Numbered

Chapter Twenty-Three

Red sky at night,

Shepherd's delight

Red sky at morning,

Shepherd's warning

There was a red sky hanging over the town when Kylie went to hang out the washing. She had been at her grandmother's house for several weeks and in between visits to the hospital, she felt as if she was in some kind of limbo.

Nick had been elected as President of the country as everyone had expected and with the help of his rebels, was implementing changes to the country. People queued up at hospitals to get their numbers removed and lower numbers were finally getting the chance to improve their lives with new work schemes.

But there was still confusion about what was going on.

Kylie didn't know if living with Jared in her grandmother's house was for the time being or if it was permanent.

As much as she had missed her home, she ached for something more, than the poky, grey house in the corner of her street.

She had begun to appreciate her life back in Topaz, but she knew she could never go back there. It was filled with good memories, of course; like meeting Jared and having Nico's friendship, but the bad memories wouldn't let go if she returned.

Jared smiled from where he was standing on the doorway.

"Morning," he greeted.

She smiled. "Did you miss me?"

He walked over and picked up a few shirts before hanging them on the line beside her. This time, she didn't complain, and say it was her job, sir. She was no longer a maid, and no longer a Zero. They were equal.

"I woke up and the bed was cold," He teased. "I'm not complaining though, at least I had a bit more quilt."

She swatted him with a damp towel and the smirk on his face grew. He wound his arms around her waist and kissed her ear.

She laughed and tried to wriggle out of his grasp but he caught her again quickly and kissed the skin on her neck until she relaxed and sank into his arms.

He planted kisses on her nose, her forehead, the corner of her mouth, teasing her until eventually she grabbed him and pressed her open mouth to his.

He tasted sweet, like cupcakes, and she pulled away for a moment.

"What did you eat?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Why, you want some?"

She looked up at him through her eyelashes. "If you're offering."

"It was meant to be a surprise, I saw it in a shop last night and I thought she would like it," Jared rambled, leading Kylie into the kitchen. He opened the fridge drawer to reveal a sponge cake with Get Well Soon iced on it in big green letters. "I couldn't resist a bit of icing."

"That's the nicest thing anyone has done for her," Kylie said. "Thank you."

"No problem," he smiled.

Kylie swirled her finger around the tin the cake was in, picking up the icing.

It was deliciously sweet. She remembered the day her grandmother had brought home a bag of baking ingredients after a successful day of selling soup. Kylie had managed to make 50 fairy cakes and they'd sold half of them, while she and her grandmother had ate their way through the rest.

After they had lunch, Jared and Kylie got in the car and drove up to the hospital.

Her grandmother's illness hadn't improved; each day they'd visited,  she seemed a little weaker.