The Owls Who Watch

Chapter 10 - Olga Canning

Nearing the roundabout, Kevin noticed many other cars going about their business. Not all of them were the same vehicles used by MEPHRA. Daniels followed most of them as they drove towards the eastern side of the village, defined by tiny, square prefabs instead of the apartments on the western side. Throughout the journey, Daniels tried elaborating on what some of the locations outside were, yet stopped when he realised Kevin wasn't paying attention. After a few streets, he continued.

"There are town squares here and there, for each area of the village. Most folks gather there every week to catch up on the news and changes to businesses, events and whatnot. We call them the Arum Squares", he explained as they passed a guarded petrol station at the side of the road, "And there's a couple of shopping centres, where you'll get your supermarkets and clothing stores. Not much in them though."

"I can't afford anything", Kevin replied.

"You'll get an income. Least you don't need to work like I do". Kevin was relieved to learn this. If he didn't have to work, there may be some serenity to life here, however short it may be. How do these workers get paid then? Who funds them? How do they profit? What do I need to do? The questions swirled in his head, but the tranquillity prevented him from panicking.

Daniels pointed ahead towards a small shopping district, guarded heavily by patrollers, "There's one of the centres there. Bit far from you though. Anyway, we're nearly at the health centre".

After a series of turns, Daniels drove under an archway and parked outside of the somewhat small, ordinary health centre. If the purpose of this village is to help our mental health why is this place so small, Kevin thought, before he realised through a signpost that this place was only for people in his age bracket.

While the design of the building was almost as bad as the abomination at the gateway of Arumlily, the green trees and bushes in the large garden outside certainly made up for it. Daniels escorted Kevin out of the vehicle, past the car park and ventured through a stone pathway in the garden. They passed a few younger folk accompanied by their own escorts. One of them said hello to Daniels, who only grunted in response. The pair made it into the entryway, where Daniels held the door open for Kevin, who entered coughing thanks to someone's cigarette smoke.

After the brief corridor, the pair emerged into a waiting room, to Kevin's dismay. Daniels approached the reception desk on the far right of the room and informed the woman that Kevin had arrived before telling him to take a seat. There were six other people spread out across the waiting room. None of them paid much attention to him. The one in the back corner was hugging himself, shaking uncontrollably and hiding his face from everyone. Besides him was a woman in a grey suit, much like Tessa's. The only one who looked at Kevin was a pretty girl without an escort who stopped looking at Kevin when he looked at her and began fidgeting with her messy black hair. Daniels told him to sit down once more, and the pair sat on the front row.

Olga emerged from one of the rooms ahead and studied the waiting room. "Charlotte Kerr", she called. The black-haired girl arose and followed her into a room. Kevin's relaxation had dissipated by now, leaving only the recurring sense of unease activated whenever he as much as thought about a waiting room. He would always experience flashbacks to the time when he and his parents went to visit his grandmother in the hospital. The family had waited for hours in anxious anticipation before a doctor arrived to announce that the operation was a failure. She had died. The sobbing of his father and grandfather Benedict haunted him even now. He missed Benedict, or Granda Benny as he and his sister called him. He would often showered them with expensive presents whenever they'd stay over at his grand estate. He eventually stopped visiting Benny, yet his sister continued her visits for a time until she left the country. The last time I saw him was at mum's funeral and dad went berserk when he showed up. Kevin had been escorted out of the room once the fight began. It was around that time that his father became violent, cruel, and vindictive. He met Jules not long after the funeral, yet instead of helping him, she merely fuelled these impulses. I think they were arguing about money.