Imaginations Page 9

  Doctor Victor kissed him on the lips. I blushed, looking away. She smiled at him. “Shall we then?”

  He nodded. “Of course.” They were together. They must have been one of the pairs at some point. The Adam and Eve of their time. But what time was that? All of the planners seemed no older than my parents.

  Stan offered me his hand. I gave him the one not holding the sharp thing. Doctor Victor took Lyle and led him to the right, down a long white arched hallway. Stan pointed in the opposite direction. “We go this way, Gwyn.”

  I looked at him and nodded. He walked next to me, like a friend would. “So are you excited?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. I think I am.”

  He laughed. “Yes, I remember it well. Lisa was excited beyond belief that we had been chosen. I was more like you I think, apprehensive to leave everything and everyone behind.”

  “Yes, and I don’t know what is expected of me.”

  He stopped at a door, pressing his finger up to a small round dot screen on the wall. “That will all be explained.” The black dot turned bright red and the door slid open. I felt sick. My parents had been so excited for me to go to the city to meet my new co-workers and become an adult. My mother made sure to tell me a thousand things—each one was playing back in my mind as I stepped into the room filled with glass. Glass chairs, tables, and screens that were see-through but held words on them as if they were suspended in the air. Everything was sparkly and new. The whole building was more than anything I’d remembered seeing, but this room was like entering a whole new world.

  My skin shivered so much, it felt like it lifted from my body.

  He pointed to the glass bed in the corner. “If you want to just lie back there, I will get started.”

  I wanted to turn and run but I didn’t know what would happen if I did. Would I too be forced out of the wall?

  I swallowed my fears and questions and lay on the hard glass bed. I couldn’t relax; it was too hard and cold.

  “This is a standard test to see if you have the capability to not tell the truth, and to determine if you have ever been compromised. It sounds far worse than it is, and we know you’ll pass. You would never have made it this far into the building if we had doubts.”

  I nodded. “Okay.”

  “The first set of questions is to set the baseline. This shows me how your heart sounds when you tell a lie.”

  I frowned. “A lie?”

  “An untruth. It is something people do when they are scared, or cornered, or protecting someone.”

  My stomach sank. I clutched the needle to my skin, waiting for the moment.

  The glass bed lit bright red.

  “Your heart rate is very high. Can you relax for me? Take very slow deep breaths and clear your mind.”

  I did as he said, closing my eyes. When I opened them, the bed was pale pink and making a slight flash at a steady rate.

  “Perfect. That is your resting heart rate. Now I am going to ask you simple questions. Okay?”

  I glanced at him. His charming smile made me feel better. I nodded and closed my eyes again.

  “Is your name Gwyndolyn Caddie? Answer yes or no.”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you like the idea of being a planner?”

  I furrowed my brow. “Not sure yet?”

  “Is your best friend a girl named Amber?”

  “Yes.”

  “Will you miss her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Excellent. Now I want you to lie to me. Tell me an untruth for every answer.”

  I opened one eye and frowned at him. “Purposefully?”

  He nodded.

  I closed my eyes and started to relax again with the deep breaths.

  “Do you love your parents?”

  My insides stirred slightly. “No.”

  “Do you enjoy killing animals?”

  I made a face. “Yes.”

  “Is your name Gwyndolyn Caddie?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, excellent. Now we will begin the regular testing.” I squeezed my hand tightly, shoving the small sharp object into my palm, fighting the noises I wanted to make.

  I opened my eyes; the bed was bright red. He frowned. “Are you alright?”

  I nodded. “Sorry, it just feels weird telling untruths. I don’t like it.”

  He smiled. “You are very receptive to the testing.”

  I closed my eyes and took deep breaths.

  “Okay, this series of questions are entirely yes and no based. You can’t use not sure or maybe, just yes or no. Answer the way you feel or want to feel, no matter what.”

  I nodded. “Okay.”

  I felt incredibly calm. It was instant.

  “Have you ever met someone and just known them even though it was an impossibility?”

  “No.” My body was trying to tighten up, but it couldn’t.

  “Is there anyone you believe doesn’t have the city’s best interest at heart?”

  “No.”

  “Do you believe in a new day and philosophy of the city?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you remember anything from beyond today that you shouldn’t?”

  “No.”

  “Have you ever been beyond the wall?”

  “No.”

  “Is your brother a good man?”

  “Yes.” Why were they asking that?

  “Are your parents good people?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you love Lyle?”

  My heart wanted to stop; it knew what it wanted in life. I wanted to say no but I knew I should say yes. “Yes.”

  “You paused on that one. Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you want to be a planner?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is Lyle a good man?”

  “Yes.”

  “Does he believe in the city, and that the best is only possible with a new day?”

  “Yes.”

  “Have you ever seen anyone leaving the city through the wall?”

  “No.” I didn’t understand why they would ask that question. It was a weird thing to ask, since we didn’t even know the wall opened.

  “Would you tell if you ever saw someone doing something not in the best interest of a new day?”

  “Yes.”

