The Enemy Beside Me + The Liar Beside Me (Book 1 and 2)

Chapter 2

WHEN I WAS FIVE, Mum had told me the story of her childhood. She said there was this loud siren. At first, they'd all thought it was a fire alarm from a neighbour. Then, the dogs barked, and the birds clouded the sky.

It was only one in the afternoon—she knew because her dad had given her her vitamins on the dot—but because of those birds, one could've mistaken it was midnight. She hadn't even had known they had that many birds. I asked Mum what was the noise all about. She shook her head as she continued her story.

Someone pinged her dad's phone. It was from the Prime Minister. Of course, the message was sent to all the citizens of England (ah, what a memory. She used to call herself British, but now, she rarely does. Are we still allowed to call ourselves that? Well, there are no strict rules. It's just been so long nobody cares anymore. Well, at least young people like me don't care. It's funny how it's easy to erase a part of our history, my mum used to say).

The message is still clear in her mind: the war they'd all been ignoring and making fun of was about to come for them. The Prime Minister then told them two things: do not panic; It would be all temporary as they sorted out how to eradicate the problem, and that the white tower would take care of them. Of course, as a child, she had zero ideas about what he meant by that.

The only white tower she knew was the newly built building between Dumfries and Carlisle. Basically, between Scotland and England. It was enormous, and nobody could get in, but scientists, high-ranking officials, military, and doctors. Up to this day, nobody knows what is inside that tower. Either it has been abandoned for years now, or our leaders do not wish to speak about it anymore. Some say the scientists had captured immigrants and had experimented on them. Some say we have nuclear weapons stored in there. What's the real story? We can only guess.

What Mum had told me, though, was that the screen on her dad's mobile changed, and there, it showed the white tower shot a celestial-like light and then...nothing. Nothing else happened aside from the black screen and static-sharp noise.

I looked up at Mum as she finished her story. She smiled at me, though I could see tears welling in her eyes. Her hands shook as she rubbed my back quite roughly. 'It's going to be all right, sweetheart. They knew what they were doing.'

Of course, I believed her. So I closed my eyes and held onto her tightly as though my whole life depended on her. I don't remember why I was too scared for a story I'd not experienced.

'Everything is normal now,' she said. 'We can now go outside. The world isn't burning anymore.'

* * * * *

Thank God it was all in the past. Airports are working again, and we can fly back and forth whenever we want to. Just not where ever, though.

Like previously said, third world countries are still yet to recover. Our Zone has been helping them, but it's been years, and they're still dying.

Nobody knows for real how many of them are alive and fighting. I feel sorry for them, and I know it's bad to feel glad I'm not one of them, but I can't help it. I'm grateful our government is competent. Everything's hunky-dory, as the elders say. Sometimes I even forget those countries exist with how seldom they get mentioned in any news.

Our economy is soaring. Our health and security are much better than in the last thirty years. It's like God had heard our prayers and wiped the war in an instant. Of course, it hadn't been easy. At least millions had perished before the third world countries stopped revolting. And it was all thanks to this scientist, Dr Michael Pateil. He'd invented this medicine that had calmed down the protesters. I don't know how it works, honestly. Just like with all the newborns, I had the cure. Or at least that's what they'd tried to give me, but after testing my blood, the doctors saw no reason for me to receive any medical help. I was a hundred per cent fully functional healthy baby. It still doesn't explain why I didn't need it, though. My mum had even thought I'd have complications since she was shot by a protester who somehow hadn't had the cure. The protester then blasted his brain with the same gun.