Borrowed Courage

Chapter One

Ten years later...

September 15th, 2021

"Almost... there..." With a final grunt of exertion, Brooke Tucker jammed the last thumbtack into the drywall, pinning her metre-long Green Day poster above the bedhead. She fell into a crouch from her precarious position balanced tiptoed on the edge of her desk to reach the ceiling, and stretched out her aching arms. Then, retreating to the doorway to admire her handiwork, she allowed herself a small smile.

It had taken almost the entire day, but, with perseverance—and a little extra motivation courtesy of her phone pumping out the latest rock music—her belongings were unpacked. Granted, the dimly lit five-square-meter space was nothing like her old bedroom, but if she pushed all of that aside for a moment, it almost felt like home again. For now, that was enough. There would be plenty of time to get used to living in a dingy apartment block on the other side of town, she reasoned bitterly.

Heaving a sigh, Brooke brushed the dust off of her faded jeans and wandered into the hallway (if you'd call it that) to join her parents. They'd long since taken a break from unpacking, and she could hear the familiar sounds of her mum cooking dinner at the stove and her dad watching TV from his favourite armchair in their newly dubbed living room. She hesitated for a moment, listening. If she closed her eyes and let the sound drown out everything else for just a moment, it gave her the illusion of familiarity. That is, until she opened them and entered the living room.

She swallowed back another sigh.

This was her life now, and Brooke couldn't pretend forever.

"'We will not hide any longer.' Those historic words spoken by the US Borrower Representative, Flint Oakland, continue to resound in our hearts as we look back on the moment ten years ago today, when society took its first step towards what would become a dramatic change."

The TV blared from its new position against one of the beige walls. Brooke's father was slumped in his chair not three feet away, glaring daggers at its surface—or more specifically, the daily news. She could barely remember the man he'd been two months ago, but then again, it didn't really matter. Now, Doug Tucker was one swig of beer away from an alcoholic, his salt and pepper hair overgrown and unkept and eyes watery and withdrawn.

He said nothing when she stepped inside, wholly fixated on the beer bottle in his hand and the news in his periphery. "His first public appearance, famously known as Oakland vs Oak Ridge, left the world speechless," the anchorman continued, "and in the many years to come, no one could have predicted the sheer tenacity of this global movement towards human and borrower equality."

How many times had she heard this story now? Brooke leant against the doorway, listening to the news report play out but really wishing she'd just stayed in her room.

"We flash back to September 15th, 2011, a day that started out as any other until the infamous Oak Ridge Laboratory footage which gave humanity its first glimpse of the borrower race, went live. Four months after the incident and Subject #215, who we all now know as Grey Stonewell, shared a heartwarming reunion with his friends and family as he was released from the lab's custody. Now, Grey works for 'Borrow-Ed', an international charity aiming to integrate borrower children into the human education system. In his latest interview, he offered his thoughts on the last decade."

The scene shifted to a clip of Grey Stonewell, addressing a crowd of humans and borrowers alike from a scaled down lectern emblazoned with the Borrow-Ed logo. "I think about my time in Oak Ridge a lot, and honestly could not have imagined this outcome." He said. "Standing here now in the presence of my wife and kids, I just want to thank Xavier Sanders, or Employee X as many of you remember him, Flint Oakland, and the team at 'Speak Up for Change' for everything they've done for me and the rest of us borrowers. With their constant support, I firmly believe that coexistence is possible, and look towards a future where humans and borrowers can acknowledge one another as equals."