  “Excellent. Your results are exactly as I expected them to be.” He stood. I opened my eyes to see the soft pink color. My mind was frozen in fear, but my body appeared to be relaxed and fine.

  I glanced at him. “Why ask about the wall? Do people leave?”

  He laughed, shaking his head. “No. But there are always rumors and we like to check and make certain that if you saw someone leaving you would report them.”

  I nodded. “The monsters would surely eat them.”

  “Most definitely.” He smiled and placed something on my finger. “This is so that we can sedate you and cancel the reset. My voice will get fuzzy in about five, four, threeeeeeeeeee . . .”

  The Pairing

  The brightness of the light outside of my closed eyes made it hard to open them. I squinted as I looked around the vivid room. I was somewhere I had never been before.

  It was a house maybe, but nicer. I was lying on a bed with white covers. I rolled over to see Lyle smiling at me. My instinct to move back lasted but a second. Instead, something happened that I wasn’t certain I had control over. I leaned into him. “Hi.” I pressed my lips against his. He grinned at me. “They got you good, didn’t they?”

  I frowned. “What?”

  He leaned in whispering, “You have been made to love me. We have been paired and made to feel euphoric things about each other.”

  I pulled back, giving him a look. He winked and pulled me back into him. “Remember the doctors?” He was whispering, so I did too. “Yes.” I nodded and looked down at my hand where I had inserted the sharp thing. “What was that thing?”

  “Beta blocker. It was a fast-acting one. It instantly calms and
relaxes you.”

  My hand had a small red sore where it had gone in. “Is it in there still?”

  He kissed the side of my face. “No. It’s dissolved. The needle was made of sugar, untraceable.”

  He sighed, kissing my cheek again. I pushed into the kiss. “I want to know everything. Why we lied, why we’re here, and why the heck we are paired, even though I never wanted it.”

  He pulled my body against his even more, rubbing his hands up my back. “They tested us for it. You just don’t remember. Everything else I will answer when we are not in here.”

  “Are they watching us now?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. I imagine they are, so we need to be a happy couple who are falling in love and excited about their future, and the fact they remember things for the first time ever.”

  My brow furrowed as his lips crept up my throat to my cheek. He kissed next to my lips, whispering, “May I kiss you, Gwyn?”

  I shook my head. “Not yet.”

  “Okay.” He wrapped himself around me.

  I lay against his shoulder and chest, “Did we miss commencement?”

  He chuckled. “No. It’s tonight. You still going to be my date?”

  I looked up at him. “Yes.” He made me happy in a bizarre way. I could feel the force of it inside of me. It was greater than any other feeling I had.

  I looked around. “Where are we?”

  He made a funny noise, like a laugh. “Our new home.”

  I pulled back. “Together?”

  He nodded. “Yes. Does that make you happy?”

  I smiled. “It does. I guess I didn’t want to live alone.”

  Lyle kissed my forehead. “We need to go back to the lab. Before she sedated me, Lisa told me we were to go there once we were awake and comfortable.” He sat up, lifting me with him and swung his long legs off the bed. He offered me his hand. I took it. It made me happy to be with him, even if I could feel it was unnatural.

  Being up, I was able to see the house for what it was. Everything was shiny and new. It wasn’t lived in like my house and there was no color. The fabric and surfaces were all chrome and white. It felt like winter but indoors. I didn’t like it. I missed the purple of my bedspread, and the beige of my carpet, and the funny pattern on my sofa. I missed my house. I missed walking into the kitchen and seeing my mother making things I knew I didn’t want to eat. My stomach hurt, but not as much as my heart. Lyle pulled me through the house. “It’s a bit plain.”

  I smiled. “Very plain.”

  He nodded. “We can make it fancier, if you like.”

  I shook my head. “I want it to be comfier, not fancier.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders as if it had always been there, holding me to him, and kissed the side of my head. “We can make it whatever way you like.”

  We left and found our way back to the lab, thanks to running into Frank. He had been on his way to get us. We had been pretending to get lost, but I assumed Lyle knew the way. There was more to him than met the eye.

  Frank opened the door to the lab. “You both must be excited about this. The start of it all.”

  We smiled and nodded, trying not to show a single thing to them.

  Lisabeth brought me to my desk. “You will spend the next few weeks just learning and catching up on the system. It actually was created to lead you through the process of learning as you’re working. Very efficient.”

  She passed me a pair of white rubbery disks. “Fold these over your ears and you’ll be able to hear the system as it leads you through. Just make sure you leave them at the work desk. Everyone’s are set for their own ears.” She winked. “We measured while you were sedated.”

  I didn’t like that. What else had they done while I was sedated?

  I spent the rest of the afternoon going over everything. It was more than I could handle for one afternoon. There was a map of the city with the street names and building numbers. Then there were maps for each individual area. The factories were each named for their products. I saw everything differently. Each house in my neighborhood had a number. When I clicked on it I could see the names of the people who lived there and their classifications and designations. I clicked on my home, where only my parents were listed. I clicked on Amber’s house where she was listed with her parents still, but her name was red, instead of blue. Nervously, I clicked on Brooke’s house. Her parents’ names were there, along with her younger brother. Her name was gone completely, like she had never existed.

