Gridless

Chapter 2

Lily screams. Or tries to. A hand covers her mouth before she can let out so much as a squeak. She bites down on the hand as hard as she can, but the attacker doesn't flinch.

"You're going to break your teeth," the attacker says calmly.

Lily doesn't loosen her grip and her attacker sighs. In a blink, the attacker lets go of her shoulder and wraps her free arm around Lily's waist, scooping her up and carrying her out of the room. Kicking and wiggling, Lily tries to free herself.

Mertha plops Lily down in her room across the hall, her hand still stuck to the girl's mouth. They have a staring contest until Lily relents and lets go. Mertha wipes the spit off the dents in her hand while she shuts the door. She can't remember a time when her hand looked so bad.

Grabbing the hairbrush off Lily's dresser -- a metal filing cabinet painted pink -- she wields it over the girl's head, unsure where to start. Putting the brush in her lap, she begins tugging Lily's fingers out of her hair.

"Aren't you gonna ask why I was in your room?" Lily says, tears burning her eyes.

"I think that's pretty obvious," says Mertha, freeing a hand.

"Well, I wanted to have hair like yours," Lily says matter-of-factly.

Mertha freezes mid-brush. "You don't want to be like me," she says sternly, forcing herself to brush Lily's hair.

"Why not? You have pretty hair, you never need to wash, and you can climb walls to get away from people."

Mertha drops the brush. "How--how did you know I climbed walls?" she says, her voice low and dangerous.

Lily shivers. She's never heard Mertha sound like this before. She knows she's not supposed to look out the window, but she can't help it! Sometimes she just wants to see what's out there!

"Why can't I go out there? You're always going out there!" Lily whines, turning around to glare at Mertha.

"Because it is dangerous, Lily," Mertha says, teeth clenched. "I can escape anything that happens to me, but you don't get a second chance. If you get seriously injured, I can't just hammer you a new arm or remake your eye. Once it's gone, it is GONE."

"They can't get me through the window," Lily retorts, resorting to yanking the cords out of her hair.

Mertha makes a sound between a growl and a sigh. "We-you- just don't do it, Lily, okay? I can't have you getting caught."

Lily stands up, hands clenched at her sides, and glares down at Mertha. "I'm gonna take something from the top shelf of your room and not get caught, and then I'm going outside with you."

They stare each other down until Mertha rubs her cheek, a sure sign she's given up.

"Fine," she says, "But you're not taking something dangerous. I'm going to put a... fork up there and you have ONE WEEK to find it and bring it down to me. If you can do it, I'll let you join me when I get food on Sunday. Sound fair?"

"Yes," Lily says quickly. This is her one chance to show Mertha that she doesn't need to be protected. And then maybe she can see one of the smog chimneys or even find out what kind of meat Mertha gets.

"Alright." Mertha rises, turning back at the door. "Your...trial starts tomorrow."

"What?! Why not today?"

"Because you're grounded today. No cookies after dinner."

"Noooooo," Lily wails, falling onto the floor in distress.

Mertha shuts the door. Lily bounces up like a rocket and grabs her toy snake off her make-shift bed -- a worn-down mattress with springs missing in the spots Lily said hurt when she slept, and a warm quilt Mertha stitched for her when she was a baby (she adds more squares every time Lily has a growth spurt).

"Just you wait, Snakey," she whispers, "I'm gonna get that fork tomorrow and give it to Mertha before she's even done breakfast and she'll be SO impressed, we'll go out every day."

Meanwhile, Mertha pulls out a dull fork from the cutlery box and wonders if polishing it or dirtying it would make it harder for Lily to find. Resting her back against the sink, she presses the back of her head against the wall.

'She's only eight, there's no way I can take her out there,' Mertha thinks, staring at her reflection in the fork. 'I know I promised, but... I guess I just have to be extra vigilant these next few days.'

She zaps off some grim and begins to think of a good place to put it.