Grandfather (2 page)

Disgusting.

“
How ya gonna do
that?”

Yeah, he had a point. I
couldn’t get away.

“
Ya don’t even know what’s
going on. Nobody does.”

I searched once more for
an escape. There was nothing. He would catch me within seconds if I
tried to run. He had me blocked. I even looked for something I
could use to hit him with, maybe knock out another tooth. There was
nothing. Just my luck.

“Somethin’s about to go
down,” he said. “Nobody is safe, especially you.”

“Why are you acting like
you know me?” I finally yelled at him. “Somebody! Hel –”

Before I could finish
calling for help, he pressed his dirty, cut-up hands against my
mouth. I wanted to gag as dirt rubbed against my lips. “Grandfather
controls much more than ya know,” he whispered with his nose nearly
touching mine.

I held my breath to keep
from smelling his. It didn’t work.

“
They been planning their
next big move for years. Tonight’s the night.”

I tried yelling at him
again.

Stupid move.

Dirt squeezed between my
lips and into my mouth as he forced more pressure against
it.

“We don’t know what
they’re planning, but it’s sure as hell gonna change everything.
You’re in trouble, Carsyn.”

I didn’t care about what
he was saying. I needed to get away. I did the only thing I could
think of. Through difficulty, I forced my mouth open and bit his
hand. I could taste the dirt and salty sweat. It was absolutely
disgusting, but hey, it worked.

He grasped his hand and
screamed in pain. I didn’t hesitate. I sprinted out of that alley,
not even daring to look back.

“You’ll see tonight,” he
screamed. “We’ll find ya!”

I didn’t stop until I
reached the orphanage. It was the first time I was happy to see
that place again. Breathing heavily, I burst through the doors only
to get suspicious looks from the women who called themselves
housemoms. Maybe I didn’t have a mom while growing up, but I knew
the women at the orphanage didn’t act the way moms were supposed
to. I usually just called them houseladies.

“What’s up with you?” one
of them said in her usual hoarse voice. “Sneak out
again?”

They wouldn’t care about
my story. But on the off chance they did, they may have kept an eye
on me, making sure I couldn’t sneak out again. I really doubt it.
Still, it wasn’t worth the risk. I liked getting away.

As always, I ignored the
houseladies and passed them without making eye contact. I went
straight to the room where all the guys slept …
5
^th
row, 3
^rd
bed.

I ignored three boys
ganging up on a smaller one in the back corner and lied down to
catch my breath. It was cold, so I tried covering my entire body up
with the thin blanket. Of course it didn’t work; I had outgrown
that a few years back.

That night, I sat in the
dining room, away from the other annoying bullies. For some reason,
they thought they had it made. I always wondered if they actually
knew the truth. They were close to being homeless. I was closer
than most of them. Ten months and twenty three days. That’s how
long it was until my 17
^th
birthday. This was the day
they forced orphans out in order to make room for others. I tried
to not think about it much. I’d worry about that when the time
came.

I stayed to myself, about
to go over my math homework. I couldn’t believe they actually tried
to teach us. First of all, the houseladies had no idea what they
were talking about in any subject. Anytime we asked a question,
they would spend several minutes looking up the answer in the old
books we used, only to respond with an ‘I don’t know’ in the end.
Second of all, well, we would never use any of it in our lives.
Maybe they used it inside the wall. But not outside.

I did the homework
anyways, just so I had something to do. It was hard with other boys
screaming and the houseladies yelling at them to shut up to no
avail. But I managed to get through some of the problems. And the
good thing was that the problems took my mind off the lunatic from
earlier that day. Just as I thought I was going to be able to
forget about him altogether, I heard the houseladies in the other
room. “Oh my God!” one of them cried. “I can’t believe it,” another
said.

I usually didn’t care what
happened in the orphanage. But once again, as earlier in the day,
curiosity got the best of me. I had to know what was going on
because they actually sounded concerned. They were never concerned.
I walked into the next room to see several people, including some
of the boys, staring at an old radio. I moved to hear
better.

“Just hours ago,” the
woman reporter was saying in a sobering voice. “The president was .
. .” she paused. I could hear her swallow. “The president was shot
and killed.” There was a long pause of silence before the reporter
continued. “As of now, all we know is that they are still searching
for the killer and . . .”

Everything seemed to stop.
The creepy lunatic from the alleyway was the first thing to cross
my mind. He warned me that something big was going to happen that
night. Was it just a coincident? Something told me it wasn’t. He
somehow knew my name. I had been telling myself that he had just
been stalking me … that he was crazy. But there was more to it.
There had to be. Or maybe
I
was crazy.

I knew one thing for sure.
If it wasn’t a coincident, then maybe he was right about the other
stuff.

Grandfather
.

Were we all in
trouble?
Especially you
, the lunatic had said. There was something that I was sure
of. He was probably going to find me again, just as he had said.
And I wasn’t looking forward to it.

The next day, everything
seemed to move slower than usual. The news of the assassination had
struck everyone, even though nobody around there had really cared
too much for the president to begin with. I think people were just
shocked. The killer hadn’t been found, so everybody had the same
question. Who did it and why?

I was constantly glancing
around, just looking for that hideous face. Sure, I could’ve stayed
in the orphanage so that I didn’t risk seeing him again. But I
didn’t want to stay there. I preferred taking the risk. And a part
of me wanted to see him again. I wanted to know what he was talking
about. No, I
needed
to know.

