A World Apart (17 page)

“Alex do you know her?” said Edward as he stared inquisitively at her.

“N-no…I” answered Alexandra who stared back with a vacant expression.

“It’s your sister, how come you cannot remember her” said Edward instantly before she could even attempt to answer. Alexandra looked at her and she appeared to be thinking heavily.

“Alex, we have to go…say goodbye” spoke Jessica looking down at her. They were in a home that warmed Alexandra and made her feel safe. A blurred image came into view which she struggled to make out.

“Don’t go…don’t go.” echoed the voice getting further away but a feint noise could still be heard, accompanied by gun fire and screams that made Alexandra’s spine tingle and her feeling of security burst like a balloon heading to the sun”.

“Alex, are you ok?” said an adolescent voice, her face came into view, scaring Alexandra. She rose quickly only to knock heads with Edward who fell backwards in a feinting manner. Alexandra was sat up, clearly unaware she had just hurt Edward and looked staggeringly towards the rest of the group who were holding her and fetching a teacher.

“Are you ok? What happened to you?” asked Alexandra’s sister; rubbing her back thoughtfully.

“I don’t know. I can remember you, but there are bits missing, what happened to mum and dad?” spoke Alexandra, which made Jessica startled by the minor amnesia.

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you, we don’t know what happened to them” replied Jessica who raised Alexandra to a normal height and escorted her to the main entrance hall.

“Let’s get back inside and you can get some rest, you need it especially if you don’t want to get into trouble here” spoke Jessica as they both approached the steps up to the main doors. Alexandra was struggling so Jessica offered her hand in support just as she noticed a teacher; Mr Barnabale was following them, so they hurried to their rooms as quickly as possible. The teacher noticed and suspected something suspicious about their behaviour.

“I can give you something from the past but you must figure it out on your own and not talk aloud about it. Around here is very strict and if you are caught talking about what happened quite a few years ago then you will be punished by the foot master principle, who is not a pleasant person at all” spoke Jessica as she placed her sister on her bedding and left her to go and fetch something from a shoebox that she keeps things in with a special fingerprint and password to the box. She placed her unusually thin thumb onto the receptor and waited for the blue light to turn green as she heard some locks loosen in the shoebox. She spoke softly and clearly the password “Throbbing Gob” which she was referring to a sweet she had come across in her childhood. Alexandra, now feeling a little better had risen slightly and was looking at her sister kneeling down next to her bed and attending to something on the floor. She looked totally puzzled although amazed by the gadgets that she had inside the box. She came close to asking her what they were but refrained as she recalled what she said earlier.

    Hurried footsteps could be heard from outside the hall of bedrooms as they both scurried frantically closing everything away and acted normal. Jessica walked over to Alexandra and knelt on the floor which sent a freezing pain around the edges of her kneecap.

“Stop right there young lady!” cried a deep monotone from the entrance to the bedrooms. Jessica told Alexandra to pretend to be sleeping and that she would explain things later. Alexandra let her head drift into the gigantic pillow that was behind her, making her feel as she did in her dream earlier, although voices she heard in her dream came flooding back. The visions and sounds made her heart rate. Jessica noticed she wasn’t feeling too good, as her hands were tightly wrapped around the duvet; making a fist. Jessica looked across to her right and watched as the teacher hurried over to them both. She extracted a piece of shiny paper from her dusty cotton worn pocket.

“I want to give you this…but you must figure things out on your own or play by our rules otherwise you will get caught and we have heard dreadful things of people who have been caught” whispered Jessica into her ear as she kissed Alexandra on the forehead, concealing her conversation to the teacher who was approaching. Jessica placed the shiny paper into Alexandra’s hand secretly across the duvet and into her hand, Alexandra frowning as she didn’t know what it was and didn’t dare not do to as she was told. Alexandra felt as though she was being treated unfairly, but she knew she could trust Jessica after all she was her sister, but there still remains some much that she is uncertain on.

