The Institute (3 page)

I feel like I
am seven years old again and being punished for talking about
Shilah being Defective a little too loud for my parents’
liking.

“Dad why me? I
didn’t even do anything wrong!” I hear Shilah plead as I start
walking to my room. I roll my eyes at him, his whining makes him
sound like he’s five years old, not sixteen. I’m only fifteen
months older than him but I feel maturity wise, there’s a bigger
gap between us.

There’s no way
I’m going to argue my punishment. I know I deserve it. Actually, I
think I’m getting off pretty light. I don’t really think I could
possibly lay any lower than I already have this summer though.
Today excluded of course. So I guess that is it then – my summer is
officially over, but at least I get to stay.

Chapter
Two

It doesn’t even
matter that Dad has grounded me for the remainder of summer break
because as the days go on, the reality of that day has finally sunk
in and I don’t feel like leaving my bed anyway. I feel sick to my
stomach and although Drew told me that I did everything that I
could, the fact is that Jax is dead, I was there and I didn’t do
anything to help him. He is no longer alive. I will never see him
in school again, I will never talk to him again, even though I
can’t actually remember a conversation we ever had. Every time I
close my eyes I see his face, I hear the gurgling sound of his
lungs filling with blood with every breath and I can still feel his
cold clammy hand in mine as I could feel him slipping away. I have
been waking up every morning with tears streaming down my face.

I have to get
out of this house today, I need to force myself to get out of this
bed. I think I’m going crazy being cooped up in this house day
after day with nothing to think about but Jax. I want to go see
Ebb. I just have to convince Dad to let me go. Although, he will be
down on the farm the rest of the day, so he probably won’t even
know that I’m gone if I am really quick. I know I’m on thin ice
with him, but Ebb’s place is only ten minutes away so I should be
able to sneak out and spend an hour or two at hers before Dad
realises that I’m gone.

I half walk,
half run to the train station, as the adrenalin from sneaking out
starts flowing through me. As I get on the train, I see him. Drew
is here. I freeze in panic just like I did at those parties I went
to. I’m too nervous to do what I really want to do. Should I go and
sit next to him, could I? I suddenly wish I had time to run a brush
through my untamed hair.

Drew’s forehead
has healed so quickly in the few days that have passed, you can
barely even tell where the gash was; just a faint bruise
remains.

I don’t know
what to do, I am still frozen in the entry way. I start walking
towards him in hope he will look up and invite me over so I don’t
have to make the first contact. He looks up just in time and our
eyes lock. He gives a half smile and nods, just what I was hoping
for.

“Where are you
off to?” he asks quite casually as I take my seat next to him.

“I’m going to
see Ebb, I needed to get out of my house. Dad isn’t exactly
thrilled with me right now,” the words fall out of my mouth.
Idiot!
His face flashes to an expression I can only describe
as contrite, he knows that he is the reason Dad is angry with
me.

“I’m sorry,” he
says practically whispering. I barely heard him. I decide to
pretend like I didn’t.

“What about
you, where are you going?” I ask, my voice upbeat.

It takes a
while before he responds. “I needed to get out too. I’ve just been
riding the train back and forth all day. It’s been hard, you
know.”

I do know.

“I have wanted
to see you,” I hear myself saying. Did that just come out of my
mouth? I can’t believe I said something so forward at all. “I
haven’t been able to talk to anyone about the accident and I can’t
get it out of my mind,” I clarify.

Should I be
talking to him about it?

“Me neither. My
mother wants me to talk about it with her but I just can’t,” he
shrugs.

I can see he is
trying to hold back the tears. I reach for his arm and then panic
before it gets there. What am I doing? I go to pull away before I
embarrass myself when he reaches for my hand too.

“I like sitting
with you,” he says with a half-smile while looking at our hands
that are now intertwined. I’m speechless and bright red, I can feel
it.

“I bet you
wouldn’t have thought that a few months ago,” I joke. He looks at
me confused. “I wouldn’t exactly say we met under the friendliest
of circumstances.”

