re going to struggle to see,¡± Kevin said to us before we entered the forest.

    ¡°We packed a lantern and a small bottle of oil in the bag, we can use it to light our way forward,¡± Hannah responded to him.

    Using the hatchet and the piece of flint, Kevin lit the lantern and led us into the forest. I¡¯d be lying if I said I had complete faith in Kevin and wasn¡¯t at all afraid. Unlike the last time we¡¯d ventured into forest, when our greatest fear was getting caught and the consequences that might entail, my fears this time were of the unknown into which we were proceeding. The forest around us was eerily still and quiet, the only sounds we could hear were our footsteps and our breathing. Kevin had not encountered any dangers during the five days that he¡¯d been living in and moving around the forest but maybe he¡¯d just been lucky, maybe there was danger lurking farther in the forest than he¡¯d been. Should we encounter any danger the only means we¡¯d have for defending ourselves was the hatchet and knife that we¡¯d brought along with us, which, as weapons, were not very reassuring. Fortunately that night we didn¡¯t encounter any dangers, the walk to the cave where Kevin had been sleeping was long and entirely uneventful. We arrived there physically depleted from the journey and wanting only to get some sleep. The floor of the cave was smooth and the two blankets that we¡¯d packed were thick, enough to provide us with a reasonable amount of comfort to bed down on with our thick winter robes providing us with the warmth we needed. Miranda and I would be sharing a blanket and thought that Hannah and Kevin would be doing the same. Hannah asked Kevin if he¡¯d like to share the other blanket with her, but he declined.

    ¡°You get a comfortable rest, you¡¯re going to need it, tomorrow we¡¯re going to be walking all day,¡± he said to her.

    There was no time for us to dwell on what Kevin¡¯s decision not to sleep next to Hannah meant for them; we were so tired that almost the second we bedded down we were asleep.

 ESCAPE part 5

    Hannah

    We woke up the next morning to the smell of meat being cooked. Outside it was still dark; Kevin, at the entrance of the cave, had a fire going and was frying some of the meat we¡¯d packed in the frying pan. Miranda and Lisa still being asleep I thought that I¡¯d have the opportunity to have a few minutes alone with Kevin.

    ¡°Wake the others up, we need to eat and get moving,¡± he said to me when he saw me approaching him.

    He had been very cold to us and to me especially ever since we¡¯d left. I understood that he was worried about what we might be facing in the future and that the added responsibility of the three of us was weighing on him but still, that was no reason for him to be giving us the cold treatment that we were receiving from him. Not wishing to create any discord so early in our trip I said nothing to him about it and walked over to where Miranda and Lisa were sleeping to wake them up. Underneath their thick wool winter robes that they were using as covers they were sleeping in each other¡¯s arms and looked so sweet that I almost couldn¡¯t bring myself to disturb them. Waking up and seeing the person they loved lying next to them brought a happy smile to both Lisa and Miranda¡¯s faces. They kissed even before saying good-morning to each other. The three of us rolled up the blankets and bound them and went outside the cave to join Kevin by the fire. He was pensive and didn¡¯t do a great deal to acknowledge us when we sat down on the ground next to the fire. Miranda and Lisa immediately sensed that there was something off about him and the discomfort that it was making them feel was evident on their faces.

    ¡°How much of the meat are you frying in there?¡± Lisa asked him.

    ¡°About half,¡± he responded curtly.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that too much?¡±

    ¡°There are four of us, and we¡¯re going to be walking all day today so we¡¯re going to need the energy; this is the only meal we¡¯re going to be having until tonight.¡±

    ¡°We have a lot of apples though, should we not be conserving the meat for when we¡¯re desperately hungry?¡±

    ¡°If we conserve it too long it¡¯ll go bad, then it¡¯ll be of no use to us at all.¡±

    Lisa didn¡¯t argue with him any further. Kevin had made his decision as to what was the best way for us to manage our food resources and it didn¡¯t sound like there was any chance of swaying him. I agreed with Lisa that it was perhaps too soon for us to be eating so much of the meat but it didn¡¯t look like it was going to take much to get on Kevin¡¯s bad side. I remained silent and decided to trust that Kevin did have some sort of plan for ensuring our food security. Short term we would be okay; inside the cave one of the bags that were used to transport grain around the village was full of apples that Kevin had been accumulating, there must have been at least fifty in there. We each had a piece of meat and two apples that morning for breakfast, which Kevin said was going to be our only meal until much later that night.

    ¡°Which way are we going to be travelling?¡± I asked while we were eating.

    ¡°First we¡¯re going to walk to the stream where I¡¯ve been getting water and follow that to the river, which we¡¯re going to follow downstream until we¡¯re out of the forest,¡± Kevin answered.

    ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s the quickest way out of here?¡±

    ¡°If we take that route we¡¯ll always have access to water; the canteen you packed is small and we don¡¯t want to get lost here without any water, plus if there are any animals in these woods the place we¡¯re likeliest to spot them is by the river.¡±

    ¡°Why are you worried about where the animals might be?¡±

    ¡°Because that¡¯s where we¡¯re going to have to get our food from.¡±

    Kevin¡¯s plan didn¡¯t put me at ease. Our food security was cause for a great deal of concern if hunting¡ªwith which none of us had any experience¡ªwas his plan for feeding us. It was then that I realized just how large the challenge we had before us was and what a burden it placed on Kevin¡¯s shoulders as the leader of this expedition. We could die out here from any number of things: starvation if we weren¡¯t able to acquire more food, freezing if we didn¡¯t get out of there before it started snowing, and there was still the possibility of there being predators in these woods.

    As soon as we finished eating we set off. Kevin hoisted the bag, which was really quite heavy, up onto his shoulders and grabbed hold of the sack of apples, leaving us with only the light blankets to carry. The responsibility that Kevin had to assume with us coming along was enormous; I saw more of the strain that he was under from what he was taking it upon himself to bear every time I looked at him, and my inability to think of something that I could say or do to alleviate some of the pressure from him was causing me to feel a great amount of strain myself. Lisa and Miranda had each other, they were spared from what I was feeling: alone, shut out, and inadequate to the task of making my usefulness felt, that is if I had any usefulness to offer.

    About thirty minutes into our walk the sky started turning blue and the woods around us became clearer; the trees around us and the ground beneath us were easier to see. We caught our first sightings of some of the animals that resided in the forest, a few birds in the trees and a couple of rabbits running along the ground and into their warrens, nothing that represented a substantial food source. We arrived at the stream that Kevin had been getting water from just after morning had fully broken. We took a break there and had a drink from the stream; Kevin also took the opportunity to fill the water canteen.

    ¡°How long until we reach the river?¡± Lisa asked him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know; this is the furthest I¡¯ve ever been.¡±

    Our walk to the river was long, and arduous. At a small waterfall that we eventually reached we took another break to have a drink and to eat a few apples, undermining Kevin¡¯s plan for rationing our extremely limited food supplies. Getting past the waterfall was an ordeal. The rocks on either side of it were too wet and slippery with moss for us to simply climb down them; we had to backtrack and circle around until we¡¯d found a place where we could circumnavigate the waterfall. All of these obstacles that we had to deal with were forcing us to consume precious time and energy. Most worryingly, in all the time that we had been walking we hadn¡¯t yet seen a single animal that was suitable for hunting. We were in trouble if we didn¡¯t find some soon. The position of the sun in the sky indicated that it was approaching noon and we hadn¡¯t so much as reached the river yet; the journey was proving to be longer than any of us had anticipated it would be and with only enough meat left for one more meal the issue of our food provisions was becoming increasingly concerning.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

    ¡°As soon as we find a place that can serve as an effective shelter I think we should stop, we might not find another place like it,¡± Kevin said to all of us.

    I had been so worried about our food provisions that the question of where we would be bedding down for the night had not occurred to me at all. The were so many factors that needed to be simultaneously kept on top of for us to get through this and Kevin¡¯s mind was focused on them all.

    ¡°We should go up that way,¡± Kevin stopped walking and said, gesturing to his right to a portion of land that was dauntingly steep.

    ¡°You said we shouldn¡¯t stray far from the stream so that we¡¯re always close to water, and it¡¯s so steep, we¡¯re all exhausted,¡± Lisa responded.

    ¡°We¡¯re only going up temporarily, my hope is that the elevation will give us a vantage point from which we can spot some animals and maybe even discern a quicker way out of here.¡±

    Once again Kevin¡¯s reasoning was sound; none of us protested and we all went along with his plan. We trekked up the exhaustingly steep hill behind him, stopping occasionally to rest against a tree. Kevin didn¡¯t take any breaks and reached the top before the three of us had gotten halfway. Even Lisa, whose physical attributes were greater than mine and Miranda¡¯s, was finding it hard going. A part of me resented Kevin for asking so much of us; I was having serious doubts about my ability to make it the rest of the way and for a moment I was tempted to be angry at Kevin for not being more of a gentleman and concerning himself more with our limitations as girls.

    ¡°Hey guys, you have to get up here and see this,¡± he yelled at us from the top.

    The thought of something special waiting for us at the top gave us the motivation we needed to push through our fatigue and make it the rest of the way.

    Kevin was right, the hike was worth it. The top of the hill levelled out to a plateau with a high vertical drop, from which we had a view of absolutely everything.

    ¡°There¡¯s the river,¡± Kevin said, pointing to his left, ¡°and see that? That¡¯s Guardian Mountain,¡± he said, pointing to his right.

    ¡°We¡¯ve travelled that far?¡± Miranda asked, amazed at the distance we had covered.

    The river from which the stream that we had been following broke off was very close, which was encouraging. What wasn¡¯t encouraging was what Lisa pointed out about what we were looking at.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to be in this forest a long time.¡±

    All around us, as far as we could see, was mountainous terrain covered in trees. The challenge before us, which we¡¯d always known was big, looked impossible.

    ¡°Anybody who wants to turn around and go back to Prospera, now¡¯s the time to do it; if we keep going we¡¯re going to be too far to turn back, I¡¯ll even walk back with you if you¡¯re afraid to do it alone,¡± Kevin said to all of us.

    The three of us seriously contemplated what he¡¯d said. The sight of the sheer scale of what was in store for us gave us all second thoughts about carrying on. Continuing the journey we were on was going to push us well past our mental and physical limits. Death from starvation was our likeliest fate. It was a dangerous and extreme undertaking, but for me, in the end, the decision was easy.

    ¡°I¡¯m coming with you, all the way,¡± I turned to Kevin and said confidently.

    ¡°If you want to go back I¡¯ll come with you,¡± Lisa placed a hand on Miranda¡¯s shoulder and said to her, ¡°if you want to keep going then we¡¯ll keep going.¡±

    ¡°Prospera doesn¡¯t want us, right? Why would I want to go back?¡±

    We were all resolute in our desire to continue with Kevin, with that out of the way our focus shifted to planning for the next phase of the journey.

    ¡°The best way for us to conserve our food provisions as much as possible would be for us to conserve our energy as much as possible; maybe we should stop walking for today and camp here for tonight,¡± Lisa suggested.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if we¡¯ve gotten far enough from Prospera yet; by now they know we¡¯re missing and have probably sent out a search party, if they¡¯re on horseback with dogs then they¡¯ll reach us here in no time,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°How would they get horses over the mountain?¡± Miranda asked him.

    ¡°They¡¯d load them onto the fishing boat and transport them around the cliffs; that boat can easily fit four horses at least.¡±

    ¡°If they come after us on horses we¡¯re not going to have much of a chance of escaping them, no matter how much walking we do,¡± I said.

    ¡°Even so, we should still try to cover as much ground as possible, especially with the snow only a few weeks away.¡±

    ¡°Look out there; there¡¯s no place we can see that would provide adequate shelter, and if we push ourselves too hard today then tomorrow our muscles are going to be too sore for us to do any walking at all,¡± Lisa said to Kevin.

    It didn¡¯t take long for Kevin to realize that she had a point, though his agreement with her was marked with perceptible reluctance.

    ¡°Fine, you three stay here and collect some firewood for tonight, I¡¯m going to do some scouting.¡±

    ¡°Scouting for what?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°For food.¡±

    Kevin stayed with us only a short while to give his body a rest before going back down the hill with the knife. With him gone, Lisa, Miranda and I took the opportunity to relieve our bladders that were bursting from all of the water that we¡¯d been drinking to fill our bellies. Only when I was peeing that afternoon did it occur to me that we¡¯d neglected to pack any toilet paper, another big problem that we were going to need to improvise a solution to.

    Collecting the firewood that Kevin had asked us to collect proved not to be as easy as we¡¯d thought it would be. The fast-burning wood was easy to collect; all we needed to do was pick up dry sticks from the ground. Getting slow burning wood was the problem. We needed thicker pieces of wood that hadn¡¯t been completely dried out, that meant using the hatchet to cut branches off the trees. Finding a tree that we could climb up was hard enough, using a tiny hatchet to cut off decent size branches was near impossible. In Prospera hatchets were only used to split logs that had already been cut into smaller pieces, they weren¡¯t meant to be used as a substitute for an axe. Making headway with the branches proved so frustrating that after getting halfway through with the hatchet we used our feet to push down on the branches and snap them off. We only finished collecting the firewood we¡¯d need for the night just before Kevin returned from his scouting trip.

    ¡°Did you find what you were looking for?¡± I asked him upon his return.

    ¡°I found some deer, not far from the river.¡±

    ¡°Why have you come back empty handed then?¡±

    ¡°They ran away from me when I tried to get close to them; I¡¯m going to need to come up with a creative way of getting close to them to kill one.¡±

    That evening Kevin did something that made the three of us very happy: he went down to the river with the bar of soap and a change of clothes courtesy of Darren and cleaned himself up, returning to us sans the horrible smell that he¡¯d been accumulating for six days that we had been silently enduring all day. Lisa, Miranda and I went down to the river with the soap shortly after Kevin had returned to also have a wash. Kevin had given us directions to a part of the river that he said was perfect was bathing, the current there was gentle and the water only came up to your knees. Being naked in the water with Lisa and Miranda, watching them unreservedly touching each others¡¯ bodies, I felt no discomfort or any of the hatred toward them that my mother said homosexuals were the victims of in the outside world. Surely in Prospera we were evolved enough not to descend to such bigotry and intolerance; it didn¡¯t make sense to me that the governing authorities in Prospera would have never explored the possibility of permitting homosexuality in the village.

    ¡°It¡¯s because in Prospera they limit the number of things for people to react to, because they don¡¯t trust their reactions,¡± Kevin said later that night by the fire when I posed the question.

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that this whole time we¡¯ve been distrustful of Prospera because it¡¯s distrustful of us?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I¡¯m saying.¡±

    ¡°What reason would they have for not trusting the citizens of Prospera? Nothing that happens in the outside world happens in Prospera.¡±

    ¡°They must know things about the outside world and the people there that makes them fearful of us becoming like them, because then Prospera would become like the outside world.¡±

    ¡°Is it wise then for us to be doing this? Maybe the outside world is every bit as dysfunctional as they told us it is.¡±

    ¡°I guess we¡¯re going to find out, if we make it through this forest alive that is.¡±

    It was impossible not to question if we were doing the right thing after having that conversation with Kevin. There was so much that we just didn¡¯t know, about the place that we had left and about where we were going. Around the fire that night the unease we felt about the future was palpable but our resolve to continue remained undiminished. We were free from Prospera¡¯s control and were mapping our own destiny, no amount of fear or unease was going to be enough to get us to turn back.

 ESCAPE part 6

    Darren

    Never before had anything like it happened in Prospera. Four children were missing; three of them had gone missing on the same night. Having close friendships with each other, Kevin, Lisa, Miranda and Hannah¡¯s parents were able to prevent a mass outbreak of panic. It also helped that Hannah¡¯s mother was the person most of the people had dealt with when they¡¯d had dealings with the governing authorities; that her child was one of those that had gone missing dispelled any thoughts about this being a sinister act on the part of the governing authorities.

    Hannah¡¯s mother took the lead in handling the crisis, and for someone whose child was missing her approach to her task was incredibly controlled and purposeful. Hannah and the others had taken them completely by surprise. News of their disappearance spread through the village before the governing authorities could take steps to mitigate its impact on the population. With few options available to her, Hannah¡¯s mother opted for the most direct route. She convened a town meeting at the open air auditorium by the lake and informed everyone of what was going on.

    ¡°Thank you all for coming,¡± she stood in the centre of the stage and began, ¡°I¡¯ve called you all here today to provide you with clarity about the news you¡¯ve no doubt all heard by now. Three children have gone missing: Lisa, Miranda and my daughter Hannah. We don¡¯t believe that anything foreign and malicious entered the village and took them away or did something to them. What we believe is that they¡¯ve run away. The forest beyond Guardian Mountain is the likeliest place they¡¯d be; it¡¯s a dangerous place but we are going to be sending search parties that are well equipped to defend themselves to look for them. There is no reason for any of you to fear for you or your children¡¯s safety or to be concerned that there is something sinister going on here that members of the Committees are behind. We are going to be doing everything in our power to bring these children back and to bring them back before any harm comes to them in the forest. Thank you.¡±

    Her address to all three thousand adult members of the village appeared at first glance to have done a lot to assuage the anxiety of the townspeople, as a first step it was well orchestrated and executed. Her next step was the one that I had been waiting for since the previous night when Hannah, Lisa and Miranda had fled Prospera with Kevin. As the last remaining member of our group I was naturally the first person they¡¯d turn to in their search for answers. I was summoned to Hannah¡¯s mother¡¯s office in the Central Administration Building. She was adversarial and immediately established an interrogatory atmosphere in the room; she knew that there were things I knew that would be of high value to her and she didn¡¯t have any time to waste finessing them out of me.

    ¡°Darren, where are they? And don¡¯t bother telling me that you don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°They left with Kevin.¡±

    I didn¡¯t feel confident enough in my ability to be convincingly mendacious to lie to her; sitting behind her desk with her elbows up on the desk looking piercingly into my eyes she was very imposing and intimidating.

    ¡°Kevin¡¯s still alive?¡±

    ¡°Yes, he¡¯s been sleeping in the forest and sneaking in and out of the village to steal fruit.¡±

    ¡°Did they say where they were going?¡±

    ¡°They said they were going to try and reach the outside world.¡±

    ¡°Through the forest?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Did they go the same way they went the last time?¡±

    Since the night that Kevin and the others had gone into the forest he had believed that they had been seen and that for some reason the governing authorities had chosen not to pursue action against them. I had made a grave mistake in allowing Hannah¡¯s mother to disarm me with her authoritative posture. I couldn¡¯t trust her; I couldn¡¯t trust any of them not to exact retribution on my friends for the trouble they¡¯d caused. I needed to protect them, to do everything I could to obstruct the governing authorities¡¯ efforts to find them.

    ¡°Darren, did they go the same way they went the last time?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± I lied, hoping to send them in the wrong direction and keep my friends out of their clutches.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°What time did they leave?¡±

    ¡°Before midnight.¡±

    ¡°Which means that if they walked through the night they¡¯d be quite far by now,¡± she said to herself, ¡°Thank you Darren, that¡¯ll be all for now.¡±

    Their response was quick; within an hour of leaving Hannah¡¯s mother¡¯s office there was a crowd gathered at the dock to watch three horses being loaded onto the fishing boat. Three men would be riding into the forest to search for Kevin and the others; Hannah¡¯s father was one of them. Just as they were about to depart, Hannah¡¯s mother arrived and walked onto the dock to thank them for what they were doing and to bid them farewell.

    ¡°Bring her back,¡± I heard her saying to her husband after they¡¯d hugged.

    They rowed out of the cove and after rounding the cliffs were out of sight; with nothing left to do but wait for their return the crowd that had gathered quickly dispersed. The more I thought about the scene at the dock between Hannah¡¯s mother and father and about the decision to send just three men deep into the forest to look for Kevin, Hannah, Lisa and Miranda the more flaws I saw in Hannah¡¯s mother¡¯s handling of the situation. Wouldn¡¯t the citizens of Prospera start to wonder if the forest was really as dangerous as they¡¯d always been told it was if only three men on horseback were being sent into it to look for Kevin and the others? And wouldn¡¯t they wonder if the urgent, unprecedented response was due to one of the missing children being the daughter of someone important?

    Hannah¡¯s mother wasn¡¯t acting in her capacity as Deputy Head of the Education Committee and a Prospera prefect. She was acting as a mother, taking actions that were emotional and irrational, that had the capacity to undermine everything that people believed about Prospera. My opinion of her softened after seeing all of this; what she was doing¡ªrisking everything for the sake of bringing her daughter back safe and alive¡ªwas immensely admirable.

    Miranda

    Kevin was careful about not asking too much of us; what Lisa had said to him that first day about the need for us to conserve energy had apparently been accepted by him. On the second day of our journey we walked until mid-afternoon when we found another cave to sleep in. Saving energy by walking slower and not for too long was helping us to keep our appetites in check which helped us conserve our food provisions. We were getting by on water and the apples, and on that second night we had a little bit of the meat. Still, though, as hard as we were working to conserve our energy and thus our bodies¡¯ demand for sustenance, our food situation was rapidly becoming alarming. We¡¯d gone through more than half of the apples and the remainder of the meat would have to be eaten soon before it spoiled. We were all concerned about what we were going to do when our food ran out, none of us more so than Kevin. He was constantly on the lookout for animals and was on occasion able to spot a deer, only for it to gallop away the second it saw him, too fast for Kevin to even bother chasing after it. His frustration at not being able to successfully secure us more food was growing increasingly apparent. Once, after trying in vain to run after a deer, he threw the hatchet he was planning on using to kill it forcefully down to the ground. The only one of us who could have really done something to relieve Kevin¡¯s frustration was Hannah, but even she was too unsure of how Kevin would respond to her to reach out to him in some way. On the morning of the fourth day we ate the little of the meat that was left because it was starting to smell a little foul, and we only had eleven apples left. Contributing to our collective angst was our anger at ourselves for not packing any toilet paper; our failure to do so was responsible for some very unpleasant moments.

    For the previous two days, as we¡¯d watched our food provisions rapidly dwindle, Lisa had been eating less and encouraging me to eat more. I didn¡¯t argue with her, thinking that she was offering to give me food from her share because her body was so much stronger than mine and didn¡¯t need as much sustenance, a theory that would be proven horribly wrong when Lisa started having trouble moving and confessed to having been experiencing stomach pains for a day. We had only been walking for a couple of hours that fourth morning when we had to stop and sit Lisa down against a tree and tend to her.

    ¡°She needs food, she¡¯s been giving away too much of hers these past two days; here, eat,¡± Kevin said, placing the bag of apples next to her.

    Lisa ate four of them and drank some water, reducing our supply of apples from eleven to a measly seven. The time had come for us to take immediate action to secure more food; Kevin felt the exigent need to address this more than the rest of us did.

    ¡°You two stay here with her,¡± he said to me and Hannah, arming himself with the knife, ¡°I¡¯m going to find food and I¡¯m not coming back until I do.¡±

    ¡°Let me come with you,¡± Hannah quickly stood up from Lisa¡¯s side and said to him.

    ¡°No, if something happens to me you three are going to need each other; you¡¯d better stay.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about something the past couple of days, a strategy for catching one of the deer. Every time you¡¯ve approached one it¡¯s run off in the opposite direction; what if I were to approach one so that it runs off in the direction where you¡¯ll be waiting for it? Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s worth a try?¡±

    Kevin was silent for a moment as he considered Hannah¡¯s idea, weighing it against the possibility of something happening to the both of them and me and Lisa being left out in the forest all by ourselves.

    ¡°That¡¯s not a bad idea she¡¯s got, it¡¯s worth giving it a try,¡± Lisa said to Kevin.

    Kevin and Lisa were usually in agreement, and this time was no different. He told Hannah to join him and they went off hunting together.

 ESCAPE part 7

    Hannah

    The deeper we travelled into the forest the greener our surroundings became. The dry ground covered with dead foliage that had fallen from the trees gave way to increasingly dense ground level vegetation. For me and the Kevin the vegetation around us was a big help, providing us with ample cover as we went in search of fauna. Close to the river was where Kevin had made most of his deer sightings. He searched one side and I searched the other, making sure to never stray out of each other¡¯s line of sight for when we needed to signal that we¡¯d found something. I had with me the hatchet that Kevin had told me to carry in case we caught something and I needed to help him kill it. This meant that Lisa and Miranda had nothing with which they could protect themselves but that was a risk we had to take; our dwindling food provisions was a crisis that put all of our lives in danger.

    Lisa wasn¡¯t the only one who hadn¡¯t been eating enough; Kevin had been doing the same thing that Lisa had been doing for Miranda for all three of us. His body was more undernourished than Lisa¡¯s; for him to be hunting having hardly eaten for four days was truly amazing. Desperate not to let him down I kept my eyes and ears peeled for any animal life in the area.

    The signal came from Kevin, semaphoring to me from my left. I doubled back and crossed the river by skipping across some rocks that I¡¯d passed seconds earlier and stood next to him to get a look at what he¡¯d found. Straight ahead of us was a deer, not far away from where we were standing. It was smaller than some of the other deer that we¡¯d seen and it didn¡¯t have any horns. Watching it peacefully eating leaves from a small shrub, it made me sad thinking that we were there to kill it. The plan was simple: I was to arc to the right and get behind it while Kevin arced left and placed himself in a position to intercept it. I needed to be extremely quiet as I made my move. Kevin¡¯s arc was much wider than mine so he was much further from the deer. I was going to be remaining relatively close; if the deer became aware of my presence before Kevin had gotten into position our entire plan would be ruined; there was too much at stake for me to allow that to happen. I moved slowly and softly, even taking care to ensure that my breathing wasn¡¯t too loud. I managed to execute my arc successfully and waited directly behind the deer for Kevin to signal to me that he was also in position. Startling the deer was a two step process. First I threw the hatchet down on the ground behind it to draw its attention away from the shrub from which it was eating. Once it lifted its head and looked around I emerged from behind the tree I¡¯d been using for cover and charged toward it. The deer reacted exactly the way we¡¯d hoped it would, darting off straight in the direction where Kevin was waiting for it. I saw his face poking out from behind the tree that he¡¯d chosen to use for cover, watching the deer running toward him. As fast as it was running he had to time his emergence from behind the tree absolutely perfectly or else it would get away. He didn¡¯t. He emerged too soon and the deer rapidly changed course. It veered to its left and out of Kevin¡¯s reach; he had to run it down if he wanted to catch it. I thought that we had lost it, that with the speed at which it was travelling there was no way Kevin was going to be able to catch it. Luckily we caught a break. The deer, in a panic, mistimed its jump over a fallen tree and tripped and fell to the ground. Kevin, displaying energy reserves that were incredible given how little he¡¯d been eating, was on it in a flash, before it had the chance to get to its feet.

    When it looked as if the deer had evaded our pincer I had immediately started running after Kevin and was thus able to see the final moments of his confrontation with the deer. He wrapped his left arm around the deer¡¯s neck and locked his legs around its torso, using all of his strength to keep it grounded and under his control. The deer struggled with all it had, trying to flip itself onto its legs to give itself a base from which to attempt an escape, but its efforts were futile. Kevin held onto it with a relentlessly tight grip from which escape was impossible. With his right hand he drew the knife from behind his back where he¡¯d secured it, stuck it into the deer¡¯s neck and pulled it across its throat. The cry that the deer let out when Kevin plunged the knife into its throat was sickening. Recognizing that it was on the verge of death it kicked around maniacally, causing the blood to gush from its neck. Through it all Kevin never let go or even loosened his grip on the animal; he held onto his prey until he knew for certain that it was over.

    The blood from the deer¡¯s neck covered his entire upper body. After finally letting go of the deer he stood up and looked absolutely barbaric covered in blood with the knife still in his right hand. I was actually afraid to be so close to him with him looking like that; my fear quickly dissipated when Kevin dropped to his knees and put his left hand over his eyes. He started crying. I understood Kevin well enough to know that part of the reason he was crying was his relief at having finally gotten us something to eat and that the other reason for his tears was the violence of what he¡¯d just done. Kevin was gentle, and remarkably in tune with the feelings of those around him; doing what he¡¯d just done would have been very hard on him, adding to the strain that he¡¯d been under as the leader of this expedition. I left him to cry, to unburden himself of what he was feeling. Watching him I felt great tenderness but also separation; he felt far away from me in a way he never had before. This was the first time I was seeing him reveal his emotions so openly, it wasn¡¯t in his nature to do so. He was always the reserved one, holding back his emotions to reassure those around him about his dependability. I felt like I was in the presence of a stranger, uncertain of how to interact with him. I wanted to say something to him, to go to him and put my hand on him, to be close to him in some way, but I wasn¡¯t confident about how it would be received. My uncertainty was quickly brought to an end as before long Kevin had composed himself and was back to being our stoic, dependable leader.

    ¡°We¡¯re done walking for today; it¡¯s going to take a while for me to skin and carve this thing; let¡¯s search for a place to set up camp and head over there.¡±

    I ran back to Lisa and Miranda to tell them the good news about the outcome of the hunt and asked them to help me find a place for us to set up camp. We moved slowly because of the pain that Lisa was in. Our search took us further downriver, to a spot on the riverbank under a rock overhang, where we were soon joined by Kevin, fresh from rinsing the deer¡¯s blood off him in the river. He¡¯d discarded the shirt that he was wearing and arrived shirtless, carrying the deer across his shoulders.

    ¡°WOW!¡± Miranda exclaimed when he dropped the deer¡¯s body to the ground before us. It landed with a hard thud; the substantiality of it and what it meant for us going forward was a big relief to us all.

    ¡°How long is that going to last?¡± Lisa asked him. She was lying on the ground on top of both blankets with her hand on her stomach; the walk that we¡¯d taken to get there had left her in more pain.

    ¡°Two days at the most,¡± Kevin answered.

    ¡°That¡¯s all?¡± Miranda asked him.

    ¡°All four of us are starving and we need to eat as much of this as we can as quickly as we can because unlike the other meat this hasn¡¯t been salted, so it¡¯s going to spoil much quicker.¡±

    Kevin needed a break after all that he had done that morning; he stayed behind at the campsite with Lisa while Miranda and I went to collect firewood. The whole time we were out there, picking dry sticks up off the ground and chopping branches off trees with the hatchet, Miranda never stopped marvelling at what Kevin had done; the strength it must have taken for him to kill the deer and carry it as far as he had on his shoulders. Listening to her praising Kevin brought back memories of the kiss they¡¯d shared when rehearsing Darren¡¯s play. She was with Lisa now and if their love for each other wasn¡¯t real and strong they wouldn¡¯t be out here with me and Kevin, nonetheless I couldn¡¯t help feeling like she was trespassing.

    I had no business feeling the way I did; there was no chance of anything happening between Miranda and Kevin and I hadn¡¯t done anything to get closer to him since we¡¯d left Prospera, in fact the distance between us had grown since we¡¯d left. In reality it had been the same in Prospera, there had always been a consistent distance between us, unchallenged by any efforts from either of us to lessen it. Our reasoning had been that it was too risky for us to go down that road with Kevin being the subject of so much interest from the governing authorities. But then what of Lisa and Miranda, whose relationship exposed them to much greater risk than a relationship between me and Kevin would expose us to but who had continued to see each other in defiance of any instinct toward self-preservation and went so far as to flee their home so that they could freely be together? If Kevin and I had real feelings for each other we wouldn¡¯t have chosen safety, if that was even what we¡¯d chosen. Being out in the forest, free from the risks we¡¯d thought we were avoiding in Prospera, there was no reason for us to still be separated by so great a distance. The avoidance of risk had been an excuse, what we¡¯d really been avoiding was confronting our feelings, because maybe they weren¡¯t as strong as we thought they were, maybe they weren¡¯t sustainable and maybe our bond of friendship wasn¡¯t strong enough to survive a romantic separation. There was only one way to know what the answers to those questions were and that was to put our feelings to the test. One of us would have to take the first step, to force our relationship onto territory where the confrontation of these questions was unavoidable, and with Kevin in the stoic mindset that he was in it was going to have to be me that forced the issue.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    Miranda and I collected a lot of firewood, enough not just for the night but for the rest of the daylight hours as well. It was terribly cold, the air temperature had been dropping significantly every day since we¡¯d left Prospera, a sign that the winter snow was on its way, would possibly be arriving in a matter of days.

    Unfortunately the pelt from the deer was useless to us. In order for it to be of use to us it would need to be left out in the sun for days to completely dry out and with us travelling that wasn¡¯t possible; it would have to be discarded. The deer then was only useful to us as meat, of which, thankfully, there was a lot. It was around mid-afternoon when Kevin got to work skinning the deer. The pelt came off in a flash. Kevin cut the deer from its mouth all the way down the underside of its body to its tail and muscularly pulled it off the carcass. Miranda had never seen anything like it before; the sight of the deer without its skin caused her to run off, double over and vomit. To deal with the bony parts of the deer Kevin used the hatchet. He started by using it to cut off the deer¡¯s head, another useless part of its anatomy. Next he used the hatchet to crack and pry open the rib cage so that he could get at what was inside. Using the knife he cut out the stomach, the intestines, the heart; all of the bits that we wouldn¡¯t be eating.

    ¡°How are you able to do that so expertly? You never worked in the abattoir; you only worked in the stables and on the fishing boat,¡± I asked him, amazed at the efficiency with which he was working.

    ¡°Whenever a horse died or was put to sleep because it was no longer able to be as productive as it needed to be I would take it to the abattoir on a wagon and I¡¯d stay and watch them work.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying that there were times when we were eating horse meat?¡±

    ¡°No, the horse meat was ground up into food for the dogs.¡±

    Kevin worked on the carcass assiduously, cutting away and discarding meat that wasn¡¯t necessary and setting aside the meat that was for consumption. While he was busy with that, me and Miranda (who had since recovered from her nausea) offered to do what we could to help. Kevin told us to go back out into the woods and look for long, strong, relatively thin sticks. The plan was to use them to transport the meat by using the hatchet to strip them of their bark and sharpen one of the ends so that we could skewer the meat onto it. Finding the sticks we needed was easy; we returned to the campsite in no time and I got to work removing the bark from them and sharpening them while Miranda helped Kevin by washing the blood off the meat in the river. In the evening, after Kevin had finished carving up the deer, we ate dinner. Kevin¡¯s suggestion was that for dinner we eat the parts of the deer that would be problematic to carry, a suggestion to which we all agreed. On the menu that evening was ribs and legs, and immediately we identified a problem. Because of their size we couldn¡¯t use the frying pan to cook them, they needed to be barbequed.

    Even though we were eating the parts of the deer that had the least meat on them we were all completely stuffed by the time we were done eating. Miranda and I allowed Kevin and Lisa to have a greater share of the meat to make up for the food that they had been sacrificing for us. We all ate rapaciously, burning ourselves by biting into the meat that was still piping hot having only just come out of the fire and pulling chunks of meat off the bone as if eating dinner was an act of predation. The bones we sucked dry, not a scrap of meat was left uneaten. After we¡¯d finished our meal, there was a wonderful collective sense of ease among us. For the first time since we¡¯d left Prospera we had eaten a substantial meal and we¡¯d be eating substantial meals for the next few days.

    The meat that Kevin cut off the deer filled two of the four sticks that I¡¯d stripped and sharpened. Our food requirements taken care of, our other concerns¡ªlike what to do about toilet paper and the fast shrinking soap¡ªfelt comparatively minor. It was all thanks to Kevin that the good feeling we all had around the campfire that evening had descended upon us, even so he said nothing to us about the debt we owed him. Instead he sat with us around the campfire and made us laugh by going through a list of reasons why he thought Darren had no talent as a writer. The improvement in our food situation had changed Kevin more than the rest of us. Having been pensive and beset by worry over our meagre food stocks he was now relaxed and much more conversational. Lisa, who¡¯d eaten her first decent meal in days, was also a different person. She wasn¡¯t lying down anymore; she was sitting up, behind Miranda with her arms around her and her head on her shoulder.

    After our stomachs had settled down from the big meal we¡¯d consumed Lisa and Miranda took the soap and walked hand in hand upriver to bathe in a place where the river current was tranquil. I understood that they wanted to be alone together and didn¡¯t go to bathe with them as we had been doing all the previous evenings of our trip. Alone with Kevin, an awkwardness instantly enveloped the campsite. We both knew what Lisa and Miranda had gone off to do and as such it was all we could think about. I was sure that it was raising the same questions in Kevin¡¯s mind that I had been plagued by all day. Any fear or reluctance that he felt to address what was causing the present awkwardness that was between us was understandable; I felt it too, together with an eagerness to address it having waited our whole lives for the opportunity to do so that we now had being out here in the forest all on our own. I didn¡¯t do it with words, feeling that enough words¡ªboth said and unsaid¡ªhad passed between us over the years on this issue. Not long after Lisa and Miranda had returned Kevin took the soap with him to the same spot to bathe. He desperately needed it, having gotten more blood on him from when he¡¯d been carving the deer as well as a strong fire smell from being so close to the fire when barbequing the meat. The place where Lisa and Miranda had gone to bathe was a pool beneath a small waterfall not visible from the campsite. Once Kevin was out of our line of sight I walked after him, receiving looks of encouragement from Lisa and Miranda as I left the campsite. As soon as he saw me, Kevin quickly turned around so that he was facing the opposite direction.

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± He asked me, sounding confused and panicked.

    I didn¡¯t answer him. I walked around to the side of the pool without saying anything and removed all of my clothes. Kevin didn¡¯t turn around when he heard my clothes hitting the floor; he didn¡¯t turn around when he heard me entering the water and wading toward him. He was in a state of confusion and didn¡¯t know how to respond to the situation that I¡¯d created. I put my arms around him from behind, pulled him close to me and pressed my breasts into his back. Through my right hand I could feel the frantic beating of his heart through his chest. He was more than panicked; he was terrified.

    ¡°There¡¯s no reason for us to be afraid anymore,¡± I whispered in his ear before letting go of him and walking around him to be face to face with him.

    His face reflected entirely what I¡¯d sensed emanating from him when he had his back turned to me and from the rapid beating of his heart that I¡¯d felt through his chest. What I was doing had him in a panic, too much of a panic for me to get him to surrender himself to me. I had to remind myself that this was Kevin and that he had great difficulty with letting his guard down. I needed to coax him out of his shell, to gently relieve him of his anxieties and uncertainties. Were he and I to become boyfriend and girlfriend it would mean one more thing for him to worry about in addition to all of the life and death concerns that he had to manage every day. I needed him to understand that having me as his girlfriend wouldn¡¯t add to his worries at all, that I could be of help to him by being a partner who shared the burden of working to ensure our survival with him.

    I put my hands on his shoulders and kissed him softly on his mouth, being careful not to push him too far too quickly. It took a while for a response to come from him. Through my hands I felt the tension dissipate from his shoulders, and his lips changed from being static receptors of my kisses to moving and slowly becoming active participants. The moment when his defences finally surrendered and he allowed himself to be carried away by what was happening between us was wonderful. He put his arms around me and released everything that he¡¯d been keeping suppressed our entire lives. On that dark night, in the still pool with the stars above us and the half moon reflecting off the water¡¯s surface, the distance between us was well and truly eliminated as we became one, sharing with each other that most seminal moment of love and trust.

    We walked hand in hand back to the campsite where Lisa and Miranda were waiting for us. Upon seeing us, Lisa and Miranda¡¯s faces broke out in broad smiles, a perceptive expression of ¡®Finally!¡¯ playing across both of their faces.

 ESCAPE part 8

    Darren

    After six days the search for Hannah and the others came to an end. Hannah¡¯s father returned having been unsuccessful in finding their daughter. Hannah¡¯s mother was waiting for him at the dock when he returned on the fishing boat and immediately ran to him when he disembarked onto the dock.

    ¡°Did you find her?¡± She asked him.

    He shook his head disappointedly and took his wife into his arms when she started crying. He explained to her that he¡¯d had to search for them by himself on foot because the trees were too dense for them to use the horses. The fact that they were searching for them on the wrong side of the mountain didn¡¯t help either. My strategy for helping my friends by sending the Prospera search party in the wrong direction had worked; they were free to continue their travels without risk of capture.

    The sight of Hannah¡¯s mother crying in her husband¡¯s arms did give rise to some very troubling second thoughts. Had I really saved my friends from danger? The woman crying in her husband¡¯s arms because her daughter was missing and she was afraid of what might happen to her surely would not have done something terrible to them all for running away. Through Kevin¡¯s paranoia and curiosity we had obtained knowledge about Prospera that we were never meant to have, knowledge that had fostered a deep distrust of Prospera in us all. But had Kevin been wrong? Had we all been wrong? Looking back, what we had learned about Prospera had been shocking but a lot of the conclusions that we¡¯d reached had been based on pure speculation, much of what we thought we knew about Prospera then had been products of our minds, our imaginations. The scene that I had witnessed between Hannah¡¯s parents reminded me that Prospera was at its core a deeply human place that was built on the foundations of human industry and culture. We had all allowed ourselves to be carried away by Kevin¡¯s conspiracy theories and as a result had developed an image of Prospera that, when juxtaposed against what I had seen of Hannah¡¯s parents, seemed a gross mischaracterisation. It simply was not possible that these parents who were out of their minds with worry for their daughter¡¯s safety would have done something as terrible as kill her to preserve the rest of the population¡¯s fear of the forest.

    I hoped that I hadn¡¯t made a mistake by believing Kevin and helping them to get as far away from Prospera as they could. Hannah¡¯s mother¡¯s reaction was not that of someone who didn¡¯t believe there was anything dangerous in the forest or in the outside world. By sending the search party the wrong way I might have compromised the only chance for them to return safely. If they returned having suffered some kind of harm or if a second search party found them all dead in the woods I would blame myself.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Remarkably the unprecedented occurrence of four of the village¡¯s children going missing in the space of a week did hardly anything to disrupt the normal everyday routine of Prospera. The bakers woke up extra early and went to work so that everybody in the village could have fresh bread for breakfast. The same went for the chicken farmers that collected eggs every morning, the dairy farmers who got everybody¡¯s milk for the day ready, the butchers who cut and packaged everybody¡¯s meat. The adults went to work and the children went to school. At school there was a lot of interest in the children that had run away but nobody talked about it openly or loudly, and nobody asked me¡ªthe only one who¡¯d been a close friend of theirs¡ªanything about them, almost as if they were afraid to.

    Were it not for Penny, with whom I had grown much closer since the night that Kevin and the others had left, I would have been all alone with my doubts and worries. We talked privately for hours about everything that I and the others had gone through, all that we had discovered, and why Lisa, Hannah and Miranda had chosen to leave with Kevin. She couldn¡¯t believe what she¡¯d heard. She thought that Kevin¡¯s temerity and the way that he got us involved in all of his expeditions for the truth was reckless; she also didn¡¯t have a problem with Lisa and Miranda being a couple and thought that it was wrong for them to have to hide their love. I had never looked at Penny as being anything more than a friend; that changed as I started spending more time with her following my friends¡¯ flight from Prospera. She was easy to talk to and someone with whom I could trust the secrets that I wasn¡¯t supposed to be in possession of. Her company became my refuge. My entire life the only people I¡¯d been close to were Kevin, Hannah, Miranda and Lisa. Penny was different from the four of them, spending time with her introduced me to a different kind of relationship, one not built on a covenant of secrecy and suspicion. Penny was completely uninterested in uncovering any secrets about Prospera beyond what I had told her about. All she wanted was to be my friend, for me to put everything about Kevin and the others behind me, and for us to work together on writing projects. I felt liberated in Penny¡¯s company; free from Kevin¡¯s constant talk about the outside world and what was being kept from us about it I was able to experience Prospera for the place that it was and I found myself not having many problems with it.

    Everything was just easier. It was me and Penny on our own forming something new in the space that had been created by my friends¡¯ decision to leave Prospera. There were no more meetings on the beach to discuss matters we were afraid of other people overhearing, no more walking around the village keeping an eye out for anyone that might be looking at me suspiciously. I did nothing more than go about my days as a citizen of Prospera and in the process came to appreciate the peace and calm of Prospera. The conspiracy theories with which Kevin had been so obsessed gradually left my thoughts and my perception of Prospera underwent dramatic changes. I stopped imagining what might be underneath everything I was seeing and took it at face value. Prospera was a place of extraordinary beauty, both natural and man made, where we all had a place and a purpose and lived lives of comfort free from worry. I had a much easier time accepting the idea of spending the rest of my life in Prospera and the idea of spending it with Penny grew increasingly appealing.

 ESCAPE part 9

    Lisa

    The mood among us remained relaxed and optimistic when we resumed our journey the day after Kevin killed had slaughtered the deer. We woke up in the morning and had more meat for breakfast, this time chops fried in the pan, and set off for the day with full bellies. My stomach cramps had gone away the previous night thanks to the hearty dinner we had, that and not having to conserve energy to conserve our food meant there was nothing holding us back from pushing forward with all that we had. The positive atmosphere among us was also the result of Hannah and Kevin finally getting together. We had been waiting for years for them to find their way to each other, often wondering if they ever would. Watching them returning to the campsite hand in hand, it was as if something that had been wrong with the world for too long had been put right, further vindicating our decision to leave Prospera. Kevin was right to be dubious about his and Hannah¡¯s chances of being together in Prospera given the amount of attention he¡¯d been the subject of from the governing authorities. Out in the forest we had no such worries; we were free.

    Not very much was different about the way Hannah and Kevin interacted with each other the day after their long overdue coming together. Kevin took the lead when we set off and was his usual quiet, stoic self. It was easy to understand why he hadn¡¯t changed. Our food situation had significantly improved but it wouldn¡¯t be long¡ªonly a matter of days really¡ªbefore we would once again be facing the threat of starvation, and after five days of travelling through the forest we were yet to make any sort of contact with the outside world. I started to question if we hadn¡¯t recklessly underestimated the task we had undertaken and if the adults in Prospera had been telling the truth when they¡¯d told us that everyone that had ventured deep into the forest had died. Wild animals weren¡¯t the only things that could have killed them; they could have died of starvation, or been victims of the elements. The danger of the elements was what I was growing increasingly concerned about as we pushed forward. The air had gotten so cold that we were shivering under our thick winter robes. The snow was undoubtedly only a few days away and if we hadn¡¯t gotten out of the forest by then we were going to be in danger of freezing to death.

    We were so deep in the forest that the density of the trees blocked out the sun which made our surroundings darker, the ground soggier and the air at the floor of the forest colder. There was also much more shrubbery on the ground for us to navigate our way through and the terrain was becoming increasingly challenging. There were times when we struggled to make meaningful progress because there were ravines we either had to slide down into and find a way out of or circumvent altogether, sometimes the shrubbery on the ground was so thick Kevin had to use the hatchet to cut a way through it, which with the hatchet¡¯s small size was a long process.

    At one of the ravines where we decided it made more sense for us to slide down into it, Miranda scraped her thigh badly on a rock and we were forced to stop and apply some of the antiseptic cream to it. Miranda could no longer walk as fast as she had been and we all slowed down to accommodate her, hampering our progress. After a couple more hours of walking, during which we didn¡¯t cover nearly as much ground as we should have, Miranda sat down on the ground complaining that the pain in her leg had gotten worse and that she needed to stop. Hannah and I stayed with Miranda while Kevin went off to look for a spot where we could rest for a while and have lunch. The ground we were sitting on was damp and cold, our clothes were dirty from the banks we were sliding down and climbing up, and the meat had collected a lot of dirt on it. The positive mood in which we¡¯d set off for the day had been all but wiped out by the challenging time we¡¯d had that day.