“Jessica…step away from her!” said Mr Barnabale, as he removed her arm from the grasp of her younger sister, not restraining as she was softly pulled away so the teacher could move in and examine Alexandra properly.

“Sir she’s asleep, she need’s rest you know…It’s a lot to take in when you first wake” mentioned Jessica although her words filled the background. He lent over her and examined her physical complexion, whilst placing his plain black briefcase on the bed, knocking into her leg. Alexandra cowered, but to Jessica’s relief she managed to refrain from yelping. Mr Barnabale looked at her eyes, mouth and ears, taking her temperature using a strip of blue plastic he retrieved from his briefcase as he chucked its packaging back inside. It was a normal level, although a little high but nothing he hasn’t seen before. He examined her eyes and ears with a small pen light but nothing was untoward.

“Very well, make sure she gets plenty of fluids and rest over the next few days. I mean no wondering around the vicinity or any contact sports for a while” said Mr Barnabale as he wiped the instruments and locked them away in his briefcase and exited quickly. The group of friends were now gathered around the bedside of Alexandra who was informed it was safe for her to sit up, opening one eye at a time and checking herself that the coast was truly clear. She almost forgot what her sister had given to her before they all burst into the room, which she still had in her fingertips, twiddling and wondering the contents and meaning that she longed to be discovered. The other group member impacted on her decision to withdraw the items to eye level. She reached down and tucked them into her fluffy purple socks that were so kind to the feet.

“Maybe we should let you rest for a while” spoke Edward courteously, as he stood with a ghastly white knitted jumper on, red jeans and some books that by their nature contrasted from comedy to science and the world. Alexandra noticed his bland bashed glasses poking from his jeans where his had obviously forgotten to put them back correctly. Alexandra laughed delightfully as she realised how red Edwards cheeks were, matching his outrageous selection of trousers. His kind and innocent expression made its obvious that he had clearly misunderstood the context o her laughter, so he just smiled politely.

    Alexandra nodded and agreed that she should sleep for a while, but a part of her wanted to run free and discover all the things she is so desperate to find out. There, looming in her thoughts was the prospect of getting into trouble or getting all of her friends into trouble, which would seriously impact on her life there. As everyone left the hall and said their goodbye wishes, most of them still full of energy as it was only midday. Alexandra adjusted her position on the bed to a more settling one and began to start feeling tired as she had hoped. She looked out of the window as she found it relaxing and interesting and wondered what was out there. A bird that looked familiar landed on the top of a building in the distance and walked for a while and then started to fly towards the building Alexandra was watching it zoom through the air and through the lingering fog. She noticed it was getting colder as her eyes wondered from concentration of outside and into the clouds her thoughts meandered; falling into a dreamy sleep as her breathing quietened and she turned over to reach for something but it wasn’t there, although she couldn’t recall what it was in the first instant.

    The group were sat around a round pine table that was situated in the study area; Jessica and her friend May were sat discussing something, unlike the others who were evenly spaced. Books, pens, computer pads and a latest computer that belonged to Edward’s computer which impressed everyone around him, some of them had never seen gadgets like these before, especially the older generation, asking him constantly “Where do you save to” and “Can I use a stick” which made him chuckle from time to time.

    Edward extracted it from a tatty looking satchel and placed it onto the table as it lay flat. He moved it in line with his face and it lit up, displaying a blank screen. Edward navigated through the computer using his hands; nearly catching a tall pupil in the eye. There were a few moments where Edward thought maybe he had scared the life out of them, as they all looked completely shocked by what he was doing.

“How do you know how to work it, we are the same age and you know how that works? There’s something fishy about that…don’t you think Billy?” said one of Edward’s distant friends, finally plucking up the courage to break the deadly silence of disbelief. They all stopped reading and writing to look at Edward for an answer, who took a while to respond.

“It is because it is not mine…and also I have a computer background in my family so I guess you could say it flows rather well” replied Edward; his jaw nervously chattering as he answered.

