Furtive

Recovery

Chapter 6

I had been drifting in and out of sleep for what seemed like forever. My head still throbbed. Tayka had told me I probably had a concussion. My eyes drifted lazily across the room. Light shone softly through the dirty windows and lit the room up with a soft glow. I had no idea how long I had been in bed for. Occasionally I would wake up to somebody sitting on the bed opposite me. We would chat for a while before I would black out again. This time, there was nobody there. The house was completely silent. Everybody must’ve gone out to do their jobs. One time Zander was sitting with me, he told me what he usually did during the day. He said he went to the Double A’s head office to snoop around for new information. He began to tell me the most recent details but I fell asleep before he really got into it. I heard movement in the main room. It sounded like somebody was at the front door. Shortly after, I heard somebody enter the room.

“Who is it?” I said weakly. I couldn’t be bothered turning my head to look for myself.

“It’s Brooke,”

That was not a response I was expecting. I barely even knew her, why would she come here.

Brooke came around and sat on the bed opposite to me.

“Hi there Cady,” she smiled, “I wasn’t doing anything today so the others suggested I came to give you a visit. We all heard you weren’t well.”

“That’s kind of you,” I responded.

“I suppose I better introduce myself. I’m Brooke and I live in the Inner City Base, with Ed, Julia, Kai, Keenan, yeah, that whole gang you met last week,”

Last week? How long have I been out for? Brooke smiled and swung her legs back and forth. Her tiny feet barely touched the ground.

“How old are you?” I asked.

“I’m 15,” answered Brooke.

“Why is everyone in this, ‘coterie’ so young?”

“Well, many of us are either orphans or kids who have run away from Double A families because they were ‘Favoured’ and were unable to conform to the lifestyle.”

“But the Double A has been around for a 100 years?” I pointed out, “wouldn’t there be some older people?”

“The Amendment Administration only really surfaced and grew about 10 years ago, before that, the Double A were a real underground organisation with not many members.”

There were still so many unanswered questions in my head but at least I could tick one of them off. Some of the people I was living amongst were in scarily similar situations as me. I knew Rhett and Zander where orphans, but what about the others?

“I’ll be back in a sec,” said Brooke. She got up off the bed and left me alone. The pounding in my head seemed to ease off a little but it was still consistent. I really thought that I needed to see a doctor but of course I couldn’t. I might be recognised if I did. Brooke returned shortly and held two cups of water in her hand. She placed on carefully on a stool that was next to my bed. The glass brought back broken memories of the whole ‘testing’ saga.

“It’s water,” said Brooke, “I promise.”

I reluctantly wrapped my hands around the cup and propped myself up on my elbow. My head spun for a few seconds when I moved. I brought the cup to my mouth and sipped the tiniest amount possible. When the liquid hit my tongue, it truly confirmed that this was indeed water. I took another sip and then another. Within moments, I had sculled the whole glass empty. I place the glass back onto the stool and lowered my head back to the pillow.