Further

Chapter 4

"Woah," August and Noelle gasped, mouths hanging open at the sight of Sofia's room. Apparently Ash had been doing construction for months before, but nobody was allowed to see it. It was almost as if he was expecting her.

"So this is what they've been doing all this time," August said, marveling at the way the light glowed from underneath the platforms of her bed.

"I didn't even know it was possible to have a two story bathroom," she said.

"There's a two-story bathroom?" Noelle, who had been standing there in awe, asked in shock.

Sofia pointed towards the door and Noelle charged towards it. She turned to August, who was climbing the ladder to the second floor sitting area. Sofia followed him up and sat down in the beanbag beside him.

"August, can I ask you something?" she asked.

"Shoot," he replied.

"Can everyone else do the same thing as me? Why are we even here? Do you ever see your friends? What about school?" she fired, speaking a hundred miles an hour.

"One question at a time," he said chuckling, "We can all see Further, Victor being able to see things from 50 years ahead. We're here to help the government save the future of the world. No, I've been here since I was three, so I didn't really have any, other than my twin sister, Autumn. She's the only one that knows why I'm really here. We don't really have school, we get information planted into our brains once a week, Ash says it's way easier than teaching us. I've never been to a real school before."

"Wait a minute, implanted in our brains?" Sofia asked, a slight quiver in her voice.

"Not in a surgical way, but, as unreal as it sounds, learning helmets. What takes some kids months to do, we learn in seconds," he explained.

"What about Autumn, I thought we weren't allowed to tell anybody," she said, confused.

"When we were younger, we all decided that we would find someone we trust to tell. We just couldn't keep it in any longer, lying to our families like that. Victor told his cousin and Ben told his older brother. Noelle still hasn't chosen, she had just been born that year."

"So I'm not the only one. Zoe, my best friend since forever, knows. we never keep secrets from each other," she said. She felt a pang of homesickness in her stomach.

"Excuse me, I promised I would text her once I got here, be right back," she said, getting up from her seat.

"It's okay, I really wanted to go check out the two-story bathroom," he said, following her down the ladder. She walked into her closet, closing the door behind her. She pulled out her phone, 58 missed calls, 72 unread messages.

They were all from Zoe, with the exception of a text from her dad and some guy named Nevin, who she was stuck doing a group project with.

She texted Nevin back saying she was in boarding school, then called Zoe, who picked up instantly.

"WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG? YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY FORGOTTEN ABOUT ME HAVE YOU?" she screamed through the phone, making Sofia jump.

"Relax Zo, I haven't forgotten about you, I haven't even unpacked yet my day has been so crazy. Ash says that I'm allowed to go out with his permission, but you aren't supposed to know I'm here. You can't tell anyone, but I'll ask Ash if I can meet you in the forest in a few minutes."

"Okay, see you there," Zoe replied, hanging up. Sofia put down her phone and walked out of the closet.

"Hey August, do you know where Ash is?" she asked him.