    The reality was that we weren¡¯t as strong and resolute as we thought we were, as we needed to be to get through this. Kevin was the one driving us forward, were it not for him I had no doubt that we would have turned around and returned to Prospera long ago. I could sense among us three girls that our resolve for continuing was considerably lower than it had been when we¡¯d set out. Our short lived elation that had resulted from Kevin¡¯s successful hunt had been nothing more than an excuse for us to force upon ourselves the belief that everything would be okay. The inhospitable environment that we¡¯d encountered had disabused us of any thoughts we¡¯d had about everything being okay. We were nearing our breaking point and desperately needed some positive news about our closeness to the exit of the forest to keep our spirits from completely crashing.

    Kevin found a place for us to rest that wasn¡¯t too far from where we¡¯d stopped: a clearing that had at its centre a small rock formation. The top of the rock formation was smooth and flat; Hannah and I helped Miranda up to the top of the rock formation and joined her up there to get away from the cold, damp ground we¡¯d been walking across and sitting on all day. Kevin took the hatchet and went to the trees to chop some firewood; Hannah volunteered to collect the dry firewood off the ground and I volunteered to take the meat to the river to rinse it clean. To get onto terrain that was easier to traverse we had walked further and further away from the river. Walking to the river to rinse the meat took me longer than I thought, about four minutes. The walk there was a little scary; being on my own the sounds of the forest all around me felt louder and closer. As we had travelled deeper into the forest it had gotten much livelier; we saw more deer, small rodents, birds and lizards and heard more insects; the sounds of them all around us created a symphony of nature that we had steadily grown used to. With that much life around us there was still a chance of there being dangerous animals like wolves and bears that we hadn¡¯t yet seen. I thought I saw something when I was at the river rinsing the dirt off the meat; on the opposite riverbank I heard a rustling in the shrubs and thought I saw something white moving within them. I chose to put what I thought I saw out of my mind; we had enough problems to worry about without worrying about mysterious creatures in the forest. Kevin had gotten the fire started by the time I¡¯d gotten back and needed only to get the pan heated up before he could start cooking. I handed him the clean meat which he placed on the brown paper in which we¡¯d wrapped the meat we¡¯d packed for him and I took my place atop the rock formation with Hannah and Miranda.

    Eating the meat was an uncivilised process. Without any crockery we had to hold the meat in our hands and without any cutlery we had to pull pieces of meat off with our teeth. In the beginning eating this way had been kind of fun because of what a new experience it was for us but with our lower spirits that day eating that way didn¡¯t feel fun at all, in fact it only added to our despondency. It wasn¡¯t only us girls who were evincing a much more downbeat attitude; Kevin was also looking downcast and a little peevish, almost certainly because of all the time we¡¯d lost due to Miranda¡¯s injury which was in no way her fault. The feeling that I¡¯d had from the beginning was that Hannah and Kevin viewed Miranda as the weak link among us that would eventually cost us dearly in some way. That Miranda had been the one who had picked up the injury created an uncomfortable rift in our group. I was of course on Miranda¡¯s side and didn¡¯t appreciate what I was sensing coming from Hannah and Kevin. The four of us ate lunch in uncomfortable, tense silence, separated into two pairs by Hannah and Kevin¡¯s annoyance at Miranda for proving them right by sustaining an injury and slowing us down right when we were in a position to push forward aggressively for the first time.

    The oppressive mood among us didn¡¯t last long as we were soon approached by what had to that point existed as nothing more than characters in stories we¡¯d been told to warn us against going into the forest. I should have paid more attention to what I¡¯d seen in the bushes across the river, if I had we might have been able to avoid what happened next. There were three of them. They walked out of the trees in a pack; one was white, another was grey and the other was black. Wolves. They weren¡¯t the size of houses as we¡¯d been told but that didn¡¯t make their appearance before us any less terrifying. They walked toward us slowly and menacingly, stalking us, none of them breaking rank. We froze when we saw them, recognizing instantly from the manner of their movement that they were every bit the dangerous predators we¡¯d been warned about. Kevin reacted first; he sprang up clutching the knife and assumed a stance of readiness. The wolves weren¡¯t the slightest bit fazed by his stance and kept slowly advancing toward us. The rock formation we were on wasn¡¯t high enough to protect us from the wolves; we had to find a way to escape from them.

    ¡°Whatever happens, you three stay behind me; if they attack, run,¡± Kevin said to us.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    There was no guarantee Kevin was the only one they¡¯d go after if they attacked and Miranda wasn¡¯t in great shape for running; we needed a plan and were fast running out of time to come up with one. The wolves were drawing closer, as they did the fur on the back of their necks started to bristle; they lowered their heads and licked their lips. They were preparing to attack us, of that there was no doubt. Feeling the need to act urgently Kevin pulled a piece of meat off one of the sticks we were using to carry it and threw it at the wolves. They pounced on it and ripped it into three pieces that they quickly swallowed, after which they remained stationary, keeping their focus trained on Kevin.

    ¡°They¡¯re hungry, they must have come having smelled the meat. You three, there¡¯s a tree behind us to the left that¡¯s got low branches, when I give the signal run to it and climb up into it, I¡¯ll keep them occupied,¡± Kevin said to us.

    ¡°We can¡¯t leave you behind like that, and we don¡¯t even know if we¡¯ll be able to make it there in time with Miranda¡¯s leg,¡± Hannah said.

    ¡°I can make it,¡± Miranda averred.

    ¡°There¡¯s no time to lose, I¡¯m going to throw them a big chunk of meat, as soon as I do, run; I¡¯ll join you when you¡¯ve all reached safety,¡± Kevin said, throwing the wolves a second piece of meat that they tore into as rapaciously as they had the first one.

    ¡°Are you sure¡­¡±

    ¡°Hannah, this is no time for doubts,¡± Kevin said to her, cutting her off.

    While we were having this discussion the wolves appeared to have gotten impatient and had started advancing toward us again. Kevin threw them a third piece of meat to stop them advancing any further and told us to get ready. He pulled five pieces of meat off the stick he was holding and braced to throw them.

    ¡°NOW!¡± He said as threw it.

    We jumped down from the rocks and set off for the tree without looking back, too terrified of what we¡¯d see if we did. All we heard behind us as we were running was the rustling sound of the wolves¡¯ paws scratching the ground as they scrapped over the meat. The wolves were so busy with the meat that they hadn¡¯t noticed us making our escape, until Miranda fell to the ground from the pain in her leg when we were just a few steps away from the tree and alerted them to us. The wolves had consumed the meat that Kevin had thrown to them and turned their attention to us. The black wolf, upon seeing Miranda hit the floor, broke away from the other two and took off after her. Kevin tried throwing more meat to stop it but the wolf wasn¡¯t interested, it had set its sights on Miranda and she was the sole focus of its attention. When Miranda had fallen I had stopped running and helped her to feet; this had placed us both in danger from the wolf. Hannah didn¡¯t stop or turn around when Miranda fell and was unaware of the danger we were in. The wolf was gaining on us fast; Miranda and I could feel it drawing closer, its growing proximity to us was palpable. Only when Hannah had reached the tree and climbed safely into it did she see the wolf chasing us. By then Miranda and I were close to the tree but not close enough to have escaped the wolf¡¯s reach. Miranda, because of the pain in her leg, was a little behind me and was the one in the greatest danger. Our only hope for escaping the wolf was to climb up into the tree without making a mistake. There were two low branches that we needed to use to get high enough up the tree for us to be safe from the wolf. With Miranda and I being so close to each other and the wolf being so close to us we weren¡¯t both going to be able to make it into the tree in time. Hannah recognized this when she saw us running toward her and took quick action.

    ¡°Miranda, grab on!¡± She yelled urgently.

    She suspended herself from the tree with her legs and lowered her hand to a level at which Miranda could reach it if she jumped for it. There was no time for me to doubt Hannah, I placed my trust in her ability to get Miranda to safety and ran for the low branches. I got up into the tree just in time to see the wolf jump after Miranda and miss her feet with its jaws by a hair. Unhappy that it had lost out on its prey the wolf bayed at us viciously from the ground below before accepting that we were no longer an attainable target and returning its attention to Kevin and the meat that he had with him. The meat that was on the stick that we had been eating from was all gone; Kevin had had to throw all of it to the wolves to make it possible for us to escape to safety. The meat that was left was on the stick that we hadn¡¯t eaten from yet. Kevin undoubtedly had it in his mind to save as much of the meat as he possibly could from the wolves but he had a big problem: the black wolf had not rejoined the other two wolves and was blocking Kevin¡¯s path to the tree. Kevin pulled a piece of meat off the stick and threw it at the other two wolves but the black wolf didn¡¯t start running in their direction, it remained between Kevin and us and started moving toward him. To get it out of the way Kevin had to throw meat to its left to coax it in the direction of the other two while still throwing meat at the other two to keep them stationary. Using this strategy of throwing two pieces at a time the meat rapidly dwindled. By the time Kevin had coaxed the black wolf back over to the other two there were only a few pieces of meat left. To keep the wolves distracted while he made for the tree he did what he had done for us and threw all of what little was left to them. None of the wolves followed him like how the black wolf had come after Miranda; they were concentrated solely on the meat.

    Perched up in the tree the four of us watched as the meat that we saw as our salvation only a day earlier was all eaten before our eyes. The wolves ate every scrap of meat we had and when they were done they all raised their heads to the sky and howled as if in celebration of their success before slinking back into the forest. We stayed in the tree for a while after the wolves had left to give them time to get far away. The despair hit us when we descended to the ground and had to contemplate what to do next. Miranda took what had just happened to us the hardest. I knew that she blamed herself, that she was thinking that if she hadn¡¯t gotten hurt we would have been further downriver and possibly away from the wolves. Hannah and Kevin¡¯s feelings I was less sure about. They had worked together to catch the deer; seeing the fruits of their hard labour vanish before their eyes must have been much harder on them than it had been on us. My greatest worry was that in their despair they would turn on Miranda and use her to unburden themselves of the frustration that had been building in them ever since Miranda got hurt and we¡¯d been forced to slow down and eventually stop; Miranda was feeling so bad about what had happened that I was afraid of what it would do to her if Hannah and Kevin outright blamed her and did it vociferously.

    Kevin wasn¡¯t interested in apportioning blame. As was his way he immediately moved on to what came next. He picked up the pan that he¡¯d placed on a rock to cool having rinsed it clean with water from the canteen and put it back in the bag which he then hoisted onto his shoulders.

    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go,¡± he said.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go? Just like that?¡± Hannah asked him, perplexed, ¡°We have no food! The deer we caught that we¡¯d been trying to catch for days was just eaten by wolves that tried to eat us too! There may be more of them out there and who knows what else?! How can you just say ¡®let¡¯s go¡¯?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s all we can do; the quicker we get moving the quicker we make it to the outside world.¡±

    ¡°How are we going to make it to the outside world when we have no food? We could be weeks away from the outside world, if we keep going and we don¡¯t reach it in a couple of days we¡¯re going to die out here!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s the only thing we can do.¡±

    ¡°No it¡¯s not; we can go back.¡±

    ¡°Back to Prospera? Where they tried to kill me?¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t know that for sure, maybe what happened to you on the boat really was an accident.¡±

    ¡°That was no accident; they may have orchestrated it to make it look like an accident but it was no accident.¡±

    ¡°Kevin, maybe this is one of those times when your imagination¡¯s gotten the better of you.¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t imagine being struck on the back of my head so hard that I was thrown into the sea.¡±

    ¡°If we keep going we¡¯re going to die.¡±

    ¡°It took us five days to get here from Prospera, we can¡¯t last that long with no food so going back isn¡¯t an option.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t expected Hannah to be the first one to break. She had been the first to force her way onto this journey on which she had finally gotten the chance to be intimate with him. Kevin¡¯s stoicism was less of a surprise; I had never seen him react emotionally no matter the situation. Then he did something I wasn¡¯t expecting. He took the bag off his shoulders, went over to Hannah and hugged her. Hannah was the most shaken among us, even more than Miranda. It was an unusual display of tenderness on Kevin¡¯s part that helped to ease the horrible despair that had enveloped us all.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to be fine; we made it this far, we¡¯ll make it the rest of the way,¡± he said to Hannah to subdue her.

    He wasn¡¯t only speaking to her, he was speaking to me and Miranda as well, because we all needed to push on determinedly to make up the ground we needed to make up in as short a time as possible.

    Miranda wasn¡¯t the subject of any undue attention in the aftermath of our encounter with the wolves; I got the feeling that deflecting attention away from her was part of what Kevin had been trying to do, understanding that she would be feeling very fragile after what we¡¯d been through. Following his mollification of Hannah¡ªand me and Miranda by extension¡ªwe gathered our things and got going again in search of the outside world.

 ESCAPE part 10

    Miranda

    I had feared from the beginning that at some point I would prove to be a major hindrance to the group. My fear had been realized, and it couldn¡¯t have been realized at a worse time. Our bounty of meat that could have lasted us over a week was all eaten in a matter of seconds by wolves we happened to be in the vicinity of while taking a rest that my injury forced upon us. I didn¡¯t speak following the incident as we continued to make our way forward and I made sure to remain behind Kevin and Hannah. My guilt was punishing me, were it not for Lisa being there to comfort me I don¡¯t know if I would have made it through that episode.

    We walked for one and a half days without finding any food. Fortunately we had eaten our fill before the wolves attacked us and were able to cope without eating. The pain in my leg from the injury I¡¯d sustained was still there and was actually getting worse but I ignored it and walked on at the same brisk pace as the others to allow us to quickly get to where we were going.

    The evening of the day after we¡¯d come face to face with the wolves we reached the end of the river. It ended at a lake, on the shore of which was a log cabin. We were looking down on the lake and the cabin from an elevated position. There didn¡¯t appear to be any activity in the cabin, nevertheless Kevin advised that we should monitor it from a distance for a while to be absolutely sure that it was deserted. We were thrilled to have made it to where we were but we were also apprehensive. The people of the outside world were a complete mystery to us and we couldn¡¯t be sure how they would react to us. To be safe we remained at the top of the hill into the night and kept watch over the cabin for any signs of activity. Long after it had gotten dark we still hadn¡¯t seen any and decided to go down and inspect it. Our hope was that we¡¯d be able to find some food in the cabin. After one and a half days the meat that we had eaten had long since been digested by our bodies; we were starving and running on empty. Kevin led the way as we approached the cabin armed with the knife; Hannah followed right behind him armed with the hatchet. We walked without using the lantern to light our way to remain as undetectable as possible and made it to the side of the cabin without noticing anything around us that was cause for concern. The cabin was perfectly still, as was the forest and the lake. Kevin walked alone from the side of the cabin onto the porch where the door was located. He peered into the cabin through the window next to the door, saw nobody inside, and entered the cabin. For about two minutes we waited for him while he went through the cabin checking to see if there was anybody inside. He emerged and signalled to us that it was safe for us to enter the cabin, it was empty.

    The room we entered when we walked through the door appeared to be the living room. It was dark but we were able to make out what looked like sofas and a table. Lisa got the lantern out of the bag, took the hatchet from Hannah and lit it with the flint. When she brought it back in we were able to get a proper look around the place. The room we were in was the living room; there were two sofas, a coffee table and a fireplace in the wall. Lisa, Hannah and I walked through the cabin with the lantern and found a kitchen, a dining room complete with table and chairs, two bedrooms with two single beds in each one and a bathroom. The cabin was extremely dusty; no one had been there for a long time. A pervasive feeling of eeriness engulfed us after we¡¯d been in the cabin for a few minutes. It was a building that had been constructed by the people of the outside world whose world the people of Prospera had fled. We shared a connection with these people that no amount of separation would ever be enough to sever. Being in that cabin and getting that feeling made it feel like we were doing the right thing by trying to make contact with the outside world, like we were completing a circle that had long been broken.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    While we were looking through the cabin Kevin had gone through the kitchen cupboards looking for food and found some cans. In the cutlery drawer he found a can opener. The labels on all of the cans were completely faded making it impossible for us to know what was inside them. Kevin opened one of the cans with the can opener and showed us the contents of it. It was beans. He took a spoon out of the cutlery drawer, wiped it on his shirt and ate some of them to test their edibleness.

    ¡°They¡¯re fine, the cans have preserved them perfectly,¡± he said.

    There were five other cans. Hannah took each of them and shook them close to her ear.

    ¡°They sound like they¡¯ve all got beans in them,¡± she said.

    ¡°There should be enough here to fill us up, for a little while at least,¡± Kevin said, ¡°there¡¯s some wood next to the fireplace, we can build a fire and put all of the beans in a pot and heat them up, that¡¯ll make them taste better.¡±

    I opened the cans¡ªwhich were all beans¡ªLisa got a pot out of one of the cupboards and rinsed it clean with water from the canteen, Hannah worked on getting a fire going in the fireplace and Kevin took the empty canteen from Miranda when she was done rinsing the pot and took it to the lake to fill it with water. There were several strange things in the kitchen around me. On top of the countertop was a white box with a door, another white box with two openings at the top and a white jug that I assumed was a kettle. There were also two large freestanding white boxes, one that was tall and rectangular with a door in front that opened outward and a square shaped one that had a door on top that opened upward. The vertical box, I discovered upon closer inspection, was a refrigerator, the square box was a freezer. The refrigerators that we had in Prospera were concrete boxes that were kept cool by water that flowed over the top of it. We had nothing like any of this in Prospera; my first thought upon seeing all of it and not being familiar with any of it was that if the technology of the outside world that we encountered in an abandoned cabin was enough to confuse me, how were we going to adapt to the outside world when we reached it?

    The wood by the side of the fireplace was old and extremely dry; Hannah had no trouble getting the fire started and as soon as she did we put the pot of beans on it. The cabin was growing on us; in the short time that we had been there it had started to feel like home. Having rinsed the pot Lisa had taken the lantern and gone to the bedrooms to shake the dust off the linen on the beds while Kevin rinsed four bowls and spoons in the kitchen sink for us to eat with. Each of us had a full bowl of beans that we ate on the sofas in the living room before the fire that was burning ferociously courtesy of the dry wood. The beans weren¡¯t enough to completely satisfy our appetites that had been growing for two days but it was enough for us to go to bed without stomach pains.

    We were all tired and went to bed soon after we¡¯d finished eating. Hannah and Kevin slept in one room and Lisa and I slept in the other room. Lisa pushed the two single beds together and we slept as if we were in one big bed. That night we didn¡¯t make love even though it was our first opportunity to do so in days. We were so relieved to have made it to a safe place after wandering through the woods for days that we went straight to sleep, looking forward to waking up in the morning and starting the next phase of our journey.

 ESCAPE part 11

    Hannah

    Kevin and I made love for the second time on our first night in the cabin. I initiated it, as a way to demonstrate to him how apologetic I was for having doubted him after our run in with the wolves. I should have trusted Kevin; after everything that we had been through in Prospera the one thing I should have learned from all of it was to always trust Kevin. What he had done was nothing short of astounding. He had led us out of the only place we¡¯d ever known and that we thought we would ever know, through the forest that we had been told nobody had ever returned from alive and had brought us to a place of safety that was a part of the outside world that we¡¯d always thought of as being so far away that it might as well not exist. It had been a heroic effort on his part, from leading us over Guardian Mountain to killing the deer to saving us from the wolves; he had remained unruffled throughout and had guided us in one piece to within touching distance of our goal. We¡¯d soon be coming into contact with the outside world, our thoughts turned to what we would do then.

    The next morning, with the aid of the daylight, we went through the cabin thoroughly in search of anything that would prove useful. We found a lot. The bedroom cupboards were stocked with clothes and linen, the cupboard in the bathroom had soap, toothpaste, some medicinal products and detergents. A cabinet in the dining room contained fishing rods, a box of hooks and reels, a broom and a mop. Outside on the porch there was a big axe bracketed to the wall and a large metal bucket that Kevin suggested we use for heating up water. After going through the house and finding so many useful things, Lisa, Miranda and I worked together to give the place the cleaning it so desperately needed. I used the broom to clean the floors, Lisa used a stick from outside to whack the dust out of the furniture and Miranda used a cloth to clean all of the surfaces. The mess was worse than we thought. The dust that covered everything was thick, sand had been blown inside through the few windows that were broken and in Miranda and Lisa¡¯s room there was an old bird¡¯s nest.

    ¡°How long do you think it¡¯s been since anyone¡¯s been here?¡± Miranda asked.

    ¡°Could be months, could be years,¡± I responded.

    ¡°I opened the valve on the pipe that leads from the lake to the house, so the plumbing should be working,¡± Kevin entered the cabin and said to us.

    Miranda went into the kitchen and opened the taps to see if it was working.

    ¡°We were just speculating if this cabin has been abandoned for months or years,¡± I said to Kevin.

    ¡°Definitely years, I was looking at some of the wood on the outside and it¡¯s quite badly decayed.¡±

    ¡°Plumbing¡¯s working,¡± Miranda called from the kitchen when the water started flowing out of the taps.

    ¡°You¡¯ll need to run all of the taps for a while so the fresh water from the lake can clean out any gunk that¡¯s built up in the pipes,¡± Kevin said.

    Kevin walked outside after issuing that instruction and grabbed hold of the axe that was bracketed outside.

    ¡°Are you going to chop some firewood?¡± I asked him from inside.

    ¡°There¡¯s a small room behind the cabin with a lock on it; I¡¯m going to break the lock to see what¡¯s inside.¡±

    The rest of us continued cleaning while Kevin went to try and gain access to the room behind the cabin. From inside we only heard him strike the lock three times, obviously it wasn¡¯t very strong. Once the water from the kitchen taps stopped flowing brown Miranda went to the bathroom to run the taps in there. She was busy with that when Kevin walked back into the cabin with what he¡¯d discovered in the room behind the cabin. Lisa and I froze when we saw what he was carrying in his hand. In Prospera we had learned about those things as students, about how much damage they¡¯d done and pain they¡¯d caused. The sight of it alone terrified the both of us; we couldn¡¯t understand why Kevin would bring it anywhere near us.

    ¡°What are you doing with that?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°It¡¯s what was locked in the room.¡±

    ¡°You know what that is right? It¡¯s a gun! Do you know how much damage those things have caused in the outside world? They have killed millions of people!¡±

    ¡°Hannah, I thought that you had learned not to believe everything that we were told in Prospera as the absolute truth.¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°Put it back! Put it back and let¡¯s never talk about it again, we¡¯ll act as if you¡¯d never found it.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not going to do that; this could be really useful to us.¡±

    ¡°Are you listening to me Kevin? Those things kill!¡±

    ¡°Exactly; we don¡¯t have any food left having eaten all the beans last night; we¡¯re going to need to hunt an animal again and with this it¡¯ll be really easy.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re putting us all in danger by insisting on using that thing!¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m not; all I need to do is figure out how it works, once I¡¯ve done that I¡¯ll be able to use it safely and there¡¯ll be nothing for you to worry about.¡±

    ¡°What if something happens to you while you¡¯re figuring out how to use it? We can¡¯t do this without you.¡±

    ¡°Behind the cabin there are tracks that go through the forest, that¡¯s probably the route that the people from the outside world used to get here; follow those tracks and you should reach the outside world without any problems.¡±

    He turned around and went back outside with the gun and the box of bullets that he¡¯d also found in the room to teach himself how to use it. Miranda and Lisa were curious to see how he would get on and took up standing positions by the porch window where they could watch him. I was far too terrified of what might happen to Kevin to watch with them. I sat down on the floor next to them with my back against the wall and my head in my hands, hoping nothing that we¡¯d learned happened because of guns would happen to Kevin. Lisa and Miranda¡¯s commentary on what they were watching didn¡¯t help my anxiety the slightest bit.

    ¡°What¡¯s he doing?¡± Miranda asked Lisa.

    ¡°It looks like he¡¯s trying to work out how to get the bullets in,¡± Lisa answered, ¡°He¡¯s keeping the end with the opening pointed away from him, hopefully that means that if there¡¯s an accident he won¡¯t be hurt.¡±

    The times when they were silent were worse. I spent that time waiting for a noise, either from outside or from Lisa and Miranda that would signal that some sort of disaster had taken place.

    ¡°Looks like he¡¯s figured out where the bullets go; he¡¯s putting one in,¡± Lisa said after several tense and silent seconds, after which there were more tense and silent seconds.

    ¡°Nothing happened; why did nothing happen?¡± Miranda asked.

    I presumed that Kevin had just tried to fire the gun. My heart was now pounding, I was shaking and sweating and I couldn¡¯t get my breathing under control. Something was about to happen that would either see Kevin return to us alive or not.

    ¡°He¡¯s fiddling with something, maybe now it¡¯ll work,¡± Lisa said.

    The sound that followed reminded me of the term that our teacher used when she¡¯d described to us what the people of the outside world suffered through during the countless wars that they were constantly fighting. ¡®The sounds of death¡¯ was how she had described the noise produced by the weapons used in conflict. The noise from the gun going off had pervaded the space all around us and had penetrated us as if we had been struck by the bullet itself. Doubts about the course we were on came flooding into my mind. What on earth were we thinking seeking out a place where people kept things like this? The sound of the gunshot was still ringing in my ears and the violence of it was still reverberating through my mind and body when a second shot rang out, quickly followed by a third.

    ¡°Is he okay?¡± I asked from behind my hands which I was using to cover my face.

    ¡°He¡¯s okay; he¡¯s figured out how to use it,¡± Lisa answered.

    I stood up off the floor and looked outside at Kevin with Lisa and Miranda. He was holding the gun and looking at it with a sureness that didn¡¯t sit comfortably with me at all. What I had taken away from the horrible sound of the gun going off was that the elders of Prospera were right to scare us about certain things from the outside world as a way to ensure that they never became a part of life in Prospera. The ease with which the gun that Kevin was holding could bring about devastation was frightening; I didn¡¯t want us becoming so familiar with and dependent upon such things that we started seeing them as absolute necessities. Kevin slung the rifle onto his shoulder with the strap that was attached to it and walked back to us looking like a very different person, a more dangerous person.

    ¡°Right, I¡¯m going to look for some food; I¡¯ll probably be gone for a while so don¡¯t get worried and come looking for me,¡± he said to us before turning around and going back into the forest with the rifle slung over his shoulder.

    There was nothing for the three of us to do but return to cleaning up the cabin while we waited for Kevin to return. Miranda and I cleaned all of the rooms in the house and made an effort to make the cabin more homely. We replaced the linen on the beds with linen from the cupboards, spread a tablecloth over the dining room table and went through the clothes in the bedroom closets to see what we could wear. There were clothes for boys and girls, and most of it was winter wear, which was good given how low the temperature had dropped and would continue to drop. I went through all of the cupboards and set aside clothes for all of us to wear after we¡¯d had our baths later; Miranda was washing the linen that we¡¯d pulled off the beds in the bathtub for us to put back on the beds when it was dry because the linen we¡¯d taken out of the closets and put on the beds was also smelling terribly dusty. While we were busy inside with these chores Lisa had gone outside and was using the big axe to chop firewood for us to use in the fireplace, to boil water and to cook whatever Kevin brought back with him if his hunt was successful.

    All of us pitching in and doing our bit to help out made it feel like we were back in Prospera and that wasn¡¯t altogether a bad feeling, especially after what Kevin had put me through with the gun. I questioned even more than I did before if we were doing the right thing. I was starting to miss Prospera and not even the freedom that Kevin and I had to be with each other was enough to stop me from worrying that we were making a mistake by travelling to a place where they had guns and other instruments of violence that we could only guess at.

 ESCAPE part 12

    Lisa

    It was dark when Kevin returned. The three of us had had hot baths with the water that we had heated in the metal bucket on a fire outside and we were wearing clothes from the bedroom cupboards that were new to us but were actually more comfortable than the clothes we used to wear in Prospera. The clothes we were wearing (long pants and long sleeve T-shirts) were clearly meant for daywear but unlike what we wore during the day in Prospera they had no dramatic cuts or special colours and patterns indicating one¡¯s station. We preferred these clothes to our Prospera clothes that we had set aside for cleaning and probably wouldn¡¯t be wearing again unless it got so cold that we had no choice but to put on our thick winter robes.

    Kevin didn¡¯t return empty handed. He came back carrying a boar across his shoulders, another animal that we had been told lived in the forest that wasn¡¯t nearly as big as they¡¯d told us they were. We were happy that Kevin had returned to us safe and sound and we were especially happy to see the boar. He told us that the only trouble he¡¯d had was finding it; once he¡¯d found it one shot from the gun had killed it and the hunt was over. Miranda and I, looking forward to eating pork, exchanged looks with each other that said that Hannah was wrong to worry so much about the gun and that Kevin was right not to be afraid of using the inventions of the outside world to make our lives easier.

    Kevin took a break by sitting outside and drinking some water. We offered to get hot water ready for him to bath in but he declined, saying that he didn¡¯t want us to dirty ourselves having had our own baths. He would skin and carve up the boar, roast the meat for us to eat and heat up his own bathwater; we didn¡¯t need to do anything. It was typical Kevin; he did all of the things he told us not to worry about without complaint having just walked through the forest carrying a big boar. We ate pork chops for dinner and could look forward to bacon for breakfast the next morning. After getting out of the bath and changing into new clean clothes Kevin joined us in the living room where we were discussing what we could expect from the outside world when we reached it.

    ¡°We¡¯ll only know when we get there, but judging from everything that we¡¯ve found in this cabin we shouldn¡¯t have too much trouble negotiating our way through it,¡± Kevin said, taking a seat next to Hannah on the sofa.

    ¡°What¡¯ll we do if it really is a wasteland from a nuclear world war?¡± Miranda asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s not what we¡¯re going to find; they¡¯ve been telling that story in Prospera for decades but this cabin has clearly been lived in relatively recently,¡± Kevin responded.

    ¡°Even if what we find is a world not destroyed by nuclear war we¡¯re still going to face a big challenge because of the way they do things in the outside world,¡± Hannah said.

    ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked Hannah, curious as to how she could make such a certain statement.

    ¡°In the outside world things aren¡¯t provided for you the way they are in Prospera. They have this thing called an ¡®economy¡¯ that relies on trade; everything has a cost.¡±

    ¡°And how do you satisfy those costs?¡± Miranda asked.

    ¡°They use something called money; everything has an assigned cost and money has an imbued value; you exchange money for whatever it is that you want.¡±

    ¡°Where do you get money from?¡± Miranda asked.

    ¡°You have to get a job.¡±

    ¡°A job?¡± Miranda asked, nonplussed.

    ¡°Work that you do in exchange for money. In Prospera the work that we did was for the benefit of all of our fellow citizens, that¡¯s how they were able to provide everything for us. But in the outside world it¡¯s different, each individual¡¯s efforts don¡¯t have a direct bearing on everybody else¡¯s lives so they can¡¯t do things the same way we do. Their ¡®economy¡¯ method is how they bring about the balance and interdependence that is so visible in Prospera.¡±Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°How do you know all this?¡± Kevin asked her, looking stupefied by the depth of her knowledge.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been learning about the ways of the outside world as part of the preparations I¡¯ve been undergoing to become a member of the Ethics Committee.¡±

    ¡°Why would they teach you this stuff?¡± He asked her.

    ¡°To ensure that we never start doing things the same way in Prospera. The ¡®economy¡¯ model of the outside world is considered unfair and inhuman by the elders of Prospera.¡±

    ¡°Was the outside world really destroyed by nuclear war? It sounds as if they know a lot about the outside world, is that something they¡¯ve been lying to us about?¡± Kevin asked her, his face transformed from stupefaction to seriousness.

    ¡°It might not be.¡±

    ¡°What?!¡± We gasped collectively.

    ¡°The founders of Prospera left the outside world when nuclear world war looked inevitable. It might have happened; it might not have happened.¡±

    We had left Prospera with the hope that when we reached the outside world we wouldn¡¯t find it in a state of complete destruction, so it was a relief to hear Hannah saying that there was a strong chance that wasn¡¯t what we¡¯d find when we got there. At the same time her disclosure left us feeling uneasy about her because it reminded us of why we¡¯d left Prospera: to get away from people we couldn¡¯t trust and apparently Hannah was one of them. It was disturbing to think that someone possessing so much knowledge that we didn¡¯t even know existed could be so close to us with us being none the wiser. In that instant Hannah stopped feeling like us and started feeling like one of them, those in Prospera that kept secrets from us and operated in the shadows with such skilfulness that life in Prospera went on day after day without disruption. We wondered what else she knew that she wasn¡¯t telling us and regarded her with suspicion; even Kevin was looking at her with an expression that betrayed his shock at Hannah¡¯s decision not to inform him of any of this earlier.

    ¡°Don¡¯t look at me like that; I was sworn to secrecy, if word had gotten out about this stuff they would have known that it was me and I would have had consequences to face, for something this big the consequences would have been serious; I had no choice but to keep all of this to myself.¡±

    ¡°How many people in Prospera know about these things?¡± Kevin asked her.

    ¡°The people on the Education and Ethics Committees and a few others; no more than twenty people.¡±

    ¡°In a village of five thousand; that¡¯s impressive,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°There are many things they won¡¯t know about the outside world because of how much time has passed since Prospera was founded, that¡¯s what makes what we¡¯re doing so scary.¡±

    ¡°Is there anything you know about the outside world that you haven¡¯t told us that could be helpful?¡±

    ¡°I know that the things in the kitchen that are connected to the wall run on electricity, which we don¡¯t have in Prospera because producing it requires the burning of coal which is terrible for people¡¯s health and the environment and because the invention of electricity led to the invention of other things that weren¡¯t good for society, like television.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s television?¡± Miranda asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a box that displays live and recorded performances for people¡¯s entertainment.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s so bad about that?¡±

    ¡°Television became more and more of a distraction; people became less interested in books, theatre, each other and the world around them, preferring to spend increasing amounts of time watching television.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s probably not as bad as they made it out to be, just like the animals in the forest that weren¡¯t as big as they said they were, and the gun turned out to be more useful than dangerous,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°I think they were right about guns; I wish you¡¯d put it away and never bring it out again,¡± Hannah said.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t hear you complaining when you were eating the pork chops, or asking what we were going to be having for breakfast,¡± Kevin said to her, looking at her with incriminating eyes.

    The mood among us had lightened. The impact of Hannah¡¯s withholding of truths from us had dissipated and we once again thought of her as one of us. Being privy to all of that information about the outside world and sworn to secrecy had created its own difficulties. Like she said, the possibility of her facing consequences for breaching the secrecy she¡¯d been sworn to was very real and those consequences would most likely have been grave. No matter which way you looked at it all of us in Prospera faced our own difficulties brought on by our inability to place even the slightest amount of trust in our fellow citizens. We couldn¡¯t hold our secrecy against each other; after all, it was how we ensured our safety.

 ESCAPE part 13

    Miranda

    Before long we had grown rather comfortable in the cabin. A thorough exploration of the cabin¡¯s cupboards had uncovered books, canned peas, corn, tomatoes and more beans, tins of coffee, tea, powdered milk, and something called artificial sweetener that tasted just like sugar. We also found candles and no longer had to rely on the lantern and the fireplace as our only sources of light during the night. We¡¯d gotten so comfortable that there were times when we forgot that staying there was only supposed to be temporary. Food was no problem. The boar lasted us four days and when it was finished Kevin went back into the forest with the gun and brought back another deer. We kept the meat on the kitchen counter below a window that we always left open to allow the cool air to keep the meat cool and preserve it a little longer. Hannah and Kevin tried getting the electricity working but it was to no avail; neither had the slightest clue about how it worked. The books were really interesting. They were nothing like the books from the outside world that we had in Prospera that dealt almost exclusively with events like The Holocaust that highlighted humanity¡¯s dark side. The books that we found covered a wide range of themes and took place in parts of the world we¡¯d never heard of. The book that I started reading first, Shogun by James Clavell, took place in Japan, one of only a handful of countries in the outside world we knew about because Hiroshima and Nagasaki were where the first bombs in the nuclear world war had fallen. The book depicted an entire nation at war with itself because of the selfish desire of men for more power. The story was remarkably similar to what we¡¯d been taught as students about the propensity of people in the outside world to destroy themselves over the pettiest things. Not everything that we had learned in Prospera was a lie.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

    Reading those books we were amazed to learn that the world was that big. This knowledge, while eye-opening, brought with it a profoundly strange realization: we didn¡¯t know where we were. All of the places in the books that we had found had their own unique languages and customs; if we kept moving and found our way to a part of the world where they didn¡¯t speak the same language as us or did things in a way that was completely unfamiliar to us we were going to have serious problems.

    In the cabin we had no problems. We had food to eat, books to read, clothes to wear, beds to sleep on, comforts like coffee and tea, and enough firewood to last for days thanks to Kevin devoting an entire day to chopping it and storing it inside to protect it from rain and snow. Most of our time we spent sitting in the living room before the fire, the warmest place in the cabin. Hannah stopped asking Kevin to put the gun away and never use it again and the tension between them over it quickly dissipated and they were able to start making the adjustment to being a proper couple. There was no period of adjustment for me and Lisa. We spent our time in the cabin rediscovering what we¡¯d had in Prospera that we¡¯d had to put on hold during our trek through the forest. Most nights we made love. Hannah and Kevin could hear us in the room next door but that didn¡¯t matter, we had nothing to hide or fear from them, after all, we could hear them making love. They didn¡¯t make love for as long or as often as we did but sex was becoming an increasingly important aspect of their life as a couple. The freedom we were enjoying was causing our emotions to get away from us a little. Our lovemaking, the frequency and intensity of it, was a manifestation of that. In Prospera efforts were made to suppress such emotions, Hannah told us, those emotions were only allowed some free reign during the annual camping trip. In the cabin we could explore those emotions free from fear and it felt good; we developed greater understandings of each other and ourselves and we could feel ourselves growing, moving away from the people we used to be as Prospera citizens and discovering our true selves. The more time we spent living in the cabin, the less we wanted to leave.

 ESCAPE part 14

    Hannah

    We woke up on our tenth day in the cabin to the sight of snow falling outside our windows. We had enough deer meat left for just one more meal and we were concerned about animals taking shelter from the snow and Kevin not being able to hunt any for us. Kevin was more concerned about that than the rest of us. He threw on one of the big, thick jackets from the closet, took the gun and went into the forest to hunt while there was still a good chance of finding animals. By then he knew the forest well enough to know where the best places were for finding animals and was confident of being able to get at least one relatively quickly. While he was gone Lisa and I went out and gathered and stockpiled firewood¡ªshe used the axe to chop logs into smaller pieces and I used the hatchet to split them. The arrival of the snow delayed us from embarking on the rest of our journey to the outside world and we weren¡¯t entirely disappointed by that; life in the cabin was a completely new experience for us and the transformation we were undergoing would serve us well when we reached the outside world.

    My reservations about the gun, I hated to admit, had for the most part evaporated. Kevin had learned how to use it safely and without a reliable source of food the ease with which it allowed him to provide for us was crucial. In Prospera we never had to make such serious decisions about accepting things that were uncomfortable for us because everything was always provided for us. The skills we were learning for how to fend for ourselves could only serve us in good stead.

    Kevin had returned with another deer having not taken nearly as much time as he previously had to bring something back. Before heading back out to try and bring back one more animal he took a break to eat the plate of food that Miranda had prepared for him for when he got back. The food was cold; Miranda offered to heat it up for Kevin in the fireplace but he said not to bother, he wanted to get back out into the forest as quickly as possible. When the snow fell in Prospera it usually lasted about three months. Even if Kevin was able to bring back another animal it was going to do very little to ensure our survival during the coming three months if all of the animals took shelter from the snow for those three months, nonetheless he was determined to do all he could to get us through the upcoming months. It was turning dark by the time he returned, this time with another boar. It had been snowing since morning and a sheet of snow had already accumulated on the ground. Despite being exhausted from his exertions Kevin refused to leave the carcasses outside out of fear that they would attract wolves that would take our food away from us again. He skinned and carved the carcasses while Miranda, Lisa and I dragged the freezer outside so the snow could keep it cold and it could keep the meat cold and safe. Miranda came up with the idea as a way to take advantage of the snow outside without the meat being accessible to wolves or any other predators. The meat from the deer and the boar, once we¡¯d packed all of it into the freezer, looked like an extremely healthy amount, enough to last us for weeks, especially with all of the canned food that we had that we could use to stretch it out.

    The winter months that had just begun were going to test us, possibly more than the forest did. Our ability to see our way through them would reveal a lot about our resolve and our ability to fend for ourselves, attributes that were essential in the outside world.

    * * *

    The winter months proved to be every bit as challenging as we anticipated they would be. The temperature dropped like a stone, and the cabin with its broken windows and only one fireplace was no shield against it. We spent nearly all of our time in the living room close to the fire. We moved our beds into the living room and moved the sofas into the bedrooms. At night we took turns sleeping so that at least one of us would be up to feed wood into the fire. We reverted to wearing our thick winter robes from Prospera and were chopping and stockpiling firewood every day to keep up with the voracious hunger of the fire that we never allowed to go out.

    The snow and the accompanying precipitous drop in temperature forced us to change the way we did several things. We had to start getting our water from the lake again because the pipes froze up, and that was no longer a simple matter. The surface of the lake had frozen over just like the surface of the lake in Prospera did, to get water we had to either melt snow in the metal bucket over a fire or use the axe to break the ice to get to the water in the lake. Breaking the ice involved less work so we went with that, and after a few days of the lake being frozen over we made a discovery that eased at least one of our big concerns. There were fish in the lake, lots of them. Kevin¡¯s theory was that they had all swum downriver to avoid getting trapped in parts of the river that had gotten frozen. Whatever the reason was for the fish in the lake being there we were all enormously relieved to have found a source of food right on our doorstep. Kevin used small pieces of meat from the deer and the boar as bait and caught fish with one of the rods that we¡¯d found in the dining room cabinet. The fish were big; one was enough for two people to get full on. We stored the fish in the freezer along with the boar and deer meat, which was remaining perfectly preserved.

    We had developed a plan for getting through the winter months that included eating less to prolong our food supplies, bundling ourselves up in warm clothes and making sure there was always enough firewood. Our discovery of fish in the lake as well as our ability to combine our Prospera winter robes with the warm clothes in the closets diminished the rigidity with which we needed to adhere to the plan, but there was one aspect of life in the cabin during the winter months that became increasingly difficult for us to deal with: boredom. The cabin, in particular the living room where we were spending all of our time, started to feel suffocating and we were increasingly having to go off and have some alone time. Kevin went fishing; Lisa and Miranda went to their bedroom, and I took walks out in the snow. There was no danger in me doing so since we were used to the snow from our days in Prospera and the combination of my winter robe and clothes from the cabin did an excellent job of keeping me insulated. Most of the time I walked down the path that Kevin said would most likely take us to the outside world, trying to get a feel for how much further we had to travel. I had a lot on my mind and needed time away from the others to process it all. It was inevitable that we were going to reach the outside world and that gave rise to many questions whose answers were unclear. Were we really going to be able to survive in the outside world? Prospera had been founded so long ago that it was hard to see how we were going to adapt to the changes the outside world had undergone given how primitively we¡¯d been living in Prospera. More and more I was questioning if we were doing the right thing. Weighing on my mind more than anything else though was the fact that my cycle had stopped. This meant one of two things: it was a symptom of a medical problem or I was pregnant.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    I didn¡¯t even want to think about what I was going to do if I was pregnant. I hadn¡¯t said anything to the others about it, not even to Kevin. The possibility that I might be pregnant was causing me enough added worry; I didn¡¯t want to add that worry to the cabin which was feeling increasingly congested. If I was pregnant it would bring with it added difficulties at a time when we were looking ahead to times of great uncertainty. For that reason among others I¡¯d been thinking that the best thing to do might be to go back to Prospera. I knew that wasn¡¯t going to happen; we were committed to our goal of reaching the outside world and having gotten so close turning back was not an option, the others wouldn¡¯t have it.

    We waited a few days after the snow had thawed to set off on the final leg of our journey, to give all of the snow time to melt and to gather supplies. Food wasn¡¯t going to be a problem. In addition to the fish that Kevin had been pulling out of the lake he had been able to find animals in the forest and we still had meat left from them in the freezer when winter came to an end. What we did need to worry about was water, which we¡¯d never had to worry about before. Having reached the end of the river we would no longer have easy, direct access to water. We filled up some bottles that we found in the cabin along with the canteen and hoped that it would be enough to last. The clothes we¡¯d found in the cabin we¡¯d also be taking with us, along with the gun, which we were taking for protection and in case the journey turned out to be longer than we anticipated and we ran out of fish and meat before we reached our destination.

    When the time came to say goodbye to the cabin we were all more than a little sad. It had been our home for months and even though there were times when it had felt suffocating it was the place where we had successfully lived independently, proving to ourselves that our survival didn¡¯t depend on Prospera providing everything for us. Leaving the cabin meant going back out into uncharted territory, into uncertainty, and also that there was officially no chance of returning to Prospera.

    In the time since my cycle had stopped my body hadn¡¯t displayed any of the symptoms associated with pregnancy; no morning sickness, no larger than usual appetite, no mood swings. I hoped that this meant that I wasn¡¯t pregnant and that my cycle stopping was my body simply reacting to something, like our change in diet since leaving Prospera.

    We left at noon having spent the morning getting all of our things together. The tracks that led to the cabin that we followed when we once again set off for the outside world kept us out of the forest; we travelled in-between the trees and vegetation on a path that was relatively clear. There were a few shrubs coming up here and there but we were able to proceed without any course deviations. The walk was easy going; with our well rested and well nourished bodies and a clear path before us we ate up the ground. A tingling sense of anticipation took hold of us all as we could feel the outside world drawing tangibly closer with each step. We ate our lunch of fried fish quickly and got back on the road travelling at great walking speed the instant we were done. Despite the speed at which we were travelling we weren¡¯t able to reach the outside world before the sun went down. We camped out overnight for what we hoped would be our last night under the stars and got going again the next morning after a breakfast of pork and canned peas and carrots. Our pace was relentless. With every step the distance between us and the outside world felt like it was being shredded; we walked purposefully expecting to find ourselves in sight of our goal at any moment until, later that morning, we were.

    The path that we¡¯d followed ended at a black road with white markings down the middle and yellow markings down the sides. We were looking down on the road from a slightly elevated position, a vantage point from which we were also able to see a few houses spread out over large distances, fields, and a few of what I had to explain to the others were cars. After over a week of trekking through a forest that had driven us to the extremes of what we were capable of enduring by subjecting us to untraversable terrain, forcing us to chase after evasive animals for food and placing our mortality in peril by sending wolves after us and an entire winter spent in a cabin that had given us our first taste of independence and the first opportunity we¡¯d had to gain deeper understandings of ourselves and each other, we had arrived. Before us was the world that no one else in Prospera had ever seen, the world that we had been told had been reduced to rubble by a nuclear world war. In the very near future we would be exposed to truths that would violently disrupt everything that we thought we knew and transform us in fundamental ways. A few more steps and we¡¯d be there, in a completely new and different world. Kevin led the way, as you¡¯d expect him to; I followed directly behind him and Lisa and Miranda, holding hands, followed behind me.

