One Hundred

Chapter Nine

You cannot go back”…the words continued to echo in my head for quite some time after.

Our meeting had ended shortly after that. I had exited the office and walked home in auto-pilot mode. Students exited the grounds once the final bell rang. They sang out excitedly. Some were going home, some were going to after school sports, but I had just discovered things that they would never know, things that I would never be able to repeat to anyone.

I am met by Pop at the gate.

“Why the glum face?” he asks.

“We have to talk inside” I say.

Pop understands immediately and calls for Tom to come back in as well.

“What sort of emergency is this?” asks Tom, who has been tending to our outdoors vegetable patch. He is munching on a carrot as he looks from my face back to Pop and back to me again.

“Aida?”

“You won’t believe this” I say

“Is it about the aptitudes?”

“Yes. More than that. My results were with-held, so I was sent to discuss them with Mr Gilmore but when I got there, the department of education was there. There were alphas there in the office.”

Pop doesn’t look as shocked as he should, whereas Tom’s jaw drops.

“Alphas?”

Alphas, quite simply did not venture into the Old Worlde and the thought of them sitting in our principal’s office of all places was ridiculous. It was like a foreign species invading your kitchen. 

“Your mother said this day would come." Pop looks crestfallen.

“What do you mean?” I gasp. Surely I was the one who had access to her journal and there was certainly nothing in there about me having tete a tete discussions with alphas or jetting off through to the other side of the wall.

Pop sighs. “Aida, when you were just a baby, your mother could see even then that you had 'gifts', as she called them that were beyond the scope of any normal child. She never really told me what she thought these gifts really were, although we all recognise that your memory, for example isn’t normal. She never really said whether that was all or not. She said that we should just let you grow and develop normally and that with time, it would all be clear. She also said that you could not stay in the Old Worlde. It just wasn’t mean to be.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this before” I ask

“Well, she asked me not to. She said that things would take their own course and that I shouldn’t interfere. She was quite strict, as you know.”

Great. So it turns out that everyone knows more about the current state of affairs, than me. In fact, it sounds like there’s a prophecy about it. I am just the last to know.

“ Did she say why I couldn’t remain here or tell you anything else”

“Well,” Pop looks uncertain

“Well?” I ask

“There is a letter that she wrote”

He heads into his bedroom and comes back with a framed photograph - the only one that we have of us as a family. Mum, dad, Pop, me and Tom - looking just like a normal happy family. My mother is wearing a pale blue sundress and my father holds Tom on his knees. I am in my mother's arms, grabbing at a beaded necklace that she wears.

Pop takes the frame and fiddles with the back in an effort to remove the photograph. There, behind the photo, I can identify a very fine, thin envelope, so thin and flimsy that it doesn't add any bulk when the frame is closed. I can smell the flowery, talc-like perfume of the cheap stationery. That nostalgic flowery smell makes me feel very sad.

On the front of the envelope, I can see my name written in my mother's familiar blue fountain pen. With trembling hands, I take the envelope and open it up.

My darling Aida,

If you are reading this letter, it means that I am no longer alive, or else in prison and out of reach. I cannot write too much, in case this should fall into the wrong hands. My darling daughter, I love you and your brother so very much. You must know, however, that the world is divided and not just in the obvious ways. Until our last days, your father and I will remain opposed to what the New Worlde is trying to do. You must know that it is not merely a matter of principle. If the New Worlde continues with its current course, then dark days will be cast upon us - this may not appear very obvious at first as things are more complicated than you can possibly imagine.

I know that you are not destined to remain on the farm forever. I know that you will be asked to cross The Wall, for I can see that you are one of the gifted. When you do so, I am certain that you will see many wonders, but remember- all that glitters is not gold. Above all be wary and remember - audaces fortuna iuvat.

with love,

your mother