The woman in front of Mave had a clipboard.
She wondered at the woman’s absence of a Spero SAED tablet. The woman was even using a pencil. She thought those had been outlawed as weapons years ago. Mave couldn’t help but gape when she saw the paper. She couldn’t remember the last time she had actually had paper to write on. She had her hidden stash of real books, just the Harry Potter series. They were what got her in this mess in the first place. She loved those books, however and would never write on them. They were her only link to before.
The woman looked up when Mave entered. Though she looked business like in a crisp blue suit and pointy black shoes, she was holding a clipboard. She was writing on the paper with a pencil and Mave was terrified. She motioned at a chair in front of her. “Please, sit.”
Mave tried to smile and walked forward. As she did, the room, which had been a slate grey box only a moment ago, revealed itself to be a comfortable sitting room. It was as if the walls has slid into focus. As Mave looked around, she took in the legal woman’s appearance.
A nametag on her shirt proclaimed her to be Sharlene. She had small hands and well manicured nails which made look down at her grubby ones. The woman, Sharlene, smiled. “Don’t worry dear. Those will be fixed in processing.” She motioned to the seat again. “Don’t worry love, the seat won’t bite. Neither will I. I do have to insert your tracker, just above your number, that will hurt I’m afraid, but then we can have a cup of tea.”
Mave looked at Sharlene and wondered what world she had stepped into. “I don’t get it. I’m going in there to fight for my life because I broke the law.” Mave held out her hands in a helpless gesture. “Why are you all being so fucking nice to me?”
Sharlene’s mouth turned to a hard line. “Darling, I love that you have a fighting spirit, but please don’t sear in front of me. It’s vulgar” The line of her mouth relaxed and Mave saw that her bottom lip was full and her top lip thin. She wondered who this woman had been before the game?
Going to the wing back chair that sat in front of another, a fire place roaring out of a brick wall, Mave wondered about the Mad Hatter’s tea party. She wondered if she had stepped into it or if her life had just become this bizarre.
Smiling in earnest, Sharlene warmed towards her again. “That’s quite all right dear, in fact I expect it from someone in your position. I would be surprised if you weren’t swearing up a storm!” She sat down across from her, waving a hand. A small table appeared between them covered with a lace table cloth. A tea pot stood, steaming, on its surface. “Do you take sugar or lemon in your tea?”
Mave blushed. “Sugar.” She paused. “Thank you.”
“Quite welcome, dear.”
“The other room I came from was nice, too. Kind of like a glittery lounge.”
Sharlene grimaced. “I guess you don’t really know, do you?” She sighed and waved her hand, a cup of tea moving towards it, floating through the air as if it were made of nothing. “There you are dear.” She handed it to Mave directly.
“Thank you again.”
“Drink up, you’ll need it.” She waved her hand again and, instead of floating into it, the teacup was simply there, nothing one moment, there the next. “The point is, dear, the ones that swear don’t last too long. I don’t have enough to make up who they are-I can’t talk to them when they’re shouting, they’re no good to me that way. They go in and out just as quickly and it pains me so.” She took a demure sip of her tea.
“I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Well, I am the legal department, or rather the head of it. I have to decide who you are, dear. I have to talk to you. We have some very personal things to discus. I would much prefer it if we could do it as friends, even the momentary sort. It’s been a while since I’ve actually had a conversation with someone. Almost all of the people that I’ve talked to show up here blubbering and crying or screaming for their mother-they never last very long; they never do.”
“When you say they never last very long…?”
“This a Room dear, not a room. You came from Carlotta’s Room?”
Mave nodded. “She was very nice.”
“Yes, she can be. You should be aware that we aren’t being taped at the moment either. We can speak freely here.”
“But you just said that this was a Room. I don’t understand.’
“We’re all prisoners in one way or another. We’re the lucky ones. Carlotta sits in her Room and I sit in mine. We talk to people all day every day. There are so many house guests that we lose track of time.”
“But there can only be thirteen house guests at a time.” Mave said.
Sharlene took one look at her and laughed, a big belly roll that came from her toes to be released. The entire time, not a drop of tea spilled. The laughter stopped as quickly as it started and she took a sip of her tea quietly. “You don’t watch reality television, do you dear?”
Mave shook her head. “I read a lot. I don’t have television at home, but I do watch it on my SAED. I’m usually working too much to watch television.” She blushed, even though she knew that each citizen was required by law to watch a certain amount per day. Most of it was propaganda, so she could leave her SAED device on at prescribed times and read a book instead. It was what had landed her in this mess in the first place. They had installed camera’s on the new SAED devices.
They just forgot to mention that, as well as taking great pictures and video, their SAED device came complete with a two way camera. They could see everyone. She had not been watching. It was deemed okay to knit, sew, eat, copulate and masturbate while watching a scheduled program, but you still had to watch. Mave had gotten away with it for a while. That was okay. There were worse things. She wondered if she was about to experience them.
“It’s all right, dear. It doesn’t matter now in any case. The thing is, each room is different. Sometimes you will have a part to play; sometimes it will be something that can harm you. You must maintain the character you’ve established in the other Rooms, the ones on the way here. You must make the public love you. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Mave nodded. “Carlotta mentioned that I had the will to last.”