 TRUTH part 1

    TRUTH

    Lisa

    We walked along the road with no idea of where we were going. The excitement we¡¯d felt having discovered the outside world gave way to concern as we found ourselves without any plans for what to do next. We passed numerous dirt roads that led to houses without walking up to any of them, not feeling confident about trusting the people of the outside world. Kevin, to whom we had looked for leadership from the outset, looked as lost as we did. One thing that became apparent as we were walking along the road was that the story that we had been told about the outside world being transformed into a wasteland by a nuclear world war was a lie.

    The place we were in was some sort of farming community, the fields that we walked by were growing potatoes, carrots, cabbages; a wide assortment of vegetables that we were familiar with having grown them in Prospera. Being in the outside world and dealing with the fact that we¡¯d been lied to was something we¡¯d have to adjust to and that wasn¡¯t going to be easy. Every time a car came our way we instinctively stepped away from the road out of fear and watched it drive by in amazement. The cars alone made us feel like we were well in over our heads. The unfamiliarity of our surrounding environment terrified us. We had come to this place without the slightest clue of what awaited us and were completely unprepared for it. Nobody would admit it, but the thought of turning around and going back to the cabin and from there returning to Prospera was growing increasingly appealing.  Stolen story; please report.

    Strangely, Miranda wasn¡¯t exhibiting any signs of being intimidated by our new environment. For her the outside world was a place of wonder. She marvelled at the cars that passed us on the road and wasn¡¯t at all concerned about our lack of a plan for what to do now that we had made it to the outside world. Just being here was enough to keep from her mind any thoughts about our lack of a plan spelling trouble for us. Looking at her I thought that it was possible we were allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed a bit too easily and were panicking a bit prematurely; after all, we had survived the forest and the winter.

    We kept walking until we reached a bench with a sign next to it that said ¡®Bus Stop¡¯ that was in front of a small building that had a sign across the top of it that read ¡®Convenience Store¡¯. We had no choice; we had to talk to someone from this world to find out where we were, where we needed to go and what we needed to do. From our position at the bench we could see that there was one person in the ¡®Convenience Store¡¯, a girl who was behind the counter. As the person with all of the knowledge about the outside world we decided that Hannah should be the one who went inside and talked to her. She agreed, and went inside with Kevin, who insisted on going inside with her in case he needed to provide her with protection from any danger they might encounter. They went inside and left me and Miranda behind with all of our things, including the gun, which Kevin told me to bring inside if it looked like he and Hannah needed help.

 TRUTH part 2

    Hannah

    Feelings of fear, excitement and curiosity suffused us as we made our way toward the entrance of the ¡®Convenience Store¡¯. The girl behind the counter didn¡¯t look at all like someone we needed to wary of. She was around our age, had blonde hair, was wearing a pink T-shirt and was slumped over the counter reading something with her elbow resting on the counter and her hand supporting her chin. Despite her not looking threatening Kevin was adamant that we not take any chances by letting our guard down; we didn¡¯t know these people.

    Inside the convenience store was unlike anything we¡¯d ever seen or could have possibly imagined. Shelf after shelf after shelf was packed with things we didn¡¯t have in Prospera, that nothing in Prospera came close to resembling. Upon seeing everything Kevin and I forgot that we¡¯d entered to speak to the girl behind the counter and started exploring the aisles of the ¡®Convenience Store¡¯. On closer inspection there were things that we had in Prospera, things like coffee, tea, sugar, flour, rice, bread, soap, juice, oil, salt; they were just all in colourful packaging with lots of pictures and writing on it. The things that we didn¡¯t recognize we were intrigued by. Soda, potato chips, chewing gum, beer, cigarettes, wine, batteries, propane; at some point on every shelf we came across something we knew nothing about. We lifted these items off the shelves and examined them closely to try and gain some understanding of what they were. The soda came in some flavours that we recognized, like grape, orange and pineapple, and others that we didn¡¯t recognize, like cola and cream soda. The wine was made from grapes, which we grew in Prospera but didn¡¯t use to make wine, nor did we use potatoes to make potato chips. We found it curious that there were more things we didn¡¯t recognize than things we recognized and that in Prospera we had survived just fine for so long without them; if these things weren¡¯t essential then what were they for? More distractions, like television?

    ¡°Excuse me, can I help you two?¡± The girl behind the counter asked us, in English, which was a huge relief to me having been worried about the possibility of the people we encountered not speaking the same language as us. She was looking at us with an expression on her face that was entirely quizzical. We had nothing to fear from her; her face indicated nothing at all sinister about her. I walked to the counter to converse with her, it having been decided that with my knowledge about the outside world I was the logical choice to interact with the people here on behalf of our group.

    ¡°Yes, you can help us. We¡¯re not from around here, we have no money and we don¡¯t know our way around; is there somewhere we can go to get some help with all of that?¡±

    ¡°Where are you from?¡± She asked me, looking even more intrigued by us.

    ¡°We used to live in a cabin¡­in the woods.¡±

    ¡°Were you being held captive or something?¡±

    ¡°No, we¡¯ve been living on our own, providing for ourselves by hunting and fishing and growing our own vegetables.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t prepared for her line of questioning; I had to lie while simultaneously trying to avoid saying anything that she would think of as being strange, a difficult task given that I didn¡¯t know what constituted strange in this world.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been living here my whole life and I¡¯ve never heard of anyone living in the woods; you must have been pretty far in.¡±

    ¡°It took us two days to walk out of the forest.¡±

    ¡°What made you leave? It sounds like you were pretty self-sufficient in there.¡±

    ¡°Curiosity, we wanted to see what the world was like.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve been living in the woods your whole lives?! Who¡¯s been taking care of you?¡±

    ¡°My mother¡¯s been looking after us; she died not long ago, that¡¯s the other reason we decided to leave.¡±

    From the astonished look on her face it was obvious I hadn¡¯t succeeded in not saying anything that would be construed as strange. I waited for a reaction from her to what I¡¯d said knowing that an undesirable reaction could extremely complicate things for us.

    ¡°Well, you don¡¯t look like total freaks, I guess I could help you; my name¡¯s Cathy, short for Catherine,¡± she said, extending her hand for me to shake.

    ¡°Thank you so much; I¡¯m Hannah, he¡¯s Kevin, and the two outside by the bus stop are Lisa and Miranda.¡±

    ¡°Oh, there are four of you; are you all siblings?¡±

    ¡°No, we¡¯re not related in any way.¡±

    ¡°And yet you¡¯ve all been living together your whole lives; how does that work?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know; it just worked out that way.¡±

    ¡°Oh, okay.¡±

    I found it peculiar that Cathy would just accept such a non-explanation and my mind instantly started coming up with possible reasons for why she would. The first that entered my mind was that maybe she wasn¡¯t very bright, maybe that was a problem that people in this world had. After a few moments I started thinking something else, that maybe we were being led into a trap. Kevin had warned not to be quick to trust her; perhaps he¡¯d been right. I decided to give Cathy the benefit of the doubt; we had only just started talking and she was the first person we¡¯d met in this world, we still had a lot to learn about this place and its people. Better, I thought, to spend some time getting to know her first.

    ¡°You don¡¯t seem very bothered by my answer,¡± I said to her.

    ¡°We get a lot of travellers up here, most of them don¡¯t like to talk about their past, it¡¯s too painful. Of course they¡¯re coming up from the south so it¡¯s a little different than your situation.¡±

    ¡°Why is it too painful for them to talk about their past?¡± Kevin asked her.

    ¡°The war, people have some terrible memories from it.¡±

    ¡°The war? It¡¯s real? And it¡¯s still happening?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Yes, twelve years now, and it¡¯s showing no signs of ending.¡±

    ¡°Twelve years? Shouldn¡¯t it have been going on longer than that?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°What war are you talking about?¡± She asked with confusion in her voice.

    ¡°The nuclear war; the one that devastated the whole world.¡±

    ¡°Nuclear world war?! No, that never happened; is that what you were told had happened?¡±

    ¡°We were told that most of the world had been destroyed by nuclear weapons and that all that was left was wastelands where there was nothing but chaos.¡±

    ¡°Then you¡¯ve been lied to your whole lives. Are you sure you weren¡¯t being held captive as a part of some sort of cult or something? Because that¡¯s what it sounds like.¡±

    ¡°We already told you it was nothing like that.¡±

    ¡°You say you weren¡¯t being held captive but it sounds like they told you that the world had been destroyed so that you wouldn¡¯t think about leaving; isn¡¯t that kind of the same thing?¡±

    Discovering the truth, although it was what we had expected and were hoping for, was no less jarring. Cathy was right, we had been held captive our entire lives, by our parents and by all of the people whom we had trusted and looked up to. Familiar feelings of betrayal and anger rose up in us that we had to quickly suppress being in the presence of an outsider. My initial theory about Cathy not being very bright turned out not to be true at all; for some reason that I couldn¡¯t grasp she was choosing to overlook things that would otherwise be alarming. We didn¡¯t have much of a choice but to trust Cathy; she seemed sincere enough and we had made something of a connection with her.

    ¡°Where are we?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Huntingdale, a small farming town in northern Canada.¡±

    ¡°Is there work here? We need to find work.¡±

    ¡°Sure, there¡¯s work; what can you do?¡±

    ¡°Kevin can do almost anything, Miranda can play the violin, Lisa has some medical training, and I¡¯m willing to do any work I can get.¡±

    ¡°What kind of things can Kevin do?¡±

    ¡°He can skin and carve animals, if it weren¡¯t for him providing food for us we never would have made it through the forest.¡±

    ¡°My father owns a butcher shop not far from here, he¡¯s been looking for someone for about a week; with Lisa¡¯s medical training, even if it¡¯s limited, she can be useful; I don¡¯t know what I can do for the violinist though.¡±

    ¡°If the three of us are working we should be able to support her, right?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you should be able to do that; my father pays his workers quite well.¡±

    ¡°And what about shelter?¡±

    ¡°There are hostels run by my father where new arrivals are allowed to stay for free; you¡¯re welcome to stay there until you¡¯ve sorted yourselves out and can find your own place.¡±

    ¡°Your father sounds like he¡¯s very important around here, who is he?¡± Kevin asked.

    ¡°How about I take you to see him and you can ask him yourself, you look like you¡¯re eager to get yourselves going.¡±

    ¡°TOMMY!¡± she yelled as she grabbed a set of keys off the counter.

    ¡°YEAH?¡±

    ¡°Watch the shop for a little, I gotta go somewhere.¡±

    ¡°New arrivals?¡± said the boy named Tommy, who walked into the front of the store through a door at the back wearing an apron.

    ¡°Yeah, four of them, I¡¯m taking them to meet my dad; I¡¯ll be back later, if I come back that is.¡±

    She walked out from behind the counter and gestured for us to follow her outside, which we did.

    ¡°Okay, I¡¯m going to go around to the back and get my truck, tell Lisa and Miranda to get ready to go,¡± she said and walked away.

    Everything had moved so fast in the space of one short exchange that there was no time for us to contemplate or discuss the prudence of the path that we were on. Lisa and Miranda were taken aback by the news of what we¡¯d be doing next when we broke it to them. We were only meant to acquire some information from Cathy, not get pulled into something we weren¡¯t prepared for. None of us were ready for such a lightning fast introduction to the outside world but we had gotten swept up in a situation of which we had no control. Cathy had unknowingly usurped Kevin as our leader; we were following her now, which made sense, she was from this world and we weren¡¯t.

    An awkward moment ensued when Cathy arrived at the front of the store in her truck. She told us to get inside but not knowing the first thing about how these vehicles worked we all just stood dumbfounded next to the truck.

    ¡°Put your fingers under the black handle and pull up,¡± she said to us.

    I went first, and took my place in the seat next to Cathy¡¯s in the front; Kevin, Lisa and Miranda sat behind us in the rear seats after they¡¯d piled all of our things in the storage space at the back of the truck.

    ¡°So you guys really weren¡¯t kidding when you said you¡¯ve been living in the woods your whole lives.¡±

    ¡°No, we weren¡¯t kidding,¡± I responded.

    ¡°That¡¯s okay; I¡¯ll get you guys clued up about everything.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, that¡¯s very kind of you.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, besides, it¡¯ll be fun.¡±

    My impression was that Cathy found us a curiosity more than anything else and was eager to help us because she was anticipating that it was going to be an interesting experience. So long as her motives weren¡¯t sinister there was nothing for us to worry about. We were lucky to have found Cathy, who was more kind and helpful than I was expecting anybody in this world to be. My curiosity however wouldn¡¯t allow Cathy¡¯s benevolence to go unquestioned.

    ¡°Why are you being so helpful to us?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s how we are in Canada; they don¡¯t call us the nicest people in the world for nothing.¡±

    I accepted Cathy¡¯s explanation, on the grounds that I had no reason not to.

    ¡°How come your truck doesn¡¯t make any noise?¡± I asked Cathy, finding it odd that the vehicle¡¯s propulsion system was nearly completely silent.

    ¡°It¡¯s electric; everybody drives electric cars, except the Americans,¡± she answered.

    As strange as seeing the cars driving past us on the road had been, it was nothing compared to actually being in one. The only transport that we were used to was horses and bicycles, neither of which moved anywhere near as fast as Cathy¡¯s truck. The technology of the outside world and how much more advanced it was than what we had in Prospera was astounding.

    On the way to meet Frank, who worked in an office in town, we got to see more of the outside world as it passed us by. Building after building after building, each one looked different and served a different purpose. ¡®Pete¡¯s Pizzeria¡¯ the sign on one read, ¡®Discount Pharmacy¡¯ the sign on another read, ¡®Make Waves Hair Salon¡¯ read another. There were people walking on the street in front of the buildings and popping in and out of them, stationary cars lined the street and the more we drove into the town the more cars there were. The place was vibrant, energetic¡­terrifying. How were we going to cope here?

    ¡°This here is the city centre, it was mostly for servicing the local farmers and their families but there¡¯s been a lot of transformation since people started coming up here to live permanently to get as far away from the fighting as possible.¡±

    ¡°The war, what¡¯s it about?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Same thing every American war is about: oil.¡±

    Frank worked in a four storey building constructed out of red bricks that was in the very centre of town. We reached it before I could get more information from Cathy about the war. He owned several businesses in Huntingdale including the convenience store where we¡¯d met Cathy, a butcher¡¯s shop and a farm and was the chairman of the town¡¯s Chamber of Commerce, which put him in a unique position to assist with the settling of new arrivals. He used his contacts to ascertain which business owners were in need of what skills and sought to match them with new arrivals that possessed that corresponding skill set. His office was on the third floor. To get there we wouldn¡¯t be walking up the steps, we¡¯d be using something called an elevator, a box that we followed Cathy into after she pushed a button and the doors in front of it slid open. Again, the sheer gulf between what was ordinary for someone of the outside world like Cathy and what we were used to as citizens of Prospera was shocking; we could hardly breathe as we felt ourselves being transported upwards by the elevator. A lot of that was down to fear; if something went up then it also went down and not knowing what was causing the elevator to go up meant not knowing what was stopping it from falling down; until we were out of the elevator we couldn¡¯t feel safe.

    When we reached the floor where Frank¡¯s office was located she told us to sit on one of the benches in the hall while she went inside and explained our situation to him. It was the first time the four of us were alone since Kevin and I had gone into the convenience store to talk to Cathy, an exchange that had set in motion a frighteningly rapid progression of events that was still unfolding. Lisa looked furious, Kevin looked as unsure as I¡¯d ever seen him, and Miranda was difficult to get a read on. Ordinarily she was the one who was overly worried and in a panic during situations of uncertainty but of late she had been all but unflappable.

    Cathy emerged from her father¡¯s office and returned to us in the hallway after what felt like an uncomfortably long amount of time.

    ¡°Sorry guys, my dad¡¯s got people coming for a meeting just now so he can¡¯t see you, but he said it¡¯s okay if I take you to the house, so let¡¯s go,¡± she said and bounced off toward the elevator.

    ¡°I thought you said we¡¯d be staying at the hostels,¡± I asked her.

    ¡°There are hostels not far from where we live, that¡¯s if you even end up living there, sometimes if my father likes someone he¡¯ll make alternate arrangements for them.¡±

    According to Cathy the hostels were quite full. They were located mostly around the farms and housed mostly those who worked on the farms because they didn¡¯t have any notable skills. There were thousands of them, Cathy said, and while the accommodations were perfectly fine there were better ways one could be living. I noticed when we were on our way to Cathy¡¯s house that the reason it felt like we were going so fast in her truck was because Cathy was driving faster than everybody else on the road. Her driving style was a near perfect manifestation of her personality: exuberant and aggressive. We were lucky to have found Cathy. With everything that we had seen if we had had to negotiate this world by ourselves we no doubt would have been completely lost. She was an interesting character. I wondered if the helpfulness that she had shown to us thus far really came from her natural inclination as a Canadian to be helpful or from someplace else, like curiosity or downright boredom; maybe helping refugees was one of the few interesting things she had to do.

    ¡°Is there any danger of the war reaching us up here?¡± I asked her as we were driving.

    ¡°No, we don¡¯t do any oil drilling here and there are no pipelines nearby, so we¡¯re okay.¡±

    ¡°I thought that things like oil were simply bought and sold in markets; why is there a war over it?¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°We stopped producing and exporting oil thirty years ago, to send a strong message about how serious we were about dealing with climate change. The Americans weren¡¯t happy about that, especially with all of the political turmoil and carnage in the Middle East from the Iran-Saudi Arabia war making it impossible to get oil from there, and after the coup in Washington there was nothing to stop them from being as belligerent as they wanted to be. Here it is.¡±

    We had arrived at the long driveway that led up to Cathy¡¯s house. The house was at the top of a small hill. As we made our way up the driveway toward it we passed a barn, two silos, and a pen in which there were quite a few sheep. The further up the driveway we got the more we were able to see of the farm. Behind the house were fields that were fallow and in the distance were more farms and farmhouses.

    ¡°Why did you bring us here?¡± I asked Cathy when we arrived at the house and had disembarked from the truck.

    ¡°Because there are still a lot of things that I need to tell you and that you need to tell me, and more importantly my father wants to see how Kevin does on a small examination that he¡¯s asked me to administer. You see those sheep?¡± She turned to Kevin and said, ¡°He wants you to kill, skin and carve one within one hour, if you can do that he¡¯ll give you a job at his butchery. On the other side of the house behind the kitchen are a butcher¡¯s table and a cabinet with all the tools that you¡¯ll need, put the different pieces of meat in separate packets and store them in the freezer when you¡¯re done, but first let me give you all a quick tour of the house.¡±

    Cathy¡¯s house was constructed of wood and rested on a stone base. There were similarities between it and our houses in Prospera that made us feel comfortable about being there, and much like when we first entered the cabin in the woods there wasn¡¯t a whole lot on the inside that was different either. The floor was carpeted, curtains hung by the windows, the furniture was made from wood. She took us from the dining room, which was the room closest to the entrance, and after that to the kitchen, where there were things that were familiar to us from the cabin. The kettle, the freezer, the refrigerator; they were all there along with some others that weren¡¯t in the cabin. Curious about these things that had been a mystery to us when we were in the cabin, Miranda walked over to the refrigerator and opened the door to look inside.

    ¡°It¡¯s cold; how is it cold?¡± She asked Cathy with a look of wonder on her face.

    ¡°It¡¯s a fridge, it¡¯s supposed to be cold; are you guys thirsty? If you are you can take anything you want to drink out of the fridge, there¡¯s juice, soda, milkshake¡­¡±

    ¡°Which ones are the soda and milkshake?¡± Miranda asked eagerly.

    ¡°They¡¯re in the door at the bottom.¡±

    Miranda removed both from the fridge and took two glasses from the rack beside the sink. She filled one with soda and the other with milkshake and drank each one in practically one sip. This world, I realized, was a place of utter fascination to her. She had a creative mind that was naturally stimulated by new and interesting things and this world was full of them. She was childlike in the way that she was acquainting herself with it, and there was danger in that.

    ¡°You guys have to try these, especially the milkshake,¡± she said, filling both glasses with milkshake, ¡°Kevin, get another glass,¡± she said to him, since he was the closest to the rack.

    Kevin did as he was told, Miranda poured three glasses of milkshake and we got our first taste of the luxuries they had in this world that we didn¡¯t have in Prospera. Cathy watched us we savoured every drop as it entered our mouths and descended our throats. The milkshake was delicious; in Prospera all we had to drink was milk, water, juice, tea and coffee, nothing like this. Probably it had been decided that such things, much like television, were frivolities and meaningless distractions. To a degree I could understand their perspective, after finishing my milkshake all I could think about was how much I wanted another glass, no doubt it was the same with all of the other luxuries they had in this world.

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Miranda asked Cathy, pointing to the box with the two openings on top.

    ¡°That¡¯s a toaster, it turns bread into toast.¡±

    ¡°Oh, we used to use fire to make toast. How about that?¡± She asked, pointing to something else.

    ¡°That¡¯s an oven; it¡¯s for baking and roasting things.¡±

    ¡°We had an oven too, but it also used fire; this all runs on electricity, right?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°Where does it come from?¡±

    ¡°Solar panels, on the roof, they transform sunlight into electricity and emit zero pollution.¡±

    ¡°How do they do that?¡±

    ¡°Miranda, I think you¡¯ve asked Cathy enough questions,¡± I said to her, concerned that all of her questions were making us look like the freaks that Cathy didn¡¯t think we were.

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, the quicker you guys get caught up the better, right? Ask me as many questions as you want.¡±

    There was silence among us as we contemplated whether to expose any more of our ignorance of this world. The silence was broken by Miranda.

    ¡°Do you have a TV? Hannah told us about those and I¡¯ve been curious about them ever since.¡±

    ¡°Sure, it¡¯s in the living room, come on I¡¯ll show you.¡±

    Miranda followed Cathy to the living room, affording us the opportunity to have a quick discussion amongst ourselves. I still thought that it was a mistake for us to reveal the extent of our ignorance before we¡¯d learned more about the world we were in. In hushed tones in the kitchen I told Kevin and Lisa that we needed to be more guarded about the truth about us and that under no circumstances were we to say anything about Prospera. One of us was going to have to share this with Miranda later when we had a chance to be alone with her, at present she was too busy being dazzled by all that this world had to offer.

    ¡°You guys have to come see this,¡± she darted into the kitchen and said before darting off again.

    We followed her to Cathy¡¯s living room and there got our first sight of television, the device that I had been told had been the bane of this world. Pictures on a screen, that¡¯s all it was, and yet I could immediately see why the founders of Prospera had been so determined to keep it out of the village. The visuals on the television were of scantily clad people in some room where the lights were constantly changing, dancing to some strange music.

    ¡°This is MTV; it¡¯s one of the music channels. We get channels that air movies, series, sports, documentaries, news, religion, cartoons; basically anything that you can think of.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know what any of those things are,¡± Miranda said to her.

    ¡°Here¡¯s the remote, you can explore them for yourself, just point the remote at that green light beneath the TV and press these buttons to change either up or down.¡±

    Miranda sat on the sofa facing the TV and began exploring the vast array of programming on offer. Kevin, Lisa and I looked at the TV with curiosity but nothing like the complete enthrallment with which Miranda was staring at it. I was torn as to whether Miranda¡¯s embrace of this world was a good thing because it meant she would adapt to it better or a dangerous thing because it would make her vulnerable to threats from a world she thought she knew.

    ¡°I think I should get started,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°Oh, right, well, you know where everything is,¡± Cathy responded.

    Lisa remained in the living room with Miranda, who looked like nothing could pry her away from the TV. I went outside with Kevin. He took the sheep out of the pen and carried it to the area outside the kitchen where Cathy said he should work. He did everything by himself; he didn¡¯t need my help with anything. He slit the sheep¡¯s throat and let it bleed out into the earth before carrying the carcass onto the balcony and placing it on the butcher¡¯s table. He worked on the sheep¡¯s carcass with the same efficiency with which I¡¯d seen him work on the carcasses in the woods. He was able to move faster on the sheep¡¯s carcass because unlike when we were in the woods he had specialized implements available to him that he was familiar with having watched them being used in the Prospera abattoir.

    ¡°Wow! You work fast,¡± Cathy said when she emerged onto the balcony and saw the amount of progress Kevin had made in the short amount of time he¡¯d been working.

    ¡°I told you, Kevin can do anything,¡± I said to her.

    ¡°If that¡¯s true then my father will be really happy that you¡¯re here, he¡¯s got a lot of responsibilities that he¡¯d like to delegate to someone, you could find yourself doing more than just working in the butchery.¡±

    ¡°Where are we going to sleep tonight?¡± I asked Cathy.

    ¡°We¡¯ll sort that out later, it¡¯ll be easy to get you a room in one of the hostels, that¡¯s if you don¡¯t end up sleeping here.¡±

    ¡°Here? When did that become an option?¡±

    ¡°When I realized how much I like you guys and how much fun we could have.¡±

    A short silence prevailed then as Cathy and I watched Kevin¡¯s assiduous cleaving of flesh from bone, then meat from fat.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you guys have never met anyone from our world before.¡±

    ¡°What makes you say that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°There have been quiet a few people that have passed through this town heading north into the woods on a quest to find some hidden paradise called Prospera.¡±

    My body shuddered at the sound of the name Prospera passing through Cathy¡¯s lips but my reactions were quick enough to conceal my shock from her. Kevin was similarly adroit in his self control.

    ¡°We never saw any of those people, and we¡¯ve never heard of this Prospera either,¡± I said.

    ¡°Few people have; it¡¯s supposed to be some isolated village that¡¯s completely separated from the world where people live in peace and harmony; if you ask me the whole story is too far-fetched for it to possibly be true.¡±

    ¡°Did those people ever say if they found anything?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the thing, not a single one of them has ever come back. They probably got eaten by wolves or something, the deeper you go into the forest the more dangerous it becomes.¡±

    What had happened to those people? I immediately wondered. Had they been killed by Prospera citizens to keep us from finding out about the outside world and to keep the outside world from finding out about us? I was certain that they¡¯d suffered some kind of fate at the hands of Prospera; the only question was what that fate had been. Kevin knew it too; we shared a look that said as much when he looked up from the table upon finishing his work on the sheep.

    ¡°That¡¯s a lot of mutton you¡¯ve got there, my father will be pleased. Give me the chops; I¡¯ll cook them for dinner.¡±

    Cathy took the packet with the chops from Kevin and carried it inside. I walked over to the freezer to have a discrete word with Kevin while he put the rest of the meat away.

    ¡°How do people out here know about Prospera?¡± I asked him softly.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know; even when we¡¯re far away from Prospera we¡¯re still learning things about it we¡¯re not supposed to know.¡±

    There was a tap on the side of the house where Kevin washed the blood from the sheep off his hands, after which we were at a bit of a loss for what to do with ourselves.

    ¡°Come and see this, quickly,¡± Lisa ran outside and said to us.

    We followed her inside to the living room; what she wanted us to see was on the TV.

    ¡°This is CNN; it¡¯s one of the news channels, they¡¯re about to talk about the war, I thought you¡¯d want to see this.¡±

    ¡®Breaking news this hour, a fragmentium drone strike is being reported in the Canadian town of Scanlon, about twenty miles north of the Alberta-Montana border. It is the second such attack this week after a fragmentium drone strike in the town of Crosshall killed fifteen people and wounded dozens more. The Prime Minister of Canada, Daniel Benfield, has condemned the attack and offered his condolences to the victims and their families. Fragmentium drone strikes are commonly used by the US army to clear out the towns they reach as they continue their campaign for control of Canada¡¯s oil reserves and infrastructure. CNN¡¯s Blake Fields is in the conflict zone and has this report.¡¯

    ¡®It¡¯s become a familiar scene: buildings destroyed, people fleeing, emergency services doing all they can to save as many as they can. The Canadian army had sent troops to this town in an effort to slow the progress of the American troops but like every town where the Americans have encountered resistance from the Canadians, fragmentium drone strikes rained down on the town causing incalculable loss and damage. The town, which has a key oil pipeline control station located within it, was quickly surrendered to the Americans following the fragmentium strike. This woman, whose child lost her leg after a piece of fragmentium shrapnel sheered through most of it, couldn¡¯t make any sense of why this had happened.¡¯

    ¡®WHY ARE THEY DOING THIS?! WHY?! WE NEVER DID ANYTHING TO THEM!¡¯

    ¡®After this latest attack the inhabitants of this town will have a choice to make: stay here and subject themselves to American occupation, or flee north, as hundreds of thousands have already done, Rana.¡¯

    ¡®Thank you Matthew, and now for more on this story I¡¯d like to bring in our military analyst, Retired Lieutenant General¡­¡¯

    I ran around the sofa, grabbed the remote from Miranda and turned the TV off. She¡¯d seen enough. The images that they showed on screen while the woman named Rana and the man named Blake had talked about what was going on were disturbing, provoking feelings in us that we¡¯d never felt before having not known that it was possible for people to do such things to each other. In Prospera they had told us about the various wars that had been fought in this world and our textbooks had contained images of the atrocities committed in those wars but what we were seeing was happening as we were watching it to people whose country we now inhabited; there was no separation between us and what was happening like there had been between us and the pictures in our textbooks of events that had transpired long ago. This was real, viscerally real, and we weren¡¯t prepared for it. Miranda was brought to tears by the images on screen of people staggering through dust from collapsed rubble with blood running down their faces, carrying dead children, screaming wretchedly in painful disbelief.

    ¡°Why would people do this to each other?¡± Miranda asked in shock.

    ¡°We have something they want that we won¡¯t give to them, so they¡¯ve come to take it; people have been doing it since the dawn of civilization.¡±

    ¡°But those people are suffering; don¡¯t they care that they¡¯re causing people to suffer?¡±

    ¡°As long as they get what they want they don¡¯t care.¡±

    ¡°Well is anybody helping? Is anybody doing anything?¡±

    ¡°The EU has sent some troops and is selling weapons to a guerrilla group that¡¯s also fighting the Americans but it¡¯s not enough to make a real difference; they¡¯re afraid of the Americans turning their attention to them if they take too strong a stance against them.¡±

    ¡°How can this be allowed to happen? Where we come from¡­¡±

    ¡°Miranda!¡± I interrupted her, worried that she was about to mention Prospera, ¡°Why not just give them what they want and bring an end to all of this?¡± I asked Cathy.

    ¡°Because if we give them the oil what¡¯s to stop them from wanting everything? From enslaving us and imprisoning us and executing us?¡±

    ¡°If they win won¡¯t they be able to do all of that anyway? The harder you make it for them to get what they want the harder they¡¯ll make things for you in the end, don¡¯t you think?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re never going to win, there¡¯ve been so many attacks on pipelines and control stations and oil wells that they¡¯ll never have complete control of our oil; the only reason they¡¯re staying is because they don¡¯t want to admit they can¡¯t win, it¡¯s Vietnam all over again.¡±

    ¡°Things like what we just saw have been going on for twelve years you said; how do you live with it?¡± Miranda asked.

    ¡°You get used to it; like I said, it¡¯s been going on forever.¡±

    We were silent. The reality of this world, as we had just seen it and as Cathy had described it to us, was incomprehensible to us. The cruelty, the killing, the indifferent attitude of Cathy whose country this was happening to, it was all tough to digest. Knowing that in Huntingdale we were far away from the conflict somewhat mitigated what we were feeling; what was inescapable was the fact that nothing like this ever happened in Prospera. Did that mean the methods employed by the governing authorities in Prospera were justified? Had we made a huge mistake by coming to this world where order appeared to have very little value? What we had discovered about this world in the short time we¡¯d been here challenged so much of what we had assumed; the very reasons for which we had left Prospera were thrown into question by the images of the war that we had seen on the television. Cathy couldn¡¯t understand what we were going through; she was a child when this war had started and had grown up with it as a constant in her life.

    Our biggest concern, as she always was, was Miranda. In the hours prior to seeing the news story she had been open-minded and embracing of this world. Miranda didn¡¯t process negativity at all well; the more we learned about this war and the other terrible things that happened here the more she was going to need our protection, at a time when each of us would be searching for our own individual place and purpose. Lisa would make sure she was there for her, but in a world we were only just beginning to discover the dangers of keeping Miranda¡¯s mind in a healthy space could prove to be too big a task even for her.

    I thought that the most important thing for us was learning as much about this world as possible, starting with the war. I asked Cathy how I could do so and she said that she would take me to the library tomorrow and allow me to use her library card to check out some books. I still didn¡¯t know what to make of her. The extent to which she was making herself available to us, her lack of suspicion or concern about our vague past and sudden appearance in her town; I couldn¡¯t accept that it was all purely out of kindness.

    In the meantime we had immediate concerns that required addressing, the most immediate of which was that it was lunchtime and we hadn¡¯t eaten since we¡¯d set off that morning. We had food supplies, the meat and canned vegetables that we¡¯d brought with us from the cabin were in the back of Cathy¡¯s truck, but she had a much simpler lunch solution.

    ¡°Just take some bread and some stuff out of the fridge and make sandwiches for yourselves,¡± she answered when I asked her if there was a place where we could make a fire to cook our meat for lunch.

    I couldn¡¯t deny that the conveniences in this world were wonderful; they were able to keep food items in their homes that in Prospera we had to pick up from the food collection points because we didn¡¯t have the refrigeration capacity in our homes. I couldn¡¯t see the harm in these conveniences, except the TV which Miranda had been glued to, and wondered if they hadn¡¯t perhaps gone too far in Prospera in keeping them out.

    Kevin and I left Lisa with Miranda and went into the kitchen to make the sandwiches; we used the cheese, lettuce and tomatoes that we found in the fridge. Midway through making the sandwiches Kevin went out to Cathy¡¯s truck to get our meat and put it in the outside freezer. While he was gone, Cathy joined me in the kitchen.

    ¡°I just remembered that I need to make lunch for my mother and take it to her.¡±

    ¡°Your mother; where is she?¡± I asked.

    ¡°She¡¯s in hospital; she¡¯s being treated for cancer. She likes me to bring lunch for her and sit and talk with her.¡±

    I had been curious about Cathy¡¯s parental situation; she had talked a lot about her father since almost the moment we¡¯d met her but had said nothing about her mother. I¡¯d thought that her father was her only parent.

    ¡°I don¡¯t have time to make something from scratch, last night¡¯s leftovers will have to do,¡± she said.

    She pulled a container out of the fridge and popped it into the box with a door and numbers on the side that we had in the cabin but didn¡¯t know the name of.

    ¡°What is that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a microwave, it heats things up.¡±

    ¡°Without fire; how does it do that?¡±

    ¡°Radiation, I think, I don¡¯t know, I just know how to use it. Anyway, I have got to go; I¡¯ll be back in about an hour. Don¡¯t do any damage to anything while I¡¯m gone, if you do it¡¯ll make it harder for me to convince my father to let you stay with us.¡±

    Cathy took the container of lasagne with her and left us strangers behind in her house. Afforded the opportunity to have a talk we all gathered outside at the table where Kevin had worked on the sheep to air our initial impressions of this world.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we can trust Cathy,¡± I began the conversation with.

    ¡°What do you mean we can¡¯t trust her? She¡¯s been so nice to us,¡± Miranda said.

    ¡°That¡¯s precisely why she worries me; you don¡¯t find it a bit strange that she¡¯s being so helpful to us?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s just being nice.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know that, when she came outside and talked to me and Kevin she talked about Prospera; we don¡¯t know anything about these people and we don¡¯t know how much they know about us, we have to be careful.¡±

    ¡°How does she know about Prospera?¡± Lisa asked.

    ¡°Some people have come up here trying to find it but they¡¯ve never been seen again, so to the people of this world Prospera remains nothing more than a rumour,¡± I said.

    ¡°We can¡¯t say a thing about Prospera to anyone, people in this world finding out about its existence could mean danger for Prospera,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°Does anyone else here think it¡¯s odd that as advanced as this world is they haven¡¯t found out about Prospera yet?¡± Lisa asked.

    ¡°I do, I think there¡¯s some sort of connection between this world and Prospera that probably only a handful of people know about,¡± I said.

    ¡°So even here we might not be safe from Prospera?¡± Lisa asked.

    ¡°I think that¡¯s possible, but what I¡¯m more worried about is the war the Americans are waging,¡± I said.

    ¡°Cathy said that we¡¯re safe here because there¡¯s no oil anywhere nearby,¡± Miranda said.

    ¡°That¡¯s assuming the oil is all they want, maybe they want more, in which case nobody is safe anywhere,¡± I said.

    ¡°If they get this far they could keep going north and find Prospera and go after it too; should we go back and warn them?¡± Lisa asked.

    ¡°No, we don¡¯t know enough, and for now we need to focus on establishing ourselves in this place,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°Your work on the sheep impressed Cathy so you¡¯re going to be okay, but how are the rest of us going to establish ourselves here?¡± Lisa asked.

    ¡°Cathy¡¯s willing to help us, maybe we should just be patient and wait for her to come through with something,¡± Miranda said.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already said that we shouldn¡¯t be too reliant on her; we can¡¯t trust her, not yet at least,¡± I said to Miranda.

    ¡°Without her we¡¯d probably still be walking around on the road completely lost; we owe her the benefit of the doubt at least, don¡¯t we?¡± Miranda asked me.

    ¡°We have to protect ourselves, and Prospera, that means not saying anything that will lead Cathy or anyone else to suspect that we come from Prospera, so choose your words very carefully when talking to anybody from this world.¡±

    ¡°Why are you so worried about protecting Prospera? In case you don¡¯t remember the whole reason we¡¯re here is because they tried to kill Kevin; why should we care about them?¡± Miranda asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s still our home, and all of the people there are still our family, and we may have to go back there someday.¡±

    ¡°Go back? Why would we have to go back?¡± Miranda asked.

    ¡°To escape from the war if it reaches us up here, or in case things don¡¯t work out for us in this world.¡±

    ¡°Us having learned the truth about this world means they probably won¡¯t allow us to return; if we try to go back they¡¯ll stop us somehow,¡± Lisa said, ¡°Are you regretting leaving? Because that¡¯s what it¡¯s sounding like.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve only been here a few hours and already everything we¡¯ve discovered has been so overwhelming; it¡¯s frightening how little we know about this world and how ill-prepared we are to inhabit it.¡±

    ¡°Frightening? The stuff they have here is so cool! Have you seen the cartoons on the TV? It¡¯s amazing that they¡¯re able to do stuff like that here, you should be more excited about it,¡± Miranda said to me.

    ¡°That¡¯s another thing, you shouldn¡¯t be so quick to embrace everything in this world; we don¡¯t know yet what¡¯s dangerous and what¡¯s not.¡±

    ¡°Are you listening to yourself? You¡¯re thinking about everything the way you were taught to think about things in Prospera. They lied to us about everything! There was no nuclear world war and there¡¯s nothing dangerous about television. You need to accept that we¡¯re not in Prospera anymore and start adjusting to this world, because this is our home now.¡±

    Miranda¡¯s words were harsh but necessary. Ever since being dragged along by Cathy on the crazy ride that we¡¯d been on I¡¯d been growing ever more apprehensive. The reality was that this strange new world that we were in was our home now and we had to make the best of it. Miranda¡¯s way of looking at this world and interacting with it would need to be adopted by all of us.

    The rest of us following Miranda¡¯s lead was an unexpected change in the dynamic of our friendship; having undergone her transformation into a more curious and adventurous person she was the person who was best equipped to navigate this world. Assimilation meant survival; for all of this world¡¯s flaws, dangers and distractions we needed to familiarize ourselves with all of it as much as possible if we wanted to make it here, for nobody would this be harder than for me.

 TRUTH part 3

    Lisa

    Cathy¡¯s father Frank returned home late, and tired. Cathy was busy frying the mutton chops that Kevin had cut up when he arrived. Cathy introduced all of us to him and he immediately went outside to the freezer to inspect Kevin¡¯s work.

    ¡°Not bad, how long did this take?¡±

    ¡°About thirty minutes,¡± Cathy answered.

    ¡°That¡¯s including the slaughtering?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I was surprised at how quickly he finished everything.¡±

    ¡°Okay then, you¡¯ll start tomorrow; I¡¯ll call Roger and tell him to expect you and Cathy can drive you over in the morning.¡±

    And just like that Kevin had obtained work. We stayed at the house for the evening and had dinner with Cathy and her father. To go with the chops Cathy had made steamed vegetables and mashed potatoes with cream cheese. The food was good, and fortunately for us the conversation between us and Frank didn¡¯t enter the territory of our past.

    ¡°Where¡¯d you learn to carve up an animal so fast?¡± He asked Kevin.

    ¡°From hunting,¡± Kevin responded.

    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re a hunter! I used to hunt but I haven¡¯t been in years, what did you used to hunt for mostly?¡±

    ¡°Mostly deer and boar.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ve got plenty of those up here, especially since the wolf population dwindled to next nothing.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying there are hardly any wolves in the forest?¡± Hannah asked mystified, as we all were having had the run in with wolves that we¡¯d had in the forest.

    ¡°We noticed that their numbers were falling and were baffled by it since you¡¯re not allowed to hunt wolves up here; a team of researchers even came up here and lived in a cabin in the woods while they searched for the cause of the reduction in wolves but they couldn¡¯t find one; by now the wolves are probably all gone.¡±

    The cabin that we¡¯d spent the winter in must have been where those researchers had stayed. In the box where we¡¯d found all of the novels that we¡¯d read there had been notebooks filled with written information, graphs and pictures that we hadn¡¯t paid any attention to. Why had they left behind all of their things? I wondered.

    ¡°Lisa, Cathy tells me you have some medical knowledge,¡± he said to me.

    ¡°I do, but it¡¯s very rudimentary, just first aid and some basic knowledge of surgery and homeopathy.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a clinic in town that was built to service the refugees; they¡¯re always short staffed, even a little knowledge could go a long way there, I¡¯ll call and get you an interview. That leaves Hannah and Miranda, which one of you is the musician?¡±

    ¡°That would be Miranda, she¡¯s a violinist,¡± Hannah said.

    ¡°A violinist, my wife would like that, she teaches music, she has a studio in town.¡±

    ¡°How bad is her cancer?¡± Hannah asked.

    ¡°We found out a few months ago that she had breast cancer. Luckily we caught it early; her doctor says there¡¯s a good chance she¡¯ll pull through.¡±

    ¡°I can play the piano too, not as well as the violin because that¡¯s my primary instrument but I¡¯m still quite good,¡± Miranda said.

    ¡°Really? Well then we need to make a plan for you to visit her and play for her, it would give her spirits a big lift. Hannah, I haven¡¯t heard anything about you yet.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s because I¡¯m not as skilled as the others, my education was academic; literature, economics, history, politics, and management mostly, finding a use for me is going to be harder than the others.¡±

    ¡°You four are very impressive, I wish Cathy would be more like you and apply herself to something.¡±

    ¡°Dad, not now,¡± Cathy said to her father, sounding annoyed.

    ¡°Okay, well, that¡¯s it for me; there¡¯s a cottage not far from the house, you four can stay there, Cathy will show you the way and help you get settled in,¡± he said and left the dining room, his meal finished.

    We were relieved to have certainty about where we¡¯d be staying that night, at the same time we were aware of the fragility of the security we¡¯d found. We were fortunate at dinner not to have been asked any questions by Frank about where we¡¯d come from or where we¡¯d learned all of the things that we knew; had he asked those questions we would have had a hard time providing him with satisfactory answers. Hannah¡¯s story about us having lived in a cabin in the woods under the care of her mother until she died was not a good enough explanation for where we¡¯d come from. We needed to come up with a new story, one that would pass muster no matter who we were speaking with.

    On the issue of not trusting Cathy I agreed with Hannah; her willingness and eagerness to be of great help to us given our mysterious arrival in her town was unusual, enough to warrant a healthy amount of wariness. We walked across Cathy¡¯s family¡¯s farmland in the direction of the cottage that Frank had offered to us behind Cathy, who walked ahead holding up an electric lantern. We walked in silence, each of us ruminating on our first day in the outside world.

    ¡°I know you guys don¡¯t come from the woods,¡± Cathy said after we¡¯d been walking for about a minute, ¡°I don¡¯t know what your real story is but if you want to keep it a secret you¡¯re going to need to come up with a better back-story for yourselves. I told my father that you were just four more refugees fleeing the war so you need to come up with a story that fits in with that; since you don¡¯t know anything about our country or what¡¯s been going on in it I¡¯ll help you to come up with one but you¡¯re going to have to stick to it and learn as much about what¡¯s been going on as possible so you can be as convincing as possible.¡±

    Telling the story about us coming from the woods that had exposed us to Cathy was Hannah¡¯s failure and it was a big failure; the look on her face after Cathy had told us that she knew we¡¯d lied to her betrayed the crushing disappointment she felt in herself.

    The cottage was more than big enough to accommodate the four of us. Like the cabin in the woods it hadn¡¯t been lived in for a while and needed some cleaning up but it was a roof over our heads and for that we were grateful.

    ¡°Tomorrow you can get to work giving this place the cleaning that it needs, for now just get your beds ready and tuck yourselves in, tomorrow¡¯s going to be a busy day,¡± Cathy said to us upon our entry into the cottage.

    The cottage had three bedrooms, one had a double bed and the other two had a single bed in them each. The next day we¡¯d move one of the single beds into the other room with a single but that night Miranda and I would sleep separately.

    ¡°There¡¯s a valve outside that you¡¯ll need to open to get water, we shut it off when the last people that were staying here moved out.¡±

    ¡°Who was staying here?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The last farm manager my father hired and his family, it¡¯s been about eight months since they left.¡±

    ¡°Can you show me where the valve is, I think its best if I open it now,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    Kevin followed Cathy outside to get water into our cottage, leaving Hannah, Miranda and I to continue acclimating ourselves to our surroundings. The furnishings in the cottage were certainly comfortable; the kitchen, living room, bedrooms and bathroom were all well stocked with everything we¡¯d need. The longer we could stay in the cottage the easier it would be for us to make the transition to being citizens of this world. That depended on us doing as Cathy said and making ourselves as believable as refugees as we possibly could. After she¡¯d left us to return to the main house the four of us sat around the kitchen table to decide how to accomplish as much. Hannah had the greatest interest in the war out of us; we decided that she would use the knowledge that she acquired from the books that Cathy would help her to procure from the library to educate the rest of us about it. She would have the time, unlike Kevin and I she hadn¡¯t been earmarked for work; Miranda hadn¡¯t been either but it sounded as if Frank had taken a liking to her and had plans for her that were going to keep her busy.

    What Hannah and Miranda would end up doing here to contribute to our upkeep was at that point a mystery to us and the cause of a certain amount of concern. Our ability to support ourselves with work was¡ªas Hannah was constantly reminding us¡ªessential to our survival. We couldn¡¯t make ourselves too much of a burden on Cathy and her father, in the space of just one day they had already been more helpful to us than we could have hoped for and they had their own problems that needed their attention; there was Cathy¡¯s mother who was in the hospital and then there was the brief but no less tense exchange between Cathy and her father at the dinner table. He had said that we were all very impressive and that he wished Cathy would apply herself to something. By Prospera¡¯s standards the only one of us that was impressive was Miranda, the musical prodigy; Hannah, Kevin and I were quite average and couldn¡¯t understand what was so impressive about our application of ourselves to our work; were the standards in this world that low?

