Deprived

Chapter 31

Outside, the sky was gaining color fast as the sun came up. There was no need for Maize to pack a bag because she had no belongings. She wore the most priceless possession around her neck, the necklace her father made for her. She traced a finger along the pointy edges of the star pendant. She still remembered the day he fabricated them out of scraps of metal he'd found under Mr. Tom's shop.

"I have to sand it smooth, my Princess girl," he'd said. "And then it will hang around our necks."

Her mother braided two fabric necklaces out of scraps of colorful fabric. One to hold her father's necklace, the other to hold Maize's. It was to be a sign of their bond as father and daughter and their shared love of the stars.

President Roman was on his comm device talking with one of his men as they prepared to leave. Maize was happy that she was leaving that place but sad that it would be without her family. President Roman's men in the field had no idea where Liam and her mother were.

President Roman looked out the window as he spoke on the comm device. Maize couldn't believe she was in the same room with the man she'd despised just a few days earlier. She had blamed him for the suffering she and her family had endured, but like her father had said before he died, President Aberdeen was the one behind it all. Not Benji Roman. The lack of care, the lies about a virus, the lack of nutritious food? All President Aberdeen's doing. Why? Because there were too many of them. Because he hated their kind, the poor kind, which to his mind were only taking up space in the world—breathing in the air meant for him. But maybe if they had gotten the same opportunities as the rich, they would contribute more to society, but then who would the rich have to look down on?

Maize rubbed the back of her neck to loosen the tension that set in the night before during dinner. Her body was back where it used to be before she started eating Earth food. Did the Earth's food stop working? Or was what the pink-eyed couple gave her in quarantine wearing off. Maize couldn't be sure if she was given an AllPill or some other experimental drug. But she was sure about what the AllPill could do. She'd seen it with her own two eyes when that girl had fallen and gotten that nasty gash on her forehead at orientation. She remembered how the gash immediately healed after the girl was given the AllPill.

As she sat on the edge of the bed waiting for President Roman to finish his conversation, she heard the roaring engine of a helicopter getting louder overhead. President Roman got off his device. "It's time."

He stood at the door, waiting for her. Each step she took towards him, her body felt weaker, and she realized she hadn't eaten anything much the day prior, except for picking at her food at dinner.

She stopped at the table, poured herself a glass of water, and gulped it down. Surprisingly the water woke her up a bit. It must be some of that natural water.

"You okay, dear?"

"Better than I was a second ago."

"Now, no matter what happens, I have your back—It will be all right." He smiled. His eyes brown again, his hat on. Mr. Tron opened the door for Maize, and they both crossed the threshold.

"It will be all right." That is what her father had said, and hours later, he was dead.

They walked the length of the narrow hall with numerous doors on either side. She looked back to see the narrow window at the other end of the hall one last time, and it struck her why she felt attached to it. The window reminded her of the lone window in her bedroom in the village. The one in her shack was not as sophisticated as this one, but the size was congruent.

She tried not to think about Liam or her mother because when she did, her heartbeat would race, and she got dizzy. The best thing she could do for her family was to safely escape the mansion.