Winter Went | #2 Winter Series

Chapter 34

|| Josh ||

He's standing behind her and he can see the way her head swirls, the way her dark hair falls down her shoulders. She squirms, whispering to herself, but doesn't leave the seat.

He holds the equipment. It's cold in his hands, unnatural no matter what they tried to teach him. He can't bear to think what it would look like beside her head, sticking out like an additional facial extension.

And yet this is what he must do. It was on the assignment sheet. It is his duty.

And yet, as he stands there looking at her scalp, he wonders about his mother: was her hair this shade? No, he thinks it was lighter, and then limp like the rest of her.

You'll fight with me to the end, won't you? his mother says now.

He doesn't know. His mind is running two ways, his duty travelling on the main path.

My brave boy.

The mother stands to the side, sobbing, a guard shielding her from view. He hates it when people cry, it only makes the tears well up in his own eyes. But now he tells himself to be strong, for her sake, for his sake, for the sake of the people who are going to appear on the screen in front of him.

Yes, they are facing a screen. In a few minutes, the things that he will be doing will show up in the presence of others, and he will be hated for it.

Yes, he knows, he will be loathed.

And yet there is a second option, one that is tucked away in the back of his mind. It's his mother's voice, the one that tells him to rebel.

My brave boy.

He tastes bile in his throat. His fingers are trembling.

You'll fight with me to the end, won't you?

He doesn't know.

Will he?

Yes?

Yes.

Yes!

Of course. This was in his blood. Rebellion, ruin. Not duty.

He is brave.

Yes, he is. Mummy told him.

His fingers are trembling.

The screen flickers to life.

HE IS BRAVE.

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