Staring at my reflection in the mirror I am jolted by the face looking back at me. Who is this person whose face breathes out winter’s breath? Snow white hair faded blue eyes and skin folded into crepey wrinkles. Being in this place has forced me to review myself and where I belong in this world now that I have been removed from the mainstream. I thought I had more time before I would be sidelined to the homes for the unwanted. I look inside and see down to the bone the adamantine will to live this life fully until the very end.
Retirement, it was forced upon me by the state at an arbitrary moment in time that the OverSeer stamped out. Day, date, and year calculated through the time machine redefining my value from producing unit to non-producing unit. I was then forcefully moved out of my comfortable home into this sterile box and left to die from stagnation; bored into a state of willful suicide.
Fiercely my eyes connect with my shadow self in the mirror; I draw upon the adamant at my core. I do not accept society sidelining me. I draw myself up, turn on my heel, and leave my room. I will find a way out of this waiting room of death, this state of purgatory.
I enter the central gathering room and see people, my contemporaries sitting staring into space; disengaged, mindless automatons. I scan the room, looking for a light, a flicker of awareness; something, anything. With a silent clash, my eyes connect with the recognition of a similar perception. I quickly make my way across the room to the man seated by the window.
The seats surrounding the man were empty a distinct state of segregation. I slid into the seat next to him and put out my hand.
‘Naomi Weatherford,’I said.
A slight smile curved his lips ‘Jack Bannon,’ he replied as he took my hand.
‘So Jack, You don’t mind if I call you Jack? What do we need to do to get out of this mind-numbing hellhole?’ I asked.
‘Haven’t you just arrived?’ he responded.
The smile crept up to his eyes, lighting them from within. “So Naomi, You don’t mind me calling Naomi, hmm? What makes you think I want to get out of this captivating wasteland.’
‘You are still amongst the living, you are still engaging and connecting and you appear to be the only one who is,’ I replied.
I cut my eyes across the others in the room; the disconnection to the living world was appalling. Well-groomed bodies with vacant faces, eyes staring into the middle distance. I abruptly turned back to Jack.
‘How long does it take for them to become like this?’ I asked. A cold feeling crept through my soul as my eyes took in all the still, silent people in the room.
‘Well, it depends,’ he said ‘if you take your supplements about a week, once you are hooked on them about three months till termination.’
My eyes flashed back to his face. ‘What!’
A chime rang through the room and a glass of water and three capsules materialised on the tray attached to the chair. Appalled I stared at the arrangement then looked at Jack who raised an eyebrow. It is one thing to think in the privacy of your mind that the OverSeer is erasing the non-producing units another to have it shoved into your face. I watched the others in the room swallowing their capsules. Again I looked at Jack.
‘Decision time,’ he said lifting his tablets.
Jack lifted the green capsule put it in his mouth and washed it down with water. ‘Nutrition,’ he said.
Staring directly into his eyes I copied his actions.
He lifted the blue capsule, repeated his actions. ‘Hydration.’
Again I mimicked his actions.
He lifted the third red capsule. His finger did an odd little twist and the capsule came apart, the powder dropping into his palm. ‘Sedation,’ he swallowed the empty capsule pieces with his remaining water. Eyes steady on me the whole time.
I picked up the red capsule. ‘And so we become partners in crime,’ I said as I attempted to copy his finger twist.
I broke the capsule open but the power fell onto the table. Jack swiftly reached over and swept it into his hand as I swallowed the empty capsule and gulped down the rest of my water.
‘The table is weight-sensitive, if you leave a capsule you will get a visit from the Keepers,’ he said ‘it is the only time I have seen them.’
‘What do you do with the powder?’ I asked.
A quick grin flashed across his face as he rubbed his hand into the chairs seam.
‘You obviously have a plan to get out of here, so what is it?’
‘I have been waiting for an accomplice and here you are’ he said, ‘Tablet delivery morning and night at eight o’clock, we have 12 hours to accomplice a retreat for Club Somnolence. We have been sent here because we have met our expiry date. We are not going to be able to go back to the cities. They don’t want old people there. We need somewhere to go, food and money and we need to figure out the security around this place. Are you up for this?’ He asked.