I was shocked when I went
hours without seeing him. Soon, I quit expecting him and thought
about what he said. Grandfather. I kind of wanted to know more. I
thought of the protestor.

Later in the day, I found
myself standing in the back of a crowd surrounding a familiar
platform. The crowd had tripled since the previous day. I looked to
see if the same woman from the previous day was there. She
wasn’t.

“This is their doing!” the
same protestor screamed. “The president has been taken away from us
in order for Grandfather to rise.”

“Do you think this was an
inside job?” someone asked.

“Inside job?” the
protestor asked, snickering. “Probably. Who do you think will take
the spot as president?” He asked. Nobody answered, so he asked
again, louder.

“Ferr Cornelius,” an older
woman yelled out.

“Exactly!” the protestor
screamed. “Vice President Cornelius will assume the powerful
position as president.” He glanced around at different people in
the crowd. More people joined. “He knew he’d be the one to take the
job if something ever happened to the president. He is involved
with Grandfather! He’s involved in the assassination so that he can
be in control.” Whispering rippled through the crowd. “So that
Grandfather can be in control! He may even be the leader, and I
–”

“You are under arrest!” a
deep voice shouted from behind. I spun around to see six armed
officers in their usual black uniforms. “Move out of the way,” the
same officer growled as he pushed his way through the crowd. The
other officers followed him.

“And on what charges?” the
protestor asked. “For spreading my opinion?”

“For treason,” the officer
calmly said once he reached the platform. Everybody stood in
silence while the officers kept their weapons pointed at the
protestor.

“Treason?!” he
shouted.

“You have spoken against
our vice president, a friend of the president’s!”

“So now Grandfather is
arresting those who speak against them?”

“We can make this as easy
as possible,” the officer said through his teeth. “Get off the
platform, and come with us.”

The protestor didn’t
budge. “This is the work of Grandfather!” he screamed. This is the
work of Cornelius.”

“Quiet!” the officer
ordered.

“And you’re probably with
them too! Why else would you be arresting me?”

“Arrest him,” the officer
in authority said to two others. They stepped up to the platform. I
was actually surprised that the protestor didn’t resist. But he did
keep protesting. I didn’t know anything about what the protestor
was saying, but he believed strongly in it.

“They’re using the
tracking law to keep us where we can be controlled!” He was led off
of the platform. “There’s more to come, everybody. There’s more
coming!”

“Go back to your homes,”
the officer ordered the crowd. “This nonsense is over.” The crowd
didn’t hesitate due to fear. They didn’t even whisper to each other
or look the officers in the eye. The protestor was just about to
scream something else out when one of the officers banged him in
the head with his gun, knocking him out.

“Still think I’m crazy?” a
familiar voice asked from behind me. I didn’t need to turn around.
I knew exactly who it was.

“Who are you?” I asked
firmly, watching the people scatter from the platform.

He moved beside me. “Just
come with me.”

“Sure, whatever you say.
Since you don’t look creepy at all, I’ll go wherever you want me to
go.”

He definitely sensed the
sarcasm, and he wasn’t amused.

“
Why should I go with you?”
I asked. “I have no idea who you are. And no offense, but look at
you.”

He snickered. “Like I
said. You’re in danger.”

“And why should I believe
you?” Man, I don’t think I had ever been so curious.

He grabbed my shoulder
hard and jerked me around to where I was facing him. “I knew your
name, and I knew Grandfather was making a huge move last night. You
know about the assassination. You saw the police take away that
protestor. Do you really want to question me right now?”

I looked him in the eyes.
His breath still smelled bad.

“Well,” I started, but was
unable to finish.

“
Do you think it’s worth
the risk?” he asked.

I honestly didn’t know
what to say or do. He had been right so far, and he somehow knew my
name.

“Why am I in more danger
than anybody else?” I asked. “Nobody knows me. I know nobody. I
have no family or anything . . .”

“Come with me, and you
will find out.” His eyes narrowed while he waited for an answer. He
looked as if he would kill me if I were to decline.

“Tell me your name
first.”

The man hit his forehead
with a hand, shaking his head. “Edgar. Ya happy now?”

Perhaps it was curiosity
again. I really wanted to know how this guy knew my name. Perhaps
it was fear because, like I said, he looked as if he would kill me
if I didn’t do as he said. Or perhaps it was a reason to get away
from the orphanage: an adventure. Either way, I ended up going with
him, which was by far the dumbest risk I had ever taken. I mean, I
didn’t know the man. He could’ve been a killer, luring me far away
from the people. I’d find out soon enough.

Chapter Two

H
e led me away from the buildings until we reached a road
leading to the wall’s entrance. I had never been that far away from
the orphanage because there was no point. Nothing was there. The
forest stretched for miles to my left. I hadn’t even been in there.
Nobody ever walked into the forest. I guess that could’ve been a
good place to go when I wanted to get away from everybody. But for
some reason, I never did.

Edgar stopped beside the
road, waiting, not saying a word. Yup, I was right. He was about to
kill me. Or so I thought. We waited until a white vehicle
approached us, headed toward the wall. It was very shiny and
rounded. The very few vehicles I had seen were so loud and shook
around as if they were about to just fall apart any second. This
white vehicle didn’t make a single noise. It came to a stop next to
us.

“
What are we doing?” I
asked.

“
Our ride,” was all he
said.