“That’s a lie!” belted Jessica, her eyebrows raised so far it looked as though they may take off at any moment.

“It’s the truth, why doesn’t anyone believe what he tells us” claimed Edward’s best friend Majtak-Homratk his discussion friend, as he had just entered the room and made everyone observe his presence. Even Edward knew so little about Majtak; he always used to find ways of changing the subject when personal questions about himself arise. Edward wondered about him, although he doesn’t want to invade in his life so refrained from continuous inquisition.

“Ah that’s Au” shouted Edward excitedly as Majtak walked up to him and found the nearest available chair to pick up and take to where they were sitting.

“At least I’m not S” announced Majtak, bewildering the group severely as they all looked as if the words spoken had taken off and zoomed over their heads and out the window into the dustbin outside. Majtak sat down and greeted Edward with a tap on the back which for some reason made him flinch.

    Majtak ignored and smiled broadly to the comments made earlier as he was actually referring to the periodic table. If any of the others had discovered this they would have really called Edward a square, which they all thought anyway due to his dress sense and indulgence to study. However, the group find Edward’s and Majtak's conversations intellectually stimulating; sometime very humorous. The group began shuffling and sorting in synergy the documents that lay on the table, they all had tasks that had to be completed by the end of the day. A small shy younger girl called Angelica let out a tiny cough; in hope to gain their attention and did gracefully. Her pure white skin glistened from the lights hanging from above; her face bore red cheeks from the cold and a runny nose that she occasionally wiped out of embarrassment. To Angelica’s frustration she could not attract the attention of the group so she coughed again, this time with some force behind it which made it obvious it was staged. The group eventually lifted their pad pens from the computer imprints they were writing on. A red pop-up appeared on the holographic display of the computer and was bobbing gently above the thin pad of Edward’s pen pad; bleeping annoyingly.

“Technology is great but why does everything have to bleep” said Angelica rhetorically to the others, clearly upset by the undignified interruption of the computer.

“It’s v-learning now, they have changed the schedule of the class for some reason” replied Edward. He overheard Angelica’s comments moments before, that downsizing his proud feeling of the device. They all reluctantly began packing their things away into their satchels that were all the same colour and size; which no one seemed to notice except Andrew who snuffled at the ridiculous symmetry. The group headed towards the lifts at the end of the hidden area where they were studying and walked passed a silent room which Majtak peered into. A teacher appeared at the small glass pane and instructed to them to vacate the area immediately. Majtak was always adventurous; sometimes he went a little too far and got them all into trouble. Edward recalls a time when he got caught for dangling upside down from a climbing frame in the courtyard trying to deny the factors of gravity. Edward laughed to himself and kept thinking of the outcome.

    Angelica pressed the button for the lift as they all stood patiently waiting. They were all pushing and shoving to get to the front. A delightful ping from the lift notified the group that the doors were opening so they all proceeded into the lift. Andrew had the task of pressing the buttons, which he missed and pressed seven instead of eight so he had another attempt which this time he succeeded. The lift arrived at floor seven and everyone in the lift was swarmed with masses of people, visible for miles; leading to a single small door.

“Apparently the equipment is all brand new according to Mr Gropple” said Edward, looking through a copy of the latest technology magazine. Majtak looked at him and noticed how besotted he was with gadgets and futuristic equipment; sometimes becoming a little tedious. Majtak preferred human biology and the natural world; he found them less irritating and fascinating. The swarms of crowds silenced immediately to a preposterously loud banging that echoed the compact digital hallway. Edward looked around him, taking in all of the magnificent equipment before his eyes, when he was distracted by a piercing beam of light that seemed to be coming from the top right hand corner of the room. Noticing at a rather slow pace, he finally saw a friend that he recognised from his room. He made an attempt to figure out who it was but he gave up after a while and continued to watch the rest of the pupils scurrying around at the front of the hall, collecting bags and equipment that was being handed out by grey sweated teachers.