    That night was the first in months that Miranda and I were apart. I struggled to get to sleep, being alone there was nothing I could do to stop my mind racing with thoughts about where we were, what we¡¯d done to get here and where we were going. As much as we had encountered of this world on our first day that had been overwhelming, on our next day here we¡¯d be going with Cathy out into the world to take our first steps toward becoming actual inhabitants of the outside world. The thought of what we were in store for was exciting but for the most part it was terrifying. Aside from Cathy and to a lesser extent her father we knew nothing of the people here, what to expect from them or how to react to them. I didn¡¯t know if the few skills I possessed would be of any use to the people at the clinic where Frank had said he would arrange an interview for me. Maybe Kevin was going to be the only one of us who was working and maybe we were going to be burdens on Cathy and her father for much longer than I hoped we would be and maybe they¡¯d start asking questions about why we were having so much difficulty getting on and the truth about us not being refugees and coming from a strange background would come out and they¡¯d throw us out of their cottage and then what? I was getting worried by the tenuousness of our situation and my worry was quickly growing into panic which was making me far too anxious to get to sleep.

    ¡°Lisa?¡± Miranda¡¯s voice whispered to me from the doorway.

    ¡°You can¡¯t sleep either?¡± I asked her softly, rolling onto my other side to face her.

    ¡°I don¡¯t like sleeping alone.¡±

    ¡°Get in here with me,¡± I said to her, holding open the blanket, ¡°this bed¡¯s small but we should fit in if we squeeze together.¡±

    Miranda climbed into my bed with me and lay on her side with her back to me. I put my around her midriff and held her tightly to me, feeling my anxiety being soothed by her tangibility.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Lisa, are we going to be okay?¡± She asked me with concern in her voice, a departure from the new Miranda that we had all been getting used to.

    ¡°We¡¯re going to be okay, and there¡¯s especially no need for you to worry, I¡¯ll make sure nothing happens to you.¡±

    We said nothing to each other after that and, ensconced in our love for each other, we eventually fell asleep.

    At dawn we were up, as we had been trained to be in Prospera. Frank was up similarly early. We saw him through our kitchen window standing on the porch of the main house with a cup of coffee in his hand; there was no sign of Cathy. As our occupation of the cabin was so sudden there were certain essential items that we were missing. We plugged in the fridge and found the kettle in one of the cabinets but there was no coffee, sugar, tea, milk, bread or anything; the fridge and cabinets were all completely bare; we couldn¡¯t start our day with breakfast or with a warm beverage. Needing to start our day with something I volunteered to go up to the main house to ask if we could borrow some of what we needed. Walking across the dew soaked grass field to get to the house, the air thick with fog and the sky still a dark shade of blue from the barely risen sun, the commencement of our new life in this world felt official.

    Frank gave me a warm ¡®good morning¡¯ when he saw me, informed me that it would be a while before Cathy would be up and invited all of us to come up to the main house to have breakfast and coffee with him. I was apprehensive about accepting his offer; without Cathy there to help us avoid getting found out as not being refugees the wrong answer from any one of us to a question could mean the end for us here. There was no opportunity for me to decline his invitation; he insisted that we join him and wouldn¡¯t entertain the idea of us having breakfast by ourselves in the cottage. Unable to refuse his offer I left the main house and returned to the cottage to discuss it with the others. They shared my concerns about us giving ourselves away but they didn¡¯t want to do anything to upset Frank given that he¡¯d very generously put a roof over our heads. We ended up deciding to go up to the main house for breakfast with no plan for how to deal with questions about our past; we just hoped he wouldn¡¯t ask us any. Hannah and I offered to make eggs, Miranda said she¡¯d set the table, and Kevin, well, he was busy with Frank.

    ¡°Have you not spent any time working in a butcher shop?¡±

    ¡°No, I haven¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Ever used a bone saw?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯ve only ever used blades.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s okay; Roger will teach you how to use all the machinery, since you understand animal anatomy you should be able to pick it all up in a day or so; it¡¯s not absolutely important that you know how to use all the machinery right now so you should be okay in the beginning.¡±

    Frank seemed to be really enthusiastic about us being there, especially Kevin, who he¡¯d really taken to because of his knowledge of meat and hunting which Kevin had only just recently acquired in the forest. While sitting at the table and eating the eggs and toast that Hannah and I had made using our recently acquired knowledge of kitchen appliances, Frank continued to talk with us about the challenges that he was facing, from running his farm to his wife¡¯s illness.

    ¡°Cathy told us that you haven¡¯t had anybody managing the farm for eight months,¡± Hannah said to him, looking to keep the conversation away from being about us.

    ¡°That¡¯s right; I let him go because without me being there to supervise him as much as I needed to he ended up treating the workers with disrespect, that¡¯s not something I want on my farm so I sent him away.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s the farm been doing since?¡±

    ¡°To be honest, not that great; we¡¯re not producing nearly as much as we used to and I just don¡¯t have the time to get it back to what it used to be.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s taking all your time?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°The Chamber of Commerce; ever since the refugees started coming business owners up here have seen it as an opportunity for more customers, more labour and more business. At the Chamber of Commerce we¡¯re working to ascertain people¡¯s skills, pair them with businesses, get the one¡¯s with no skills into training programmes, work with the resettlement committee to get them into housing, get the farms to donate food for them to eat; there¡¯s a lot of work that needs to be done to help them and at the Chamber of Commerce we¡¯re in a unique position to facilitate that help.¡±

    ¡°We could help you with the farm,¡± Miranda said, to our collective alarm. She was opening the door to questions about our past, the very subject we were trying to keep Frank away from.

    ¡°You know about farming too?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, when we were growing up we helped to plant, tend and harvest crops and fruit, before the winter we¡¯d harvest all of the crops and refine them into grain and we¡¯d pick all the fruit and pickle it in honey, we¡¯d move all the livestock indoors and keep them warm and feed them on grain instead of grazing them, we¡¯ve even helped them to give birth and treated them when they¡¯ve gotten sick; we could do a lot to help you with this farm.¡±

    At that moment, thankfully, Cathy walked in. She was groggy and dishevelled and headed straight for the kettle to make coffee.

    ¡°I know I asked you to take Kevin to the butchery today but if it¡¯s too much for you I can take him,¡± Frank said sarcastically.

    ¡°I¡¯ll take him, it¡¯s no problem.¡±

    The atmosphere in the kitchen following this second brief and awkward exchange between Cathy and her father became tense but it didn¡¯t remain that way for long. As soon as he finished eating Frank got up from his seat, deposited his plate and cup in the sink and got his things together to leave.

    ¡°He has to be there by seven, be sure to get him there on time.¡±

    ¡°Okay dad.¡±

    ¡°And if I can get an interview for Lisa at the clinic today you¡¯ll need to be available to take her.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will be, I¡¯m not going to work today.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not?¡±

    ¡°No, I¡¯m going to stay here and help them get settled in, Tommy will watch the store today.¡±

    ¡°Okay, but drive by and check on him at least once.¡±

    ¡°Sure.¡±

    Frank then walked out of the house and we all breathed a sigh of relief, Cathy because she didn¡¯t have to listen to any more insinuations from her father regarding her indolence and the four of us because we no longer had to be on guard about what we said about our past. Frank was a nice man, clearly very kind, generous and warm, but with the situation we were in he was a potential threat to our security that we needed to treat with due circumspection. We didn¡¯t have that problem with Cathy anymore because she knew that we¡¯d lied when we¡¯d told her where we¡¯d come from but all that meant was that she was going to keep pressing us for the truth.

    Cathy had, as far as we could tell, no fear of us at all despite having figured out that we¡¯d lied to her about where we¡¯d come from. She suspected something about us and was protecting us from her father and keeping us close to find out if her suspicions were true. Hannah told us that when they were talking Cathy had mentioned Prospera, the most credible theory then was that she suspected us of having come from Prospera, which, if I was right, made our job of keeping Prospera a secret all the more difficult. Knowing that, we were in the position of having to decide whether to leave Cathy and her father¡¯s farm for the sake of maintaining Prospera¡¯s secrecy and going somewhere else, an idea I instantly recognized as being absurd the second it entered my mind.

    We were in a delicate position with Cathy. We owed her an immense debt for what she was doing for us and we had to be watchful for what she was after from us. Understanding Cathy¡¯s motivations would take time, until then we had no choice but to cultivate a close relationship with her because we needed her, desperately. We needed her for transportation, information and protection and as we learned more about this world we were likely going to need her for even more. Beyond her curiosity about us Cathy appeared to be taking an interest in us for other reasons. The assistance that she was volunteering felt too sincere to be solely for the purpose of learning the truth about us. She was getting something out of it, my sense was that with her job at the convenience store and her father¡¯s frequent remarks about her ¡®lack of application¡¯ as he put it, the help that she was giving us made her feel useful, important, and perhaps provided her with a source of distraction from the plight of her mother. We had entered Cathy¡¯s family at a time that required us to be sensitive to their difficulties and the demands they were placing on them; as soon as I had a moment alone with the others I intended to ask them to do the same.

    Hannah, Miranda and I accompanied Cathy and Kevin when she drove him to her father¡¯s butchery for his first day of work. Before leaving we cleared the table and washed all of the dishes while Kevin had gone back to the cottage to get ready. The entire duration of the ride into town Cathy went out of her way to assuage any fears Kevin might have about the new experience he was embarking on.

    ¡°Roger¡¯s a nice guy; you don¡¯t have to worry about anything from him, but if you do have a problem I¡¯ll leave you with my cell phone number and I¡¯ll tell Roger to allow you to use the phone any time you need; if you need me to I can even come to the butchery.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think any of that will be necessary, I¡¯m quite sure I¡¯ll be okay,¡± Kevin said in a voice intended to reassure her.

    The butchery that Frank owned wasn¡¯t very far from the building that housed the local Chamber of Commerce where he worked; in fact you could get from one to the other with just a short walk. Cathy and Kevin exited the truck after she¡¯d parked on the street in front of the butchery and walked toward the entrance, which had a closed sign on it that Cathy informed us was only for customers.

    ¡°Wait!¡± Hannah called out to Kevin before she too exited the truck. She said goodbye to him with a kiss on the mouth which drew a smile and a raised eyebrow from Cathy.

    ¡°I never picked up on that,¡± Cathy said to Hannah after the kiss, after which she and Kevin went through the door and Hannah returned to us in the truck, looking noticeably anxious.

    I could understand her anxiety. Being away from Kevin, whom she loved and who had gotten us safely out of Prospera and through the forest couldn¡¯t be easy for her, especially with us being under the care of Cathy, of whom Hannah was deeply mistrustful. She was also anxious for Kevin, who was alone in an unfamiliar environment with people he didn¡¯t know. The anxiety that she was feeling for him was quite unnecessary. Kevin was strong and capable, he would be just fine; I knew as much and so did Miranda. Our job for the rest of the day was to keep her from getting too worried about Kevin and to get her to trust that we¡¯d be okay for the rest of the day without him.

    ¡°Right, it¡¯ll be a couple of hours before the library¡¯s open, until then why don¡¯t I show you around a little,¡± Cathy said to us when she re-entered the truck having left Kevin behind in the butchery.

    Driving off, Hannah looked back at where we¡¯d left Kevin with a look of such distress on her face that I had to place a strong hand on top of hers to draw her attention away and give her a reassuring nod of my head.

    ¡°You really don¡¯t have to worry about Kevin, he¡¯s perfectly safe with Roger,¡± Cathy said to Hannah from behind the wheel, sensing her distress about being separated from Kevin. How reassuring her words were going to be given Hannah¡¯s mistrust of her I didn¡¯t know; for my part I trusted Cathy when she said that Kevin would be fine.

    When we¡¯d stopped at the butchery and Kevin had gotten out of the truck Miranda had moved from the backseat where she¡¯d been sitting to the front seat next to Cathy where Kevin had been sitting. After her moment of insecurity with me in bed last night she was back to exuberantly embracing the new things of this world. In Prospera the only music we had to listen to was classical, jazz, folk and whatever the musicians experimented with. The music of this world was radically different than what we were used to and Miranda as a musician herself was fascinated by it. Sitting in the front seat she fiddled with Cathy¡¯s radio having quick listens to the various stations. When she arrived at one that was playing music she left it there and listened to the song until it ended; if the song was catchy she even danced to it a little, to Cathy¡¯s amusement. I could see why Hannah had identified Miranda as the one who was the most likely to give away our secrets but in Cathy I didn¡¯t see someone of malicious intent.  Hannah was inordinately anxious about this world, which was odd given that she was the first one to insist on accompanying Kevin on his journey. Her mistrust of Cathy, her concerns about leaving Kevin behind, it all pointed to a deep sense of unease within her. I was worried about her, about her ability to adapt to this world and sustain herself in it. It was an issue that would require Kevin¡¯s assistance; nobody could help her more than he could.

    Huntingdale was much larger than it had first appeared to us the previous day. That morning we weren¡¯t as awe-struck by everything as we had been the previous day when we were seeing it all for the first time; we were able to take in more of what was around us and Cathy, because we were killing time, was free to act entirely as our guide. She drove along streets that were for the most part deserted and pointed out to us the town¡¯s various landmarks as we passed them. The first stop on our tour was the bell tower, located directly in the centre of town, across the road from which was the cathedral, which Hannah said she¡¯d explain to Miranda later when she asked what it was for. Next on the tour were the courthouse, the hospital, and the bridge that crossed the river and took you into the park, a large preserved area of forest, wildlife and streams. A series of interconnected roads inside the park led to various sites that were for camping, hiking, picnicking and sightseeing. Cathy drove us to the site for sightseeing, right at the top of the park. We arrived at a large, empty car park that was surrounded by railings and had five binoculars facing in the direction of the town. Cathy parked the truck next to the railing with the binoculars and we all got out to take in the view. The entire town was visible from where we were; we could see every landmark that Cathy had driven us by and even a few of the farms that were located close to the town. Standing up there and looking down on Huntingdale brought back vivid memories of the night we¡¯d fled Prospera. It had been over three months since then, time that had brought about extraordinary discovery and change, in none of us more so than in Miranda. I sat in the back seat of the truck with the door open and watched her walking along the railing trying to use the binoculars and thought of the time when we¡¯d returned from exploring the forest and she was a mental wreck from the fear that she was feeling. It was wonderful to see her feeling so free, that alone made everything that we went through to get here worth it.

    ¡°You need to put some change in it,¡± Cathy informed Miranda, ¡°wait there.¡±

    She opened a compartment next to the steering wheel and pulled a handful of coins out of it that she took to Miranda.

    ¡°Is this what they call money?¡± I asked Hannah, holding up one of the coins that I¡¯d reached forward and extracted from the compartment.

    ¡°Yes, you get coins like this and you get paper bills, which are worth much more.¡±

    ¡°Lisa! Come see this,¡± Miranda called to me from the binoculars which Cathy had showed her how to use.

    On my way to Miranda, Cathy and I passed each other as she was returning to the truck. She smiled at me as we passed each other, as if to communicate to me how sweet she thought Miranda was. We had nothing to fear from Cathy, that¡¯s the conclusion that I reached that morning after the time that we¡¯d spent with her since the previous day. She may have been curious about us and was biding her time to learn the truth about us but it was impossible for me to imagine us suffering some cruel fate at her hands. I needed to get Hannah to see this and thought I¡¯d start by revealing one of our secrets to Cathy. I walked up to Miranda, who was looking through the binoculars, put my arms around her from behind and started kissing her neck.

 TRUTH part 4

    Hannah

    ¡°You guys are full of surprises,¡± Cathy said to me upon finding out about Lisa and Miranda.

    What the hell are they doing? I thought to myself apoplectically. I told them to be careful not to irresponsibly reveal too much about ourselves to Cathy and they go and reveal to her what they were afraid would cost them their lives in Prospera!

    I didn¡¯t feel I was being overly paranoid with respect to Cathy. Not taking any precautions while we were still new to this world and finding our way in it was na?ve, and dangerous. I had no intention of lowering my guard the same way that Lisa and Miranda had, despite Cathy¡¯s best efforts to get me to do so.

    ¡°You know, Kevin has a thirty minute lunch break, if you¡¯d like I can take you to go and see him, find out how his day¡¯s been going¡±

    ¡°No, its fine; I think he¡¯d prefer to get through this alone, that¡¯s how he is.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re his girlfriend, you¡¯d know. How long have you two been together?¡±

    ¡°Just the past few months.¡±

    ¡°You look like you¡¯ve been together longer than that; most couples that have been together a short time are much more demonstrative with each other than you are.¡±

    ¡°We have known each other our whole lives.¡±

    ¡°In the woods?¡± She asked sardonically.

    I appreciated Cathy¡¯s sense of humour enough to respond to her wisecrack with a good humoured sly glance in her direction.

    ¡°This place is really beautiful; I hope the Americans don¡¯t come up here and destroy everything like they did in that town we saw on the news,¡± I said.

    ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯re all hoping for,¡± Cathy answered.

    ¡°You¡¯re worried that it might happen?¡±

    ¡°Most people think that what they¡¯re doing isn¡¯t just for oil, that they want more, in which case none of us are safe.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯ll you do if they come here?¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t thought about that yet; truth is there isn¡¯t a whole lot we could do. Some went looking for Prospera but none of them have come back so that¡¯s obviously not a very bright idea. We¡¯ll just have to survive as best we can and hope that we don¡¯t get treated with too much cruelty by whoever the Americans send up here.¡±

    I empathised with Cathy, not just with her but with everybody in Canada who had experienced this war firsthand and with those who hadn¡¯t experienced it yet and were living under a cloud of fear wondering if it would ever reach them. Meeting Cathy was the first time we¡¯d met someone like her but it wasn¡¯t the first time she¡¯d met people like us. For years they¡¯d been living with refugees, their fellow Canadian citizens, making their way to their town, bringing with them stories of loss and pain. Seen through that lens it was understandable that Cathy would have taken to us¡ªfour lost children¡ªthe way that she had, however there were still unanswered questions surrounding her that I couldn¡¯t shake. I didn¡¯t think it was a coincidence that she mentioned Prospera to me again, I thought it was quite clear that she was trying to send me some sort of message, which, whenever she did so, had the effect of increasing my scepticism of her and making it all the more improbable that I would quickly set aside my reservations and place as much faith in her as Lisa and Miranda had decided to. Lisa¡¯s rather quick turnaround on Cathy took me more than a little by surprise and with Kevin away at work left me feeling somewhat isolated, like I was the odd one out in our present group of four.

    The rest of the time that we spent that morning with Cathy while waiting for the library to open was pleasant enough. Once we¡¯d gotten bored with the sightseeing location she drove us around to the other sites in the park and when we were done with that she took us to a place to get ice-cream, which was soft and served in what she said was a cone, not like the ice-cream we had in Prospera which was frozen and on a stick, and only available as a winter treat. There were many other treats that we didn¡¯t know about that Cathy promised to introduce us to, which Miranda in particular was looking forward to. Things between Miranda, Lisa and Cathy were growing increasingly cordial, and while my feelings about Cathy had softened a little, a definite distance was beginning to materialize between me and the other three. I was relieved when the time finally came for us to go to the library; it meant an opportunity for me to focus on something other than the growing separation between me and my two lifelong friends.

    The Huntingdale library, like the Chamber of Commerce building, the cathedral and the bell tower, was constructed of red brick with ornate metalwork used for the gates, burglar guards, stair railings and light fixtures. The library was much larger than ours in Prospera, but then they didn¡¯t have any restrictions on what people were allowed to read.

    ¡°The non-fiction section is on the second floor; I can only take out eight books at a time so be sure to be selective,¡± Cathy said to us after we¡¯d entered and passed the librarians desk.

    ¡°Darren would¡¯ve loved this place,¡± Lisa whispered to me; we¡¯d been through so much that I¡¯d forgotten we¡¯d left him behind.

    There were several young people sitting at the desks that were in the middle of the first floor, poring over books that were opened before them with pens in their hands and notebooks they were furiously scribbling in. This, too, reminded us of Prospera. I remembered Miranda sitting in a chair in the library going over a music score; Lisa checking out a medical textbook, Darren reading a novel. We were far away from home but at the same time not very far away; there were things in this world with which we were familiar and comfortable, enough of them to keep me from feeling like we were in over our heads in this world. I headed straight for the non-fiction section to look for books about the war, Miranda headed for the novels, and Cathy and Lisa just sort of milled around. There were numerous titles to choose from about the war as well as historical texts and biographies that all looked interesting, but learning about the war was my first priority so that¡¯s where I focused my search. I was able to easily select two titles: Black Blood by Steven Greenberg, PhD, about the long history of wars fought by the United States over oil, and Eisenhower¡¯s Final Warning by Michael Hertling, retired naval lieutenant, about the unchecked growth of the US¡¯s military industrial complex. I thought that four titles would be sufficient for a start and was taking my time searching for an additional two when Lisa ran up to me on the second floor to share something with me that according to her was unbelievable. I followed her down to the first floor with my two books in hand, unable to imagine what it was she wanted to show me.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°Look over there,¡± she whispered to me, pointing at a girl who was sitting at one of the tables who we hadn¡¯t seen when we¡¯d first arrived.

    Lisa was right, it was unbelievable. The girl had skin that was dark, much darker than ours, and her hair grew upward and was extremely compact, forming a round shape. Aside from her physical attributes there was nothing else that differentiated the girl; she was wearing clothes that were the same as everybody else¡¯s and was at the library to do some sort of academic work, just like the other people that were there using the desks. Why was there nobody like her in Prospera? Was the question that Lisa and I asked each other with our eyes, at which point Miranda scampered over to us.

    ¡°Did you guys see that girl? She looks so different!¡±

    ¡°We saw, and try to be a bit more discreet,¡± I warned her.

    ¡°What are you guys doing?¡± Cathy came over and asked.

    ¡°We¡¯re looking at that girl; why is her skin so dark, and her hair so different?¡± Miranda asked her softly.

    ¡°She¡¯s black,¡± Cathy answered, entirely nonchalantly.

    ¡°Black? What¡¯s a black?¡± Miranda asked, without the discretion that I¡¯d asked of her.

    ¡°It¡¯s a person who¡¯s a descendent of people from Africa.¡±

    ¡°Africa?¡± Miranda asked, sounding increasingly confused, as all three of us were.

    The astounded look on Cathy¡¯s face said it all: the level of ignorance that we had just displayed was unprecedented and had no doubt further piqued her curiosity about us.

    ¡°Follow me,¡± She said to us, walking up the steps to the non-fiction books.

    She led us to a section of books labelled ¡®Anthropology¡¯ and ran her finger along the books at the top of the shelf until she¡¯d arrived at a thick book simply titled ¡®AFRICA¡¯. She flipped through the pages quickly and held the open book out to us.

    ¡°This is Africa,¡± she said, showing us a map, ¡°and these,¡± she said, flipping through more pages, ¡°are Africans.¡±

    The people in the picture that she showed us bore a strong resemblance to the black girl in the library; Lisa and Miranda were visibly stunned by this information and were silent and motionless for a good few seconds.

    ¡°Where is this Africa? Is it also in Canada?¡± Miranda asked Cathy.

    Again we were treated to a look of absolute incredulity from her; the more she learned of our ignorance the more taken aback she was by it. She placed the book about Africa back where she¡¯d pulled it from and went off in search of another book that she brought back to us and opened to us.

    ¡°This here is Africa, and this, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, is Canada.¡±

    ¡°What is this?¡± Miranda asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s the world,¡± I answered.

    Lisa and Miranda gave me the same look they¡¯d given me in the cabin when they discovered that I knew a great deal of things about the outside world that were kept from the vast majority of Prospera citizens, to which I responded with a look reminding them of the importance of keeping our past as Prospera citizens secret from Cathy. They didn¡¯t appreciate my secrecy and I fully understood their feelings but it was not the right time to air them.

    ¡°What book is that?¡± Lisa asked Cathy.

    ¡°It¡¯s an atlas; it¡¯s got maps and pictures and information about everywhere in the world.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re taking this,¡± Lisa said firmly.

    ¡°Where are we on here? Where¡¯s Huntingdale?¡± Miranda asked.

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be on here, it¡¯s too small, but we¡¯re up here somewhere,¡± Cathy answered, pointing to a spot on the map that was to the north of Canada, in the north eastern part of the province of Ontario.

    The incredible vastness of the world, which Lisa and Miranda were learning about for the first time, hit them hard, as you would expect it to. They didn¡¯t say anything about how they were feeling having heeded my ocular warning but their feelings of betrayal were palpable. By keeping all of this from them Prospera had robbed them of an entire world. They had already suspected as much for a long time so their feelings of betrayal passed relatively quickly, and with the situation regarding the black girl and my knowledge of the true expanse of the world behind us we went back to what we were doing before. I selected two more books about the war, Miranda selected three novels and with the atlas that Lisa wanted to get we had our eight books. Cathy checked them out for us using her library card and we left.

    On the way back to the farm, I thought about how in this world they used technology like the library card scanner we¡¯d just seen to perform tasks that in Prospera we were able to perform perfectly well without the use of such technology. Their use of cell phones for long range communication was indisputably superior to our use of pigeons, but did they really need all of this? Was I beginning to properly understand the reason for Prospera¡¯s existence?

    Cathy made a little detour as she was driving us back to the farm from the library. She pulled off the road and stopped in front of one of the stores on the main street, Caroline¡¯s Music School.

    ¡°Why are we stopping here?¡± I asked her as she was getting out of the truck.

    ¡°It¡¯s my mom¡¯s studio, there¡¯s something I need to get.¡±

    Cathy went into her mother¡¯s studio and came back out holding a violin case which she presented to Miranda upon re-entering the truck.

    ¡°Wow! Thanks.¡±

    ¡°You can thank me by playing something for me when we get home.¡±

    Having not so much as seen a violin for months Miranda was elated to receive the violin from Cathy and was eager to get home so she could play it, just as I was eager to get home so that I could start reading.

    Cathy asked us if we would stay with her in the main house instead of returning to the cottage. She assured me that I would have plenty of peace and quiet for reading and promised to answer any questions I might have. Is Cathy lonely? I wondered. Since meeting her we hadn¡¯t heard anything from her about any friends, her mother was in hospital and her relationship with her father was clearly strained. I felt sorry for her if that was the case but had no intention of relinquishing my scepticism of her because of it. She showed me to her father¡¯s study on the second floor where there was a comfortable leather wingback chair I could sit in and do my reading. Before leaving me she asked if there was anything I needed or might like that she could get for me, to which I responded that I was fine. She closed the door after her and I settled into the wingback to begin my reading, shortly after which I heard the sound of Miranda playing the violin. The piece that she was playing was instantly recognizable: Tchaikovsky¡¯s Serenade Melancolique, one of her favourite pieces and a piece that she was able to easily perform solo. Listening to Miranda play, there was always a sense of healing that it brought with it. Her musical brilliance had a graceful quality that pierced through any sense of exclusion people felt from classical music and allowed them to be reached by the pure beauty of it. She was a lovely person to have as a friend; Cathy appeared to have already figured that out.

 TRUTH part 5

    Hannah (continued)

    Studying the genesis of the American-Canadian conflict, Hannah couldn¡¯t believe what she was reading; the stupidity of it all was staggering. The root cause was tax cuts implemented by Republicans over a period of decades starting with the Reagan administration in the 1980s. The tax cuts shrank revenues and ballooned the deficit, and the growth that was supposed to raise revenues with it and neutralize the tax cuts never materialized. Spending on defence was increased and entitlements weren''t reformed. The deficit grew and grew.

    Adding to the problem of not enough revenue going into the treasury was the steadily increasing rate of unemployment from the trends of automation and globalization. The only economic sectors in the United States that still showed strong employment were technology, research, healthcare and education, all of which demanded a college degree. Almost all manufacturing processes in the US were either automated or outsourced. Workers lost their jobs at an increasing rate and unemployment grew steadily.

    Fewer people being employed and more people earning incomes in higher tax brackets (who were the biggest beneficiaries of the tax cuts) meant less revenue from personal income taxes and more people that required government assistance. The government increasingly funded itself with credit but because of its rapidly rising debt its credit rating kept being downgraded and the cost of borrowing money increased. Large corporations and the wealthy took advantage of Citizens United to lobby members of congress not to raise taxes and not to implement regulations in the labour market that would have required corporations to comply with domestic production and capital saving quotas. Populist politicians that railed against the capture of government by the billionaire class came and went, unable to overcome entrenched special interests and lawmakers that were beholden to their campaign financiers.

    Some of the biggest campaign contributors, as they had always been, were the members of the fossil fuel industry, who used their influence to prevent the United States government from passing any legislation or committing any funds to address the issue of climate change. Vehicle mileage standards were lowered, research money for alternative energies from the Department of Energy dried up, emissions standards for electricity producers were eliminated. The EPA was defunded and dismantled. The rest of the world did not follow the United States in this direction, understanding the urgency with which they needed to act to transform the global energy landscape with the global population rapidly rising toward 10 billion. They invested heavily in advancing battery technology, expanding and improving their public transportation networks (rail especially), providing subsidies and tax incentives to people and businesses to reduce their carbon footprint, and committing billions to moving their electricity grids to clean, renewable sources.

    On 24 June 2064, feeling confident about the changes that they¡¯d made to their energy industries, the nations that were signed up to the Paris Climate Accord (which included every nation in the world except the United States) got together in Montreal to strengthen the agreement by calling for a 20% cap on the production of all fossil fuels in thirty years and a tariff on the carbon footprint of goods imported from countries that was tied to their non-compliance.

    The United States suffered enormously under the agreement. Its failure to modernise its energy sector forced them to burn through their domestic supplies of oil, gas and coal, after which they were left with an energy shortfall. Exports plummeted, unemployment grew, companies suffered, tax revenues dropped even further, and deficits grew. The dollar plummeted, which caused imports to increase in price but because of the heavy carbon footprint tariff on American goods exports became no more competitive with the much weaker currency. The nation slipped into a second great depression with the unemployment rate at 40%, its credit rating reduced to junk status and the national debt at $65 trillion.

    Something had to be done. In Washington D.C. a deal was reached to alleviate the pressure on the debt by privatising the two biggest items in the budget: Entitlements¡ªSocial Security, MediCare, MedicAid, welfare¡ªand Defence, which when combined were responsible for two thirds of government spending. The entitlement programs were taken over by a consortium of financial, insurance and healthcare conglomerates, and control of the Defence Department was turned over to the country¡¯s largest private defence contractor: IronArmor. In the wake of the deal, the CEO of IronArmor, Doug Mattis, appeared on a slew of talk shows to reassure the American people that their country would continue to be adequately protected and that he would be eliminating all waste and unnecessary expenditure at the Pentagon that had caused defence spending to get out of hand and cripple the government.

    Everybody was hopeful that at last a deal had been done that had the potential to save the country from the dire circumstances that it had been driven into, that is until on 18 October 2072, a year after IronArmor had taken over control of the military, Americans witnessed a sight they had always been told they never would: tanks rolling down the streets of Washington D.C. The coup perpetrated by Doug Mattis using the country¡¯s own military was swift and effective. Soldiers stormed the buildings of the Departments of State, Treasury, Commerce, Energy, HUD, Education, Health and Human Services, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Labour, Transportation, Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security and occupied them, as they did at the Governor¡¯s mansions and State Legislative Houses in all 50 states. The Washington, Los Angeles and New York headquarters of CNN, FOX, NBC, ABC and CBS were also occupied. All social media platforms went dark. At the Capitol building members of Congress and the Senate were asked to pledge their allegiance to Doug Mattis and serve as his representatives and emissaries. Most agreed; the few that didn¡¯t were immediately removed from office. The nine justices of the Supreme Court, the last line of defence of American constitutional democracy, were removed from the bench and replaced by judges handpicked by Mattis. Doug Mattis walked into the White House, had President Matt McConner escorted out of the building by soldiers, and installed himself in the Oval Office. The coup was completed in less than six hours.

    Following the coup, Mattis acted swiftly to secure the support of the American people. He held a televised address from behind the Resolute Desk in The Oval Office in which he laid out his agenda as president. He announced that the United States government would not repay any of the funds it had borrowed from foreign sources, instant tax increases on corporations and wealthy individuals to help the American people, big public spending projects to reinvigorate American labour, and aggressive military campaigns all over the world to secure the energy resources the country so desperately needed, starting with Canada, whose oil would be taken and brought into the United States primarily via the XL and Dakota Access pipelines. He followed his address by hitting the road and holding a series of rallies to whip up support for his agenda. The American people, many of whom had developed a taste for nationalist authoritarianism during the Trump years, were consistently positive about what they saw as a sense of order being returned to the country following decades of self-destructive disorder, freeing Mattis to engage in his bellicose actions abroad.

    The initial thrust of the United State¡¯s campaign against Canada was aimed at the province of Alberta, Canada¡¯s primary supply and service hub for the country¡¯s crude oil and natural gas industries. Anticipating this move Canadian Prime Minister Daniel Benfield positioned a strong presence of Canadian armed forces along the border to repulse the American advance. The strategy worked; US forces quickly found themselves bogged down at the Montana-Alberta border. Reacting to public opinion at home that was turning against him, Mattis modified his strategy and widened his target area. He ordered attacks on soft targets along the US-Canadian border purely for their shock value. Images of bombs falling on towns gave the impression that the US was on the front foot; Mattis proclaimed that the tide had been turned and that the US now had the upper hand. In reality things were not going well at all. While US forces were bogged down along the Alberta border or otherwise engaged in operations designed to create striking visuals for television, a group known only as #OverthrowImperialism was carrying out sabotage attacks on oil infrastructure all across Canada. The group existed as an amorphous entity. It had no leader, no base of operations and a manifesto that consisted of only one item: Stop the Americans. Groups would carry out attacks and post videos of the attacks on the group¡¯s official website, Facebook page, Twitter page and YouTube channel. They would always be wearing balaclavas with the #OI logo printed on the front and would look into the camera and taunt Mattis directly. Sometimes, very seldom, the group would carry out attacks on US troops. The attacks on US troops garnered the group their most views and messages of support from their millions of supporters online and preceded a surge in crypto donations for the group to buy weapons and equipment.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

    The #OverthrowImperialism resistance movement became an increasingly vexing thorn in Mattis¡¯s side, who denounced them as nothing more than terrorists no different than the Islamic extremists responsible for 9/11 and the many subsequent attacks the US had suffered at the hands of Islamic extremists. Mattis responded to the group¡¯s videos going viral and the taunts that he received from them by carrying out an attack of his own after every one of their attacks as revenge.

    Not long after he adopted this policy the world came to know of the destructive power of fragmentium, so named for the sharp, angular fragments it broke into that were strong enough to fly through walls without their momentum being slowed. When a fragmentium bomb hit, the damage to civilians was catastrophic. The fragmentium shrapnel tore through people¡¯s homes and on the way severed off limbs and in some cases decapitated people. Nobody knew where the substance had come from or how Mattis had obtained it. Condemnation of the use of fragmentium was severe and widespread but was met with indifference by Mattis.

    The use of fragmentium coincided with the implementation of a much more aggressive strategy by Mattis. He increased US troop levels from 30 000 to 45 000 troops and committed more resources to the fight than he ever thought he¡¯d need to and began a campaign to attack and occupy land and towns all across Canada, not just in Alberta, with varying degrees of success but success nonetheless. He moved east, far away from Alberta where the Canadian forces were concentrated and started making his way north and north-west from there.

    As Mattis¡¯s offensive grew, so too did the #OI resistance movement, which stepped up its attacks on US forces, using weapons purchased from Europe that were smuggled into the country on boats that were transporting African refugees for relocation in Canada. Copycat attacks on US troops and bases in the US by radical liberal groups became increasingly frequent. In most cases those who participated in these attacks were all killed. Their deaths did not have the effect of demoralizing the #OverthrowImperialism movement as Mattis had hoped for. On the contrary, the group¡¯s membership numbers increased, its online following grew and the 17 remaining EU member states decided to take a tougher stance with Mattis and sanctioned the sale of more weapons to the group.

    Before long, Mattis found himself bogged down again, this time by the determined resistance movement and their guerrilla tactics. Whenever the US army occupied a town and felt secure enough to commit the resources they were using to occupy it elsewhere, #OI fighters would infiltrate the town, kill the occupying soldiers and steal their equipment, forcing the US army to fall back and retake the territory they¡¯d lost, of course by then the #OI fighters were long gone.

    Now, in 2084, the conflict was still in a stalemate. Faced with mounting casualties and progress so slow it was practically negligible Mattis refused to retreat, prolonging the war indefinitely. This was the world that the children had fled to seeking an escape from the obscure machinations of Prospera that they feared were conspiring to eliminate them. In this world they had no such obscure machinations to be concerned about but they weren¡¯t free from life threatening danger. As she studied the war and the dimensions of it Hannah grew increasingly aware of and concerned by the multidimensionality of the imperfections of the world they were in and was alone in feeling what she felt was a perfectly appropriate amount of anxiety.

    * * *

    I did nothing but sit and read for days. I left Frank¡¯s study only to eat, get something to drink, use the toilet or return to the cottage when he got home from work. I imposed on Cathy a lot, asking her to take me to the library nearly every second day, requests she never refused or complained about but instead seemed glad to assist me with. From the library I checked out numerous books about American history, two biographies about Doug Mattis, a book about the #OverthrowImperialism resistance movement, newspaper articles that chronicled the events of the war and those leading up to it and after Cathy had shown me how to use a computer I used some of my time at the library to watch the videos on the #OverthrowImperialism website.

    Everything that I was learning helped explain a lot about this world but also Prospera. The history of slavery in America and the subsequent strained race relations in the country helped me to understand why we¡¯d never seen someone like the black girl in the library in Prospera; after reading about the impact that automation had had on workers I understood why we employed primitive tools and techniques in Prospera; the public support for Mattis and his belligerent foreign policy was a strong argument for Prospera¡¯s exclusion of the public when selecting individuals for leadership roles; our strict monitoring of our resources and population numbers meant that we would never need to take what we needed from others by force; our egalitarian philosophy prevented wealth and power from being so unevenly appropriated that an individual like Mattis would be hailed as an agent of order by millions of economically disaffected people.

    During the time that I was doing all of this studying I didn¡¯t take as much of an interest in what the others were doing as I should have; the nonsensical series of events that had led this world to where it was consumed all of my attention. All I knew about Kevin and his job was that he was doing fine; Miranda had started accompanying Cathy on her visits to her mother in hospital and Lisa was busy studying for some minor requirements she needed to start working at the clinic as a nurse. They gave me strange looks when I was in this state of absorption; that too didn¡¯t concern me very much. I started increasingly thinking that it was a mistake for us to have come here. The order that we had in Prospera came at a price that I could only conclude was worth paying given everything that was taking place in this world.

    The consequences of a world without the protective measures we had in Prospera were dire but knowing that didn¡¯t make it any easier to govern Prospera according to such measures. I felt a rush of sympathy for my mother, who carried an enormous burden on her shoulders every day as she worked to ensure that Prospera would never descend into the chaos into which this world had descended. I was starting to miss her like I thought I never would, having become convinced that she was part of a conspiracy to kill Kevin. I was missing everybody in Prospera: Darren, our parents, our teachers, even our classmates with whom we¡¯d never been close. After two weeks I stopped my research, unable to bear any longer my feelings of regret over leaving Prospera for this world of barbarism. I spent a lot of time in the cottage in bed by myself; there were times when I cried for no other reason than yearning for the familiar surroundings and faces of Prospera. I didn¡¯t confide in my friends about what I was going through, they all had things going on that I didn¡¯t want to distract them from. They knew that something was wrong and tried getting me out of it but I was unreceptive to their efforts. Even Kevin, with whom I shared a bed every night, found himself excluded by me.

    I had never been depressed before. In Prospera I had no reason to feel as out of place and fretful about the future as I did here; from a young age we had direction and purpose in our lives and never had any reason to feel insecure about our futures. Kevin, Lisa and Miranda were all getting along fine despite the looming threat of the Americans and the advanced nature of this world and I was happy for them for having found some place for themselves, but it wasn¡¯t going to be quite as easy for me to do the same; my feelings of displacement and nostalgia were too strong.

 TRUTH part 6

    Miranda

    We were all worried about Hannah. Cathy was also worried; she expressed as much to us but was hesitant to check in on Hannah personally, unsure of what Hannah¡¯s reaction would be given the newness of their relationship. We talked a lot about Hannah during our drives to see Cathy¡¯s mother in hospital, among other things. Cathy said that I was the easiest to talk to, which I completely understood; the others were all too busy worrying about making a living or ensuring that Prospera remained a secret. I was much more relaxed. I knew after just a couple of hours with her that Cathy didn¡¯t warrant the level of suspicion that Hannah thought she did, and I knew after spending a few hours sampling the new things in this world¡ªlike cartoons, milkshake, soda and Fruit Loops¡ªthat we didn¡¯t need to be as afraid as Hannah was.

    Her paranoia, which had grown rapidly during the time we¡¯d been here, fuelled by the knowledge that she was acquiring from the library, had not gone unnoticed by us. Lisa said that she thought that the reason for Hannah¡¯s difficulty in acclimating to this world was that she had spent too much time with her mother learning about how Prospera worked to accept the mechanics of this world. We had few opportunities to open Hannah¡¯s eyes to the positive things in this world with her spending hours at a time sitting in Frank¡¯s study doing nothing but reading. Being consumed by the history of a war that had produced thousands of casualties and seeing images of the destruction caused by the vicious weapons they had in this world, her succumbing to depression was perhaps inevitable. The job for us was to get her out of it. There was a therapist at the hospital, Dr Fields, who worked with the terminally ill cancer patients and who really appreciated me and Cathy coming to the hospital and playing violin and piano duets in the family room. Cathy said that we could probably get her to make time to see Hannah, an idea I didn¡¯t think was very good. The state that Hannah was in had been brought on by her absorption of too much about this world in too short a space of time; getting her to accept help for such a personal issue from someone she didn¡¯t know and wasn¡¯t comfortable with would only make things worse. She needed time, space, and someone to teach her about this world in a way that left her with a positive impression of it, in much the same way her mother had educated her about the workings of Prospera.

    Hannah and I had undergone a role reversal; ordinarily I would have been the one who needed to be extricated from a deep depressive state. I had Lisa to thank for me not being afflicted by any form of despair. Our ability to freely be with each other was enough for me to cast aside any apprehensions I might have had about this world. I doubted that Hannah was getting from Kevin what I was getting from Miranda. Kevin wasn¡¯t the most romantic or demonstrative person and while his trustworthiness and dependability were endearing qualities they didn¡¯t make him any more suited to providing Hannah with the sensitive treatment she needed. He was also busy, working nine hours a day at the butchery and coming home exhausted from the physically demanding work. Lisa was also busy with her studies, which left her not only with less time for Hannah but less time for me as well. The course that Cathy had helped her get into was a six month abridged course that would equip her with the certifications that she needed to start working at the clinic. They were desperate for personnel at the clinic and were impressed enough with Lisa¡¯s medical knowledge to hire her once she¡¯d acquired a few certifications. Cathy taught Lisa how to use a computer just like she did for Hannah; that made it easier for Lisa to complete courses like Electronic Medical Records Management.

    With all of the others so preoccupied there was nothing for me and Cathy to do but spend time with each other. Since the day she¡¯d given me the violin and discovered how well I could play Cathy and I had become very close. Her mother had taught her to play the piano at an early age and Cathy had kept it up ever since. After I¡¯d played Tchaikovsky¡¯s Serenade Melancolique to demonstrate to Cathy the level of my skill we played a number of sonatas for piano and violin together, starting with Cathy¡¯s favourite, Beethoven¡¯s Sonata for Piano and Violin no. 5, Spring. Lisa had a few requests of her own, most notably Bach¡¯s Sonata for Piano and Violin no. 2 (She loved the Presto) and Mozart¡¯s Sonata for Piano and Violin, K301. We had ourselves a salon concert in Cathy¡¯s living room and had a lot of fun. The following evening when we were sitting down to dinner Frank announced that he¡¯d followed through on getting Miranda an interview at the clinic and that the interview would be in the afternoon the next day. Cathy drove Miranda to her interview and helped her register for courses online; she would write her exams at the library. From then on it was me and Cathy. After she¡¯d dropped Kevin off at the butchery in the morning we sat on the couch in the living room in the main house, ate Fruit Loops and watched cartoons until Hannah would ask to be taken to the library. Cathy didn¡¯t go back to working at her father¡¯s convenience store and so had a lot of time on her hands, time that we spent sitting in her room listening to contemporary music (I was developing a real liking for punk and pop rock) and talking about the things in this world she was desperate for us to experience, like malls and water parks. In the meantime there was plenty of fun to be had in Huntingdale and on the farm. We rode horses around the farm, sometimes racing each other, went for swims in the borehole, jumped onto haystacks behind the barn from off the roof. She taught me how to ride her quad-bike, and offered to teach all of us how to drive to make things easier for us.

    We asked Hannah to join us every time we went to do something fun but she was always reading, then she was depressed. Our efforts to facilitate a turnaround in her mental state were all futile; she got so bad that she stopped having dinner with the rest of us at the main house, which had become a daily routine. Frank took note of her consistent absence after three evenings and expressed that he was concerned by it.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t seen Hannah in days; is she okay?¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not feeling well; she¡¯s having a bit of a hard time being away from home and adjusting to our new circumstances,¡± Lisa answered.

    ¡°In that case she needs to be made to feel more at home here; Catherine, wasn¡¯t that what you said you were going to do?¡±

    ¡°Dad, I don¡¯t know her well enough to get that involved, she¡¯d think I was intruding.¡±

    ¡°Well somebody has to do something to get her out of her slump; I¡¯ll try talking with her.¡±

    A man of his word, Frank came down to the cottage with us to check on Hannah. She was sitting at the table in the kitchen waiting for us to return with the plate of food we¡¯d been bringing her every night that she hadn¡¯t been joining us at the main house for dinner. Frank pulled out a chair across the table from Hannah and sat down. The rest of us went to our rooms to give them some privacy after we¡¯d left Hannah¡¯s plate in the kitchen. Lisa and I, unable to deny our curiosity, put our ears against the door and eavesdropped.