‘Hell yeah, I may be good for the money and the place,’ I replied.
I leaned in closer to Jack. ‘I had intended to get out of the city earlier and I purchased a little block of land with a cabin on it up in the mountains but I got caught up in new projects at work and left it too late.’
‘I know what you mean, I too got caught up in in the business of my life; thinking I would have time to get myself sorted. But you never know the day the Overseer is going to stamp you out of the system. I think it comes as a surprise to everyone when they wake up in the Home for the unwanted,’ Jack responded. The state takes all your assets when you are delivered here; they would have capitalised on your bit of land.’
‘Not necessarily,’ I replied.
That little quirk of the lips appeared again and one eyebrow raised in a silent question.
‘I put it into my grandson’s name along with a bank account with my investments. As they kindly deposited my clothes and accessories with me here I still hold the ID chip,’ I said.
The grin spilled over his lips and his eyes twinkled with delight. ‘Naomi you are brilliant,’ he responded. ‘I am not coming to this party empty-handed; I have an old truck put up at a friend's place with a few other odds and ends.’
‘We have the ways and means but we still need to get out of this place. Any thoughts?’
‘This place is like a wheel. All the rooms are along the spokes filtering into this central hub. Aside from the skylights both here and in our rooms, we don’t appear to have any external access points. A bonus is that we are both along the same spoke. What is your room number?’ He asked.
‘Ninety-six,’ I replied.
‘Even better’ he chortled, ‘I am in ninety-four so we are neighbours. The problem is they do lock us in at night’
‘We are locked in and there is no obvious exit to the outside,’ I mused.
Jack settled back in his seat. ‘I have a secret weapon,’ he said. ‘Just like your personal accessories, mine came along with me too. My Swiss Army Knife is always in my jacket pocket, I think I could remove the attachments to the skylights in our rooms. After lockdown tonight we could climb through the skylight and escape over the roof. Would you be able to get yourself out of the skylight?’
‘Please, I am as fit as a horse, I can lift my body-weight out of a hole in the roof,’ I retorted.
We both sat quietly for a moment. Thinking. I watched the others in the room randomly get up out of their chairs and wander off down the corridor spokes and then return to their seats. Soft murmurs fill the room as people mumbled to themselves. There was a background drone from the vidscreen filling the room with white noise. Jack’s hand reached out and took mine; between our clasped hands was a hard object, the Swiss Army Knife.
‘Is our plan a go?’ Jack quietly asked.
I looked sideways at him, I was throwing my lot in with someone I had only met a few hours ago. Had incarceration in this place made me crazy? The warmth and life in his blue eyes reassured me, crazy or not I will take the risk.
‘Roger, Jack, it is a go,’ I said.
I clasped the Swiss Army Knife and wandered off to my room to use the toilet and unscrew the skylight.
After an endless time of sitting staring into space with an occasional word to Jack finally, the chimes sounded, and the glass and three capsules appeared on the table. It was eight pm, we completed our actions from the morning. Within a short space of time, I noticed the lights were beginning to dim. I turned to Jack ‘early to bed, early to rise huh?’
He reached for my hand and brought it to his lips. ‘Tomorrow will be a new day and we will choose for ourselves,’ he said.
I smiled. ‘See you soon,’ I murmured and left for my room.
I dressed myself all in black and tied a black scarf over my white hair. I packed a small bag with the things I wanted to take with me, checking the money chip was still there and sat on the bed to wait for Jack’s signal. Before too much time had passed the skylight above my head lifted and Jack’s face appeared in the opening. I threw up my bag to him.
I walked across and I stood before the mirror I looked at the face looking back at me. I know this person whose face displays winter’s grace. Snow white hair faded blue eyes and skin folded into crepey wrinkles. This home for the unwanted will not hold me. I look inside and see down to the bone the adamantine will to live this life fully until the very end.
I turned; climbed onto the bed and sprung up to catch the rim of the skylight and pull myself into Jack’s embrace. Together we crept across the rooftop until we reached the edge nearest the trees and like young children; we jumped down and ran into the trees as lights came on in the grounds of the home for the unwanted.
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