  The computer talked to me in a soothing female voice and played nearly silent soft music in the background. We knew about the effects instrumental music had on human brains. It was very influential in opening the brain and allowing more function. My brain, however, wasn’t responding to the music. It was filling up, stressing about everything I would remember, and fearing what I wouldn’t. I was certain I wouldn’t retain anywhere near what I needed to.

  My computer led me through the neighborhoods and areas, explaining the usefulness of each area and its purpose. Then it showed me a huge field, outside of the wall with windmills. Hundreds of windmills. This was our power supply. I couldn’t help but wonder why nothing attacked them. I could see everything; all information input from the factories, the fields, the orchards, and the politicians was filtered into our computers. We truly were the working brain of the city. No wonder Lyle had wanted in here. It would be the place to go to destroy everything. It also was no wonder they had asked all of those questions of us.

  I didn’t relax until I felt the warmth of his hand on my back. I closed my eyes and pulled the rubber speakers off of my ears. I almost sighed into his hand and the heat that was there. I was starting to get scared. He was the only warmth in my new life. Everything else was stark, cold, and fake. But I knew his warmth wasn’t false. He had offered it to me long before they forced it on me, and I couldn’t remember why I hadn’t really wanted it.

  “You ready to catch the tram home and get ready for commencement?”

  I nodded. “I am.”

  Lisabeth walked over. I knew her footsteps now. They clicked efficiently on the shiny floor. “Are you feeling overwhelmed, my dear?”

  I glanced at her and smiled weakly. “I am. It’s so much and I feel pressure to retain the information.”

  She laughed. “Practice makes perfect. Have you ever heard that old adage?”

  I shook my head. “No.”

  “It’s true. You will perfect everything over time. Trust me. We all have stood at the spot where you are now standing.”

  I placed the rubber earflaps on the shelf desk and smiled. “Thank you.” It made me feel better, and I liked practice makes perfect.

  Lyle took my hand. “Will you be joining us at commencement?”

  Lisabeth made a sad face. “No. Sadly we won’t. We would surely steal the thunder from you amazing young people and that would be tragic.” Frank walked up, placing an arm around Lisabeth’s shoulders, squeezing her arm familiarly. He was hers and she was his. They came together. He gave us a soft smile. “You both are exactly what we were hoping you would be.” I liked his beard. I decided that. It made me want to trust him, for whatever reason. I hated that I couldn’t trust him, or Lisabeth, or Stan, or Lisa, or any of the others.

  Frank looked at Lisabeth and nodded. “You both did wonderful today.”

  I fought the frown on my face. What wonders had I performed? What greatness was there in me? Was he flattering me to make me like him better? Lyle squeezed my hand. “Thank you, from both of us. We are grateful for this.”

  Frank’s face warmed beyond what I’d seen. “We are the grateful ones. Now off you go and enjoy your evening. Don’t forget to come back here though, when the night is over. This is your home now. Your thumbs will open the doors.”

  I recalled the way Stan had done it and nodded. “Goodnight, and thank you.”

  Lisabeth snuggled into Frank and smiled sweetly as Lyle gripped my hand tighter, pulling me to the doorway. We walked, holding
hands and smiling at each other.

  He kissed the side of my head. “This is so much worse than I imagined.”

  A shiver crept up my spine as I nodded. “I still have no idea what’s going on.”

  “I do,” he whispered and kissed again.

  He hurried us to the tram, pulling me behind him. “My legs are shorter than yours. Can you slow down?”

  He looked back. “Nope.” He pulled harder. We were fully jogging for the tram when we entered the station. He dragged me to our tram platform. I jerked my hand free and tried to catch my breath.

  He looked terrified for a second, but it was just a flash and then he was smiling. “I didn’t want to miss the tram. I can’t wait to see you in your dress.”

  We stepped onto the tram, and he pulled me into the seat next to him.

  “We are in over our heads. Their sedation and forced relationships don’t work on me. None of it does. I was awake for all of it. I have something else to tell you, too.”

  I glanced at him. “I know about your memories.”

  His blue eyes hardened. “You lied to me about sleeping?”

  I nodded. He grinned but it was bitter, “Then I guess you remember how you spent your evening?”

  I twitched. “I do.”

  He looked hurt but moved past it, “Gwyn, I have dragged you into something so much worse than I expected. I assumed it was just about control. I thought I could blow a hole in the wall and end it all, but this is sick and twisted. In a way, I don’t know if freeing the people inside of the wall is the best choice. I never knew what we were really doing. My father has withheld information from me, I think. I did all of this to you, and I will never ever be able to make it up to you. I can’t undo it. I am so sorry.”

  I frowned. “What?”

  He licked his lips. “I can’t tell you. I need your reactions to be genuine when they tell you. I think it’s expected that we will react badly, like a test. But can you just try to hang tight with it until I find a solution for us?”

  “You’re scaring me, Lyle.”

  He nodded. “I’m scared too.”

  I whispered, “I saw them push Brooke through the wall. She’s seventeen. What could she have done to deserve that?”