I looked over my shoulder at Josh riding happily on the back of my father's bicycle. I'd been forced to steal it when my father had announced the definite release of the baby — Josh— who was currently chatting away to himself, while simultaneously sucking on his fingers. Josh, until tonight, had been a resident in my family unit. Without warning, my 'father' had announced that the next day Josh would be terminated. I knew what that really meant now, it meant that Josh would get a needle stuck in him and he would die. It was cruel and unjust and although Mary and I had been formulating a plan to get away, I had to make a break for it with Josh, tonight. My legs were weary from peddling but I pushed on, determined to get as far away from the community as I could, before they noticed I was gone.
Light was beginning to return, and the trees were bathed in a beautiful yellow light, unlike anything I had ever seen before. I directed the bicycle to the side of the road, where I hid it under the shelter of the trees. I curled up with Josh to sleep. I awoke to a peculiar buzzing noise. It appeared to be right next to my ear and when I rolled over I saw a strange-looking yellow and black thing. It was hovering in the air but I couldn't see anything that was holding it up. I glanced around curiously and extended my hand to touch it, but it ejected part of its body into my hand and I withdrew it in pain. " Ooow!" I screamed awaking Josh with a start. I could see a black stick like object protruding from my skin and as I pulled it free a drop of crimson liquid fell from my hand onto the forest floor. The liquid reminded me of war.
It was dark again, I was sure that I was a long way from the community by now. Every now and then my thoughts wandered back to Mary but I suppressed them, preferring not to think about her and how much I was leaving behind. I knew I had done the right thing though, people in the community shouldn't have been forced to live lives specifically chosen for them. I wanted to go somewhere where there was joy, music, happiness and most of all freedom and love. Thinking of love reminded me painfully of Mary and I allowed myself to wonder how she was and whether she was missing me — just as I was missing her..
I had been cycling for almost three nights when I heard my first plane. I didn't know what to do, so I huddled in a ball with Josh, submerged by thick shrubbery at the side of the road. It was almost too late before I realised that creating heat was the worst possible thing I could do. In a hurry, I transmitted a memory of snow to Josh, to make us both cold. From my lessons at school, I knew that the planes had heat detectors in them which would make both Josh and I susceptible targets for the heat detectors. Fortunately though, using the memory of snow seeming to work.
The more nights I cycled, the more distant my memories felt. It was if someone had inserted a sieve into my mind and was rifling through my memories — taking the smaller ones first and then the larger ones. They weren't completely gone. They were just more distant and less vibrant than they used to be. The further I cycled, the more strange creatures and new sights I saw. I was certain that I was nearing Elsewhere now.
Before long, I began to cycle in the daylight, as I hadn't heard any planes in a while. On the first day I cycled in daylight, I saw my first building. It was tall, white and had large windows. It looked somewhat foreboding, so I didn't approach it. I picked up my pace and cycled faster and faster, whizzing past more and more buildings. The more buildings I passed, the more certain I became that I was almost at Elsewhere. Finally it happened — the grass under my bicycle tyres turned into soft, powdery snow, the temperature dropped gradually — until I could see my breath in front of me, and I knew I was there.
Josh began to whimper in distress. Since we had arrived in the Elsewhere we had made a makeshift den to shelter in, but the frigid air chilled our bones and it was hard to find anything to eat. This cold place was cruel, and there were times I found myself wishing for the orderly life of the community again. As much as I hated the community for their secrecy and their dominating, idealistic society — I found myself secretly longing for a life where I didn't feel any pain and didn't have to make any hard decisions. My heart ached from missing Mary and my family, but in my mind I knew I was doing the right thing by retuning the memories, Mary gave to me, back to the community. I wondered what would happen if I crossed from Elsewhere back into the community's boundaries. What would happen to all those memories —that I now only held fragments of, in the back of my mind?