    ¡°The others tell me that you¡¯ve been feeling down lately; is there anything we can help with?¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think so; I think I just want to be left alone.¡±

    ¡°Too many people have suffered as a result of this war, I know that personally from all the refugees that I¡¯ve dealt with over the years. I understand that being victims of it yourselves you would feel a considerable amount more pain than someone like me who hasn¡¯t experienced any personal loss because of it but you can trust us here; we want to help in any way we can.¡±

    ¡°The world we lived in was just so perfect; I¡¯m finding it impossible to understand how things like this war can happen.¡±

    ¡°Things like this war always happen; if people are desperate enough they¡¯re capable of anything.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s wrong! Isn¡¯t that enough to stop things like this from happening?¡±

    ¡°We live in a world of moral relativism, people weigh their ethics against their needs and whichever is greater is the path they choose.¡±

    ¡°Things should work better than that; people shouldn¡¯t be resorting to such violent means like they¡¯re animals.¡±

    ¡°When you¡¯re trying to make sense of a tragedy it¡¯s hard to look beyond the shortcomings of man that had caused it, but you can¡¯t allow that to blind you to the many kind and good people in this world. I¡¯m going on a trip in two days to Montreal to meet some refugees and bring them up here, there¡¯s about fifty of them, why don¡¯t you come with me and see for yourself the work that¡¯s being done to help those affected by this war.¡±

    Hannah agreed to accompany Frank on his trip, for the reason that he suggested but also to see what a big city looked like with her own eyes. We¡¯d seen pictures of them in the atlas but the true scale of them, according to Cathy, could only be truly grasped by experiencing them in person. We all hoped that Frank would be able to do for Hannah what we hadn¡¯t been able to. There were reasons to believe that he could. In his short time with her in the kitchen he¡¯d gotten her to open up about her thoughts and feelings, which we had been unsuccessful in doing. What we knew about Hannah having grown up with her was that on her own she wasn¡¯t very strong; she¡¯d always looked at things through the perspective of others and followed their lead. Her mother and Kevin had always been the two that she¡¯d relied on for things. Their views were contradictory and as a result of that Hannah had never formed her own concrete set of convictions, which explained the difficulty she was having letting go of Prospera and accepting this world as our new home. Frank had enough authority and trustworthiness about him for Hannah to take to him and lean on him the way she had with her mother and Kevin, and with him being from this world he could get Hannah to accept it as her new home in a way that the rest of us couldn¡¯t.

    Hannah showed remarkable improvement following Frank¡¯s visit to the cottage. In the morning she got out of bed, put together Kevin¡¯s lunchbox for him and kissed him goodbye when Cathy drove down to the cottage to take him to work. When Cathy returned Hannah joined us on the couch and ate Fruit Loops and watched cartoons with us. She appeared to be having fun with us but she only stayed with us for about an hour, after which she returned to the study to read through the atlas, a sign that she was prepared to open herself up to this world.

    Lisa never joined me and Cathy, except to occasionally listen to us play music and to accompany us on trips to the grocery store to buy what we needed in the cottage with Kevin¡¯s wages. A heavy sense of guilt was growing within me as I watched Kevin and Lisa working so hard. I was doing nothing and couldn¡¯t imagine what I was going to do. Cathy said it was okay, that there was nothing for me to worry about; her mother was so impressed by my violin playing that there was no way she and her father would ever pressure me to get just any job for the sake of earning an income. The pressure placed on people by the ¡®economy¡¯ system that they had in this world was becoming clear to us. It was easy to see why no such system existed in Prospera; it fostered competition that led to conflict, inequality, greed and selfishness; it was a part of this world that I, like Hannah, vehemently did not like. Also weighing heavily on me was the amount of time I was spending with Cathy. Lisa was working hard to obtain the certifications she needed to start working as a nurse; sometimes she was busy for as long as six hours a day. A distance grew between me and Lisa as Cathy and I became closer. After a few days Cathy started asking me an increasing amount of questions about my relationship with Lisa and what it was like to be a lesbian. Cathy had a boyfriend, a refugee named Morgan who had survived a fragmentium strike that had killed his parents and sister. She really liked him but only saw him very seldom because he was deeply involved in the #OverthrowImperialism resistance movement, travelling all over the country and participating in attacks on oil infrastructure and US troop positions. There wasn¡¯t a day that went by that Cathy didn¡¯t worry about his safety; the only time she felt any relief from her worry was when he made contact with her via phone call or text message. Frank didn¡¯t approve of her seeing him, he thought Morgan was unstable and would only end up hurting her. Cathy¡¯s separation from her boyfriend and her father¡¯s disapproval of him was the cause of a significant amount of strain on her. She tried to conceal it but it was clear from her interest in the four of us that she wished for more normalcy in her love life. Her questions about me and Lisa went beyond longing for normalcy; they betrayed an inordinate amount of curiosity. She wanted to know how different being with a girl was than being with a boy, a question I couldn¡¯t answer having never been with a boy. She followed this up with questions about our lovemaking, the frequency and nature of it. She asked me how long I had known I was a lesbian, how long had Lisa and I been together, how did we get together and become a couple; the questions kept coming and I kept asking myself why was she so interested in knowing every granular detail about me and Lisa until, one afternoon when we were in the borehole and holding onto either side of the ladder and talking to each other, she kissed me out of the blue.

    The kiss lasted no longer than a couple of seconds. Just as the initial shock that I felt was about to give way to anger, Cathy defused the situation by nonchalantly saying ¡°Just wanted to know what it felt like,¡± before climbing out of the borehole, drying herself with her towel and heading back to the house. I stayed in the water for a while after she¡¯d left, questioning what to make of what had just happened. My choices were between treating it with as much seriousness as Cathy had or treating it with as much seriousness as it felt like it deserved. It was entirely possible that Cathy had been quick to dismiss the kiss as something frivolous to hide from me any genuine feelings she had for me for the sake of not being the cause of anything between me and Lisa, which, if true, required that I give the kiss a great deal of serious contemplation. The absolute last thing that I wanted was to lose Lisa, especially when it was so important for all of us to stick together. If Cathy felt more than she was letting on then I had to do something to ensure that there was no chance of what happened ever happening again. As much as I liked Cathy I would not allow her to jeopardize what I had with Lisa. I returned to the cottage after I¡¯d gotten out of the water, not to the main house. Lisa was in our room studying as she was for most of every day. I knew that she was studying hard but I went to her anyway and made myself a distraction. Lisa put down her pen and pushed aside her books without the slightest bit of complaint. She was glad that I¡¯d come to see her; she¡¯d been studying non-stop for two hours and desperately needed a break. We had lunch together, after which we started kissing and fell into lovemaking.

    Lying next to her on the bed that afternoon, I couldn¡¯t understand why I had been spending so much time with Cathy and had allowed the distance I had felt between me and Lisa to form. Hannah was right, the things that they had in this world that we didn¡¯t have in Prospera were nothing more than distractions. Those distractions had seduced me to the extent that my relationship with Lisa had been placed in jeopardy. In all the ways that this world could test us I hadn¡¯t expected that a friendship formed over Fruit Loops and cartoons would be one of them. Henceforth I decided to heed Hannah¡¯s advice to always be careful of everything; my relationship with Lisa was too important for me to risk it by allowing my inexperience and naivety to expose us to dangers in this world that we didn¡¯t yet fully appreciate.

 TRUTH part 7

    Hannah

    Cathy wasn¡¯t exaggerating when she¡¯d said that you couldn¡¯t properly grasp the scale of a city unless you¡¯d seen it with your own eyes. Seeing Huntingdale for the first time had been a jarring experience; seeing Montreal was utterly earth shattering. Just the sight of the city skyline as we approached it on the train caused me to start having palpitations. Our first stop after arriving in the city and renting a car at the train station was St Joseph¡¯s Oratory, the largest church building in Canada, where the refugees we¡¯d come to meet were staying. Frank informed me that the church had been one of the most helpful organizations in dealing with the refugees. This was the opposite of what I had been taught about religion by mother, who¡¯d said that religions offered people nothing but false hope and had driven them to commit some of the most barbaric atrocities in history, hence the non-existence of religion in Prospera. As the largest church in Canada, St Joseph¡¯s Oratory naturally attracted refugees. There were four hundred refugees awaiting resettlement when we got there, fifty of whom would be resettled in Huntingdale. All of their particulars had already been taken of; Frank in his capacity as one of the members of Huntingdale¡¯s refugee resettlement committee just needed to sign off on their transfer. Frank had a brief conversation with the priest when we arrived and the three of us walked off together to meet with the fifty refugees that Huntingdale had agreed to resettle. The pews inside the church had all been removed to make room for cots for the refugees to sleep on. The church was full of people crammed close together with almost no personal space and no privacy. Volunteers, most of whom were church members, were walking about the place helping people with what they needed. There were babies that needed formula, victims of attacks that needed their wounds treated, elderly people that needed assistance with eating or getting to the bathroom, frightened children who¡¯d lost their parents and needed comforting; the war had spared no one. I was getting my first real look at the damage caused by this stupid war that heretofore had only existed to me as images on a TV screen or words in a book. The suffering that it had brought upon these people was terrible but there was hope to be found in the altruism of those that were volunteering to aid them.

    The priest, Father Calvin, was a man of kind and benevolent disposition. He said several times to Frank that he couldn¡¯t thank him enough for what he was doing to help, to which Frank responded that it was their moral duty to help the victims of this senseless war. We walked through the middle of the cots to an area in the corner where the refugees we¡¯d come for had been located. Frank gave a brief address to them, sympathising with them for their loss and reassuring them that once they got to Huntingdale they would be far away from any conflict and would have the opportunity to rebuild their lives in peace. The refugees, like Father Calvin, couldn¡¯t stop expressing their appreciation to Frank for what he was doing for them. They were shown outside to a bus that was waiting to take them to Huntingdale. They got aboard, the bus took off, and our work was done.

    We¡¯d left Huntingdale at 6 a.m. and the train to Montreal had taken three hours. It was eleven a.m. by the time we were done with the refugees; Frank informed me that we would have seven hours to see the city. The first place he took me was Mount Royal, the best location for views of the city, from where I was able to see the skyscrapers of downtown Montreal, planes ascending out of and descending into Montreal-Trudeau Airport, and landmark buildings like the Olympic Stadium with its tall leaning tower. Seeing that I was fascinated by the architecture of the city Frank offered to take me to see some of the city¡¯s most beautiful and interesting buildings up close. We started with the Olympic Stadium, which looked like a scorpion when you looked at it from the opposite side of the tower, then moved onto the ornate City Hall building, the radical angles of the Casino de Montreal, and the vast Bonsecours Market. The scale of everything that I was seeing, of what we humans were capable of, was amazing, far beyond anything we could¡¯ve imagined in our shuttered lives in Prospera. Whenever I saw a skyscraper, or a plane flying overhead, or a tram trundling down the street, I was constantly reminded that the capability that had created all of it was suppressed by Prospera for a reason. The same ambition and technical ability that had created all of the wonderful architecture and infrastructure in the city was also responsible for the creation of weapons like the nuclear bomb. The fear of those in Prospera was of the natural duality of man and its irrepressible tendencies. The solution they¡¯d decided upon for nullifying the progression of an undesired course of events was to nullify progress in its entirety. In the isolated environment of Prospera their experiment had been a success, but only because the citizens of Prospera weren¡¯t aware of the modernity and freedom that had been sacrificed to create their utopia.

    Frank wanted to thank Miranda for accompanying Cathy to the hospital and playing the violin for his wife and the other patients and drove to the Salle Bourgie Concert Hall to pick up a schedule of the upcoming performances of the season.

    ¡°When do you think we should come?¡± He asked me.

    ¡°It says here they¡¯re going to be having a night of Bach in a month¡¯s time; Bach is her favourite composer.¡±

    ¡°A night of Bach it is then.¡±

    Frank purchased six tickets for the concert from the woman behind the reception counter from whom who we¡¯d gotten the season schedule and when we returned to the rented car he suggested that we go somewhere for lunch; it was 1 p.m. and we hadn¡¯t eaten since we¡¯d left Huntingdale. He suggested a few places we could go, one of which was Chinatown for some Chinese food, a suggestion to which I instantly said yes. We ate in a restaurant called The Golden Dragon located on Saint-Laurent Boulevard. I asked Frank what I should order since I¡¯d never eaten Chinese food before; he ordered pork stir fry noodles for the both of us and a plate of four spring rolls for us to snack on while we waited for our food to be ready. Looking around at the other diners in the restaurant, I was faced with more uncomfortable questions about whose societal philosophy was right: Prosperans or the people of this world. The diners inside the restaurant were a diverse set: whites, blacks and Asians, all of them co-existing in perfect harmony. Just like when we¡¯d seen the black girl in the library the question of why there were only white people in Prospera entered my mind and I feared that the answer was ugly. Adding to my mental conflict was what I noticed when I looked closer at the diners in the restaurant and the pedestrians outside on the sidewalks. There was a carefree attitude about them that seemed wholly inappropriate given the military actions of the Americans in their country. Why did there seem to be no collective sense of danger and urgency? Why were they more concerned about what was on their cell phones and what they were listening to through their headphones than they were about the suffering of their fellow citizens? As Prosperans we had been brought up with a strong sense of community that wouldn¡¯t have tolerated anything less than a unified response from everybody. That wasn¡¯t the case here; life in this world was characterised by anonymity and dispersion, people were either alone or they belonged to a small group beyond which they had no connections. The idea that they were an important part of something bigger was not how they saw themselves; I could only see that as a fundamental failure of this world.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°Is something bothering you? You look quite deep in thought,¡± Frank asked me.

    ¡°I¡¯m wondering why people aren¡¯t more worried about the Americans and the war.¡±

    ¡°Oh they¡¯re worried, they don¡¯t show it but they¡¯re worried; it¡¯s easier for them not to think about the war and what might happen to them if it were to reach them so they ignore it, but it¡¯s in the back of all their minds, that I can guarantee you.¡±

    ¡°Them ignoring the reality of the war doesn¡¯t help anything, they could be volunteering to help victims like you and Father Calvin are doing or they could be fighting like the members of that online resistance movement; isn¡¯t it wrong for only a few to be fighting and dying while everybody else just goes on with their lives as if nothing has changed?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s the way things have always been; armies fight wars, they¡¯re not fought by everybody, and fighting takes courage, which most people don¡¯t have.¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t people be forced to fight then, if there¡¯s the real possibility of losing your country?¡±

    ¡°Having a draft didn¡¯t help America win in Vietnam.¡±

    ¡°Do you think they¡¯ll win eventually, the Americans?¡±

    ¡°I do. Their dictator Mattis underestimated the amount of resistance he¡¯d face here and only sent a small force to try and conquer us; if he gets sick of being trapped in this stalemate and decides to go for a decisive victory then they¡¯ll definitely win. What¡¯ll become of us then, I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°None of this makes any sense to me; I still don¡¯t understand why they don¡¯t just give them the oil.¡±

    ¡°I feel the same way; we don¡¯t need it, we all drive electric cars, but I understand the government not wanting to take the risk of just allowing the Americans in here in case they¡¯re after more than the oil; when you think of it that way, this war was unavoidable.¡±

    ¡°Senseless suffering shouldn¡¯t be unavoidable.¡±

    ¡°I can imagine it¡¯s difficult for you, being one of the people that have experienced loss because of this war. Cathy told me that you four lived in Askan, is that correct?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± I answered tentatively, not having talked with Cathy about the particulars she¡¯d given her father regarding our situation.

    ¡°I remember that attack being covered on the news, it was terrible. How did you four survive?¡±

    ¡°We weren¡¯t in town; we were out, camping.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re lucky, most people aren¡¯t as lucky as you¡¯ve been. You still have each other, and you have me and Cathy, and as you¡¯ve seen today there¡¯s plenty being done to help victims, so there¡¯s no need for you to be in so much despair about everything that¡¯s happening.¡±

    ¡°I want to help; I want to contribute something to make things better for people.¡±

    ¡°We can discuss that tomorrow when we¡¯re back in Huntingdale.¡±

    We didn¡¯t end up staying in Montreal until 6 p.m. Frank took me to see a few more places after we¡¯d had our lunch and we ended up leaving on a train back to Huntingdale at 3.30 p.m. The trip had been a truly eye opening experience for me. My understanding of this world had greatly increased and I¡¯d developed a greater appreciation for the capacity for compassion that the people in this world had. There were things that you couldn¡¯t learn about just by reading about them in books, that lesson applied more in this world than it did in small, static Prospera. Seeing the people in Montreal interacting with each other and with their surrounding environment it was clear that the problems that they were so obsessed with controlling in Prospera by taking pre-emptive action against them were of very little consequence to these people; they were focused on living their lives and living them happily. Looking back it occurred to me that not everybody in Prospera was as happy as they should have been living in a place of perfect peace. I had been critical of the nonchalance of the people in Montreal in the face of American military aggression; on the way back to Huntingdale I thought of Martha, whom my mother had told would be having an abortion in order to keep the population numbers in Prospera sustainable. She had been shattered by what Prospera demanded of her and by her inability to do anything about it. The difference between the people in Montreal and the people in Prospera, I realized, was that for people in Prospera the danger they faced was constant and in close proximity to them, at any time someone like my mother could demand that they to do something terrible. In one of the books I¡¯d taken out of the library I¡¯d read that the primary tool used by dictators to control people and keep them compliant was fear. We had no dictator in Prospera but there were similar tactics at play. I didn¡¯t believe that it was the goal of my mother and the other committee members to keep their machinations entirely secret; having studied the politics of fear I could only deduce that it was their intention to allow just enough information about their actions to be known by others outside of their tight circle to give just enough credence to the rumours already doing the rounds that kept everyone afraid and in line. This world and Prospera were becoming increasingly similar to me, and why wouldn¡¯t they? We were all human beings after all and Prospera had been founded with humanity¡¯s flaws front and centre in the minds of its creators. The matter of who was right and who was wrong came down to the question of whether in the case of Prospera the ends justified the means; I didn¡¯t know enough to make a definitive judgment on that just yet.

 TRUTH part 8

    Hannah (continued)

    We were greeted with a surprise upon our return to the farm. Cathy¡¯s boyfriend Morgan had dropped by to pay her a visit. From my talks with Frank during our trip I was aware of his reservations about the relationship that his daughter was in; after taking my first look at Morgan I completely understood his feelings. He had long black hair that went all the way down to his shoulders, multiple piercings in his ears as well as one in his eyebrow and one in his tongue, and tattoos all over his right arm. The most alarming things about him though were his facial expression and the look in his eyes; there was a real instability about him that was deeply disturbing. He¡¯d lost his whole family in a fragmentium strike and had allowed the tragedy he¡¯d suffered to take him in a very dangerous direction. He had acquired a thirst for revenge that had taken control of him and dictated everything he did. He was obsessed with the Americans and their military campaign and constantly placed himself in incredible danger by volunteering to participate in as many guerrilla attacks as he was able to. Frank¡¯s great worry was his daughter¡¯s tendency to develop feelings that were borderline maternal for the people she came into contact with that were in need of help. That being the case, Morgan, who was often away and could die at any time, was a less than ideal partner for her. Cathy obviously didn¡¯t see things that way. Standing in the kitchen she had her arms around him and was hanging onto his lanky frame like there was nothing in the world that meant more to her. The mood in the kitchen turned tense the instant we walked in; Frank¡¯s disapproval of Morgan and his dismay at seeing him in his home were palpable to us all. Kevin, Lisa and Miranda were there as well as it was dinner time.

    ¡°Hey Mr S,¡± Morgan said to Frank, S being in reference to their surname, Sherman.

    The tension that was so palpable had apparently not registered with Morgan, who evinced no discernible discomfort whatsoever.

    ¡°Morgan, to what do we owe this rare appearance?¡± Frank asked, his voice thick with displeasure.

    ¡°I was stocking up on supplies at a town about an hour away, and I was missing my babe so I thought I¡¯d drive out here and see her,¡± Morgan answered, a response that made Cathy cling to him even tighter.

    ¡°I won¡¯t ask you what supplies you were stocking up on because I know I won¡¯t like the answer; anyway, since you¡¯re here you should join us for dinner, it would be rude of me not to offer you at least that much hospitality,¡± Frank said before starting to walk off.

    ¡°You¡¯re Hannah, right?¡± Morgan said to me.

    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±

    ¡°I know what happened to your families; too many people have had to live through the same tragedy, those Americans are a bunch of dogs, but don¡¯t worry, every bit of pain that they¡¯ve made us feel we¡¯re going to make sure they feel it too and that they never stop regretting what they¡¯ve done to us!¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s enough!¡± Frank boomed, ¡°I¡¯ve told you before not to talk that way when you¡¯re here, don¡¯t you go trying to put any of your ideas into their heads, these four are moving on from what happened to them, I won¡¯t have you making them a part of your suicide mission.¡±

    I was actually quite curious to hear about the #OverthrowImperialism movement directly from one of its members but to avoid the risk of further angering Frank I chose to wait for a more opportune moment to ask Morgan about the group.

    ¡°What¡¯s that on your necklace?¡± I asked a few seconds after Frank had left the room.

    ¡°It¡¯s fragmentium; this piece is from the attack that killed my family, I wear it so I never forget what we¡¯re fighting for.¡±

    ¡°Can I see it?¡±

    ¡°Sure; here,¡± he answered, lifting the necklace up over his head and handing it to me.

    Had I not known about all of the damage that it had caused I would have thought that the piece of fragmentium I was holding was rather beautiful. The thin piece of fragmentium was attached to the string with a metal clasp. It was black with speckles of white and grey that sparkled when they caught the light. The grey and white speckles couldn¡¯t be seen on the other side of the fragmentium because it had a splash of blood on it from one of its victims.

    ¡°Be careful around the edges, they¡¯re sharp enough to cut you.¡±

    He was right; I ran my finger around the edges very slowly and was amazed by how sharp they were. Equally amazing was how strong the fragment was. I held it between my thumb and my index finger and applied pressure to it with my thumb and didn¡¯t feel it so much as bend in the slightest.

    ¡°Try as hard as you want, you¡¯ll never break that, its durability is otherworldly.¡±

    ¡°Where did you get this?¡±

    ¡°Pulled it out of a wall, once they travel a certain distance they lose enough speed and get stuck in whatever surface they strike. If we could just find out where they¡¯re getting it from, the hell we¡¯d rain down on them!¡±

    Morgan said this clenching his fist so tightly that the veins in his arm were throbbing. The experience that he¡¯d gone through had scarred him psychologically, the scarring was so extensive that I wasn¡¯t sure it was possible for him to abandon his desire to exact the maximum possible revenge he could on the Americans, meaning it was more likely than not that eventually he would be killed; what was that going to do to Cathy? She had developed the same attachment to him as she had to us; were he to die the impact of his death on her would be enormous. I had to agree with her father, she shouldn¡¯t be with him.

    Dinner was a relatively quiet affair. Frank hadn¡¯t cooled down in the time that he¡¯d been away from us; he exuded displeasure sitting at the table and with the reason for his displeasure sitting at the table with us conversation was difficult; the meal of pork chops, peas and carrots and mash and gravy went by with barely a word spoken. Frank was quick to repair to his room for the night having finished his meal, affording us the opportunity to talk with Morgan about his involvement with the resistance movement. We all went outside with him to his truck after dinner; we couldn¡¯t talk inside when there was every chance Frank would overhear us. Morgan dropped the tailgate on his truck and took a seat on it with Cathy taking her place next to him. He pulled what looked like a cigarette from the breast pocket of his T-shirt and lit it. The strong smell from it told us immediately that what he was smoking was not a cigarette.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°You guys want some?¡± He asked, holding what he was smoking out to me, Miranda, Lisa and Kevin.

    ¡°What is that?¡± Miranda asked.

    ¡°You guys don¡¯t know what weed is?¡± Morgan asked, surprised by our lack of knowledge of the substance.

    ¡°They¡¯re good kids, of course they wouldn¡¯t know,¡± Cathy said, taking the weed out of Morgan¡¯s hand and inhaling from it.

    There was something unsettlingly different about Cathy that I had observed during the time that I had been back. She seemed more like Morgan¡¯s pet than his girlfriend, that imbalance in their relationship made for an unhealthy dynamic when Morgan was so unstable.

    ¡°Where are you going next?¡± Cathy asked him.

    ¡°Down south, there¡¯s an army convoy that¡¯s going to be leaving New Hampshire and making its way up north, the plan is to hit them on the road while they¡¯re in transit.¡±

    ¡°Is it going to be dangerous?¡± Cathy asked, concerned.

    ¡°They¡¯re all dangerous babe.¡±

    ¡°I read that most of the resistance fighters that participate in these attacks get killed,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yeah that¡¯s true, but for every one of us that gets killed we take out a bunch of them, just last week there was an attack that killed forty American soldiers, only twelve of ours got killed.¡±

    ¡°How many of these attacks have you been a part of?¡± Lisa asked him.

    ¡°Seven.¡±

    ¡°How have you survived all of them?¡± Miranda asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m just lucky I guess.¡±

    ¡°Promise me you¡¯ll come back from this one,¡± Cathy pleaded with him.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry babe, I¡¯m not dying until those American dogs have left our country and I¡¯ve killed as many of them as possible.¡±

    Morgan genuinely wasn¡¯t afraid of the danger that he was placing himself in. Bravery wasn¡¯t the reason; it was that he didn¡¯t care if something happened to him. He was suicidal, realizing that made me worry about Cathy even more.

    ¡°What¡¯s in those boxes?¡± I asked about the crates on the back of his truck.

    ¡°What I went to pick up; what we¡¯re going to be using when we attack that convoy.¡±

    Morgan pulled back the tarpaulin covering the back of the truck, revealing a stack of crates, two of which he pulled out onto the tailgate.

    ¡°These are magnet grenades, they stick to metal surfaces,¡± he said, opening one of the crates, ¡°we¡¯ll use these to blow the convoy vehicles off the road, and when the soldiers climb out of them, we¡¯ll take them out with these.¡±

    He opened the second crate and inside was six guns neatly stacked in a row.

    ¡°M8 Carbines, fresh from Germany, as deadly as anything the Americans have.¡±

    A chill ran through me as I looked at the weapons that Morgan was transporting; what we were looking at were implements of death. Morgan was relishing the opportunity to unleash their destructive power on the Americans that had taken his family from him; I could see the bloodlust in his eyes as he looked at the crates. My mother told me once, when explaining to me the history of this world, that there had never been a moment in human history when there hadn¡¯t been a war going on somewhere. Existing in an unending cycle of violence was the inevitable state of things in this world; in Prospera such an existence was guarded against militantly. In Morgan I was seeing the living proof of the ineluctable tendency toward violence that they had in this world. Those who killed did so because they believed it was justified, never mind the fact that their motivations were wholly their own. The absence of collectivity in this world was responsible for more than just a simple disconnect between people, it produced much more dangerous attitudes as well, like belief in the righteous justification of acts of violence when objectively no such justification existed. This wasn¡¯t to say that I thought Morgan was wrong to be doing what we was doing; my issue was with the non-existence of a social structure that prevented these cycles of violence from getting started in the first place. I suppose there were too many people for them to make that work, people with competing interests, varied experiences, unique ambitions, diverse cultures and different economic pressures. Forgetting the very serious questions about racism, homophobia, thought and knowledge suppression, genetic selection, censorship, forced abortions, emotional manipulation and near perpetual surveillance, there was an undeniable genius to the homogeneity of Prospera. The values that the structure of their manufactured society had managed to preserve were strong enough to prevent the societal afflictions born of the organic development of this world from taking root in Prospera.

    ¡°When will I see you again?¡± Cathy asked Morgan, her voice shaky.

    ¡°I can¡¯t say; maybe I won¡¯t survive this one, in which case you won¡¯t be seeing me again.¡±

    It was heart-wrenching to see Cathy¡¯s reaction to her boyfriend talking so casually about the possibility of his imminent death. She maintained her composure until he¡¯d left but couldn¡¯t maintain it any longer. As soon as he¡¯d driven out of their driveway and onto the road she started crying. We were all expecting Miranda to be the one who would comfort her, when that didn¡¯t happen Lisa went to her and gave her a shoulder to cry on. We were seeing for the first time the harsh reality of war as it was being experienced firsthand by our friend.

    Cathy came with us to the cottage instead of returning to the main house where she¡¯d have to face her father having been brought to tears by Morgan yet again. Kevin made tea for everybody and we sat in the living room talking. I paid close attention to Miranda and Cathy and I noticed that something was definitely different about them; their relationship had undergone an odd sudden change. We were curious to know more about Morgan, and Cathy, desperate for distraction from the dangerous mission he was off to, answered all of our questions unguardedly. She told us that the reason the loss of his family had been so hard on him was that they were his adoptive family. As a child he¡¯d been abandoned in Huntingdale and had been taken to the orphanage from which his parents had adopted him. He wasn¡¯t the only child that had suddenly and mysteriously appeared in Huntingdale and in every case the child had not been able to say where they¡¯d come from. Was it possible that Morgan and the other children like him were actually from Prospera, and that they were the children that we thought were being killed because of their behavioural traits, like Tom, whose death Kevin blamed himself for? On the one hand it was relieving to think of Prospera as not being so cold and cruel as to kill small children, on the other hand abandoning small children in a strange far away place was by no means an act of compassion. There was also the question of whether, given the way that Morgan had allowed animus to take over him, they were right in identifying children like him as threats to the stability of Prospera.

    I wasn¡¯t able to be of any help at all to Cathy during her time of distress; I was too preoccupied with my latest suspicion about Prospera. No matter how hard I tried I couldn¡¯t write Prospera off as a terrible place and put it behind me. For all of its flaws it was still our home, and I couldn¡¯t categorically say that it was inferior to this world. When I started working to help the refugees it was possible that I would start to feel more like I belonged here and my attachment to Prospera would start to fray but in all honesty I didn¡¯t see that happening. In the time that I had spent with my mother accompanying her on her rounds I had developed a deep and intimate connection with Prospera and what it stood for and represented; in this random world I wasn¡¯t sure if it was possible for anyone to feel that way.

 TRUTH part 9

    Lisa

    The trip to Montreal that Hannah took with Frank had the effect on her we were all hoping it would. The Monday after they¡¯d returned from the trip Hannah got straight to work acquainting herself with the workings of the farm. The solution that Hannah and Frank had come up with for how she could best help the refugees was for her to take over the running of the farm and for the fruits of her labour to be used to help families in need. Hannah spent the entire morning going through Frank¡¯s old ledgers, reviewing the past performance of the farm to ascertain how much needed to be done to reverse the negative trajectory it was on. The decline, according to Hannah, had been precipitous. Only a year ago the farm had been producing vegetables, corn, wheat, milk, eggs and surpluses of beef, lamb, mutton, pork and chicken. Today the farm was only producing enough meat for Frank to sell at his butchery. Hannah was alarmed by the drop-off in production and was determined to bring about a reversal in the farm¡¯s downward trend. I¡¯d never seen her busier than she was the first few days of that week. Cathy barely got a moments rest, Hannah was constantly calling on her to drive her to get soil samples tested, to ascertain fertilizer, seed and building materials prices, to enquire about the availability of labourers to work as farmhands and their wage demands, and when she got tired of always asking Cathy to drive her places she asked her to teach her how to drive and she drove herself around.

    On Thursday evening at dinner Hannah talked with Frank about her plans for the farm and displayed a level knowledge that was astounding having only started four days earlier.

    ¡°I talked to Sister Bernadette, who¡¯s in charge of the food assistance program, she told me that the meals they prepare most are soups, stews and curries because those meals allow them to stretch out their ingredients the furthest.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Frank said.

    ¡°To be as helpful to them as we can be we should focus on growing the ingredients they need for those dishes: onions, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbages and beans; if we want to help them with meat that¡¯ll have to be done in two stages. Increasing the numbers of cows and sheep to high, sustainable levels will have to be a long term goal but increasing the numbers of pigs and chickens can be done in the short term, with the chickens we¡¯ll need to balance out how many we want for egg production and how many we want for meat.¡±

    ¡°That all sounds about right.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve put together a plan that includes budgets and schedules based on the previous output of the farm and Sister Bernadette¡¯s needs; I left it on the desk in your study for you to read.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, that should be a great help.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to need quite a lot of fertilizer, the results from the soil that I had tested show that it¡¯s not doing very well at all, it hasn¡¯t been tended for far too long. The irrigation system needs to be snaked out, sand and muck has built up inside, and the animal shelters that have been standing empty need some repairs, two of the chicken coups are in such disrepair that they might need to be rebuilt.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll take a look at the budget that you put together and talk to Refugee Affairs about acquiring the funding we need.¡±

    ¡°Get enough money for the fertilizer and seed first; cultivating the fields is the best place to start.¡±

    The extent to which Hannah¡¯s mother had trained her to be a competent and effective manager came as a surprise to us all. She had shown us a glimpse of it when she¡¯d put together the list of items for us to assemble for Kevin to help him escape from Prospera, items that proved to be the difference between us living and dying when we were making our way through the forest. Frank was similarly impressed. They had many more discussions at the dinner table about the farm that made the rest of us feel like we were invisible to them. Frank was thrilled by the level of enthusiasm that Hannah was showing, so much so that he was oblivious to how it was making Cathy feel. She took his enthusiasm about Hannah running the farm as another example of his disappointment in her. I was finding myself feeling increasingly sympathetic toward Cathy. After meeting her boyfriend and spending the evening after he¡¯d left helping to calm her down I¡¯d come to see her as a girl who was carrying a burden that was perhaps too much for her. Since arriving here to live with Cathy and her father we hadn¡¯t met anybody who was a friend or a relative of Cathy¡¯s. She¡¯d been dealing with her mother¡¯s cancer, her father¡¯s disappointment in her and her boyfriend¡¯s constant imperilling of himself all on her own. In the few short weeks that we¡¯d been with Cathy¡¯s family she had developed an attachment to us that at first I¡¯d thought was a little strange but that I¡¯d come to understand the more I¡¯d gotten to know her. Before we¡¯d arrived she¡¯d been lonely and desperate for some companionship, given that it made sense that she would be drawn to kind, effervescent Miranda who likewise would be drawn to Cathy, the only one who could teach her about this world about which she was so curious. Their close relationship was never a source of concern for me; I trusted Miranda to never betray me and to be honest I was grateful for the free time I had for studying.

    Kevin was working, Hannah had started working and I was studying. I was beginning to worry about Miranda and where she was going to find a place for herself in this world. It wasn¡¯t her fault that she was facing this problem; in Prospera she was celebrated for her musical talent and had a place of which she could always be certain. In this world talents like hers weren¡¯t as appreciated as they were in Prospera; here what people cared about most was one¡¯s ability to make a tangible contribution to the practical concerns of society. Miranda¡¯s talents would be wasted on such pursuits, unfortunately that meant she wasn¡¯t going to be serving much of a purpose. I had no problem with working and supporting her, neither did Kevin and Hannah. What worried me was that growing up in Prospera we had had the importance of living a meaningful life that contributed in some way to the welfare of the village deeply ingrained in us; at some point Miranda may feel the need to do something with herself and I didn¡¯t know what she was going to do should that time come.

    Hannah had certainly found something to do that made her feel like she was doing something meaningful. While waiting for the funds to come through from Refugee Affairs Hannah had continued to familiarize herself with the operations of the farm with undiminished zeal. She had Cathy spend an entire day teaching her how to operate the tractor that had been sitting unused in its shed for months, she called on Frank¡¯s friend who owned an industrial steam cleaner and he came to the farm and snaked out the irrigation tubes for free, she continued to build on and refine her budgets and schedules and when the funding from Refugee Affairs came through she unleashed herself on the farm like a torrent. Frank being so well known and respected for the work that he was doing to help refugees the money from Refugee Affairs all came in at once, allowing Hannah to begin work on everything right away. The three workers that Frank had on the farm taking care of the livestock immediately grew to twenty as Hannah didn¡¯t waste a second in getting to work. She drove the tractor herself across the fallow fields, furrowing them for planting and bedding in fertilizer and compost, small crews of labourers worked to repair the damaged animal shelters, Hannah hitched a trailer to the back of Cathy¡¯s truck and drove around to other farms and brought back female cows that they¡¯d bought for breeding and for milk. For weeks there was a frenzy of activity at the farm and at the centre of it all was Hannah. Watching her riding around the farm on horseback as she inspected the various work that was being done I was reminded of the sight of her mother riding around Prospera on horseback as she was going about her business.

    Hannah¡¯s authority was never questioned and Frank never had second thoughts about entrusting her with the farm. After three months much of what Hannah had set out to do was coming to fruition. The vegetables that she¡¯d planted were harvested, packed in crates and carted away by a truck that the food assistance program sent; every week Hannah personally delivered a trailer full of eggs to Sister Bernadette and the quantity of milk that the farm was producing and supplying to the food assistance program was steadily increasing as more cows were being added to the farms cattle stocks, cows that Hannah purchased cheap mostly at auctions that Frank accompanied her to. Hannah had succeeded in bringing about a turnaround in the farm and she was looking forward to doing even more, which wasn¡¯t all that she was looking forward to. We found out during this period that she was pregnant with a child that she and Kevin had conceived while we¡¯d been living in the cottage in the woods during winter. I found out about the pregnancy first when Hannah came to the clinic complaining about stomach pains and was revealed to be pregnant by a quick ultrasound.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    I had started working at the clinic that had been established for refugees to begin my practical training after completing my three months of theory and examinations. Officially I was a nurse¡¯s assistant and was assigned to work alongside Sister Audrey, who had been a nun and a nurse for twenty years. Most of the work being done to help refugees was being done by the church, people like Sister Audrey and Sister Bernadette working to help others out of fidelity to the principles of their faith. Religion was the most interesting aspect of this world. We had no such thing in Prospera and had gotten on just fine for one and a half centuries without it and yet in this world it was a major component of so many people¡¯s lives. Its popularity appeared to me to be rooted in its ability to give people a similar sense of meaning to what we in Prospera derived from the unique contribution we made to the village as individuals and the guarantees of safety and purpose that we all enjoyed. To suddenly start believing in the existence of a God was something that was too late for us to do, nevertheless it was interesting to be around religious people like the Sisters and Frank, who on Sunday mornings attended church alone. News of Hannah¡¯s pregnancy came especially as a shock to him; in all the time that we¡¯d been with them he hadn¡¯t suspected for a moment that Hannah and Kevin were a couple, the same went for me and Miranda. Hannah advised us to keep it that way, telling us that the attitudes of religious people towards homosexuals tended to be virulently negative.

    At the clinic the fact that I was only an assistant nurse didn¡¯t result in me having what could in anyway be described as a light workload. Sister Audrey was constantly busy and as her assistant it was my responsibility to ensure that she was always adequately equipped to perform her tasks in addition to performing all of the rudimentary tasks that I was assigned. The clinic had been established by the local Catholic Church with assistance from the Huntingdale municipality to provide free healthcare to refugees that had been resettled in Huntingdale. The patients that came into the clinic on a daily basis were for the most part relatively routine cases; the cases of those that came for treatment for injuries from the war were less routine. In some cases Sister Audrey and I were able to administer treatment ourselves if all that needed to be done was to dress a wound or administer an injection. There were two doctors that were permanently at the clinic, Dr Ahmed, whose family had immigrated to Canada from Iran, and Dr Fillon, who¡¯d come up to Huntingdale from Montreal. They attended to those they could and those they couldn¡¯t they referred to the hospital, like Deborah, who¡¯d gotten struck in her eye by shrapnel and needed the help of an ophthalmologist. There were many such cases, people with broken bones who needed an orthopaedist and physical therapy, people with limbs missing that needed prosthetics, people suffering from post traumatic stress that needed a psychiatrist.

    Every day I was encountering the effects of the war that had driven Hannah into a deep depression when she¡¯d only been reading about it. Were it not for my close working relationship with Sister Audrey I too might have succumbed to overwhelming despair. I had come to look up to Sister Audrey in much the same way Hannah had come to look up to Frank. Her indefatigable approach to everything she did was an example that I was determined to follow.

    At home on the farm there had been other developments besides Hannah¡¯s pregnancy and the resurgence in productivity that she¡¯d brought about. Cathy¡¯s mother Kristin was released from hospital to continue her convalescence at home. Hannah, Kevin and I met her for the first time in the evening of the day that she had been discharged. Cathy took us up to her room where she was lying in bed and resting. She was under the covers and we could see that she was very frail; her cheeks were sunken, she had only a few wisps of hair on her head and her breathing was laboured. Miranda had just finished feeding her a dinner of mashed butternut (grown by Hannah) when we entered the room. She said that she had been looking forward to meeting us for months, having heard so much about us from Cathy, Miranda and Frank. She was especially glad to be meeting Hannah, to whom she was immensely grateful for the work that she¡¯d done in revitalising the farm. When she asked me about the work that I was doing and I told her that I was working with Sister Audrey she told me to make sure I kept my eyes and ears wide open; Sister Audrey was one of the most respected people in the town and a great nurse, if I paid attention to her I would learn a lot from her. Frank returned home shortly thereafter. We left the room when he came upstairs to see his wife to give them privacy and went downstairs with Cathy to get the table ready for dinner. Cathy and Frank were extremely happy to have Kristin back at home; Cathy more so than Frank. That evening she was positively overflowing with emotions that she was trying desperately to keep contained. Looking at her damming up her emotions because if she didn¡¯t a flood of tears would stream down her face, I thought back to Prospera and the relationships that we¡¯d had with our parents. Very seldom had we enjoyed moments of true tenderness; our parents had applied constant pressure to us to realize our potential and become productive citizens of Prospera. Were she a Prospera citizen Cathy would not have been living the life that she was living. Nobody would have given her any time or space to, as she put it, ¡®figure things out¡¯. She would have already had a vocation picked out for her based on her aptitudes and personality and she would be spending her time working toward that, no matter how she felt about it. The freedom that they had in this world that we didn¡¯t have in Prospera allowed them to take their time and make decisions that they thought were what was best for them, not what was in the best interests of the collective. Had we not come to this world we never would have known that it was possible to live outside of the narrow parameters of what was decided for us, that having an array of choices available to you was something to be embraced, not feared.

    For once at the dinner table we didn¡¯t have to sit and listen to Hannah and Frank talking about the farm. Frank didn¡¯t join us for dinner, opting to stay by his wife¡¯s side. Without Frank at the table the five of us had the freedom to talk about what we wanted to talk about. That evening the topic of conversation was Morgan. The attack on the US troop convoy that he¡¯d participated in shortly after we¡¯d met him for the first time had been a huge success, thirty five US soldiers had been killed and not a single #OI resistance fighter had been so much as wounded. The #OI fighters had divided themselves into two groups: one group drove alongside the trucks carrying the US troops and threw the magnet grenades that stuck to the trucks and blew them off the road and the other group was stationed on top of a hill next to the road. When the US trucks were blown off the road and the US troops climbed out of the trucks to escape the blaze the #OI fighters on the hill, armed with the M8 carbines that Morgan had been transporting, descended the hill and opened fire, leaving no one alive. The group was becoming much more skilled at guerrilla tactics and the success rate of their missions was increasing, they were killing more US troops and destroying more oil infrastructure and they were experiencing fewer casualties. The video that was posted on the group¡¯s website after the US troop convoy attack was shot by Morgan, we could tell from his tattoo. Cathy was massively relieved that Morgan had survived the convoy attack and the two attacks that he¡¯d subsequently been involved in, one that destroyed a pumping station and one that destroyed a fleet of tankers. The taunts that the #OI members issued to Mattis through the videos that they posted on their website grew more insulting as their success rate increased; the money that they received in online donations also grew.

    The increased success of the #OI attacks led us to wonder if perhaps we were approaching a turning point in the war, if perhaps the US was suffering so much embarrassment at the hands of #OI that Mattis would finally decide after twelve years that his mission wasn¡¯t worth it anymore. Sadly, we were wrong. The lead story on the evening news that night was about Mattis¡¯s second revised strategy, increasing the number of US troops in Canada from 45 000 to 200 000.

    The mood in the house was destroyed by the news. Cathy was the worst affected. She knew that the increase in US troops wouldn¡¯t give Morgan pause about his involvement in the #OI movement going forward; on the contrary, most likely he would feel he needed to do more to stop them. The much larger fear that we all had was that the increase in troop levels would allow the US to break the stalemate that the conflict had been mired in, in which case none of us were safe anywhere in Canada. In the short term what the decision by Mattis meant was more refugees for Frank to help resettle, more hungry mouths for Hannah to help feed and more patients for us to attend to at the clinic. What Mattis¡¯s decision meant for us in the long term, we didn¡¯t know. Was the US just going to take Canada¡¯s oil or were they going to be occupiers, subjecting us to violent oppression as had been the case in almost all past instances of military occupation? Was Mattis going to unleash hell on the citizens of Canada as payback for the Canadian army and the #OI resistance movement giving him so much trouble?

    We had no answers for any of these questions, and suddenly, having left Prospera in search of a world where we would not need to feel like we could find ourselves in danger at any second, the spectre of Mattis and the US military loomed over us.

 TRUTH part 10

    Miranda

    Once I had met Morgan and seen for myself what Cathy was dealing with I decided to forget about the kiss that she had given me and to soften my treatment of her. We returned to being close almost immediately, following the quick passing of some residual awkwardness. Lisa and I talked at length in bed the night that we¡¯d met Morgan, about what a strange choice Cathy had made in choosing to date someone to whom she was clearly very much a secondary priority and who valued his life so cheaply that he placed himself in mortal danger on a regular basis. Lisa explained to me that what she had observed about Cathy was that she was attracted to people who were sympathy cases, like us. The kiss that she¡¯d given me when we¡¯d been swimming in the borehole, which she¡¯d told me was out of curiosity, I understood to have been brought on by something more, a need to have someone close to her that could be an ever-present source of intimacy the way her boyfriend couldn¡¯t. Gaining these insights about her, I couldn¡¯t continue keeping her at a distance the way I had been. There was also the matter of the visits we made to the hospital. Cathy¡¯s mother Kristin, who said that my violin playing was well beyond my years, had come to greatly look forward to our visits, I suspected partly because she was happy to see that her daughter had made some friends.

    There was still so much about this world that we didn¡¯t know. Living in Huntingdale we were getting very little exposure to the world and our understanding of the people here¡ªtheir behaviours, customs and values¡ªwas still very limited. There was only so much I could learn from watching movies and TV shows, and while the theme of casual relationships was something I encountered regularly on TV shows like the 1990¡¯s classic Friends I couldn¡¯t imagine myself or anyone from Prospera being so casual about physical relationships. Our Prospera values had served us well thus far but we had a long way to go to fully assimilate ourselves to this world, and we may yet have to learn to adapt to a completely different world from the one we were currently living in. Mattis¡¯s troop surge had us worrying everyday about what the consequences would be should his troops overwhelm the Canadian military and the #OI fighters. Frank¡¯s prediction was that nothing but horror and carnage would ensue. Every evening when he said grace before dinner he prayed for a swift end to the war that would leave as many unharmed as possible. We could hear the foreboding in his voice every time he prayed; sometimes his pleas were so visceral that I would silently pray with him. The few times I prayed with Frank an undeniable feeling of calm was present within me, as I¡¯m sure was the case when everybody prayed. The existence of an omnipotent, omniscient God may have been highly implausible but there was nothing dubious about the acts of kindness that Frank and the sisters were performing, leading me to think that religion was perhaps not the most absurd thing in the world. I couldn¡¯t share what I was thinking with Hannah; despite all of the work that she was doing with Sister Bernadette, Hannah¡¯s knowledge of the many atrocities committed in the name of religion throughout history that she¡¯d acquired from her mother made it impossible for her to be anything but sceptical of it. Lisa was much more malleable to the idea of faith due to the admiration she had for Sister Audrey. We talked about faith a lot, just the two of us. Lisa was adamant that she couldn¡¯t become a person of faith but she told me not to be afraid to explore whatever interested me, no longer were we in Prospera where going against what was expected of us was a reason to be afraid. I took her advice and on Sunday morning I attended church with Frank, who was happy to have me along. To my surprise Hannah didn¡¯t say anything about my decision to attend church, probably she had too many of her own things to focus on, like her pregnancy.

