The Only-Live-Once Society | Book 2

Chapter Nine

The next morning, I don't hear the alarm, or the shuffling of feet as three teachers, Elijah and Grace slide into the room. I wake to Vince shaking my shoulder and softly saying my name.

I look around, bleary eyed. Mr. Goldsmith who is Mrs. Gateshead's replacement, Stanley, Miss. Dumont, Elijah and Grace are stood around my bed looking at me.

I had a dream that Daniel took Elijah and tortured him until I drew up the plans for the bioweapon. Once it was done, Daniel killed Elijah. My cheeks are wet from the tears, Vince hands me a tissue and I quickly wipe at my face.

They all wait for me to speak, but instead I groan. My body is so sore it hurts to sit up, even breathing is a task. Vince helps me move into a sitting position and Elijah frowns at the contact.

The clock reads seven, this is eerily similar to when Gateshead and Stanley ambushed my hospital room last year, after my mum was shot dead.

"Do you need anything?" Vince asks. "Some water?"

"Actually," I announce, a little guilty. "I really have to pee."

Grace laughs but no one else reacts. I grunt as I swing my legs over the side of the bed. I'm in my disney pyjamas but I don't care.

I hobble into the bathroom and stagger onto the toilet. When I'm done I look in the mirror at myself. My face is bruised and swollen, my eyes are even worse from crying.

I lift my top up and look at myself in the mirror. My torso is a patchy mess of purple and blue. I lower the top and lean over the sink, filling it with water, then I splash some onto my face and pat my hair down.

The girl in the reflection of the mirror blinks at me. She has medium-length dark brown hair, and her face is the same shape as mine. But she has a black eye, bruised face and lip with a cut. Still, the girl moves when I do and she looks better then the one Elijah found after Daniel had me.

By the time I make it back, everyone except for Mr. Goldsmith, has pulled up a seat. Vince hands me a croissant as I climb into the bed, he gives me a weird look, but I don't have time to work out what it means.

"Amelia," Mr. Goldsmith starts. "What happened yesterday was a serious breach of security. If you can tell me anything about the man that accosted you, where you were and what happened, that would be a great help."

I take a deep breath and then I recount everything I remember, from the exact time he attacked, to the colour of the attackers shoes. I leave no detail out. The room is still as trained ears listen to my story, piecing together things I might not have seen.

Once I'm finished, Mr. Goldsmith nods at me and says, "thank you. That was certainly detailed." No one says anything so he continues. "Things are going to get a lot tighter around here. We can not allow men to be able to attack on our grounds. This is the first time in the school's history something like this has happened. We have to tighten up."

"Well," Vince says. "It's not the first time something like this has happened. Daniel did kidnap her from the very walls of the school."

Mr. Goldsmith's grey eyes look at Vince. He's not young or old, not striking or pretty. There is nothing noticeable about this man what-so-ever. He is completely average and unassuming. I imagine that makes him the most dangerous out of all of us. "I wasn't Headmaster then. Something like this will not be happening on my watch again."

It's as ominous as it sounds and somehow I know that even if I were to ask what he means, what he plans to do to tighten security, he wouldn't tell us.

"Did get you everything, Katherine?" Mr. Goldsmith asks Miss. Dumont who is holding a notepad and pen.