Regarding her with a raised eyebrow, she lifted up her SAED device and read the screen. Mave figured that it was her file. Her suspicions were confirmed when the older woman looked up with a smile. “You will have to work together with others sometimes. They vary how they do it or how they set the rooms up ahead of time. Some of the rooms will require you to come into interaction with other people. You are not to communicate to them beyond the usual idle chit chat to get the task done. Do you understand?
“I got landed in here for those books, too.” She said. “But I don’t care. The story was worth it, you know?” Sharlene took a sip of tea and put down her cup. “In that case, why don’t we drink to something?”
She waved a hand and the tea disappeared to be replaced by two tumblers of a light brown liquid. Sharlene raised hers as Mave raised her own. “Cheers,”
Mave took a sip and the liquid warmed her all the way through. “What did you mean, about you being a prisoner?”
“All of us who work in these Rooms are prisoners, just not like you. We’ve all fought in Rooms and survived. We caught the Guiding House of Light’s eyes, you know? So they plucked us out of the game and put us in our separate Rooms. It’s not a bad way to live, really.” She motioned around them with her glass. “We do not age. I have been here so long that they allow me my creature comforts.”
“You’re like me then?”
“I was like you. This is the best you can hope for, do you understand? A life interviewing those that will die after you. If you are lucky, you will get your own Static Room, a Room that doesn’t change its shape to suit a viewer’s fancy. It is not a great life, but it is a life nonetheless. Do you understand me?”
Mave nodded slowly. A pain had entered her chest that she did not know she was capable of. “There’s no way out of here, is there? There’s no way to win the millions of Spero Credits and live out a life in luxury. We are never free.”
“Got it in one, dear. The sooner you understand that, the better.”
There was a shrill beeping noise that filled the air. Sharlene huffed and looked down at her SAED device. Mave noticed that even though Sharlene had said they were not being watched, a piece of metal had been glued over the two way camera. She frowned looking at the screen. “It seems we are out of time.”
Standing, she offered Mave her hand. “It’s been so nice talking to you.” She said. “I feel sure that we will meet in the near future. You will do well.”
Mave nodded again and realized that Sharlene had pressed a small metal object into her hand. She placed it in her pocket and could feel the outline of a small metal key. “Thank you.”
Sharlene smiled at her and it transformed her face. “You will do well.” She said again. “The next room is Processing, where your hair, make up, costume and what not will be given to you. Then you will begin. You will meet several others throughout your different Rooms. You may work with them or work alone, it is your choice to do so. Some Rooms will require the aid of someone else. You must learn to trust or mistrust quickly. The Rooms don’t give you much of a choice to do more than that before the scenario will begin. Some will seek to aid you and some will seek to harm you for their own personal gain. Do you understand?”
“Yes.” She took the final sip of her drink for courage, its fire working its way through her. “Thank you.” Mave wondered if Sharlene always talked this much, or if this was an info dump of some sort. She wasn’t a villain, so this couldn’t be a monologue. She assumed she was allowed to say something. The older woman seemed to have a lot to say to her, much like Carlotta, the dark man in the shadows,
“Don’t mention it dear.” She took both their glasses and placed them on the table, coming around it to give Mave a soft embrace. “The key will open more than you think.” She whispered into Mave’s ear. “Though it will not seem likely, you must trust your instincts. You must believe in yourself. There is a way out and I believe that you are the one to find it.”
Mave was shocked by these words but pulled back from the hug with a smile on her face. She knew that her role, her part in this, began now. She wondered if she had to pay actors dues, or something. Probably not, as she was already paying with her life.
“Do well, Mave Mallory Chase. I’ll be watching you.”
As Sharlene began to fade into darkness, Mave wondered if she ever would see the woman again. As the shadows claimed her, Mave’s last thought was of a boy with a lightning shaped scar on his forehead and the weight of the world on his shoulders.
Then the darkness was complete and she knew no more, just for a moment, as if she were floating. She was a floating cloud, a million pieces of herself that made up a whole. There was an emptiness inside her that had nothing to do with being caught. This was it. This would be the moment that solidified her spot in the game.
If she survived, she lived, becoming one of the Sparrows that had survived the flames. If she died, well, her flame would go out. It was that simple. She prayed that the winds weren’t strong. If she survived, she lived. She had to believe that, simply had to. She knew that her mother had met her father young, but her mother had survived as a free person. She wanted the same for herself.
It was hard to do. You had to have enough sponsors in the game. It was dangerous. You had to survive a simulation. You had to come out of your room intact. She knew the stories, knew the rumors. If you failed your Room, you were kept alive. You were just given another Room, a cell really. You lived out the rest of your life helping other Contestant’s. You became their mentor, but you were never free.
For some, this was alright. They became celebrities. Look at Carlotta Collins. She could become a star. She knew now that if she lieved, she was theirs anyways. Mave wondered how her mother had gained her freedom. She wondered what her mother had done to stay out of the House. Mave wondered what everyone had done.
Their neighbors, the Harvey, had lost both their son and daughter. The John’s next door had lost an aunt, three nephews and one son. The Nichol’s across from them-the husband had lost his wife and his three daughters. Poppy wondered what these people had done, what they had lowered themselves to.
If the best that Mave could hope for was to remain a Houseguest instead of being a winning Contestant, how had her mother, and everyone she knew so well and had grown up with, attain their freedom?