    In church I followed Frank¡¯s lead on when to stand up, when to sit and when to kneel; not being familiar with any of the words I didn¡¯t pray or sing hymns with everybody else when they did. The priest, Father McKibbon, used his sermon to talk about the new troop levels announced by Mattis and called on his parishioners not to give in to fear and to be unsparing in their compassion and generosity to those that had been affected by the war, which he described as a test of their faith and of their humanity. A collection box was passed around, the receipts from which would go toward helping the refugees. Frank gave me a twenty dollar note to place in the basket, which, when it got to us, was full of money, all of it notes; people had given generously just like Father McKibbon had asked them to. Out of curiosity I followed Frank to the front of the pews to receive communion and got away with it by mimicking what I had seen done by those that had gone before me. The wafer that represented the Body of Christ was dry but strangely tasty; when I drank the Blood of Christ I got my first taste of alcohol, which was astringent and burnt my throat a little on the way down. After the service everybody gathered outside the church and talked amongst themselves in a convivial atmosphere. Frank and I did the same. He introduced me to everybody who came to talk with him and they were all nothing but kind. They couldn¡¯t say enough about what a wonderful person Frank was and how much they admired him for all that he was doing. They were happy to hear that Kristin was finally back at home and they were looking forward to seeing her back at church soon and they were happy to be meeting me, one of the refugees that Frank had taken into his own home. One of the people that came to talk to Frank was Marjorie, the church choir director, who, upon hearing from Frank that I played the violin, asked me if I¡¯d like to join the church music program, to which I responded that it was something I would need to think about.

    Overall I enjoyed my first visit to church. The consciousness of the parishioners of the plight of those impacted by the war was heartening and the atmosphere outside the church after the service was filled with warmth. At home the only one who was curious about my visit to church was Lisa.

    ¡°How was it?¡± She asked me when I returned to the cottage.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    ¡°It was fun, actually, very interesting.¡±

    ¡°Are you going to go again?¡±

    ¡°I think I might; the mood among everybody was very positive, I¡¯ve never felt that before.¡±

    ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll come with you next time, see what you¡¯re talking about for myself.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if you¡¯d like it but you should go at least once, to see what it¡¯s like.¡±

    Cathy had lent me a black dress with white flowers on it to wear to church along with a pair of heeled shoes. I went into mine and Lisa¡¯s room to change out of them so that I could give them back to her, passing the closed door of Kevin and Hannah¡¯s room on my way. They liked to sleep in on Saturday and Sunday mornings, as did Lisa and I before that Sunday. The news about Hannah¡¯s pregnancy had brought about a number of changes, almost none of them positive. Frank¡¯s attitude toward Hannah had changed; he didn¡¯t think it was right for a young girl like her to be getting pregnant, he told me as much on the drive home from church, and he made no secret of his displeasure. Cathy¡¯s response to this was to say to us ¡°Now you know what I¡¯ve been going through my whole life¡±. She and Hannah became closer during this period of frigidity between Hannah and Frank, which none of us expected to be permanent with everything that Hannah had done for the farm. There had been a change in her relationship with Kevin as well. They were both unsure of their ability to raise a child in a world that was still very much alien to them, in a country that could very soon be under the control of the belligerent Americans. They spent a lot of time in their room together with the door closed, quietly talking through their predicament.

    Of course weighing on all of our minds more than anything else was the greater troop levels that the US would be sending into Canada. It would only be a short matter of time before the results of Mattis¡¯s new strategy became known to us. We followed the news closely for days, waiting for information about any new developments in the war. Before long we had our answer. One month later stories were being reported on the news about the Canadian forces on the Alberta-Montana border falling back under immense pressure from US forces. Shortly after the new offensive began Mattis addressed a joint session of Congress and hailed the fighting spirit of the country¡¯s troops. Canadian towns, fearful of fragmentium drone strikes, refused to accommodate Canadian troops and allowed US military personnel and vehicles to pass through them unobstructed. All across the southern parts of the country there was widespread capitulation; the US army¡¯s march through Canada was inexorable and soon Mattis got what he had ostensibly invaded Canada for: oil started flowing into the United States from Alberta via the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, bringing relief to a country that had been struggling with fuel shortages for almost two decades. The #OI members were furious about the capitulation by their fellow Canadian citizens. ¡®Is this what we¡¯ve been fighting and dying for? So that you could just give up?¡¯ was their message to their fellow Canadians in more than one online video posting. The group decided that the best way to rouse their fellow Canadians for the fight that they were facing was to start posting videos of recent successful attacks on their website. Unfortunately, the group didn¡¯t have many successes to tout. As part of his revamped strategy, Mattis had ordered for stronger defences of military bases, oil infrastructure, oil transports and all military convoys. #OI fighters tried their best but they were now up against too much hardware. In every engagement with US troops the #OI fighters were all killed, further depleting the morale of the nation.

    Miraculously, Morgan was not one of the #OI fighters that had been killed in the series of failed attacks that the group had undertaken in the wake of the US¡¯s strong push northwards. He made contact with Cathy days after we had been learning of the losses that #OI had been suffering. From what we were able to hear from Cathy¡¯s side of the phone call it was clear that he wasn¡¯t prepared to admit that the situation had turned against #OI to the extent that it was futile for them to continue.

    ¡°Are you okay?...Where are you?...Are you safe there?...Is anybody with you?...Do you know how worried I¡¯ve been? Why didn¡¯t you contact me sooner?...You¡¯re not planning on doing any more attacks are you?...Don¡¯t say that! Things have gotten too dangerous! Why don¡¯t you just come back to Huntingdale? You can stay with us, my father won¡¯t mind so long as you¡¯re no longer part of that group¡­No, Morgan, please just listen to me¡­Morgan!¡±

    ¡°He hung up on me,¡± she turned to us in the living room and said.

    ¡°What did he say?¡± Lisa asked.

    ¡°He said that if I think he¡¯d give up so easily then I don¡¯t know him at all.¡±

    Cathy was in a great deal of distress following her phone call with Morgan. We did what we could to help her, but outside of finding Morgan wherever he was and bringing him to the farm there was very little we could do. The danger that he was in was unlike any that he¡¯d been in before. The Americans were showing no mercy to #OI members; they had been the greatest thorn in Mattis¡¯s side. Any that weren¡¯t killed in conflict were captured and executed. Taking a page out of the group¡¯s own playbook, the executions were filmed and the videos posted online. Those videos were our only way of knowing if Morgan was okay; as horrible as they were we had to watch them all. The executions that we watched were performed using a variety of methods: some were shot, some were hanged, some were decapitated.

    For Hannah, who would soon be bringing a child into this world, the videos were too much. Everything about the human race that in Prospera they tried their utmost to keep out of the village was running rampant because of this stupid war. The Americans were being bullies, Morgan was being irrational, the rest of the world was being cowardly; nowhere that we looked did we see hope.

    Having gone with Frank to church every week since my first visit with him, I abruptly stopped going with no plans to return. I couldn¡¯t accept the idea that everything that was happening was all a part of some grand holy plan that one day we would all be able to make sense of; I found such an explanation overly simple and downright stupid. What kind of idiotic plan called for thousands to die, for thousands to lose family members, for Hannah to endure dangerous levels of stress when she was pregnant?

    The effect that all of the news about the American¡¯s advance was having on Hannah was terrible. She tried her best to hide it from us but the increasing amount of physical discomfort that she was experiencing was obvious to us all; we just hoped that she and the baby weren¡¯t in any serious danger.

 TRUTH part 11

    Hannah

    I could feel that something was wrong. The pains in my stomach were getting worse and more frequent. Being busy with the farm I ignored it, hoping that it was nothing serious that would go away on its own.

    Frank and I agreed that in preparation for what we thought would be a spike in the need for refugee aid we should get the farm producing more. I ploughed the remaining land with the tractor, we took on ten more farmhands and we added eight more cows to our cattle stocks. The increase in crops and livestock placed more pressure on our water supply, forcing us to drill a second borehole. The work that I was doing overseeing the expansion of the farm helped to take my mind off all the different worries we had. Cathy wasn¡¯t alone in being extremely worried about Morgan, we all were, especially me, because of my suspicion that he was a Prospera orphan. I hadn¡¯t yet told the others of my suspicion; I didn¡¯t have any proof to support my theory and I didn¡¯t want to make Kevin re-examine what was the worst memory of his life.

    We all knew¡ªwhen we thought about the situation rationally¡ªthat it was only a matter of time before we discovered that Morgan was dead. His insatiable thirst for revenge wouldn¡¯t allow him to stop what he was doing; he¡¯d told us when he¡¯d come to the farm to see Cathy that he was prepared to die for what he saw as his mission and that was exactly what he was going to do. The little hope that Cathy had¡ªthat Morgan would decide that being with her was more important than dying in vain in service of his mission¡ªwas futile. I empathised with Cathy a great deal because I understood her feelings perfectly; Kevin had been driven by his singular obsession to uncover the truth about Prospera and the outside world the same way that Morgan was obsessed with exacting vengeance on the Americans. My love for Kevin had led me to follow him on the dangerous journey that had led us here. We never would have known about the existence of this world were it not for him; the recklessness of his that had gotten us here was a big part of why I loved him so much and it was the same for Cathy. Maybe that made us masochists; if it did, we didn¡¯t care. We were in love.

    I had stopped watching the videos of the executions of #OI members; the gruesomeness of them was more than I could take. I made an exception for one video, the last one any of us would ever watch. A boy was walked into the shot wearing a #OI balaclava over his head, making it impossible for his face to be seen. The tattoo on his arm was unmistakable. Morgan had gotten himself captured; what we were watching were the final moments of his life.

    ¡°Maybe you shouldn¡¯t watch this,¡± Lisa said to Cathy. Miranda, Lisa and I were with her in her room, watching the video on her computer.

    ¡°No, I have to,¡± Cathy responded tremulously.

    Miranda put her arms around Cathy from behind to lend her support; Cathy raised her hands and held onto Miranda arms. Rivulets of tears fell precipitously down her face as she waited for the moment that she had been living in fear of the whole time she¡¯d known him. The US soldier that would be Morgan¡¯s executioner walked into the shot also wearing a balaclava and carrying an assault rifle. Execution by gunshot was the quickest, least gruesome method for execution; of course this was of no consolation to Cathy.

    ¡°This is what happens when you oppose American military might,¡± the hooded soldier said into the camera.

    Morgan stood with his legs apart, his arms behind his back and his head high. His stance was one of defiance, that of one who is facing death without fear. Cathy was distraught and rapidly coming apart at the seams but I was certain there was a part of her that was proud to see Morgan staying true to his convictions right to the end. The hooded soldier walked off camera and we were left to watch Morgan standing and waiting for several tense, macabre seconds. The sickening crack of the gunshot, when it finally came, snuffed out the few faint embers of fortitude remaining inside Cathy. She fell to the ground when Morgan did, with a look on her face of pure sorrow and emptiness. Miranda had kept her arms around Cathy and had fallen to the ground with her. By holding on to her she was doing the only thing she could do; after what Cathy had just seen we couldn¡¯t think of anything we could do that didn¡¯t instantly feel pathetically inadequate. Miranda refused to let go of Cathy, who didn¡¯t wish to be let go of. Her grip on Miranda¡¯s arms grew tighter and she nuzzled her head into the side of Miranda¡¯s neck, fully embracing the comfort that she was being offered.

    Watching them, I was moved almost to tears by the compassion and tenderness that Miranda was showing to Cathy. We were from completely different worlds yet there was no distance between Cathy¡¯s pain and Miranda¡¯s empathy; despite Prospera¡¯s best efforts our shared humanity with the people of this world had remained unbroken after a century and a half of separation. Miranda stayed with Cathy for the rest of the day and spent the night with her in her room. Cathy didn¡¯t want to see her father; she said that he would see Morgan¡¯s death as vindication of what he had been saying all along, which, in all honesty, it was. That evening at dinner Lisa and I informed Frank of the situation and his response was exactly what Cathy had predicted it would be.

    ¡°I knew this would happen,¡± he said with an unsympathetic sigh.

    When we were in bed later that night I couldn¡¯t let go of Kevin. At any time during our final years in Prospera the same fate that had befallen Morgan could have befallen Kevin; the despair that Cathy was in reminded me how I felt when Kevin had been knocked overboard.

    Later that night, I had stomach pains that were worse than any I¡¯d had before. They woke me up the moment they started and I knew that the problem that I had been ignoring for the past few weeks was not nothing. Searching for some relief from the pain I slowly crawled out of bed and tried stretching out my midriff but a sharp pain caused me to double over and drop to my knees in agony. There was something terribly wrong with the baby. As I struggled through the pain that was ripping through my body, all I could think of was how foolish I¡¯d been to have done nothing about the physical discomfort that I¡¯d been feeling for so long. I had needlessly placed our child in danger; if I ended up losing it I didn¡¯t know how I would ever forgive myself. I was trying to make as little noise as possible but the pain was too bad, I couldn¡¯t stifle the cries that were welling up from the pain in my stomach. The noise that I was making woke up Kevin, who was quickly on the floor next to me on his knees.

    ¡°Hannah, what¡¯s wrong?¡± He asked me with his hand resting reassuringly on my back.

    ¡°It¡¯s the baby, something¡¯s wrong with the baby,¡± I managed to say before another cramp rendered me speechless.

    Kevin wasted no time in taking action. He left my side to go and wake up Lisa, who was with me in the room in a matter of seconds.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    ¡°Where¡¯s Kevin?¡± I asked her when I was able to.

    ¡°He¡¯s gone to get Miranda and Cathy; we¡¯re going to put you in the truck and take you to the clinic, Sister Audrey¡¯s a midwife, she¡¯ll be able to help.¡±

    I felt more fear that night than I had my entire life, even more than when we¡¯d come face to face with the wolves in the forest. The cramps, when they hit, sent shockwaves through my body so painful it was impossible for me to so much as think; between the cramps all I could think about was how much I didn¡¯t want to lose my baby and that if I did it would be nobody¡¯s fault but my own.

    Frank ran down to the cottage together with Kevin and Miranda; Cathy had gone to get the truck. Frank kneeled down next to me and asked me if I was okay with his hand on my back just like Kevin had. Having him next to me provided me with some degree of calm, though not nearly enough for me to feel any less terrified about my predicament. I was carried out of the cottage by Kevin and Frank, who supported me gently under my arms as I tentatively made my way out of the room and toward the front door of the cottage. We got as far as the living room, at which point the pain made it impossible for me to go on. They laid me down on the sofa and began formulating a new plan for what to do with me. Frank took charge of the situation. He told Lisa to call Sister Audrey and tell her to expect Cathy to arrive to pick her up soon and then ran outside to tell Cathy to get moving. I heard the truck pulling away aggressively, spinning its wheels in the dirt. Cathy didn¡¯t plan on wasting any time in getting to Sister Audrey; I just hoped that in her rush she didn¡¯t get herself hurt in an accident. Until Cathy returned with Sister Audrey I was in Lisa¡¯s care, the only one of us who had any medical training. She told me to get my breathing to a steady rate and pulled up my T-shirt and pushed down hard on my belly several times, moving further down my belly with every push, inducing pain that I had to endure.

    ¡°Something¡¯s not right,¡± Lisa said in an urgent tone of voice.

    ¡°What¡¯s not right?¡± Kevin asked her, sounding alarmed.

    ¡°The baby¡¯s on its way out.¡±

    ¡°How can that be? She¡¯s only five months along!¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s miscarried; her body¡¯s getting rid of the dead tissue. Get me a basin of hot water with some Dettol in it, a sponge, and some towels.¡±

    Lisa¡¯s calm words took my fear away and replaced it with a feeling of pure hollowness. It had been my negligence and stupidity that had cost us our child. The whole time that Lisa was attending to me I could think of nothing else. I blankly followed her instructions when she told me to change the way I was resting on the couch so that my feet were on the floor and my legs as much off the couch as possible, then she told me to lift myself up so that she could remove my sleeping shorts, which had blood on them that I hadn¡¯t felt leaving my body. Lisa soaked the sponge in the hot antiseptic water and gently wiped the inside of my legs and my vagina, the hot water and her delicate touch brought me a modicum of relief.

    ¡°Hannah, this is going to hurt a little, but I need you to bear with me,¡± she said to me before manoeuvring her hand inside me, ¡°This isn¡¯t good, the baby¡¯s almost all the way out, there¡¯s no time left. Kevin, I want you to put a towel over her face, she shouldn¡¯t see this, and hold her hand. Hannah, I know you can feel where the baby is, I need you to push.¡±

    Kevin brought the towel down over my head, shrouding me in darkness and worsening my sense of desolation. I squeezed his hand tightly and, trusting Lisa, I did as she told me to; I pushed and pushed and pushed and with each painful push I could feel movement taking place inside me, the movement of my dead child passing through me as a despicable lump, something vile and godforsaken. The stillness of it, the incontrovertible evidence of its deadness, was horrifying. After several painful pushes that took me beyond my limit of what I was capable of withstanding the child slipped out of me amid a discharge of unctuous fluids.

    The cottage became engulfed in silence the moment it was over. The shock that everyone was in was palpable to me under the towel; without looking at the expressions on their faces I knew that what had come out of me was an abomination, something more horrendously misshapen than they were expecting. But it was still my child.

    ¡°DON¡¯T LOOK!¡± Lisa shouted at me when I raised my hand to remove the towel that was over my face, an order I obeyed, ¡°Miranda, take this into the bathroom,¡± I heard her say before she started washing me with the sponge and told me that it was okay for me to remove the towel from my face, ¡°There wasn¡¯t too much blood, so you should be fine, Sister Audrey will probably still want to admit you though, just to be safe.¡±

    Next to me, Kevin hadn¡¯t let go of my hand and was silently crying, having held himself back from making any noises during the birth ordeal so as not to cause me any additional panic. In the kitchen, Frank was sitting in a chair with his elbows on the eating table and his hands clasped in front of his face, praying. Lisa was assiduously washing me with the sponge, her stoic face betraying the toll that my birth had taken on her.

    Utterly exhausted, I fell to my side, placed my head in Kevin¡¯s lap and freed my grief for my dead child to explode out of me. I screamed and cried and clawed my way up Kevin and wrapped him in a vice grip with my arms. He allowed me to selfishly use him as a ballast to support myself while I loudly and forcefully unburdened myself of the grief for the child that had been his too. Kevin kept his own feelings suppressed to allow me to fully express my grief. I loved him for that; after Cathy had returned with Sister Audrey and she wanted to examine me I didn¡¯t want to let go of him. When she forced me to I kept hold of his hand and no matter what was to take place afterward I had no intention of going through any of it without him.

    ¡°Well done Lisa, you¡¯ve handled this really well,¡± Sister Audrey said to her after the brief examination she gave me, ¡°She can¡¯t stay here though, we¡¯ll have to take her to the clinic and have a gynaecologist come and look at her; where¡¯s the foetus?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s in the bathroom,¡± Lisa answered.

    ¡°I¡¯ll go get it and bring it with us; help her into the truck.¡±

    Lisa retrieved a clean pair of sleeping shorts from my chest of drawers in the bedroom and put them on me, and Kevin and Frank resumed what they¡¯d started earlier and assisted me to the truck. Kevin and Lisa sat in the back seat on either side of me, Cathy drove and Sister Audrey sat in the front seat next to her holding the foetus which was wrapped in a towel. It was giving off a putrid smell from the various fluids with which it was coated. Since giving birth to it my interest in seeing it had diminished to nothing. Were I to see it I would be forever haunted by the image of it as a monstrosity and wouldn¡¯t be able to think of it as our precious child resting peacefully having been tragically taken from us before its time. Everybody had worked to ensure that I was shielded from the truth about the ugly consequences of its premature birth. I was thankful to them for that and I was sorry for putting them through what must have been for Lisa and Miranda, who had seen and handled the grotesque malformation that had come out of me, the most disturbing sight they¡¯d ever seen.

    Frank, Cathy and Sister Audrey were also in my debt. They were there for me and had displayed strength, kindness and selflessness all for the simple reason that I needed help that they were in a position to give, in exchange for which they expected nothing. I felt safe in their hands, as safe as I would in the hands of anyone from Prospera. All the time that I had spent in this world¡ªwith Frank and Cathy, working on the farm, helping Sister Bernadette to feed refugees, enjoying the modern conveniences of it, learning about its history¡ªhad, if not rid me of them, at least softened many of my opinions about it. I was more trusting of its people, more understanding of the challenges they were perennially working to overcome, more sympathetic to their failures, more respectful of their complex ways of doing things. But despite all of that, despite the remarkable extent to which we had assimilated to this world in such a short space of time, there was a nagging pull that I had been unable to shake, a pull that, on the night of my miscarriage, I knew I couldn¡¯t fight any longer. When I woke up in my clinic bed the next morning and Kevin, who had stayed with me all night, asked me if there was anything he could do for me, I gave him the most honest answer I could.

    ¡°I want to go home, back to Prospera.¡±

 RETURN part 1

    RETURN

    Miranda

    We weren¡¯t all that surprised when Kevin said to us that Hannah wanted to return to Prospera. She had a connection to Prospera that was stronger than the rest of ours because of all the time that she¡¯d spent with her mother learning things about the village that we knew nothing about. We¡¯d all become relatively settled in the outside world with everything that we were doing, but like Hannah we also felt a tug in the direction of Prospera, our home. Being away from it for six months, many of the fears and worries that we¡¯d had when we¡¯d been there seemed in retrospect much less serious than they had when they had driven us to flee. Even so, none of us felt strongly about returning. We¡¯d come to like the things they had in this world that in Prospera they felt they had to guard against and the thought of returning to that primitive way of life didn¡¯t appeal to us very much at all. And for me and Lisa, there was no forgetting the fear that we¡¯d felt about the possibility that we might be targeted for being lesbians. We had no intention of returning to a place where we couldn¡¯t freely be with each other and Kevin had no intention of returning to a place where they had tried to kill him. If Hannah was serious about returning to Prospera we would have to help her get back, the journey through the woods was far too treacherous for her to make it alone. Kevin would no doubt help her to get back, I hadn¡¯t yet discussed with Lisa if we would go with them.

    Lisa hadn¡¯t been the same since she¡¯d helped Hannah through her miscarriage. She¡¯d been calm and purposeful throughout the entire episode but once Hannah was safely in the hands of Sister Audrey and Dr Ahmad at the clinic and we had returned home the effect that it had taken on her was plain for all of us to see. She became withdrawn and reticent, at times she would stop in the middle of doing something and just stare into space; she startled easily, and at night she cried. Kevin and I understood why she was so shaken. When I¡¯d been in the bathroom with the foetus I had unwrapped the towel a little and quickly folded it back having only seen a little of the foetus. It was a funny pink and brown colour, wrinkly and terribly misshapen. I couldn¡¯t imagine what it must have been like for Lisa to put her hands on it and help pull it out of Hannah. For it to have been Hannah, a close friend, that she¡¯d had to help through such an ordeal, only made it worse.

    A cloud of death was hanging over all of us. Morgan¡¯s execution, followed later that night by Hannah¡¯s miscarriage, had brought a pall down over the farm. Cathy had once again succumbed to her grief having pulled herself together to be of assistance to Hannah. During the day I spent all of my time in the farmhouse, taking care of Kristin and consoling Cathy, and in the evenings I was in the cottage with Lisa, holding her in bed while she cried. I felt bad for Kevin, who was going through all of this alone. Sitting next to Hannah when she had been giving birth he had also seen the disfigured mass that his child had been born as. Like he always did Kevin dealt with his feelings silently on his own; even if any of us were to offer him our support I doubted he would accept it.

    With everything that was going on it was easy to understand Hannah¡¯s desire to return to Prospera, a place where we were ensconced in an environment that protected us from ever having to feel anything too painful. I didn¡¯t feel that going back was the right thing to do not only because Lisa and I didn¡¯t want to return to being afraid of being with each other but also because there was nothing real about life in Prospera. It was all fantasy, and we had become accustomed to the harsh reality of the real world. Even with Mattis¡¯s inexorable approach we didn¡¯t feel that the danger he posed rose to a level that necessitated flight.

    The much bolstered US forces were facing no resistance as they made their way inexorably north through Canada. The war was over, it was only a matter of time before it became official; what we were all interested in was what was going to happen after. All of the early indicators pointed to the United States remaining as occupiers. The biggest advantage of the large numbers of troops that Mattis had committed to the war was the army¡¯s ability to leave behind sufficient troops in the towns they entered to hold them effectively while the rest of the army marched on. #OI became no more of a nuisance than a mosquito. Attacks by the group on towns that the US army had moved on from resulted in a 100% casualty rate among the #OI fighters. In no time the group became irrelevant. The casualties they were suffering completely demoralized the members and the attacks stopped; Mattis had at last rid himself of his greatest annoyance. The day that Hannah came home, four days after her miscarriage, the breaking news story that was covered all day was the capture of Calgary by the Americans. As had been the case the previous few weeks the capture of Calgary had been done without the use of any violence. Immediately US soldiers started taking the place of all law enforcement officers in the streets, the mayor was removed from office and replaced by an American administrator who wasted no time in installing his own staff and the American flag¡ªa bald eagle head with two crossed duelling pistols underneath it set on a blue background with a red border¡ªwas flown above the City Municipal Building. The takeover of Alberta¡¯s capital city was completed with remarkable speed and efficiency and foretold a swift takeover of the country as a whole.

    With Hannah returning home from the clinic we weren¡¯t as concerned by the story as we perhaps should have been. Kevin was given the day off from the butchery and together with Cathy three of us went to pick her up from the clinic. We didn¡¯t need to help her out of the clinic but she was still incredibly weak, I suspected more from the psychological trauma of what she¡¯d endured than the physical trauma. Sister Audrey told us when we were packing her things in her room to make sure she got plenty of rest, that she took her medication and to be watchful for any signs of infection.

    ¡°I¡¯ll be there to check on her, so there¡¯s nothing to worry about,¡± Lisa said to her.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    After her brilliance on the night of Hannah¡¯s miscarriage there was nobody who wasn¡¯t reassured by Lisa saying that she would be around to help. In our eyes Lisa had changed during the night of the miscarriage, taking on an elevated stature among us similar to Kevin¡¯s. We¡¯d seen that we could rely on her and trust her no matter the situation. In the days ahead it wasn¡¯t going to be Lisa taking care of Hannah, it was going to be me taking care of her in addition to taking care of Kristin and consoling Cathy. My hope was that it wouldn¡¯t be long before Cathy returned to normal. She¡¯d always wanted to be of as much help to us as possible and I was going to need her help.

    Cathy was far more capable than her father gave her credit for. I had faith in Cathy to be there for us if we needed her and I knew that Kevin, Lisa and Hannah felt the same. Were we to return to Prospera it would mean leaving Cathy behind and probably never seeing her ever again, another reason I had zero enthusiasm for Hannah¡¯s plan to return. And it wasn¡¯t just Cathy; Frank and Kristin had become like family to us, they felt more like our adoptive parents than people who were kind enough to put us up in their cottage. Despite that, Hannah was adamant that she wanted to return to Prospera. The time that she¡¯d spent in this world had not been sufficient to sever her bond to Prospera and her homesickness had become too powerful for her to resist any more. Her miscarriage was what had pushed her to the finality of her decision. Because of the way that we were living independently on our own it was easy for us to forget that we were still only 17 years old, still children. After what Hannah had been through, it made perfect sense that she would want to see her mother.

    Once we had established that there was no changing Hannah¡¯s mind about returning we stopped discussing the issue and focused on other pressing concerns that we had, like how I was going to manage on my own at home taking care of Kristin, Hannah and Cathy. Kevin and Lisa were also concerned about my ability to do everything on my own; unfortunately they were too busy with their jobs to do anything about it. Taking care of Kristin alone was a round-the-clock job. Her cancer treatments had left her very weak and she needed help performing most of her daily functions. Every day in the morning I made her soup for breakfast and helped her to use the toilet, take a bath and change into new clothes; in the afternoon I made her lunch and all throughout the day if ever she needed anything, like help getting to the toilet, I was there for her too. In the evening after he came home Frank took over from me, feeding Kristin her dinner and helping her bath before they went to bed. When Cathy had been taking care of Kristin with me it hadn¡¯t felt like a burdensome responsibility at all; doing it on my own for a few days following Morgan¡¯s execution it proved to be an exhausting job. I needed either Cathy or Hannah to snap out of the grief induced daze that they were in soon so that one of them could take some of the responsibility off my shoulders. Given the tragedies that they¡¯d been through my expectation was that it would be Cathy who would be the first to return to a basic level of consistent functionality.

    The miscarriage had devastated Hannah. Her depression was worse than it had been when Kevin had gone missing at sea and when she¡¯d first arrived here and learned about the disorderliness of this world. She didn¡¯t want to eat, bathe or get out of bed, making her harder to take care of than Kristin. I tried as hard as I could but there were times when I couldn¡¯t get her to do what she needed to do; I would let her go mornings and afternoons without eating and would enlist Kevin¡¯s help in the evening to get her to eat something for dinner. Getting her to bath was even harder because it was something she didn¡¯t have to do. For as many as three days she wouldn¡¯t bath until we forced her to. After several days of Hannah showing no signs of progress we started worrying about suicide. Fearful of what she would do if I left her alone for too long I rushed through everything when I was with Kristin and ran back to the cottage to keep an eye on Hannah, telling Cathy before I left to listen out for her mother. Cathy didn¡¯t let me down and assumed responsibility for taking care of her mother full time, allowing me to concentrate on Hannah. I¡¯d sit next to her on the bed and try talking with her, often getting no response. Hannah was in her own world of darkness and hopelessness, unable to move on from the death of her baby and refusing to let go of the belief that returning to Prospera was the solution. She talked about it with Kevin a lot, about how desperate she was to leave this world behind and return to a place where everything made sense to her, where she could see her mother again.

    Hannah had been affected by the video of Morgan¡¯s execution almost as much as Cathy had been. Together with her miscarriage it had been the deciding factor in her decision to return. Since taking the trip to Montreal with Frank and coming back and using the farm to produce food for the refugees Hannah had been able to put most of her thoughts about the chaos of this world as compared to the perfection of Prospera at the back of her mind. Morgan¡¯s execution, the closeness of it, the coldness of it, had pushed all of those thoughts back to the forefront of her mind and with the Americans continuing to push north through Canada Hannah could no longer embrace the idea that the freedom that people enjoyed in this world was worth the disharmony that it gave rise to.

    Desperate to see her improve, Kevin informed us one evening in the kitchen that he was going to help Hannah get back to Prospera. Lisa and I had serious concerns about his decision. The journey through the forest was a perilous one, the first time we¡¯d made it we¡¯d been attacked by wolves and it was entirely possible that we¡¯d been lucky to have only had one such encounter, there could be other dangers that we didn¡¯t know about. And if they did make it through the woods there was the issue of how Prospera would react to their return. They¡¯d probably come up with a story about us being eaten by bears or wolves while in the forest to ensure that Prospera citizens continued to live in fear of entering Eternal Forest. Returning from the outside world with knowledge of all the lies that we¡¯d been told there was no way that they¡¯d let us back in. We represented the greatest threat imaginable to the social harmony of Prospera; going back wasn¡¯t only dangerous, it was potentially fatal.

    ¡°They wouldn¡¯t kill Hannah, her family is too important,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°Their control over the entire village is at stake, that she¡¯s from an important family isn¡¯t going to matter,¡± Lisa said.

    ¡°I¡¯m prepared to take that risk,¡± Kevin responded with finality.

    The dangers that were involved in a return to Prospera were well known to Kevin but he wasn¡¯t deterred by them at all. He would do anything for Hannah no matter what was required. One way or another he was going to get her back to Prospera.

 RETURN part 2

    Hannah

    Nobody understood what I was going through; how could they? They¡¯d never had a child pulled out of them as death, as a still, hideous malformation. Lisa was right to prevent me from seeing the foetus; had I seen it the image of it would have haunted my every waking second and given me nightmares every night. I hadn¡¯t been given the chance to say goodbye to it; the child that I¡¯d carried in my womb for five months had emerged from me and been taken away without me having any form of contact with it whatsoever, as if my failure as a mother to bring a healthy child to term had stripped me of the right to achieve closure on its death.

    The thought that our child was dead¡ªdisposed of as medical waste¡ªbecause I had been a failure as a mother wouldn¡¯t release its tight grip of me. Over and over, day after day, I thought back to the weeks leading up to my miscarriage and wondered what would have been the outcome had I done something when I¡¯d first started experiencing cramps. I couldn¡¯t escape the question of whether our child would have survived had I acted or was it doomed from the beginning? Miranda was trying her best to help me through the most difficult time of my life but I wasn¡¯t in the mood to be helped, all I wanted was to be alone, to be left to feel the full grief of losing my child. Somehow I managed to find the will to do things when Kevin asked me to. The child that had been lost had been ours and in the wake of its death Kevin had continued to go on with his daily life, burying what he was feeling as was typical of him. I couldn¡¯t add to the burden that he was suffering through in silence, not when he was suppressing what he was feeling to allow me to feel the full extent of my grief.

    Kevin didn¡¯t talk much but that didn¡¯t mean I understood him any less or that he understood me any less. From when we were small children we¡¯d had an intuitive understanding of each other and this time was no different. He sympathised with my desire to return to Prospera and see all of its familiar faces, my mother¡¯s especially. My mother had never been the warmest person; she performed all of her responsibilities in the village with an unflappable efficiency that made her look cold to those observing her. Only I and a few others knew the truth about what was beneath that stone fa?ade: a woman of compassion who struggled everyday with conflicted feelings about the extraordinary sacrifices Prospera asked of its people in the interest of preserving the peace and prosperity of the village. My mother, who had sat across from women and told them that they had no choice but to submit to an abortion because the village¡¯s resources couldn¡¯t support any more people, was the person that I wanted to see. She understood all too well what the pain I was going through was like having had to deal with so many women who¡¯d gone through the same thing under duress; she understood what was required to accept the flaws of a society and live in it regardless. There was so much that I wanted to talk with her about, not just my miscarriage. I wanted to talk with her about the truth of this world, that it hadn¡¯t been destroyed by nuclear war and that for all of its problems it actually functioned reasonably well. My own personal opinion of it had changed a great deal because of Morgan¡¯s execution and how close to home that had struck; the objective reality though was that the vast majority of the 11 billion people on the planet were not affected by war. I wanted to tell my mother that the paranoia about change and progress that enveloped Prospera was not entirely merited and that the constraints of the village could be loosened without inviting anarchy upon it.

    But I had to get there first, a journey for which I required help. I couldn¡¯t imagine making it back to Prospera without Kevin, without whom we wouldn¡¯t have made it here to the outside world; having him with me on the journey back was absolutely essential. I started emerging from the darkness that I had been trapped in only after Kevin came into the bedroom, sat next to me on the bed and told me that he would accompany me back to Prospera. The next day I left the bed and resumed responsibility for all of my daily functions, taking that burden off Miranda, who had continued to demonstrate the strength and maturity that she had developed since leaving Prospera. She¡¯d been by my side taking care of me the whole time that I¡¯d been grief stricken. Everybody trusted her to do it, most importantly Kevin. Not for a second did anyone doubt her. I thought that the best way I could thank her for everything that she¡¯d done for me was to do as much as I could to alleviate any concerns they had about my mental state. Two days after Kevin told me that he would come back to Prospera with me I went to the stables to get my horse Charlotte for a ride around the farm to inspect things.

    ¡°She¡¯s been missing you,¡± Charlie said to me, a teenage refugee that we¡¯d hired to work in the stables.

    ¡°I¡¯ve missed her too,¡± I said, nuzzling the horse.

    I had been missing her. Coming from Prospera where we relied on horses for almost everything we had a deep affinity for them and I had an especially deep affinity for Charlotte, a horse that Frank had surprised me with. She¡¯d belonged to a friend of his, one of the neighbouring farmers, who didn¡¯t have the time to help her recover from a leg injury that she¡¯d sustained. Charlie and I had worked together for weeks to help Charlotte overcome her injury and in the process I had developed a deep bond with her. Horses were wonderful creatures that way; like dogs they identified with human emotions and responded sympathetically. Nuzzling Charlotte, I felt like she was communicating to me how much she had missed me and was also offering me her condolences for my loss. I led her out of her pen, mounted her when we were out of the stable and set off with greater energy than I¡¯d had before I¡¯d seen her. Work on the farm was continuing as normal. I hadn¡¯t been out of the picture long enough for my absence to have had a telling effect, everybody was continuing with work that didn¡¯t require very much supervision. That day they were harvesting a field of potatoes and loading them into crates for the delivery truck from the Food Assistance program that was going to be there the next morning to pick them up. They were all working just fine and only stopped to greet me, welcome me back, enquire about my health and say how sorry they were for what had happened to me.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    It was heartening to see their faces and to be reminded of all the good work that we¡¯d been doing together for months, at the same time it was saddening to think about leaving behind what we had worked so hard to accomplish. The fields around us, at one point nothing but barren dirt, had green life sprouting from every piece of land, crops that produced grain and vegetables that fed people that had been driven from their homes and their towns by a stupid war. I had seen with my own eyes when working with Sister Bernadette how much what we were doing meant to those whose plates our food ended up on. No matter what, the farm had to be kept going, it couldn¡¯t be allowed to collapse and become fallow as it had when Frank had been forced to commit increasing amounts of his time to the Chamber of Commerce to help with refugee resettlement. The work that was being done was too important; as desperate as I was to get back to Prospera I wasn¡¯t going to do so without first ensuring that the farm would continue to be productive. Frank was still too busy with his work at the Chamber of Commerce to take over and Cathy had never had much of an interest in farming. I needed to find somebody else, one of the workers, and familiarize them with the management of the entire farm. There were several candidates that I considered, Charlie included, none of whom I was able to readily decide upon. I talked about it that night in the cottage with the others at the kitchen table during dinner, my first dinner with them for days, during which Kevin put forward an unexpected solution to my problem.

    ¡°I¡¯ll run the farm, if it¡¯s that important to you.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you coming with me back to Prospera?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to help you get there, once you¡¯re over Guardian Mountain I¡¯m coming back.¡±

    ¡°I thought you were coming back with me!¡±

    ¡°They tried to kill me; I¡¯m not going back there.¡±

    ¡°This means we¡¯re not going to see each other ever again.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡±

    When we¡¯d been talking about returning to Prospera I had assumed that Kevin would be coming all the way with me, finding out that he wasn¡¯t took the wind out of me. I realized then how divergent our experiences had been, both in Prospera and here in the outside world. Kevin, Lisa and Miranda had no interest in returning to Prospera. To them it was a place that had tried to kill Kevin and wouldn¡¯t recognize Lisa and Miranda¡¯s love. They had left that place and arrived in a world where such fears were unnecessary and their destinies were their own to choose. They didn¡¯t spend hours weighing the shortcomings of absolute freedom against the guarantees of a controlled state, they didn¡¯t possess the knowledge about what went on in Prospera and why that I did, they hadn¡¯t spent any time studying the history of this world and the dynamics of its politics and economics; they were content to be in a place that wasn¡¯t Prospera which they regarded as nothing more than a persecutory state.

    I was more than a little disappointed in them for not fully comprehending what Prospera represented and I knew that it would be a waste of time for me to try and get them to understand what I understood about Prospera. I suddenly felt intensely alone at the dinner table, separated from my friends and my boyfriend by a chasm of thought. Had I been brainwashed? I wondered later that night when I was lying in bed, unable to sleep. Had my mother¡¯s lessons been more than just lessons? Was it by design that I was unable to break away from Prospera the way the others had? It made sense that the people in charge of running the village would need to be the most committed believers in the philosophy of the system by which the village was governed; had my mother been turning me into one of those committed believers? Had the truths about Prospera and the outside world that she¡¯d shared with me all been a part of a campaign to turn me into exactly the sort of person they wanted serving on the Ethics Committee?

    I didn¡¯t get to sleep that night, my mind racing with these questions. I was sitting at the kitchen table the next morning when Kevin¡ªalways the first one to wake up¡ªcame and sat with me.

    ¡°Did you get any sleep last night?¡± He sat opposite me with his cup of coffee and asked.

    ¡°No, I couldn¡¯t stop thinking,¡± I answered, taking a sip from my coffee.

    ¡°About going back to Prospera on your own?¡±

    ¡°About why I¡¯m the only one who wants to go back.¡±

    ¡°I thought you wanted to see your mother.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s more than that; I¡¯ve been feeling this way ever since we first arrived here. I was thinking last night that it¡¯s because I was somehow brainwashed by my mother in the time that she was my instructor.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t put that past Prospera; I¡¯d say that¡¯s certainly possible. Do you still want to go back?¡±

    ¡°Yes, the answers to all of these questions that I¡¯m looking for are in Prospera; I want to go back now more than I did before.¡±

    Kevin hadn¡¯t done anything to convince me to stay since I¡¯d told him in the hospital that I wanted to go back to Prospera. I didn¡¯t take that as him not caring that I was leaving; he knew that I couldn¡¯t be talked out of what I¡¯d decided and he didn¡¯t want me to be any more torn about my decision than I was already. Leaving him was by far the hardest part of the decision that I¡¯d made. I was hoping that after returning to Prospera I could find out the truth about what had happened to Kevin, get them to guarantee his safety and prevail upon them to allow me to return to the outside world and bring him back to the village with me. Yes, this was extremely wishful thinking on my part; the village elders would never allow such a thing, I wasn¡¯t even sure if they were going to allow me to return. There had been those that had come through Huntingdale on their way to Prospera that hadn¡¯t reached Prospera and hadn¡¯t been seen again in Huntingdale; I could end up suffering the same fate they had, which was at best some form of imprisonment and at worst, death. What had happened to those people was one question in a long list of questions that I was desperate for answers to, answers that I was willing to take the enormous risk of going back to get.

 RETURN part 3

    Lisa

    Not for the rest of my days would I forget the sight of Hannah¡¯s child. It was an abomination; no child should ever be born that way and no mother should ever have to go through what Hannah had gone through that night. The seriousness of the situation required me to remain calm and collected throughout the horrible ordeal; once Hannah was safely in the clinic under the care of Sister Audrey and Dr Ahmad the horror of that night started to haunt me. When I closed my eyes I could see the ugliness of the child, I could feel the deadness of it, its wrinkled skin, and I could smell the putrid odour of the blood and the various other fluids that had emerged with the child. As a medical professional I should not have been reacting to it in such a way but it was Hannah and Kevin¡¯s child that had been lost; our closeness made the loss feel like it had been all of ours. I wasn¡¯t just disturbed by the events of that night, I was beset by sorrow the same way that Hannah and¡ªalthough he didn¡¯t show it¡ªKevin were.

    Miranda was outstanding during this period, taking care of Kristin and Hannah and giving the rest of us less to worry about. Kevin was free to cope with his loss in his own private way, Cathy was able to continue coming to terms with Morgan¡¯s death and at night she was there for me as well, holding me close as my memories of Hannah¡¯s miscarriage reduced me to fits of tears. I wished that there was more that I could do for her to show her how much everything that she was doing meant not just to me but to all of us. Were it possible for us to have a child together I would have proposed the idea to Miranda as a way to reaffirm our commitment to each other but of course we could do no such thing and we weren¡¯t old enough to get married, gay marriage being legal in Canada. I could do nothing more than express my love for her and my appreciation to her and Miranda, being the wonderful person that she was, was happy to hear those words and asked for nothing more.

    When Hannah said to us that she was planning on returning to Prospera, I, like Kevin and Miranda, wasn¡¯t all that surprised by it. After a few days Kevin announced that he would help her to make the journey¡ªagain, no surprise¡ªand it was left to me and Miranda to decide whether we went with them. On the one hand the four of us had done everything together so it was only natural that we would be thinking of going with them; on the other hand it was Prospera, the place that we had fled seeking a life free from the fear that we had been living in every day, a life that we had found here in Huntingdale. Hannah would never understand our feelings; her head was too far up in the clouds thinking about systems of government and social contracts and population pressures and a whole lot of other concepts we didn¡¯t have any interest in, and considering that Hannah had fled Prospera to be with Kevin, who was leaving Prospera because they¡¯d tried to kill him, it was baffling to us that Hannah would continue to take such an interest in the hidden workings of Prospera. We had a place to stay, we had jobs, we were living with a kind family, we had successfully acclimated to the radical newness of this world and we continued to learn fascinating new things about it on an almost daily basis. Why couldn¡¯t she just be happy? It was entirely irrational that she would think that a better life awaited her in Prospera than she could have here in the outside world, especially when that life didn¡¯t include Kevin, the boy that she loved.

    Something very strange was behind Hannah¡¯s decision to return to Prospera. It was true that it hadn¡¯t come as a big surprise to us when she¡¯d first told us about it but thinking about it since then I came to realize that it was extremely bizarre the way that she kept comparing this world with Prospera unable to decide which was better. Of course this world was better! The invasion of the Americans aside we had no reason to think anything harsh enough about this world to want to go back to Prospera. I brought up the issue with Kevin and he told me that Hannah was just as confused by her feelings as we were and he told me about her theory that she¡¯d been brainwashed by her mother, a theory that seemed entirely plausible to me as it had to Kevin. We couldn¡¯t trust Prospera, we had known that since we were small children and yet the enigma of the place proved an unending fascination with us. I too was growing intrigued by the question of what was responsible for Hannah¡¯s unbreakable attachment to Prospera; this was in addition to several other mysteries about Prospera that continued to intrigue us, one of which Hannah brought to our attention a few days after she¡¯d told us that she was going back to Prospera. She had used Cathy¡¯s computer to log onto the internet to use Google Earth to identify the easiest route through the forest and had made a startling discovery. When she scrolled up past Guardian Mountain to get a look at Prospera from the sky there was nothing there. No mill wheel turning under the waterfall, no houses, no school, no outdoor auditorium next to the lake, no dock, no fishing boat, no library, no Central Administration Building, no orchards, no plantations, no stables, no dairy, no greenhouses, no abattoir, no carrier pigeon coop, no food collection points, no lumber mill, no granaries, no blacksmith, no carpentry workshop, no fabric and clothing workshop, no summer cottages. There was nothing but trees, grass, water and rocks. Hannah made a printout and showed it to us and we couldn¡¯t believe what we were looking at.You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

    ¡°How in the world is this possible?¡± Kevin asked.

    ¡°The only explanation I¡¯ve been able to think of is that in Prospera they are in contact with someone here in the outside world who¡¯s keeping them off the radar,¡± Hannah answered.

    ¡°I can¡¯t understand how that¡¯s possible either,¡± Miranda said.

    ¡°Hannah¡¯s right though, it is the only explanation that makes sense,¡± I said.

    ¡°The person that they¡¯re in contact with whose doing this for them would have to be someone very powerful; how would they have made that person¡¯s acquaintance?¡± Kevin asked.

    ¡°There¡¯s only one way to find out,¡± Hannah said defiantly.