“Why, what
happened?” he asks. Oh great, he doesn’t even remember it. Have I
been avoiding him all this time for nothing? “I believe your exact
words were ‘Your bitch chip obviously hasn’t been affected by your
fall.’” He’s still looking confused. “It was your first day of
school? I fell over and you helped me up, I was so embarrassed and
tried to say something clever but it just came out bitchy and mean,
so you called me on it.”

“Oh that was
you? I’m sorry for that. I was trying to fit in. It’s hard fitting
in when you have to be the new kid so often,” he says.

Tell me about
it, I know all about that.

“My mum has to
travel a lot for work so I’m dragged along with her.”

I wish that
was why we moved a lot.
“I know what you mean, we moved around
a lot when I was younger but we’ve been here for a few years now. I
don’t think we will be moving any time soon,” I say even though
it’s not entirely true. For all I know we could be leaving
tomorrow, but I can’t tell him that.

“That’s good.”
A smile crosses his lips but I think he’s trying to suppress
it.

“So are you as
excited as I am to be going back to school next week?” I ask,
trying to keep up the conversation and distract myself from the
fact that he is drawing circles on my hand with his thumb, making
it very hard for me to concentrate on anything.

“I’m just
terrified about all the questions I’m going to get.”

I hadn’t even
thought of that, “Does anyone know about it yet?” I ask.

“Yeah, Jax’s
funeral was yesterday and I know half the class were going but I
couldn’t bring myself to go. People have been trying to call me but
Mum is telling them I’m not home. I don’t think I’m ready to deal
with other people yet.” He hangs his head like he is ashamed of the
way he feels.

“Hey, that’s
understandable,” I feel like I should console him, like he did for
me that night. “I honestly don’t think people will pry too much,
it’s not very polite.”

Who am I
kidding, we live in a small town where everybody knows everybody,
of course they will pry but I’m trying to make Drew feel better not
worse.

“Wow, you have
a lot of faith in the people we go to school with, don’t you?”

So much for
making him feel better.

“How about this
then – stick with me and I will fend them all off for you. After
all, I’ve already saved your life once you know,” I say
half-jokingly while nudging him with my elbow to try and put a
smile on his face.

Instead he
leans in closer, “That sounds really good to me.”

For a moment I
think he may kiss me. My heart is pounding and I want so badly to
just lean forward half an inch and kiss him but neither of us move
and he pulls away when the train jerks on the tracks; the moment is
gone.

***

I’m still
smiling when I get to Ebbodine’s door. While I’m disappointed Drew
didn’t kiss me, I’m on a high from just being with him. We barely
make it to Ebb’s room before I spill everything – well, not
everything. I’m very vague about the details of Drew’s accident but
Ebb reacts as I knew she would and focusses on the almost kiss with
Drew. Sometimes her short attention span and obsession with boys
comes in handy.

“Oh thank god!
I was beginning to think your lady parts don’t work,” she
teases.

I should be
offended but it is kind of true. Not my lady parts being broken,
but that I am completely inexperienced in this department. I’m
seventeen and I’ve been more focused on the survival of my family
rather than boys. Ebb experiments with guys enough for the both of
us anyway. She seems to have a different boyfriend every month. Ebb
is gorgeous, with her long auburn hair and dark blue eyes. We are
so different, I often wonder if we would be friends had we not been
thrown together by one of our teachers for a group assignment. Her
life is always one big drama after the next, but that actually
works well for me because I am easily camouflaged in the background
of her very often public, antics. No one remembers the friend, just
the flamboyant front person demanding everyone’s attention.

“My lady parts
work just fine, thank you very much.” I playfully punch her and we
giggle like children, I’m still feeling giddy from the train
ride.

“Oh, let’s go
outside! I need to tan,” she says excitedly. Yup, her short
attention span really does work in my favour.

Ebbodine leads
me out the back to her pool. I sit on the edge and slip my feet
into the cool water while Ebb works on her tan. After all, school
goes back next week and she must look her best.

