Daughter 4254

Chapter 23

My eyes flew open with the lights. I didn’t think I would sleep at all, much less so deeply. I took a deep breath and sprang into action. I couldn’t be late -- plans had to be set in motion.

  I sifted through my meager belongings, selecting only what would fit in my bag without making it to conspicuous. I thought about what I might need for the next phase of my plan, I had collected a few odds and ends as carefully as I could over the past weeks. A dull knife was my most prized possession. I packed it securely in the bottom of my bag along with a flashlight I’d fashioned from the technology room spare parts and a small paper atlas I’d come across that showed the entire community and surrounding areas in great detail. It had been marked with a security device which I easily pealed from between the pages and stuck it under the table in the library. The process ruined part of the maps of the urban sections of the community but I had no plan to visit those.

I left my bag and quickly cleaned myself in the wash room. I didn’t want to see 0203 today. I had thought about it last night while I was dozing off and decided it would be best if we didn’t meet at all. If I hurried I could miss her, but I was too late. The washroom door opened with a thud.

  “Where did you go last night?” She had her hands on her hips and looked me straight in the eye.

  I jumped a little before I answered, not making eye contact, “I had something to do.”

  “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” she made little clicking noises with her tongue as she shook her head, mimicking a a disappointed Leader, then asked, “Did you get caught?”

  “Actually, yes.” I looked at her dead on this time, “How did you know?”

  “You look guilty. What happened?” She was getting out her grooming supplies and seemed to be only half listening.

  “I heard someone coming and I hid in the receptacle,” I started.

  “Ooh! Good plan!” She smiled into the mirror at me but I could tell she was being sarcastic.

  “It was so strange 0203,” I was too curious not to ask her. “A guard came, banging his disciplinary stick on the walls as he walked, that’s how I knew he was coming, and when he got to the recycler it’s like he knew I was in there. He banged it and looked right in at me. But he didn’t do anything,” I hesitated to finish the sentence.

  0203 turned to face me, “What do you mean he didn’t do anything? What did he just stare at you or wave or what?”

  “Well, actually,” I bit my lower lip, “He spit on me.”

 “Ha!” 0203 cackled her high and delightful laugh. “That was 4466! He’s completely blind! He bangs that stick around so he knows where he’s going. He probably did know you were there but felt stupid for not being able to see in the dark. That’s fantastic. You’re one lucky sucker. Do you know that?”

  “If he’s blind what’s he doing working as a night guard?” My stomach turned in a knot again at the thought of how close I had been to getting caught.

  “He’s been here for ages. Only a handful of people know just how blind he really is. He got one of the office workers to fudge a vision test for him on his last review but you can bet the next one will be sending him off to final use.” She snorted as she turned back to her grooming.

  The lightness in her attitude as she talked about “his final use” clenched my throat. I thought of my own mother, of the unfairness of it all. Just because a person isn’t exactly like the rest of the population doesn’t mean they deserve to die. That much was solidified in my heart and mind. I couldn’t laugh at it. I patted myself dry and turned to leave.