    ¡°You still want to go back? Do you realize what this says about the lengths to which they¡¯re willing to go in Prospera to maintain absolute secrecy? They¡¯ll never let you back in!¡± I pleaded with her.

    ¡°I¡¯m fully aware of what the dangers are and they¡¯re not enough to stop me!¡±

    When did Hannah turn into Kevin and Kevin into Hannah? I thought to myself. We¡¯d seen a remarkable transformation in them in the time that we¡¯d been here in the outside world. Kevin had lost his appetite for adventure completely and was perfectly content with going to work and doing the same job every day and spending the rest of his time with us on the farm, whereas Hannah had worked with unbridled passion to turn the farm around and was planning a reckless return to Prospera. Had Kevin been so afraid during his time in Prospera that he was so relieved to have made it to the outside world his only interest was in just living? To us he had never seemed that afraid when we¡¯d been in Prospera and he¡¯d spent his time there testing the boundaries of almost everything. Perhaps we¡¯d misread him, perhaps we¡¯d never known the true Kevin until now. This Kevin who wanted nothing but peace and a sense of safety was so different from the Kevin we¡¯d grown up with that it was difficult for me to conceive of us being so blind for so long. Hannah had most likely known the truth about Kevin all along and Kevin had probably been open and honest about his feelings with Hannah in a way that he wouldn¡¯t have done with anyone else. Those two had something truly special, a deep bond and an innate understanding of each other that made it impossible for them to love anyone else more than they loved each other. They were soulmates. I wasn¡¯t sure that mine and Miranda¡¯s love rose to the level of theirs and I would never for a second entertain the thought of leaving Miranda and potentially never seeing her again for the sake of acquiring answers to questions that in the greater scheme of things were of zero importance, making Hannah¡¯s insistence on returning to Prospera and what was driving it all the more concerning.

 RETURN part 4

    Miranda

    Two days before we were due to leave for Prospera, Mattis¡¯s military campaign ended with the surrender of Canada. US troops arrived in the capital Ottawa accompanied by Mattis himself and the stage was set for the final surrender of the Canadians. We watched the events taking place live on CNN with Frank, Kristin and Cathy in the living room of the farmhouse. The moment had been inevitable for a long time but seeing it actually taking place still sent a shudder through our bodies. What we were watching gave rise to so many questions the answers to which we couldn¡¯t guess at. Everybody¡¯s primary concern was of course safety and whether to expect a crackdown in the wake of Canada¡¯s surrender as Mattis strove to exert his dominance over the country. The entire population was reacting to the events that were taking place with fear and with no communication from Mattis or Prime Minister Benfield in the immediate aftermath of the completion of the coup they would remain in a state of fearful uncertainty for a while longer. In the farmhouse nothing was said; Cathy, Frank and Kristin were in too much shock about what had happened and wanted, like the rest of the country did, to learn more about what was to be their fate before they reacted in any meaningful way. Only when the four of us returned to the cottage was something said about the extraordinary events that had just transpired.

    ¡°We should leave for Prospera soon, before the Americans send their people up here,¡± Hannah said.

    ¡°When the rest of us get back we¡¯re going to have to deal with them anyway, so there¡¯s no rush,¡± Kevin responded.

    ¡°I don¡¯t want to risk us leading them back to Prospera, who knows what will happen if they discover it?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯d be very interested in Prospera; they¡¯ve gotten what they came for, I¡¯m sure all their focusing on now is consolidating their victory,¡± Lisa said.

    ¡°Do you think Cathy and her parents will be okay?¡± I asked Lisa.

    ¡°There¡¯s no reason for the Americans to behave belligerently toward the Canadian population anymore. As they seek consolidation it¡¯s in their own political interest to start gaining the support of the Canadian people.¡±

    ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean violence isn¡¯t going to flare up from some other source,¡± Hannah said.

    ¡°What other source? #OI is dead, there¡¯s no resistance left out there,¡± Lisa responded.

    ¡°So in the end brute force wins,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°That¡¯s the way things work in this world, how they¡¯ve always worked,¡± Hannah said.

    Mattis¡¯s victory had a decidedly unjust feel about it that sickened all of us, not just Hannah. In this instance Hannah was right about the way they did things in this world being inferior to the way things were done in Prospera. As human beings, intelligent beings, we were capable of solving problems in better ways than through the use of overwhelming brute force. The terrible truth about this world was that the problems that plagued it were so complicated that the most effective way of dealing with them was through the use of brute force, making violence an inevitable part of life in the outside world.

    Lisa and I had decided to accompany Kevin and Hannah on their trip back to Prospera after concluding that we couldn¡¯t in good conscience allow them to make the journey on their own. We set our departure date for two weeks later, giving Kevin and Lisa enough time to square their absence from work with their employers. During that two week period was when the war reached its climax and we could all see that the end was in sight. Mattis and Prime Minister Benfield addressed the world the day after Canada¡¯s surrender and laid out the path forward for the two countries. Mattis began by stating that the United States had ceased all combat operations in Canada and that there was nothing for the Canadian people to fear. US troops would be remaining in the country to maintain security and help facilitate the sensitive transition process. The United States would not be occupying Canada; rather Canada would be absorbed into the United States in a process that would see the creation of a completely new country: The Conglomerated States of North America. The soon to be former provinces and territories of Canada would become states and would be granted a certain amount of autonomy under the agreement; most importantly Prime Minister Benfield had succeeded in allowing them to keep their healthcare system that provided universal coverage. The American system was something of a disgrace, covering only 65% of the US population. The Canadian public was told to expect new administrators that would be despatched to their towns over the next few months to take over the running of their towns. Prime Minister Benfield pleaded for cooperation and peace during the transition process. ¡°The country has suffered enough,¡± he said, ¡°It¡¯s time to accept this new state of affairs and make the best of it.¡±Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    Frank, Cathy and Kristin found little to be comforted by in the words that both men had spoken during their joint address. They¡¯d just been told that henceforth they would be living under the leadership of a man who had shown himself to be severely lacking in the departments of compassion and restraint. Their anxiety about what the future held for them was palpable, pervading the entire farmhouse and filling it with tense silence. To escape from it Cathy was spending increasing amounts of time with us in the cottage. Our travel plans were of particular interest to her. We¡¯d told Frank and Kristin that with the war being all but over we wanted to take a trip back home to see how everybody there had fared since we¡¯d left to come up to Huntingdale. They accepted our story, wished us luck and asked if they could help us in any way, an offer we politely refused. Cathy of course knew that we were lying having known from the first time she¡¯d met us that we were of strange origins. She was careful to not push too hard for an answer to where we were really going, which didn¡¯t make her enormous curiosity any less obvious. I for one didn¡¯t see why we couldn¡¯t take her with us and allow her to have a quick look at Prospera from atop Guardian Mountain. My idea was, expectedly, not met with any kind of enthusiasm, Hannah being the most vociferous objector.

    ¡°Absolutely not! We are not to take the risk of allowing Prospera to become known to outsiders.¡±

    ¡°How can you call Cathy an outsider? She¡¯s been like a sister to us for months.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s not from Prospera, that makes her an outsider.¡±

    ¡°What about us? We prefer living here in the outside world to living in Prospera, does that make us outsiders?¡±

    ¡°Of course not, you¡¯ll never be outsiders, but Cathy and anyone else from this world always will be.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t believe after all this time you don¡¯t trust Cathy, we¡¯ve all been through so much together; she was there for you on the night of your miscarriage.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not about trust; I trust Cathy, it¡¯s just not a good idea for her to come with us.¡±

    ¡°But¡­¡±

    ¡°Hannah¡¯s right,¡± Kevin interjected.

    ¡°Why?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°It¡¯s a dangerous journey and we can¡¯t guarantee her safety; how would we explain it to Frank and Kristin if something were to happen to her?¡±

    ¡°This time we¡¯re going to be taking the gun with us and ample food, we¡¯ll be fine.¡±

    ¡°Nevertheless it¡¯s a risk that we shouldn¡¯t be taking.¡±

    I thought about it for a few hours and I came around to Kevin¡¯s opinion that bringing Cathy with us was far too risky. I just wanted to do something for Cathy to show our appreciation for how much she¡¯d helped us. Where would we have ended up had we not met Cathy? We¡¯d been so unprepared for the modernity of this world I was almost afraid think about it. For everything that she¡¯d done for us we owed her more than we had to give. What we could give her was the truth, to satisfy her perennial curiosity about where we¡¯d come from, breaking down the last remaining barrier between us.

    I was going to miss Cathy greatly while we were gone. I was the closest to her and for a long time I¡¯d been bursting to tell her the truth about us; my own protectiveness of Prospera held me back from doing so. The place had left an indelible mark on all of us that no matter how long we were citizens of this world would always be with us. Returning to Prospera and seeing it once more having been in the outside world for so long might help to lessen the importance of it and allow us to embrace the outside world more. Unfortunately for Hannah the mark that it had left on her was too large for her to leave it in the past. Things wouldn¡¯t be the same without her, especially for Kevin. The journey that we would soon be taking together needed to be made as special as possible, as the final memory the four of us made together it required no less.

 RETURN part 5

    Hannah

    It was nostalgic, packing and getting ready for the trip. It reminded us of when we¡¯d been gathering supplies and packing a bag for Kevin when we thought he¡¯d be leaving Prospera on his own. We packed clothes, three bars of soap, toothpaste, our toothbrushes, sleeping bags, a cooler of meat, eggs, vegetables, rice, utensils to prepare meals and a tarp with which we could construct a tent. Kevin and Lisa used the money from their jobs to buy the sleeping bags and the backpacks. We were exceedingly well prepared; our trip to Prospera was going to be much more comfortable than our trip from Prospera almost a year ago.

    We left before dawn, at 2 a.m., to avoid Frank, Kristin and Cathy seeing us leaving. It was dark outside and it would be for hours; the first days of autumn had arrived and the nights had become longer. There were no streetlights on the farm roads; we had to make do with the light from the half moon. We trudged on in silence, not really having anything to say to each other. It took us over an hour to walk to the convenience store where we¡¯d first met Cathy, walking through the city centre then along the highway. While walking through the city centre we were careful to avoid the clinic and the church house where we could have been spotted by one of the doctors or one of the sisters working the night shift. Needing to engage in such avoidance reminded me of all that I was leaving behind and a wave of melancholy washed over me. I was determined to return to Prospera but I was doing so angry about what they¡¯d done to me there. I had no doubt that when I returned to Prospera it wouldn¡¯t be long before I started missing the outside world just like I¡¯d missed Prospera when I¡¯d been in the outside world. I was always going to be torn between the two, debating which one was better and wondering where I¡¯d be happier. My mind was not my own, taken from me by my mother as part of the process of turning me into the ideal Prospera administrator.

    At the convenience store we stopped for a quick break at the bus stop before we set off into the woods in the direction of the cabin where we¡¯d spent the winter.

    ¡°We need to be in the woods before the sun comes up so we can¡¯t stay here too long,¡± Kevin said to us.

    His words were the first that had been spoken since we¡¯d left the farm and they helped to alleviate some of the tension between us that had been created by the palpability of Miranda and Lisa¡¯s less than enthusiastic participation in the journey.

    ¡°Who¡¯s going to take over from you at the butchery when you take over the running of the farm?¡± Lisa asked Kevin.

    ¡°We¡¯ve already started training someone to take over from me, a refugee.¡±

    Silence reasserted itself following this brief exchange between Kevin and Lisa and continuing on to the cabin felt like the best thing to do. The vehicle tracks that led off the road and into the woods in the direction of the cabin were more overgrown than they¡¯d been when we¡¯d followed them on the final leg of our journey to the outside world, meaning the cabin had probably remained deserted since we¡¯d last been there. When we were far off the road and safely in the woods Kevin got the solar powered lantern we¡¯d bought out of his bag and activated it to light our way through the darkness. Dawn was breaking when we finally reached the cabin. It was 5:30 a.m., three and a half hours since we¡¯d left the farm. As we expected nobody had been to the cabin in all the months that we¡¯d been away. Inside the place was exactly as we¡¯d left it, with a layer of dust having collected on everything. We were only going to be staying there for a day, planning to leave for Prospera the next morning, but we made an effort to clean the place anyway; it was one of three homes that we had known in our lives and we couldn¡¯t just leave it in a state. Our cleaning effort was minimal; we focused only on wiping the surfaces, dusting the sofas and the beds and rinsing out the bathtub. We worked assiduously with an eye on finishing everything and eating breakfast by six o¡¯clock, until our work was interrupted by a visitor.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°What are you guys doing here?¡± I heard being asked in the living room.

    I left the bathroom in a panic to see who it was and there was Cathy staring at Kevin with an intense look of curiosity on her face. I didn¡¯t feel all that relieved when I saw that it was Cathy that had discovered us. It was meant to be just the four of us; the fact that it was Cathy didn¡¯t make her any less of an intruder.

    ¡°Hey!¡± Miranda said when she saw her before she went over to her and gave her a big hug.

    Lisa, Kevin and I stood back as we tried to make sense of Cathy¡¯s sudden, unexpected appearance.

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± I asked her, more angrily than I¡¯d intended.

    ¡°I followed you from the farm; I knew you¡¯d try to leave without being seen so nobody would know where you were going. You¡¯re going back to Prospera; that is where you¡¯re from, isn¡¯t it?¡±

    ¡°No¡­¡±

    ¡°Yes, it is,¡± Miranda interrupted me and said.

    ¡°Miranda!¡±

    ¡°Oh give it up Hannah! She knows,¡± Lisa shouted at me.

    ¡°I don¡¯t believe this! Prospera¡¯s actually real?¡±

    ¡°Yes; if you want to see it you can keep coming with us but be warned, the journey¡¯s not easy,¡± Kevin said to her.

    ¡°Why are you going back? Haven¡¯t you been happy with us?¡±

    ¡°Hannah wants to go back; we¡¯re going to help her get there then the three of us are going to come back,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°What are you going back for?¡± Cathy faced me and asked.

    ¡°To see my mother, and to get answers.¡±

    ¡°Answers to what?¡±

    ¡°First tell us if you¡¯re coming the rest of the way with us or going back home.¡±

    ¡°Of course I¡¯m coming with you.¡±

    ¡°Then I¡¯ll tell you on the way, until then we¡¯ve got work to do so start pitching in.¡±

    Cathy joining our travelling party complicated things. Like Kevin had said, we had a duty to return her safely to her parents, we couldn¡¯t allow any harm to come to her and that was going to slow us down. None of the others shared my concerns. They all looked like they had no problem with Cathy being there, in fact after it had been decided that she would be coming along with us Kevin and Lisa actually looked happy to have her with us.

    My separation from my friends was greater than I thought. I really was alone.

 RETURN part 6

    Miranda

    We were baffled by Hannah¡¯s hostility toward Cathy. The rest of us felt that with Cathy with us our group was now complete, joined by our final member. Cathy remained with us in the cabin and helped us with the chores and nothing felt the least bit out of the ordinary. Hannah felt differently. She was noticeably irritated, grousing and performing her chores with angst fuelled vigour. Did Prospera really mean so much to her that the thought of somebody who wasn¡¯t from Prospera getting to see it was causing her to act this way? If that was the case then it made sense for her to be going back. Cathy and her parents had been too kind to us for us to ever think of her as a nuisance or an invader. I was glad Cathy had followed us, it meant an end to the lies and secrecy that our friendship had been based on since the beginning. I wanted her to see Prospera, to know all about it and to know what she thought about the completely different way of life that existed in the village.

    Now that the truth about Prospera was out Cathy really did feel like our sister. She couldn¡¯t wait to start learning about Prospera, at breakfast we were inundated with questions from her about the village we¡¯d grown up in.

    ¡°You really knew nothing about the world?¡± She asked us incredulously over our breakfast of bacon and eggs.

    ¡°They told us that the rest of the world had been destroyed by nuclear weapons and that what was left was nothing but wastelands and anarchy; they showed us pictures of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to illustrate the destructive power of nuclear weapons,¡± Lisa said.

    ¡°How long has Prospera been around?¡±

    ¡°Almost one hundred and fifty years. Our great grandparents were the founders of Prospera; Hannah¡¯s grandfather is the current head of the Ethics Committee, the most powerful position in the village,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°So you¡¯re like royalty then.¡±

    ¡°Things don¡¯t work that way in Prospera; nobody has any social status, we¡¯re all equal,¡± Hannah responded.

    ¡°Maybe officially nobody has any social status but all societies have some form of social hierarchy.¡±

    ¡°Not in Prospera, everybody gets the same as everybody else: same housing, same food, same clothing; it¡¯s all perfectly egalitarian.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not egalitarian if everybody doesn¡¯t deserve the same.¡±

    ¡°It ensures social harmony, there¡¯s no arguing that it works.¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s not entirely fair there must be more than a few people who are disgruntled.¡±

    ¡°Well there aren¡¯t, there¡¯s never been a violent episode in Prospera¡¯s history.¡±

    ¡°What about beneath the surface? How can you be sure there¡¯s no resentment bubbling up from beneath the surface?¡±

    ¡°Like I said, over a hundred years of peace; the way we do things works, not like in your world where you¡¯ve got war, income inequality, pollution and crime.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    ¡°At the cost of keeping people prisoner.¡±

    ¡°People are not being kept prisoner! I told you she wouldn¡¯t understand,¡± Hannah said to us.

    ¡°She¡¯s trying to understand; we need to be patient with her just like she was patient with us,¡± Kevin said to Hannah, ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± he said, turning to Cathy, ¡°lying to people about what¡¯s going on in the world is a form of imprisonment, but more importantly it¡¯s a way of keeping people quiescent so the village remains peaceful, which is their ultimate goal.¡±

    ¡°Why is it important for them to keep the truth about the world from you?¡±

    ¡°Because life is very different in Prospera. We have no electricity, no cars, no phones, no TV, no internet; you can imagine people¡¯s shock were they to find out what¡¯s really out there.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s life like in Prospera?¡±

    ¡°Primitive. We burn wood, oil and candles for light and heat, grow our own food, make our own medicine from plants; we have to be very fastidious about managing our resources.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re like the Amish then.¡±

    ¡°Not quite. We have an orchestra, which Miranda was a member of, a large library, and we regularly stage theatre productions, so we¡¯re a lot more cultured than they are, but I understand why you¡¯d make the comparison,¡± Kevin answered. He¡¯d learned about the Amish in one of the many books we¡¯d taken from the library to learn about the world.

    ¡°It sounds like an interesting place.¡±

    ¡°To an outsider it would be; you need to remember that we wouldn¡¯t have left it if all we thought of it was that it was interesting. It¡¯s also scary and if you¡¯re not careful, dangerous.¡±

    ¡°Dangerous how?¡±

    ¡°They tried to kill me.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know that for sure, that¡¯s also what I¡¯m going back to find out,¡± Hannah said.

    ¡°There are also mysterious deaths, most of them children,¡± Kevin said to Cathy.

    ¡°I have a theory about that,¡± Hannah said.

    ¡°You do?¡± Kevin asked.

    ¡°I think all of those children were actually secreted out of the village and dropped off in Huntingdale, their deaths faked; I think Morgan was one of them.¡±

    ¡°What makes you say that?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°Cathy told us he just showed up in Huntingdale one morning when he was a child with no idea of where he¡¯d come from; what else could explain that?¡±

    ¡°There was more than one child that died suspiciously in Prospera,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°There have been other children that have appeared mysteriously in Huntingdale, Morgan wasn¡¯t the only one,¡± Cathy said.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think they would be so cruel in Prospera as to kill children,¡± Hannah said.

    ¡°Dumping them alone in a strange place when they¡¯re small is hardly an act of kindness,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°It¡¯s better than killing them.¡±

    ¡°Are you saying that when we get to Prospera I¡¯m going to see the place where Morgan was born?¡± Cathy asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s if it¡¯s true,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure it is; we know from what we saw on Goggle Earth that Prospera has some form of contact with the outside world, it¡¯s not hard to imagine them not having a method for secreting children out of the village and getting them to the outside world.¡±

    ¡°Why would they want to get rid of children?¡± Cathy asked.

    ¡°They test us when we¡¯re children to ascertain if we have desirable personalities; they check for selfishness, temper, problems with authority; the children that score too badly on those tests are removed because they¡¯re considered a threat to the stability of the village, at least that¡¯s my theory,¡± Kevin answered.

    ¡°Is that why they tried to kill you?¡±

    ¡°Yes. I was out on the fishing boat and I was struck on the back of my head by an oar, hard enough to be thrown overboard into the sea.¡±

    ¡°It might have been an accident, we don¡¯t know,¡± Hannah said.

    ¡°Others had gone missing at sea, I wasn¡¯t willing to take the chance that it was an accident, so I escaped.¡±

    ¡°And you three escaped with him?¡±

    ¡°I couldn¡¯t leave him to do it on his own,¡± Hannah said.

    ¡°And we were afraid of how they¡¯d react to our relationship, that we would be the next to be removed,¡± Lisa said.

    ¡°But you guys love each other, what you have is so beautiful.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s nobody else like us in Prospera, they probably consider homosexuality to be another threat to the stability of the village,¡± I said.

 RETURN part 7

    Cathy

    As long as I¡¯d known them I¡¯d never gotten the sense that they¡¯d lived such hard and complicated lives. From the little that they¡¯d told me about it at breakfast Prospera sounded like an Orwellian nightmare; they¡¯d done well to survive and escape. I was happy to have been the one who¡¯d found them; had they been left to wander they could have ended up in all sorts of trouble with their lack of knowledge about the world. They were good kids, each special in their own way, Miranda in particular with her musical talent. After hearing their stories they all looked very different to me. I¡¯d learned so much about them in such a short space of time that they felt like strangers that I had to get to know all over again. I¡¯d come to know Kevin as a quiet and unassuming character and Hannah as the strong leader of their quartet. I¡¯d clearly gotten them all wrong.

    Hannah¡¯s case was a curious one. She was almost unrecognizable from the girl that I¡¯d taught how to drive the truck, the tractor, and how to use the computer and the internet. She had turned her back on the ¡®outside world¡¯ as they called it and thought of me, a citizen of that world, as a hostile entity. Kevin, Lisa and Miranda had changed in my eyes but I felt no increase in the distance between us; I wasn¡¯t afraid to ask them questions about their lives as Prospera children and it was reassuring to know that they were coming back to Huntingdale with me. I spent that day in the cabin learning as much about Prospera from them as I could. Kevin appeared to know the most about the place and he was the most willing to talk. Later that morning, after the dishes from breakfast had been washed, I sat next to him on the porch where he was sharpening a knife on a whetstone. Miranda and Lisa had gone for a walk in the woods, and Hannah was busy with something inside the cabin.

    ¡°Were Miranda and Lisa right to fear for their lives in Prospera?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d say they were. In Prospera nothing is left to chance. Every year the teenagers in the village are sent on a month long camping trip free from adult supervision where the children they¡¯ve identified as ideal romantic partners for each other are housed in the same cabins; they¡¯ve never done that to facilitate the coupling of two boys or two girls, so it¡¯s a good bet they don¡¯t approve of that.¡±

    ¡°What about you and Hannah? Did they want you to be together?¡±

    ¡°Far from it; they once removed me from school and assigned me to work in the stables to keep us apart.¡±

    ¡°Did it work?¡±

    ¡°No; every day after school she¡¯d come to the stables and we¡¯d each take a horse and ride down to the beach together; when they saw their ploy to keep us apart wasn¡¯t working they let me go back to school.¡±

    ¡°You guys were meant for each other then.¡±

    ¡°For them that¡¯s not enough, all they¡¯re interested in is personality compatibility; couples fighting and separating wouldn¡¯t be good for the harmony of the village.¡±

    ¡°Surely more people must know about all of this.¡±

    ¡°They do, but they dare not say or do anything. That¡¯s the genius of the way they do things in Prospera, they allow people to have just enough information that they¡¯re supposedly not supposed to know to keep them compliant; I¡¯m sure that even the four of us only know a fraction of what they¡¯re up to.¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    ¡°The more you tell me about Prospera the more frightening it sounds; should you be going back?¡±

    ¡°Hannah feels she has to go back, something greater than herself is pulling her back, something from her time in Prospera; all I can do is make sure she gets back safely.¡±

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to miss her? Why don¡¯t you just refuse to take her back?¡±

    ¡°That wouldn¡¯t stop her, she¡¯d try and get there by herself, and these woods are too dangerous for her to make it through them on her own.¡±

    ¡°What happened when you travelled through the woods?¡±

    ¡°We nearly died of starvation, having only packed a little meat and a bag of apples before leaving; Miranda injured her leg sliding down a muddy bank and we were attacked by wolves, one of which almost got Miranda because she couldn¡¯t run fast enough because of her injury.¡±

    ¡°Wolves? We thought they were all gone by now.¡±

    ¡°There must be only a few of them left, unfortunately we managed to cross paths with them, and they ate all the meat from the deer that I¡¯d killed.¡±

    ¡°This trip¡­I¡¯ve never done anything like this before.¡±

    ¡°Listen to me, if we get into any trouble I need you to do whatever you have to do to keep yourself safe, don¡¯t worry about us, my main priority on this trip is to keep you safe.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t just leave you guys if there¡¯s trouble!¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t allow anything to happen to you after your family has done so much for us; do you know how to shoot a gun?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°Good, if anything happens grab the gun and run and don¡¯t look back.¡±

    ¡°Why are you so worried about a few wolves if we have a gun? It¡¯ll be easy to scare them off.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not the wolves I¡¯m worried about. I¡¯ve always thought that it was too easy for me to survive outside the village after I¡¯d been knocked overboard, and that we had escaped from Prospera too easily. I think they let us leave, that they could¡¯ve stopped us at any time but chose not to. If I¡¯m right and we¡¯re detected on our way back I don¡¯t know what will happen, that¡¯s why I wanted the four of us to make this journey on our own. If anything happens to us it will be our own fellow Prosperans that are responsible for it; but you have nothing to do with any of this, it wouldn¡¯t be right for you to suffer any misfortune at Prospera¡¯s hands.¡±

    My conversation with Kevin on the porch opened my eyes to the dangers that awaited us much more than the conversation at breakfast had. To gather my thoughts I took a walk into the woods in the direction that Miranda and Lisa had gone in. Prospera was feeling to me like a whole other world, not just some isolated village. Their values were in many instances diametrically opposed to ours in the ¡®outside world¡¯. I was going into the unknown, they weren¡¯t. Their anxiety about what awaited us gave me added concerns about the wisdom of making this trip.

    Miranda and Lisa hadn¡¯t gone too far into the forest; I reached them after only a couple of minutes of walking. They were kissing against a tree; Miranda with her back against the trunk and her arms around Lisa, who had her hand under Miranda¡¯s thigh and was holding up her leg. I stood back and watched them, wary of disturbing and intruding upon them. I noticed something inordinately deep about the way they were kissing each other. They were worried, very worried. Slowly, quietly, I turned around and made my way back to the cabin. What am I doing here? I asked myself as I walked. Being alone in the woods, between these two couples, I was acutely aware of my aloneness, of the fractured state of my life. The only reason I¡¯d followed them was because I¡¯d lost Morgan and I was afraid of losing them too. I had no history with Prospera, I wasn¡¯t in search of answers, I wasn¡¯t needed for anything, in fact, after what Kevin had said about making sure nothing bad happened to me, I could only think of myself as being a burden. I continued walking back to the cabin in a haze, searching for reasons to keep going with the others that made sense, finding none, but not feeling any desire to return home. I was lost, clinging to Hannah and the others as a way of feeling like I was a part of something, which I wasn¡¯t. I was nothing more than what Hannah saw me as: an outsider, an intruder.

 RETURN part 8

    Hannah

    We left the cabin at dawn, well rested from a good night¡¯s sleep and carrying enough provisions to make it through the forest without any problems. To accommodate Cathy last night, Kevin had slept on one of the couches in the living room and Lisa had slept in the bed next to me so that Cathy could sleep in the bed next to Miranda. It was a harbinger of things to come; all of our plans and preparations were for four, the addition of Cathy to our group necessitated that we husband our resources that much more carefully. The feeling among the others was that we had packed plenty and providing for Cathy made no difference to our resource security. I disagreed. We were going to have to share our clothes with her, divide the food up into smaller portions, and Kevin had made it clear that if ever we encountered danger his main priority was to protect Cathy first. These were my last few days with my friends and Cathy was ruining them.

    Using Cathy¡¯s computer and Google Earth I had printed maps of the woods in search of the simplest route to Prospera. The maps proved not to be very helpful, going back the way we came by following the river upstream was the easiest route through the forest. Kevin and I walked together at the front; Cathy, Miranda and Lisa walked a short distance behind us. That first leg of the journey went by quickly, the terrain was smooth and easily traversed. By the time we stopped for lunch at a small clearing next to the river we¡¯d made significant progress. Cathy had kept pace with us better than I¡¯d expected her to and helped to collect firewood when we stopped. Kevin made a fire and used the pot and pan that we¡¯d brought with us to fry meat and boil rice. Looking at the portions that he dished up for us I had to accept that Cathy was not going to be the drain on our resources that I thought she¡¯d be. She wasn¡¯t a drain at all, she ate the dry food without complaining and helped to wash up the utensils, the plates and the pot and pan when we were all done. She was enjoying being on the journey with us, which, after everything that had happened with Morgan and then Canada surrendering, I was happy to see. My feelings about Cathy were changing on an almost hourly basis. My memories of everything that she¡¯d done for us and for me in particular kept cycling in and out of my mind, rendering me incapable of thinking of her as an unwanted presence. I knew that it was wrong to think of Cathy that way but I couldn¡¯t help it, my instinct to protect Prospera from outsiders was overpowering, enough to make me at times forget the debt we owed to her and her parents. I felt ashamed of how I¡¯d been treating Cathy; she deserved much better from me.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± I said to her contritely when we were sitting around waiting to start walking again.

    ¡°For what?¡± She asked me, her voice incredulous.

    ¡°For treating you so badly since you arrived at the cabin, I¡¯m sorry.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay; I know everything that you¡¯ve been going through lately, so don¡¯t worry about it.¡±

    I didn¡¯t feel I deserved to be forgiven so easily by Cathy; I accepted her forgiveness to spare the rest of our journey from any more unpleasantness. The others were relieved that d¨¦tente had been achieved between us, Miranda in particular. She¡¯d never been able to handle tension and conflict, especially when it was between people she cared about. Her face lit up in a bright smile when I apologised to Cathy and she accepted my apology.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    We set off after lunch in much better spirits than we¡¯d been in when we¡¯d left the cabin. The journey felt more like an adventure being embarked upon by five friends and not a grudging trek. I stayed close to Kevin as I had before with the other three following closely behind us. We talked about Prospera; Cathy was still full of questions about the place and unlike when we¡¯d been in the cabin I was okay with her learning about it. I shared with her some of the more controversial things about Prospera, things that I hadn¡¯t even told the others about yet, like the forced abortions that were employed to keep the population number under control.

    ¡°WHAT?! How can they do that?¡± Miranda asked in horror.

    ¡°It¡¯s what has to be done Miranda, overpopulation is a huge problem that¡¯s best dealt with pre-emptively; look at what¡¯s happening in the outside world: wars, refugees, famine and all sorts of humanitarian catastrophes, almost the entire continent of Africa has been declared a failed state because of demand for resources being so much greater than supply.¡±

    ¡°Who did your mother force to have an abortion?¡±

    ¡°Martha.¡±

    ¡°Martha! But she¡¯s so nice.¡±

    ¡°It had to be done.¡±

    ¡°One more child wouldn¡¯t cause the village to collapse.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not about one more child; imagine every couple having one more child, or two more children, think about what that would do to our ability to support ourselves, we just about make it through the winter as it is.¡±

    ¡°There has to be a better way.¡±

    ¡°There isn¡¯t; if you allow one couple to have one more child that they¡¯re not supposed to have then everybody¡¯s going to want to do it; we have to put the wellbeing of the village first because that¡¯s in everybody¡¯s best interests.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re talking like you¡¯re one of them.¡±

    ¡°I am one of them; that¡¯s why I¡¯m going back.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not one of them, you¡¯re one of us; why don¡¯t you just forget about going back to Prospera and come back to Huntingdale with us?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ve explained that to you, I have to go back.¡±

    I had said to the others the previous day at breakfast that Cathy wouldn¡¯t understand Prospera, the reality was that they didn¡¯t either, at least not to the extent that they were willing to accept Prospera¡¯s methods. Their time in the outside world enjoying the freedoms they had there made it impossible for them to appreciate the pressures that existed in Prospera that needed to be managed in a way that enabled life in the village to keep going on as always. Truth is I wasn¡¯t entirely convinced of the need for the status quo in Prospera to be maintained indefinitely. I was returning to Prospera to talk to my mother and the other members of the governing authorities about reforming the policies and practices of the village based on my experiences in the outside world. I understood the risk that I was exposing myself to; the Google Earth images we¡¯d seen spoke volumes about what they knew about the outside world in Prospera. There were some in the village who knew the truth and the village had remained unchanged. They weren¡¯t going to be very receptive to what I had to say and there was every possibility I would face consequences for wanting to bring about change in the village but I felt I had to try. Things could be done in a way that was better for the people of Prospera; that liberated, empowered and enlightened them. As a child of Prospera that had been raised to believe in the philosophy of Prospera and to want the best for the village and its inhabitants I felt it was my responsibility to attempt to bring about change that pulled them all out of the darkness.

 RETURN part 9

    Miranda

    The night before we set out for Prospera from the cabin Cathy and I stayed up for hours talking. She was excited to be going on this journey with us, too excited to sleep. We laid close to each other with our heads under the blanket whispering, both because we didn¡¯t want to wake anybody up and because we didn¡¯t want them to hear what we were talking about.

    ¡°Has Kevin always been so¡­in charge?¡± She asked me.

    ¡°Ever since we were kids, we¡¯ve always followed him.¡±

    ¡°Were he and Hannah always¡­¡±

    ¡°Since they were kids, for both of them there¡¯s never been anyone else.¡±

    ¡°What are they going to do when they¡¯re separated?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know. When Kevin was sent to the stables it was hell on Hannah, whether she¡¯s mature enough to handle a permanent separation, I don¡¯t know.¡±

    ¡°What about Kevin?¡±

    ¡°He¡¯ll be fine, he¡¯s always fine.¡±

    ¡°Do you think he¡¯ll be open to being with someone else?¡±

    ¡°I know what you¡¯re thinking; you¡¯re thinking that with Hannah gone you can take Kevin for yourself, right?¡±

    ¡°Well why not? If they¡¯re not together¡­¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s okay, I understand how you feel, to be honest I felt the same way myself once.¡±

    ¡°About Kevin?¡±

    ¡°Yeah.¡±

    ¡°But you¡¯re a lesbian.¡±

    ¡°I know, but on that second camping trip we went on it was so sexy the way everybody was looking up to him, being around him I¡¯d get this tingly feeling all over.¡±

    ¡°Does Lisa know?¡±

    ¡°We weren¡¯t seeing each other then; it was only later during that same camping trip that we became a couple. Things could have turned out very differently though, when we were rehearsing a play that one of our friends had written we had to do a kissing scene and Kevin and I kissed for longer than was necessary; if Hannah hadn¡¯t ran through the woods to the beach I don¡¯t know what would have happened with me and Kevin.¡±

    ¡°Do you still feel an attraction to him?¡±

    ¡°No, the only person I feel anything romantic for is Lisa.¡±

    The thought of Cathy and Kevin together as a couple didn¡¯t register with me as a betrayal of Hannah; she¡¯d made her choice to return to Prospera and it was up to the rest of us to go on with our lives without her. Kevin could do a lot worse than Cathy; in the outside world there were girls who were promiscuous and possessed a lot of other undesirable qualities. Cathy wasn¡¯t like that and she knew the truth about us. If Cathy was serious about pursuing Kevin I decided that I would support her, for both their sakes: for Kevin to help him move on from Hannah and for Cathy to experience what it was like to be with someone who didn¡¯t put her through the perennial torment that Morgan had.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    The more I thought about the idea the more I liked it and the more I was looking forward to returning home to the farm and continuing our lives with Prospera firmly in our past. Walking from the cabin and into the woods, the atmosphere among us frigid, I wanted us to get to Prospera as soon as possible so the four of us could return home without Hannah. Her treatment of Cathy ever since she¡¯d shown up at the cabin had been upsetting to me and if made to choose between Hannah and Cathy I would have chosen Cathy. That changed after lunch when Hannah apologised sincerely to Cathy for the way that she¡¯d been treating her. After that I wanted us all to go back together but Hannah¡¯s determination to return to Prospera was undiminished. My mood dipped again while we were walking having been briefly lifted by Hannah¡¯s apology. Lisa, walking next to me, took my hand in hers to remind me that that there was no chance of her ever leaving me like how Hannah was leaving Kevin.

    The plan for the rest of the day, as Kevin laid it out, was to keep walking until we located what had been the last stop we¡¯d made before reaching the cabin when we¡¯d been fleeing Prospera: a comfortable spot next to the river where we¡¯d spent the night.

    To get there we had one major obstacle to navigate: a steep, moist embankment that we¡¯d slid down the first time that was too steep and moist for us to climb. At this time Hannah¡¯s aerial maps came in handy. One of them revealed that if we kept walking to the right we would arrive at a gentler slope that we could use to circumnavigate the steep slope. Circumnavigating the slope wouldn¡¯t take us too far out of our way; we could still make it to the campsite before it turned dark. We headed in that direction, walking away from the river and deeper into the woods in search of Hannah¡¯s alternate route.

    ¡°How long will it take us to get back on course?¡± I asked Hannah.

    ¡°Not long, only a couple of minutes.¡±

    We kept walking in silence, apprehensive about Hannah¡¯s route. As it turned out we had good reason to be. After walking in the direction she¡¯d told us to we made a startling discovery: tyre tracks.

    ¡°What is this?¡± Kevin asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, they¡¯re not on the map,¡± Hannah answered, bewildered.

    ¡°Just like Prospera couldn¡¯t be seen; these tracks are a part of that same cover up,¡± Lisa said.

    We had a decision to make: follow the tyre tracks and learn the full truth about Prospera or turn around completely and return to Huntingdale.

    ¡°We should all go back to Huntingdale, this is too dangerous,¡± Lisa spoke first and said.

    ¡°We don¡¯t know that there is any danger here, we should keep going and discover the truth,¡± Hannah said.

    ¡°We can¡¯t risk that, not when we¡¯ve got Cathy with us; I agree with Lisa, we should go back,¡± Kevin said.

    ¡°I told you not to worry about me, don¡¯t make any decisions on my account. I¡¯m with Hannah, now that I know that Prospera is real I have to see it; I want us to keep going.¡±

    ¡°Then Miranda and I are going back; I won¡¯t let anything happen to her,¡± Lisa said.

    ¡°Lisa wait, we can¡¯t just abandon them, we should all go,¡± I said to her.

    ¡°We¡¯re not abandoning them, they¡¯re choosing to go, and it¡¯s a choice they don¡¯t have to make because there¡¯s an entire world waiting for us to go back to.¡±

    ¡°We have to go back together, it wouldn¡¯t be right for us to leave them and go back by ourselves.¡±

    ¡°Kevin, what are you doing?¡± Lisa asked him.

    ¡°I¡¯ll keep going with Hannah and Cathy to keep them safe; if you two are going back you need to do it now, if you walk fast you can maybe make it back to the cabin before it gets dark.¡±

    ¡°You really want to keep going with them?¡± Lisa asked me.

    ¡°We¡¯ve come this far, we should keep going.¡±

    Outnumbered four to one, Lisa acquiesced to continuing on to Prospera by following the tyre tracks that weren¡¯t on Hannah¡¯s map. As we walked along the tyre tracks, none of us saying anything, the only sounds being the crunching of the ground under our feet and activity in the trees above us, an eerie feeling enveloped us that grew as we progressed. Questions raced through our minds about what we were going to find out about what Prospera¡¯s connection to the outside world was. We walked on oblivious to the fact that we¡¯d long since passed the spot where we¡¯d planned on setting up camp. The potential dangers of what we were walking into remained in our minds as we were propelled forward by the intrigue of what awaited us when we reached the final destination of the tyre tracks. The path we were moving along felt fated, as Prospera citizens that had seen the outside world the opportunity to learn the full truth about Prospera pulled us along inexorably like a magnet. None of us said a word as we moved forward, the strangeness of the existence of the road along which we were walking rendered us all speechless. The sense that we were drawing closer to the ultimate truth about Prospera with each step increased our curiosity and anticipation and pushed our thoughts about encountering trouble further to the back of our minds. Then everything went dark.

 RETURN part 10

    Lisa

    We fought hard to no avail. Our assailants took us by surprise and acted fast; they placed the hoods over our heads, wrestled us to the ground and bound our hands and feet all in a matter of a few seconds. One of the others screamed, I think it was Cathy. She was quickly silenced by one of them menacingly saying ¡®Quiet!¡¯ They hoisted us up on their shoulders and carried us off at great speed further down the tyre tracks in the direction that we¡¯d been walking. None of us fought back or said anything. Fear, like we¡¯d never felt before, pulsed through us and made us numb. We were taken and loaded into a vehicle, a truck, most likely; I heard steel being slammed shut and clasped behind us. They had entered the vehicle with us and were right next to us; I could hear their breathing and could feel the tip of one of their shoes periodically nudging into me when we hit a bump. They never said a word for the entire duration of the trip, which was actually more frightening than if they had been talking. We certainly didn¡¯t say anything; not knowing who these people were or what they wanted with us we couldn¡¯t take the risk of doing anything that might anger them. Once the initial panic had passed and I¡¯d resigned myself to us being at the mercy of these people all I could think about was how foolish we¡¯d been not to have turned around and gone back to the cabin when we¡¯d first discovered the tyre tracks. Hannah had been a fool to have thought that there wouldn¡¯t be any danger up ahead and the rest of us had been fools to have kept going with her. Of course there was something untoward going on! Why else would they go to such extremes to keep it all concealed?

    The vehicle we were in¡ªwhich I was now convinced was a truck¡ªtrundled along without stopping. I was hoping that we were being driven out of the forest and would be returned to the outside world. Logic told me this was not the case. Whoever it was that we¡¯d been captured by wouldn¡¯t take the chance of giving us the opportunity to talk about what was in the forest. We were being taken further into the forest, by the people who were helping Prospera keep its existence a secret. We were prisoners, on our way to some form of captivity or worse. Execution was a definite possibility. Not for a second did I have any faith in Hannah¡¯s theory about the children that died suspiciously in Prospera being secreted out of the village and deposited in the outside world. Prospera wouldn¡¯t leave so much to chance when knowledge of its existence was at stake; our capture was proof of that. My only real concern was for Miranda. I didn¡¯t care about anything happening to us but I couldn¡¯t stand the thought of something happening to her, she was too special and I loved her too much. I was already feeling terrible because I was powerless to stop any such thing from happening. I should have insisted that the two of us turn around earlier, were anything to happen to her I wouldn¡¯t be able to forgive myself.

    The drive we took in the truck was long, I had no way of knowing how long but it was in the territory of an hour. When we stopped they pulled us out of the truck and hoisted us over their shoulders again. We were carried along what sounded like a gravel road that after a short time gave way to metal steps that we descended. We were placed on our feet and instructed to remain perfectly still. The restraints on our wrists and ankles were cut and we heard steel slamming behind us.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    ¡°You can remove your hoods now,¡± a voice said.

    We were in a cell; a dark, uncomfortable cell deep underground. On the other side of the bars of our cell door were three men, all wearing military uniforms with the American flag emblazoned on the left hand side of their chests, under which patches with their name and rank were stitched. The soldier that was front and centre was Lt.Col Raymond, a middle aged white man with grey hair. To his left was Sgt Wilcox, a young black man, and to his right was Sgt Barry, a young white man with black hair.  Sgt Wilcox and Sgt Barry stood with their legs apart and their arms behind their backs which were perfectly erect. They were the real thing, of that there was no doubt.

    ¡°From now on you are our prisoners; you will do what we tell you to do, how we tell you to do it and when we tell you to do it. Get used to your new accommodations; we¡¯ll be calling on you soon,¡± Lt.Sgt Raymond said to us before they all walked off.

    The cell we were in was like a cave, black rock on all sides with metal bars keeping us in. There were four of us in the cell, the girls; Kevin had been taken elsewhere. The first thing I did was to grab Miranda and hug her. For now at least we were safe, my fear about execution had not materialized and it didn¡¯t look like it was going to. Survival was the only thing that mattered. Their intention was to make use of us, we had to remain useful to them and not give them reason to think of us as disposable.

    ¡°We have to do whatever they say; no matter what we can¡¯t give them a reason to kill us because they will, that is the most important thing that we need to focus on,¡± I said to the others.

    ¡°What are American troops doing here? Does it have something to do with the surrender?¡± Cathy asked.

    ¡°They¡¯ve obviously been here a lot longer than that,¡± I said to her.

    ¡°Are they the ones that have been helping to keep Prospera a secret?¡± Miranda asked.

    ¡°That¡¯s what it looks like,¡± Hannah said, ¡°The question is what are the Americans getting in return; what are they doing here?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re going to find out soon, it looks like they¡¯ve brought us here to be their slaves,¡± I said.

    Sounds reverberated through the caverns of our prison that portended hard times ahead for us. From the sounds of it what they were doing in these caves required a lot of very hard work. Somehow we had to figure out a way to protect Miranda. Hard work was not her strength and we couldn¡¯t allow them to think of her as not being useful enough.

    The ultimate truth about Prospera, that Hannah was determined to discover, could only be something horrible if it involved the Americans, which made our decision to embark on this trip even more stupid in retrospect. The situation that we found ourselves in was all Hannah¡¯s fault and from the look of her she knew it. There were four bunks suspended by chains that were bolted to the walls of our cell; she was sitting on one of the bottom bunks with her face in her hands, coming to grips with the guilt that she was feeling for getting all of us into this mess from which escape looked impossible. The reality that it was entirely possible that we would never experience freedom again started to weigh on us as we came round to accepting our circumstances. We could be spending the rest of our lives in this dark cell that had nothing in it but four bunks suspended from the walls by chains and a toilet that offered no privacy. As the thought of that sank in, Cathy, Miranda and I fell into deep despair, chastising ourselves for our stupidity not to have abandoned the journey upon seeing the tyre tracks.

 RETURN part 11

    Hannah

    I could feel nothing but guilt, I could think of nothing but how I was solely responsible for us being in this prison. We were not soon called upon like we were told we would be. We waited on our bunks for hours but no one came for us. We only saw other people again when some of the other prisoners walked by our cell. There were five of them, three men and two women. The men were bedraggled and looked drained; the women were the same, just less so. They gave us looks of curiosity and commiseration as they passed our cell. They were followed by Sgt Barry, who let them into their cells, locked the cell gates once they were in and promptly left. We learned for the first time that our cell was just one of a row of cells and that the cells where they housed the men weren¡¯t far away. Kevin must¡¯ve been close, in a cell that was just a stone¡¯s throw away. My desire to call out to him was strong; my fear of how the soldiers would react was stronger. I remained silent, my separation from him agonizing. Sgt Wilcox along with another female prisoner brought us food shortly after the prisoners we¡¯d seen had been returned to their cells. A bowl of stew, some bread and a cup of water was all they gave us.