I find it
amusing now, that when I first met Ebbodine, I thought she was the
shallowest person I had ever met. Our history teacher put us
together for an assignment, it was my first day at school and I
kind of resented the fact I was paired with the ‘pretty girl’. But
Ebbodine ended up surprising me. She welcomed me without hesitation
and took me under her wing, showed me around school and was
surprisingly uptight about our assignment having to be perfect. I
can still remember that assignment word for word. She made me go
over it and double check it numerous times. ‘The history of the
Institute and the vital role it plays in today’s society’. We not
only had to go into the history of how the Institute was founded
but why it is so important that such a facility exists and the
dangers of those with a defect living amongst us. It was perfect –
on my first day of yet another new school, I not only had to try
and make new friends but I had to write an essay on why my brother
should have his basic rights as a human being stripped away for
being different, but, of course, without giving away the fact that
a member of my family is Defective. I often wondered if these
little essays and the yearly tours to the Institute are just more
ways for the government to flush out those who are Defective.

“
To
understand the founding of the Institute, we have to first learn
about the history of the country. There were approximately 25
million people living in this country around the time the epidemic
broke out. A new strain of illness that moved in the body like
metastatic cancer, and killed as quickly as Ebola. It was years
before scientists came up with a vaccine against the disease. By
this time the population numbers were believed to be less than 5
million but more likely closer to the 2.5 million mark; more than
three quarters of the population gone within two years. Our numbers
were dwindling and the government was concerned about our nation’s
survival. Some neighbouring, smaller countries had already been
decimated of their population, and our government was very worried
that we would follow suit – especially because our population was
so little to begin with; compared to some of the other countries
that had over 200 million residents. The country had the land mass
to support a theoretical high population but the middle of the
country was always uninhabitable desert so most residents lived
along the coastlines. When the epidemic broke out, it spread
quickly and didn’t discriminate.

After the
epidemic hit, a worldwide travel ban was put in place. A ban that
still exists today because of the fear of another epidemic breaking
out and spreading, ultimately eradicating everyone. This fear of
the uncontrollable illness drove countries to guard their borders
with such extreme ferocity, that the minutest of infringements
often led to wars, which allowed the virus to spread even more. We
were fortunate that we didn't share a land border with another
country. Aside from the occasional boats, border control measures
worked.

However, the
lack of land borders meant that the country had to learn how to be
self-sufficient. We were lucky enough that our country excelled in
the medical field, a vaccine was created and administered and then
a baby boom ensued. The government was offering incentives for
couples to build big families. To qualify for extra food allowances
and medicines, a minimum of two children was required per family.
The more children you had, the more help you received from the
government.

Then a peculiar
thing started happening. Some of these children being born were
said to have special abilities. About 1 in 5 000 children born
would have this defect. As the years went on, the population of
these special children grew. By the time these children reached the
teenage years, everything started going wrong. Puberty hit and with
all the raging hormones coursing through their bodies, ‘incidents’
started happening. People were getting hurt, some even getting
killed.

The government
started removing those with these special abilities from their
families. Some believe it was a side effect from the vaccine, that
it caused a fault, a change of DNA in some people, although this
has never been proven. Other theories include that it was the next
leap in evolutionary change and that soon enough everyone will have
an extra ability of their own. There are many theories out there,
none of which have been substantiated.

This was just
over forty years ago. There was one major problem with forcibly
removing the Defective though. It made them all go into hiding.
After all, no one is going to offer themselves or their child up
for removal – especially since no one heard from them again, and
the rumour was that they were executed. Of course incidents kept
happening. The government finally learnt their mistake when a boy,
only eleven years old, created a nuclear blast that wiped out the
entire west coast of the country along with all the people in it.
Our population numbers, while on the climb, were still quite low
from a sustainability stand point and then this child easily more
than halved them by losing his temper. At the lowest count, we had
an estimated 700000 residents remaining.