    ¡°Its 8 p.m., you need to get to sleep soon,¡± the soldier said to us when he came to take our dishes away.

    I never imagined when we set off from the cabin that our day would be ending this way. I had imagined us sleeping under the stars like we had done when we had fled Prospera, enjoying the feeling of freedom. Did they know in Prospera what the Americans were doing in the outside world? I wondered. If they did, I could see them not being all too concerned by it. Their only concern was for the village to continue existing in secret. My mother had to have known the truth about the outside world but she¡¯d still brought me up to believe the most outrageous lies about it. Were I to see her again and ask her how she could ignore what the Americans were doing to the Canadians all she would say to me was that they were doing what they needed to do to ensure Prospera¡¯s survival. She wouldn¡¯t give me a moral argument, she would offer no defence for the Americans; she would just say that they had to think of the village first. She was just as brainwashed as everybody else in the village. I couldn¡¯t bring change to Prospera, I¡¯d been an idiot for thinking that I could, and now we were in this prison and I couldn¡¯t forgive myself for getting the others involved in this.

    I didn¡¯t sleep that night. When it was bedtime they turned out the lights that hung from the ceiling of the corridor outside our cell and somebody yelled ¡°LIGHTS OUT!¡± An eerie silence consumed the prison in the wake of the loud clang of the light switch being thrown. Everybody in here was afraid and spiritless, utterly devoid of hope. Could we end all of this by telling them who we were: citizens of Prospera; who I was, the granddaughter of the head of the Ethics Committee? I didn¡¯t want to do that, at least not yet; while we were here we could acquire answers to the questions that we¡¯d had for years about Prospera.

    ¡°We need somebody to work in the kitchen; which one of you wants to come?¡± Sgt Wilcox arrived at our cell and asked us in the morning.

    ¡°Miranda, you go,¡± Lisa said.

    ¡°Why me?¡±

    ¡°Better you working in a kitchen than doing whatever it is they¡¯re doing down below.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s if she¡¯s going to be taken to a kitchen; once she¡¯s left the cell we won¡¯t know what they¡¯ve done with her,¡± I said to Lisa.

    ¡°We have very strict guidelines that dictate our conduct here, you can talk to any of the other prisoners here and they¡¯ll tell you that we¡¯ve never done anything sinister to them; and your friend is right, this is much easier work than you¡¯d otherwise get here,¡± the sergeant said.

    ¡°You really think it¡¯s a good idea for me to go?¡± Miranda asked.

    ¡°I do,¡± Lisa responded.

    Miranda left with Sgt Wilcox, whose guarantee that she was perfectly safe with him hadn¡¯t reassured me. We were in the position of having to trust the American soldiers, our captors, the very same people whose atrocities we¡¯d spent months bearing personal witness to and who had killed Morgan.

    Miranda was brought back to the cell a little while later no worse for wear. She was escorted back to our cell by Sgt Wilcox carrying a tray with our breakfast: four bowls of oatmeal. Cathy hadn¡¯t eaten her dinner the previous night and that morning she refused to eat breakfast. Her feelings were understandable; our captors were the ones that had killed Morgan, being not only in their custody but having to rely on them to provide for us was a lot for her. We offered Cathy¡¯s bowl of oatmeal to Miranda but she was full having been allowed to eat some of the eggs and bacon that she¡¯d been taken to help prepare. Lisa and I shared the bowl of oatmeal between us.

    Miranda was quick to tell us everything about her brief time outside the cell. She¡¯d passed three other cells on her way out and when she looked behind her she saw four more cells beyond ours, making eight cells in total. She saw only girls in the three cells that she passed, eight of them, three in each of the first two cells and two in the final third cell. The kitchen that she¡¯d been taken to was above ground. Sgt Wilcox took her up the metal steps that we¡¯d been carried down and through a tarpaulin covered passageway that led to a series of prefabricated interconnected units where the soldiers resided. Miranda was taken straight to the kitchen and didn¡¯t get to see anything besides the kitchen. There were three other girls already working in the kitchen when she¡¯d entered it, one from each of the cells that she¡¯d passed. Two soldiers watched over them as they worked, making the girls too afraid to talk. Miranda didn¡¯t have to do much. They told her to crack and beat eggs, butter bread and make coffee, and when the soldiers were done eating in the mess she helped wash the dishes, after which the four of them helped themselves to the leftovers. Going off the amount of food that they¡¯d prepared Miranda surmised that there weren¡¯t many soldiers, no more than fifteen was her guess.

    More soldiers came down into the prison and walked past our cell to the other four cells on our left. All were opened and all of the male prisoners that were housed in them were led out of the prison. Kevin was one of them, one of about fourteen. He walked by our cell looking his usual self: impassive, taking the unusual set of events that had occurred in his stride. The sounds that we¡¯d heard upon arriving the day before soon started up again, sounds of pneumatic pounding followed by sounds of the slow and steady chipping away at something followed by more pneumatic pounding. I had to find out what they were doing here. American soldiers on Canadian soil meant only one thing: that what they were doing here somehow involved the war, which made Prospera complicit in the atrocities the American military had committed in their campaign for control of Canada and its oil. Kevin would have the answer when he got back. We could find out from him, that is if we were allowed to speak with him; there didn¡¯t appear to be much interaction between the prisoners. There wasn¡¯t much talking in the cell. After Miranda had told us everything about her time outside the cell there was silence among us once again as we continued to come to terms with our imprisonment.

    Lunch was cheese sandwiches. Sgt Wilcox came for Miranda again to assist with the preparation of the sandwiches. She brought us our sandwiches and was escorted back to the kitchen to help carry sandwiches to Kevin and the other men that had been taken earlier. I wished that it was me that was helping in the kitchen, that way I¡¯d get to see for myself what was going on in this place. Cathy didn¡¯t eat any of her lunch. We were worried about her; if she kept refusing to eat for much longer she was going to get sick and if she got sick enough she might die and Kevin wouldn¡¯t be able to fulfil his pledge to return her home safely. She could also cause trouble for us with the soldiers. We begged her to eat something but she refused; she wouldn¡¯t eat food that had been provided by the people that had killed Morgan in cold blood.

    Kevin and the other men were brought back to their cells a little after lunch, all of them covered in black dust. They came for the women next. All of us, except for Miranda and the others that worked in the kitchen, were escorted by Sergeants Wilcox and Barry out of our cells to the metal steps which we were told to walk down. There were six flights of steps that took us deeper and deeper underground. The air got hotter, thicker and dustier. At the bottom of the stairs was another corridor, much longer than the one where the cells were housed. There were lights strung along the ceiling as well, rail tracks on the floor and buttresses along the walls and ceiling. The place was a mine, what we needed to find out next was what they were mining.

    ¡°For the three new arrivals I will explain what it is you will be doing here,¡± Sgt Barry said, ¡°When the men are doing their work they get a lot of gravel on the tracks that makes it harder to roll the carts along them, you¡¯re to pick up all of it and place it in the cart to be properly disposed of so the carts can run smoothly tomorrow. The others know what to do, follow their lead.¡±

    We walked behind the other women along the tracks into the mine. We were sweating already, overwhelmed by the heat and stuffiness of the underground space. We arrived at a cart which the other girls told us was where we were to start from. Inside the cart were two brooms and three spades.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    ¡°Shovelling is harder than sweeping, if any of you have any health problems grab a broom,¡± one of the women said to us.

    ¡°Just Cathy,¡± I said to her.

    ¡°Which one of you is Cathy?¡±

    ¡°She is,¡± I said, looking at Cathy, ¡°She¡¯s Lisa and I¡¯m Hannah.¡±

    ¡°My name¡¯s Abbey, you¡¯ll get to know the others soon enough. We separate into two teams and work in shifts without stopping to finish fast; which of you wants to be on the first shift?¡±

    ¡°Just me,¡± I said, and then turned to Lisa, ¡°One of us needs to be on the same shift as Cathy to monitor her; you have medical training, it should be you.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    I grabbed a shovel out of the cart and we got started. The three of us with shovels got to work shovelling the gravel from between the tracks into the cart. The two with brooms worked behind us sweeping together any gravel that we dropped onto the tracks for us to shovel into the cart. The work was hard and was made harder by the suffocating environment. Having worked for just a few minutes we were drenched in sweat, the dust that was kicked up when we shovelled gravel was choking; there was a lot of coughing while we worked.

    ¡°Where are you guys from?¡± Abbey asked me.

    ¡°Huntingdale.¡±

    ¡°Is it just the four of you?¡±

    ¡°There are five of us; Kevin¡¯s with the men.¡±

    ¡°You came here looking for Prospera?¡±

    ¡°We did.¡±

    ¡°Us too; there were three of us: me, Clarissa, who¡¯s back with the other team, and Vaughn, who¡¯s also with the men.¡±

    ¡°How long have you been here?¡±

    ¡°About a year; I still can¡¯t believe that we¡¯re in this situation.¡±

    ¡°Do you know what they¡¯re mining here that¡¯s so valuable that the military is guarding it?¡±

    ¡°Fragmentium; this mine is where they get it from.¡±

    I stopped moving the second I heard from Abbey what was being mined here. As much as we had been disillusioned about Prospera it was still shocking to learn that Prospera was involved in something as heinous as helping to arm the Americans with fragmentium, the destructive power of which had destroyed countless lives.

    ¡°Hey, keep working!¡± Abbey said to me.

    ¡°Oh, sorry,¡± I said, snapping out of my short daze.

    It was just as I suspected, when it came to keeping the village a secret there were no lengths to which they wouldn¡¯t go, no depths to which they wouldn¡¯t sink. Not even helping the American military to slaughter thousands of innocent people was too big a price to pay for their secrecy. I felt sick to my stomach to think that I had called such a place home and such people family. My desire to return evaporated that instant, any belief I had left that Prospera could change went with it.

    ¡°Where are you from?¡± I asked Abbey.

    ¡°San Fransisco; I read rumours about Prospera on the internet and I was curious, and I was sick of living in a country that was being ruled by a brutal dictator.¡±

    ¡°What about the others?¡±

    ¡°Most of them are Canadians.¡±

    ¡°Were they victims of the war?¡±

    ¡°Some of them, others were afraid they would be so they left their towns and came up here.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯s been here the longest?¡±

    ¡°That would be April, she¡¯s been here four years; she¡¯s also in the other group.¡±

    ¡°Four years?!¡± I said, incredulous.

    ¡°You know what makes it worse? None of us even knows if Prospera is real or not.¡±

    The work moved fast. Once we¡¯d gotten into a groove the physically demanding nature of the work became bearable and we had no trouble maintaining a high level of productivity. This isn¡¯t to say I wasn¡¯t relieved when our shift came to an end and it was time for the other team to take over. The heat and dust had taken its toll on me; I was desperate for a drink of water from the large cooler that the soldiers had provided us with. I helped myself to two quick cups and then a third which I planned to drink slowly. The six of us sat on the tracks behind the second team that had continued clearing the gravel. Abbey sat next to me and introduced me to the other girls: Lauren, Michaela, Christina and Kate. They were all Canadians that had come across rumours about the existence from Prospera through different sources and had come in search of it, mostly out of curiosity. Being a Prospera citizen their stories were difficult for me to listen to. They¡¯d sought out Prospera believing it to be a place of hope, far from the madness of the world from which they¡¯d fled. If only they¡¯d known the truth, that Prospera was every bit as corrupt and uncaring as the world that they had been fleeing. I felt enormous guilt sitting amongst them; more than anything I wanted to bring their nightmare to an end, as a citizen of Prospera I felt responsible for them being in this awful situation. My guilt kept me silent. The others had nothing new to say to each other so we all sat in silence. I took the opportunity to observe them. They were all wearing the same clothes, white pants and a white T-shirt. None were undernourished or unhygienic at all. They were being well taken care of, all things considered. I wondered if that was something that those in Prospera that knew about this place had insisted upon. Were that to be the case it would do nothing to redeem Prospera in my eyes; what was going on here with this prison, this forced labour camp, was unforgivable.

    It took us four shifts in total to clear the tracks of gravel. Cathy had done okay for someone who hadn¡¯t eaten for almost a full day. I talked to Lisa and she said that for now Cathy was okay but it was important that she eat something soon. Sergeants Wilcox and Barry inspected the work that we had done and when they decided that it was satisfactory they escorted us back to our cells. During our second break after our second shift Abbey told me that when we were done working we would be taken back to our cells and would be collected again to be taken for a bath and then dinner would be brought to us in our cells. The bath that Abbey talked about wasn¡¯t as bad as I¡¯d imagined it would be. We were taken to another room in the caves that was behind a curtain. Inside the floor was concreted and there were four metal basins stacked on top of each other, four stools, four wooden buckets, a fifth basin full of water sitting on a fire, a tap, four bars of soap, towels and a change of clothes for all of us.

    ¡°You three will go first with me,¡± Abbey said to Cathy, Lisa and me.

    We each took a basin and filled it halfway with water from the tap then used our buckets to scoop hot water from the basin on top of the fire into our basins, after which we filled the hot water basin with water from the tap and placed it back on the fire for the others.

    ¡°Did Miranda and the others arrange all of this?¡± I asked Abbey.

    ¡°Yeah; they would have done yesterday¡¯s laundry and taken their baths already, now they¡¯d be working on dinner in the kitchen.¡±

    We sat on our stools and rinsed ourselves with our buckets, stood up and lathered with soap, sat down and rinsed ourselves again and that was it. Toothpaste and toothbrushes were also provided for us. We brushed our teeth, changed into our new white clothes and we were done. We stayed in the room with the others after we were done so we could talk some more; I wanted Abbey to get to know Cathy and Lisa.

    ¡°What medical problem do you have?¡± Abbey asked Cathy.

    ¡°She hasn¡¯t eaten anything since we arrived here; I didn¡¯t want her doing anything that would drain too much of her energy,¡± I answered.

    ¡°Why won¡¯t you eat?¡±

    ¡°American soldiers killed my boyfriend; I¡¯m not going to eat their food.¡±

    ¡°How did he die?¡±

    ¡°He was a member of the #OverthrowImperialism movement, US marines captured and executed him,¡± Lisa said.

    ¡°I used to follow those guys online, I even donated money to them a few times; they were really cool.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re gone now, Mattis stepped up his offensive and they just weren¡¯t strong enough to survive,¡± I said.

    ¡°The war is still going on then?¡± Abbey asked.

    ¡°No, it ended a few weeks ago; the Canadians had to surrender, Mattis committed thousands more troops to the fight and overwhelmed them,¡± I said.

    ¡°Does that mean they¡¯re going to let us out of here soon?¡± Michaela, who was busy washing, asked.

    ¡°They probably want to mine as much fragmentium as they can and stockpile it, so probably not,¡± I said to her.

    ¡°I think so too,¡± Abbey said.

    The brief moment of hope that Michaela¡¯s question gave rise to quickly faded, replaced by the usual resignation they all felt.

    ¡°Your hunger strike won¡¯t achieve anything, they won¡¯t care if you die,¡± Abbey said to Cathy.

    ¡°It¡¯s not a hunger strike; I just can¡¯t bring myself to eat their food.¡±

    ¡°You need to get over that if you want to live.¡±

    ¡°Have people died here?¡± Lisa asked.

    ¡°Only men; all of them mining accidents.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re saying that Kevin could die down in that mine?¡± I asked Abbey.

    ¡°Yes, he could.¡±

    There was a routine in the prison that the prisoners had become accustomed to; everything moved like clockwork. There was no dissent from the prisoners, they were broken, the swiftness of the disappearance of Michaela¡¯s hope of release was proof of that. The rest of the day proceeded as Abbey said it would. Miranda wasn¡¯t in our cell when we returned to it and we only saw her again when she brought us our dinner and had the cell door locked behind her. Fried meat and mashed potatoes was on our plates. Hungry after the work that we¡¯d been doing we got stuck into the food straight away. Cathy ignored her food and went another meal without eating. We tried again to convince her to eat and again she refused, telling us to drop it and to leave her alone. We did, giving her food to Miranda, and our worries about Cathy grew.

    By our third day we were used to the routine that they had in the prison. We went to sleep early every night tired from the work we did in the mine and woke up in the morning in time for breakfast. Cathy continued not eating.

    Time passed slowly in the cell. Our anxiety over being locked up had dissipated and we weren¡¯t spending hours fretting about the situation that we were in. We hardly talked and had nothing to read and nothing to do. The hours until we were taken down to the mine crawled by; we spent them looking forward to when they¡¯d come for us so we¡¯d have something to do. Down in the mine we separated into the same teams and worked the same shifts.

    ¡°Do they ever give you books to read or something to pass the time with?¡± I asked Abbey while we were shovelling.

    ¡°Sometimes they bring us books; they haven¡¯t for a couple of weeks, I¡¯ll ask one of the soldiers when they¡¯ll bring books again.¡±

    Cathy started having problems shortly after, during her and Lisa¡¯s shift. Lisa came and spoke to me and told me that there was trouble with Cathy, she was complaining about her stomach and couldn¡¯t work. I took her place on Lisa¡¯s team and told her to sit out the rest of the shifts. When we were done and it was time for us to be taken back to our cell Lisa and I had to help her through the mine and up the stairs.

    ¡°Is she okay?¡± A new soldier, Sgt Holgate, asked when we were helping her.

    ¡°Her stomach is sore; she hasn¡¯t been eating,¡± Lisa told him.

    ¡°Does she need a doctor?¡±

    ¡°You can get one for her?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a doctor that comes when we need him; I¡¯ll have him come and have a look at her.¡±

    We got Cathy back to the cell and onto her bunk. Lisa and I chose to stay with her rather than going to wash with the others. The doctor would arrive to have a look at her within the next couple of hours we were told. Part of me couldn¡¯t help thinking that Cathy¡¯s refusal to eat was a stupid and selfish decision that could have made things very difficult for us. Some of my old feelings about Cathy not being one of us were returning to me, until I remembered that here in the prison things were different, we were all prisoners and our captors were all Americans; that was the only distinction that mattered.

 RETURN part 12

    Hannah (continued)

    Nothing that we had learned while down in the mine was more damning of Prospera than the doctor that was brought to our cell to examine Cathy. It was Dr Lighton, Lisa¡¯s supervisor when she was being trained to be a doctor in Prospera. Lisa and I didn¡¯t reveal the shock that we felt at seeing him appear before our eyes in the prison to prevent Sgt Holgate from catching on to the fact that we knew him. Dr Lighton was facing away from Sgt Holgate and thus didn¡¯t need to do the same. A look of shock plastered his face before he realized that he also needed to act like he was seeing us for the first time. Dr Lighton¡¯s examination of Cathy was brief. He told her to stay in bed, drink fluids and eat easy to digest food like soups and stews.

    ¡°She doesn¡¯t want to eat any food that¡¯s from the Americans,¡± Lisa told him.

    ¡°In that case I¡¯ll bring food for her to eat everyday that¡¯s not from the Americans, starting tonight.¡±

    He left the cell with the promise of returning in less than an hour with Cathy¡¯s dinner. Word that we were locked up in this prison was going to get back to Prospera and soon we would find out the depth of the relationship between Prospera and the Americans.

    We told Cathy everything shortly after Dr Lighton left, that he was from Prospera and that the food he was going to bring her was also from Prospera and thus okay for her to eat; we also told her not to tell anybody about any of this. Miranda found out about Dr Lighton coming to see Cathy when she returned to the cell with our dinner and made sure to restrain her amazement. She got to see him later when he brought Cathy¡¯s dinner and just like we had done earlier she betrayed nothing to the soldier standing guard. He brought a bowl of soup for Cathy that he told us to make sure she ate, which she did. She ate the entire bowl of soup and went to sleep, after which Lisa, Miranda and I whispered about what the future might hold for us.

    We all agreed that something would happen; we just couldn¡¯t predict what that would be. They had more than enough numbers in Prospera to overwhelm the soldiers here; there were five thousand people in the village and no more than twenty soldiers here according to Miranda. Such a move made no sense though. The Americans would no doubt retaliate against Prospera should they do that and the village would stand no chance. Were they to get us out of here it would be as part of an arrangement of some sort. I had no intention of going along with such an arrangement unless everybody else who was imprisoned here was also released. That scenario, too, threw up numerous problems. Taking the prisoners here to Prospera wouldn¡¯t work, they¡¯d be too angry about what had been done to them on Prospera¡¯s behalf and then there was the issue of how Prosperans would react to strangers from the outside world and the American¡¯s would be too worried about the world discovering the location of their fragmentium mine for them to just release them back into the outside world. I couldn¡¯t see a way out of this for us that would be acceptable to everyone involved; Miranda and Lisa couldn¡¯t either.

    We watched over Cathy as she slept and thought about the promise that Kevin had made to get her safely back to her parents. Cathy wasn¡¯t one of us in the sense that she didn¡¯t deserve this cruelty. She wasn¡¯t a citizen of Prospera and didn¡¯t bear any responsibility for this prison being here like we did. If an opportunity to get her out of here presented itself we had to take it; we shared Kevin¡¯s sentiment that we owed it to her parents to ensure her safe return.

    Dr Lighton brought a bowl of oatmeal for Cathy the next morning. He¡¯d gotten the Americans to agree to keep Cathy out of work and to allow either Lisa or Miranda to stay with her at all times. I continued with the normal routine. I went down to the mine to clean the tracks with the other girls and washed with them in the washroom where we were joined by Lisa who was able to join us because Miranda had been excused from dinner preparation so she could stay with Cathy in the cell. Cathy was eating all of the food that Dr Lighton was bringing for her and that evening after dinner she was already looking considerably better. We were talking about it with her when Lt. Col Raymond unexpectedly appeared at our cell door.

    ¡°Hannah, come with me,¡± he said, unlocking the door.

    ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡± I asked him.

    ¡°You¡¯ll see when we get there, now let¡¯s go,¡± he answered peremptorily.

    Not having any choice in the matter I followed him up the stairs out of the prison, through the tarp covered corridor that Miranda had told us about, into the kitchen where she worked and down a hallway to a door that took us back outside, this time into the forest.

    ¡°Follow me,¡± he said and kept walking.

    Hesitantly I walked behind him, following him in the direction of a faint light deep in the woods.

    ¡°I¡¯ll wait here,¡± he stopped and said to me, leaving me to go the rest of the way on my own.

    I kept walking in the direction of the light and after a few steps I was able to make out an obscure human figure holding the light, a few more steps and I could make out that the figure was garbed in a Prospera robe, a few more steps and I saw that the person waiting for me was my mother. She lowered the lantern she was holding, rushed over to me and engulfed me in a hug.

    ¡°Oh thank goodness!¡± She said with her arms around me, pure relief in her voice.

    Unsure of what my feelings were about seeing my mother again after so long my reaction was muted. I didn¡¯t return her hug and I said nothing, waiting for my mind and body to settle down. The feeling that rose up in me more than any other was rage. I pushed her away from me. Looking at her, she wasn¡¯t the woman that I remembered. She¡¯d been changed; everything that we¡¯d learned since leaving Prospera had corrupted her in my eyes beyond redemption. There was no part of me that was relieved or glad to see her; I was angry at her for the lies that she¡¯d brought me up on, for the existence of this prison that was robbing the people incarcerated within it of their lives, people who had done nothing wrong. There was nothing she could say that would justify what she had been a party to, nonetheless I was still interested to hear what she had to say.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Whatever you do, don¡¯t lie to me; I know that everything we were told growing up was a lie,¡± I said to her coldly.

    ¡°How long have you been here?¡±

    ¡°Four days.¡±

    ¡°Oh good, I was worried that you¡¯d been here much longer.¡±

    ¡°Why are you locking people up like this? Don¡¯t you realize how wrong this is?¡±

    ¡°We had to keep them out; we couldn¡¯t let them find out about us, nothing takes precedence over the survival of the village,¡± she said sternly.

    ¡°These people aren¡¯t out to destroy Prospera, they were just curious, they¡¯re not much older than we are; you have nothing to fear from them.¡±

    ¡°We made the mistake of allowing contact with people from the outside once, we swore never to make that mistake again.¡±

    ¡°You built those houses that we found in the woods when we were twelve.¡±

    ¡°People came from the outside; we engaged with them, they said they were looking for a new start. We told them we were never going to let them into the village but that we would help them get started on the other side of the mountain. They refused to accept that, they kept pushing to be allowed into the village. One day they got violent and we had to come up with a solution.¡±

    ¡°What happened to those people?¡± I asked her, already feeling a chill run through me.

    ¡°We asked the soldiers to get rid of them for us, which they did.¡±

    I wasn¡¯t as shocked by the news that those people had been killed as I would have been had I learned about it years ago. Nothing I learned about Prospera could shock me anymore.

    ¡°Did you know that we¡¯d gone into the woods that night and discovered those houses?¡±

    ¡°We knew that Kevin was planning to go so we placed monitors on the other side of the mountain to observe his movements; I was surprised to learn that you¡¯d all gone with him.¡±

    ¡°Would you have killed him if we hadn¡¯t been there?¡±

    ¡°No, Kevin had already made all of you too suspicious of us by then; if he¡¯d disappeared it would have caused too many problems for us.¡±

    ¡°What about when he was struck on the back of his head on the boat and knocked overboard?¡±

    ¡°That was a genuine accident. Kevin is special to you, we missed our chance to disappear him when he was a child; I wanted to, your grandfather objected.¡±

    ¡°Are you listening to yourself? You talk about life and death like its nothing more than a game.¡±

    ¡°We wouldn¡¯t have killed him; we would never treat our own so inhumanely.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not humane to drop small children off in a place that¡¯s a whole different world to them. That¡¯s what you¡¯ve been doing with the problem children, isn¡¯t it? You¡¯ve been abandoning them in Huntingdale?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ve learned a lot while you¡¯ve been gone, though clearly not enough to appreciate the necessity of our ways of doing things.¡±

    ¡°What necessity?! There¡¯s a whole world of eleven billion people out there that for the most part functions just fine; Prospera isn¡¯t needed.¡±

    ¡°It is if you want peace and stability; you made it to the outside world so you know about the horrible war between America and Canada.¡±

    ¡°A war in which the Americans are using a weapon that they¡¯re getting from you!¡±

    ¡°What weapons they¡¯re using and where they got them from are immaterial; it is inevitable that people will fight wars and slaughter each other; that is why Prospera is needed.¡±

    ¡°You can¡¯t rationalize away your culpability in the deaths of the people that were killed by fragmentium strikes. I found out about the Prospera orphans by meeting one of them. His name was Morgan; he was fighting the Americans as part of a resistance group because his entire family was killed in a fragmentium strike. American soldiers captured him and executed him; one of your own, as you just said.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that, but it doesn¡¯t change my position that their deaths were inevitable, fragmentium or no fragmentium.¡±

    ¡°You know what I learned while I was away in the outside world? That Prospera is no paradise; it¡¯s cruel, it¡¯s racist, and its citizens are oppressed, living lives that are nothing but a giant lie!¡±

    ¡°Then why did you come back? If it¡¯s so terrible why did you come back?!¡± She asked me, angrily and defensively.

    ¡°I thought that I could bring change, I thought that I could use the knowledge that I had acquired in the outside world to free the citizens of Prospera, if only a little, and because after my miscarriage all I could think about was seeing you again.¡±

    ¡°You had a miscarriage? When?¡± She asked, all of the anger gone from her face and voice, replaced by concern.

    ¡°A few weeks ago, I was six months pregnant, Kevin and I would have been parents but it wasn¡¯t to be.¡±

    ¡°What happened?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d been feeling cramps for days, then one night I had cramps that were so bad I couldn¡¯t move, when I started bleeding I knew that something was wrong with the baby. Lisa took charge and handled everything; she got the foetus out of me and stopped the bleeding before Cathy and her father took me to the clinic.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry I wasn¡¯t there.¡±

    She hugged me again. This time it didn¡¯t feel like it did before, it was warm and comforting. I felt like I was once again in the company of my mother before my knowledge of the lies and heartlessness of Prospera had tainted my image of her.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to get you out of here, soon,¡± she said to me when the hug was over and we¡¯d separated.

    ¡°I¡¯m not going anywhere unless everyone else in that prison is released as well.¡±

    ¡°Hannah, please, don¡¯t make this any more complicated than it already is.¡±

    ¡°These people have done absolutely nothing wrong; one of them has been here for four years! I can¡¯t leave knowing that they are going to continue to be locked up here, it¡¯s not right.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can make that happen, the Americans might not allow it,¡± then, after a pause, she asked, ¡°Who¡¯s this girl Cathy?¡±

    ¡°She and her parents took us in and looked after us when we got to the outside world, we owe them everything.¡±

    ¡°Why is she with you?¡±

    ¡°She wanted to see Prospera; she was just curious, once she¡¯d seen it and I was back in the village they were going to go back to Huntingdale.¡±

    ¡°You shouldn¡¯t have brought her with you.¡±

    ¡°You need to do something for her, you need to get her out of here; I can¡¯t stand her being in this place when she and her parents have done so much for us.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s not much that we can do for her beyond what we¡¯re already doing.¡±

    ¡°Take her to the village with you; let her stay there until you¡¯ve resolved this.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t do that! Do you have any idea the panic that an outsider appearing in Prospera would cause?¡±

    ¡°Mom, please! The only thing that we care about is making sure nothing happens to her, please help us with that.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll talk to the others and come back in a few days with their answer; don¡¯t expect much, and take care of yourselves.¡±

    We hugged again and my mother walked off with her lantern. I was taken back to our cell where Lisa and Miranda were waiting to hear from me why I¡¯d been taken away. Miranda was shocked to hear about my mother waiting for me to be brought to her in the woods; Lisa was mostly confused. She thought that my mother was acting impulsively and irrationally and she couldn¡¯t make sense of what her strategy was.

    ¡°She wanted to see her daughter, that¡¯s all there is to it,¡± Miranda said to her.

    Lisa was like that sometimes; she¡¯d focus too much on the bigger picture and would miss what was right before her eyes. But she was right; my mother had acted irrationally, tipping the Americans off to the fact that I was a person of importance to Prospera. She was acting like a mother, not like an administrator. She was desperate to get us out of here and that gave me hope that she was prepared to take actions she wouldn¡¯t ordinarily take.

 RETURN part 13

    Cathy

    Hannah and the others hadn¡¯t told me about the meeting that she¡¯d had with her mother while I¡¯d been asleep. Our time in the prison kept dragging by with nothing to do in our cell and nothing to look forward to. They continued to keep me out of work despite the improvement that had been brought about by Dr Lighton¡¯s food deliveries. The food that he brought for me was always delicious: vegetable soup, beef stew, rich and creamy oatmeal with apple sauce; I ate everything that he brought for me and in no time I was better. The food was so good that it got my imagination racing about the place that it had come from.

    I could only talk about it softly with the others late at night after lights out. They told me that this was the time when the village would be getting ready for winter and that the apple sauce that had been brought for me was likely from the barrels of apple sauce that they were stockpiling for the winter. They went further and described for me the full scope of preparations that they would be undertaking for winter and with every detail my image of Prospera grew richer. Prospera really was a different world from a different time, which made being so close to it all the more frustrating. Knowing so much about it and having come all this way and endured all of this I had to see it, I just had to.

    I only learned of Hannah¡¯s mother¡¯s visit when Lt. Col Raymond came to our cell a few days later, this time to summon Hannah and me. Noticing that I found this strange Hannah told me that there was nothing to worry about and to just follow them. We were taken above ground and outside where a woman in a white robe astride a horse was waiting for us with the reins of two more horses in hand.

    ¡°Hannah tells me you grew up on a farm, I trust that means you know how to ride,¡± she said to me.

    ¡°Yeah, I know how to ride,¡± I responded sheepishly.

    ¡°Good, get on and follow me, both of you.¡±

    She rode off ahead of us before I had a chance to ask her who she was and what she wanted with us; I only found out from Hannah that she was her mother when we were already on our way. We were walking along the base of what I knew from the others¡¯ description was Guardian Mountain. The mountain was large and intimidating; we were walking along a narrow path between it and the boundary of the forest.

    ¡°Hannah told me that you and your parents took care of them,¡± Hannah¡¯s mother dropped back to ride along side us and said to me.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    ¡°More or less.¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t thank you enough for that; as ill prepared as they were for the outside world you may very well have saved their lives by taking them in.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not like they were charity cases, they more than earned their keep.¡±

    ¡°How so?¡±

    ¡°Kevin worked at my father¡¯s butchery when he was desperate for help and Hannah took over the running of our farm and completely revived it; we owe them more than you owe us.¡±

    ¡°What were Lisa and Miranda doing?¡±

    ¡°Lisa worked at the clinic for refugees, Miranda never really did anything, with her talent it didn¡¯t feel right to just stick her in any old job.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear that they weren¡¯t a burden; did you enjoy being a farmer, Hannah?¡±

    ¡°All of the produce went to help feed the refugees, the work was very rewarding,¡± Hannah said.

    ¡°Where are you taking us? If you don¡¯t mind my asking,¡± I asked Hannah¡¯s mother.

    ¡°I¡¯m taking you to see Prospera, I thought it¡¯s the least I could do after hearing from Hannah about all that you¡¯d done for them.¡±

    ¡°They gave you permission for this?¡± Hannah asked her.

    ¡°No, they don¡¯t know that I¡¯m doing this.¡±

    ¡°Did you talk to them like you said you would?¡±

    ¡°Yes, all of them were as distressed as I was to learn of your imprisonment here but they weren¡¯t open to the idea of allowing Cathy into the village.¡±

    ¡°What about freeing the prisoners?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re going to make a decision about that in the coming days, they¡¯re all desperate to get you out of here and they understand that you won¡¯t agree to any release that doesn¡¯t include the release of everyone else.¡±

    Hannah¡¯s mother wasn¡¯t as I¡¯d pictured her. They¡¯d described her as a cold and unfeeling functionary, the woman who was riding with us was anything but. The feeling I got looking at Hannah riding next to me was that she was seeing her mother in a way she¡¯d never seen her before. Watching Hannah¡¯s mother riding next to us wearing her white robe with her red sash draped around her shoulders, her back perfectly erect, her hair tied in an impeccable bun behind her head, I could see how they would have developed that image of her.

    ¡°This is where you crossed over, isn¡¯t it?¡± She asked Hannah when we arrived at the site of a huge rockslide, at the foot of which was a boy standing next to a horse waiting for us wearing similar clothes to what Hannah¡¯s mother was wearing.

    ¡°Philip!¡±

    ¡°Hannah!¡±

    Hannah leapt down from her horse and the two of them ran to each other and hugged.

    ¡°That¡¯s Philip, he¡¯s from the village, he¡¯s going to help you get up the mountain,¡± Hannah¡¯s mother said to me, ¡°Hannah, you stay down here with me, there are some things that we need to talk about.¡±

    ¡°You must be Cathy; come on, let¡¯s go,¡± he said to me.

    He was very handsome, with dark brown hair that he¡¯d combed neatly back. I got off my horse and went with him, eager to get a look at what for years had existed only in my imagination.

 RETURN part 14

    Hannah

    ¡°I lied earlier when I said that we were yet to make a decision on the prisoners, the truth is that we have. The Americans have agreed to leave, release the prisoners and close the mine. In exchange they¡¯re going to stop masking us from satellite surveillance, stop guarding the forest against intruders and we¡¯re going to give them back half of the money that they¡¯ve paid us for the fragmentium.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯ve been paying you?¡±

    ¡°We know how much the fragmentium is worth; the services that they¡¯ve been providing us aren¡¯t nearly enough compensation for it.¡±

    ¡°What do you even need the money for?¡±

    ¡°There are things we need that we can¡¯t produce ourselves, medicines mostly, we buy them in the outside world and bring them back into the village.¡±

    ¡°How much money are you giving back to the Americans?¡±

    ¡°About $200 million.¡±

    ¡°That much?!¡±

    ¡°I told you, the fragmentium is worth a lot.¡±

    ¡°Is anything we were told growing up true?¡±

    ¡°You saw war and the effects of it with your own eyes; you¡¯ll never see that here. Everything that we do is to ensure that what you experienced is never experienced by anyone here.¡±

    ¡°I knew that¡¯s what you¡¯d say.¡±

    ¡°What are you going to do when you¡¯re freed? Are you going to come back like you¡¯d planned or has everything that you¡¯ve learned about our relationship with the Americans soured your opinion of us?¡±

    ¡°I haven¡¯t decided yet.¡±

    ¡°We all want you back, you have no idea how worried Miranda¡¯s parents have been about her.¡±

    ¡°Have you told them about us yet?¡±

    ¡°Not yet; I¡¯ll tell them when this has all been brought to an end.¡±

    ¡°How long before we¡¯re freed?¡±

    ¡°No more than a couple of weeks, the Americans need time to get all of their stuff out of here. You all need to take care of yourselves until then.¡±

    ¡°I want you to give some money to the prisoners here, as an act of penance.¡±

    ¡°The Americans are going to take care of that for us. I¡¯ve known for a long time that what we were doing here was wrong but I¡¯ve always assuaged my conscience by telling myself that we had to do it for the village. When I heard from Dr Lighton that you were locked up here I felt what all of their families must have been feeling all of these years. They¡¯ll be taken care of; I¡¯ve made sure of that.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    My mother¡¯s decision to do this, which she¡¯d made on her own, did a lot to redeem her in my eyes. She¡¯d shown me a side of herself during this period that I¡¯d never seen before, that I didn¡¯t know she had. I knew the kind of risks that she was taking by doing things like allowing Cathy to see Prospera and pushing for a deal to get us freed. The steps that were being taken to get us out of prison were going to expose Prospera to the outside world in a way it hadn¡¯t been for years; Cathy, an outsider, was going to have knowledge of Prospera; Philip would be returning to Prospera having met an outsider, all for something as simple as a mother wanting to help her child and the children that she¡¯d watched grow up. I wanted to spend time with my mother and get to know this other, compassionate side of her better, but she was right, our time as prisoners and all of the revelations about Prospera¡¯s dirty deals with the US military had done considerable damage to my opinion of the village and its governing authorities, of which my mother was a high ranking member.

    ¡°Is it okay, Philip meeting Cathy?¡± I asked her.

    ¡°You know Philip, he¡¯s a puppy; if I tell him not to say anything he won¡¯t say anything.¡±

    Cathy and Philip came down from the mountain and my mother and I stopped talking. The time had come for us to go back. The ride back was silent; we had much to think about. Lt. Col Raymond was waiting for us at the base to escort us back to our cell. My mother hugged both me and Cathy before we were separated and said to Cathy in her most peremptory tone that she wasn¡¯t to say a word of any of this to anybody, to which a mildly frightened Cathy responded that she understood.

    Our responsibilities in the mine changed the very next day. The men were taken down to the mine to work and the women weren¡¯t, not even Miranda and the others who worked in the kitchen were called upon, which Cathy and I knew was because above ground they were packing up. The food that we were brought to eat by the soldiers was from Prospera, we knew that in the cell and I suspected that Kevin had figured it out as well. Different sounds resonated from the mine than we were used to. There was no more pneumatic pounding and no more chipping; what we heard were explosions. They were few and relatively far between and every one of them startled me near to death; the thought that Kevin could be the victim of an accident worried me to no end. I waited all day to see him walk by our cell and breathed a huge sigh of relief when he did.

    We spent our time in our cell thinking. After telling Lisa and Miranda while Cathy was sleeping about everything that my mother had told me about the terms of our release they had their own thoughts and questions to ruminate on. Our experiences as children of Prospera were the foundations of much of who we were and with every discovery of every lie those foundations eroded further, forcing us to rethink everything we thought we knew. That meant more for me than it did for Lisa and Miranda; I was the one who was being raised to have the responsibility of being a member of the Ethics Committee. I wondered if the sense of right and wrong that had compelled me to seek the release of the other prisoners would have been compromised enough had I stayed in the village for me to ignore their plight the way my mother and the others had been doing for years. Understanding that it was more likely than not I was glad I had left and had learned enough about the people of the outside world not to think of them as inferior beings whose freedom and lives were worth less than Prospera¡¯s secrecy. By getting captured and imprisoned before making it to Prospera I had learned more about it than I would have had I made it back to the village, enough for me to decide that I wasn¡¯t going to return to Prospera. I didn¡¯t want to find myself in the position that my mother had been in for years of having to make decisions that changed the course of people¡¯s entire lives. In the outside world there were no such decisions to be made. People were free to go wherever they wanted and do whatever they wanted. My mother and the other governing authorities had their reasons for doing what they did and on the surface at least Prospera appeared to function better than the outside world. The price that the peace and stability of the village came at, I learned during our time in the prison, was much steeper than I¡¯d previously thought, and was, I decided, too steep. When I thought about Prospera and Huntingdale it was the latter that felt like home; the thought of Frank and Kristin welcoming us back filled me with warmth and it was that thought that occupied my mind whenever I wasn¡¯t worrying about Kevin being down in the mine where explosions were going off.

 RETURN part 15

    Hannah (continued)

    The other prisoners were released before we were. Their cells were opened one by one and they were told to head up the stairs. When the male prisoners were released and walked by our cell Kevin wasn¡¯t among them; I knew then that the time of our release had come. They came for us about half an hour after the other prisoners had been released. We were reunited with Kevin in the corridor outside our cells. Having not spoken with him since we¡¯d been captured and having feared that something would happen to him when they were detonating explosives in the mine I threw my arms around him and didn¡¯t want to let go. We were left to embrace each other for as long as we wanted, with everything here now at an end there was no need for them to rush anything.

    ¡°Are you okay?¡± I asked him when we let go of each other.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine; are you all okay?¡± He asked, looking from me to the others.

    We all nodded and looked at each other with faces that reflected how much we had been changed by our time here.

    ¡°There are some people waiting for you on top, they¡¯re all desperate to see you,¡± Lt. Col Raymond, who had opened our cells, said to us.

    We followed him up the stairs that led out of the mine. We got to the top of the stairs and walked out of the cave entrance and straight into the forest. The tarp covered tunnel that led to the Americans¡¯ base was gone, as was the base.

    ¡°Keep walking that way and you¡¯ll find them, when you¡¯re done come back this way, I¡¯ll be waiting for you,¡± he said to us.

    We walked over a blind hill to the site where the base was located and there, in the clearing, were our parents. They ran to us and the others ran to them. My mother didn¡¯t run to me, she and I had already had that moment. She and my father remained where they were to the rear of the others and waited for me to come to them.

    ¡°I¡¯ve missed you,¡± my father said, hugging me.

    ¡°I¡¯ve missed you too dad.¡±

    ¡°Are you alright? Your mother told me everything.¡±  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, there¡¯s no reason for you to worry about anything.¡±

    ¡°The other prisoners are on their way back home, Lt. Col Raymond stayed behind to drive Cathy back home; what we need to know is are you going back with her?¡± My mother asked me.

    ¡°I can¡¯t come back, not after all this.¡±

    ¡°What about the others?¡± My father asked.

    ¡°They feel the same; we¡¯re all going back together.¡±

    ¡°Is it really better out there than it is in Prospera?¡± He asked me.

    ¡°To us it is. It wouldn¡¯t be to you, you¡¯ve only known Prospera for too long.¡±

    ¡°If ever you decide to come back again you¡¯ll always be able to, but bear in mind that depending on the circumstances it may have to be for good,¡± my mother said.

    ¡°I understand. I¡¯d have to lie about what I¡¯d experienced, tell everybody that what I discovered was a world of destruction and chaos, which, of course, I would never want to return to.¡±

    ¡°You would have made a great administrator, that¡¯s exactly how the situation would have to be handled.¡±

    ¡°Thanks for doing this; I know it cost more than what you were willing to give up.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what we¡¯re going to do if people from the outside world come here.¡±

    ¡°Meet them; you met Cathy and nothing bad happened to you, all you need is to have a little faith.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s not so easy for us, just look.¡±

    I turned around and saw Cathy standing alone with all of the other parents looking at her like she was some sort of odd specimen. Kevin, Lisa and Miranda saw the way their parents were looking at her and stood next to them unsure of what to do.

    ¡°Everyone, this is Cathy,¡± I said, walking toward her, ¡°she and her family took care of us, she¡¯s like a sister to us, there¡¯s nothing about her that you need to be wary of.¡±

    I was standing next to Cathy with my arm around her looking at them, and in their faces I saw the unbridgeable divide between Prospera and the outside world that my mother was afraid of. Kevin, Lisa and Miranda walked away from their parents and stood with us. Wearing those looks on their faces and Prospera¡¯s bizarre patterned robes they looked as alien to us as Cathy did to them. Only in blood were our parents still our family. Realizing this we cut our reunion short and said our goodbyes. We hugged our parents and walked away to where Lt. Col Raymond said he¡¯d be waiting for us.

    None of us felt melancholy about leaving our families behind again. We were leaving behind people and a way of life that had become foreign and strange to us during our time in the outside world with Cathy and her family.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry you didn¡¯t get to see Prospera,¡± Kevin said to Cathy while we were walking.

    ¡°I did get to see it; Hannah¡¯s mother took the two of us out of prison for a couple of hours so that I could see it. It was more than I was expecting, it looked like paradise.¡±

    ¡°Take it from me, Prospera is no paradise,¡± I said to Cathy.

    Driving out of Eternal Forest with Lt. Col Raymond in his huge Humvee, we were looking forward, to the futures that we had chosen for ourselves.

 RETURN part 16

    Diane

    I was glad that Hannah had chosen to return to the outside world. The truth about Prospera, of which she had only scratched the surface, was a lifelong burden the bearer of which struggled with every day. I didn¡¯t want that for Hannah. Even if it meant never seeing her again I wanted her to leave, I wanted her to return to the outside world where she could be with Kevin and do whatever it was she wanted to do with her life. I didn¡¯t want her to spend her life telling women that their babies were going to be aborted or that their children were too poorly behaved to remain a part of the village and were going to be taken away.

    In the outside world she had experienced real freedom which had brought about an irreversible transformation of her opinion of Prospera. In the two brief conversations that I¡¯d had with her during her imprisonment I¡¯d been stunned by the change that she¡¯d undergone in the short time that she¡¯d been away. She was stronger and more confident, more mature, and had developed a true sense of right and wrong that wasn¡¯t compatible with the moral relativism of Prospera. The reality was that she couldn¡¯t return to Prospera; she had changed too much, she had learned too much.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    The moment when I said good-bye to her and watched her leave was the closest I¡¯d ever felt to her. I was able to let her go confident in the knowledge that she had grown into a capable young woman who had no problem taking care of herself and who was in the company of friends who would always be there for her. As a mother I couldn¡¯t have been more proud than I was to see my daughter choose to follow her own path. Better she go her own way than return to Prospera and learn that there was a second fragmentium mine elsewhere in Guardian Mountain where the US base that she had seen had been moved to, or that Kevin being struck on the back of his head by an oar and thrown overboard was no accident, that I had ordered his elimination because I was concerned that he was becoming too infectious.

    The image that my daughter had of me as a compassionate mother who was willing to risk everything for the sake of her daughter was how I wanted her to remember me, not as someone who believed wholeheartedly in Prospera and was fully committed to doing whatever it took to preserve its existence and safety.