STEEL (The Aurum Trilogy Book 1)

Chapter 11

ELEVEN

Jonathan

I woke up on Lauren's bedside still holding her hand. She was still asleep. I watched her chest rise and fall as she released little puffs which made me smile because I thought it was cute. I didn't leave her there. I just watched her sleep. She looked so peaceful and worry-free. I watched her there, thinking that I'd forget and leave everything behind just to wake up next to her every single morning-the sunlight shining on her face and my hand holding hers.

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It was raining outside so I couldn't leave the house. Lauren was already awake and insisted that she eat the soup that Coeline had prepared for her herself. Coeline managed to borrow an old television from her neighbor which pretty much required me time to fix before we could even see what we were watching. I tried my best but all the television could produce was a black and white screen which occasionally fade out or turn static. There wasn't any remote control. I had to stand up and press several buttons below the screen which were worn out and needed much pressure before they can even function. I wanted to thrash the TV out but it was the only thing entertaining Lauren. Sure I could talk to her but I bet she won't respond much. She had turned silent recently, maybe it was because of her mother's sudden death. I always find her staring into space and whenever I'd take her hand, she wouldn't move, she'd stay perfectly still and wait for me to let her go. I could sense that she was avoiding me as well. I tried searching for reasons on why she was treating me this way. I thought everything was fine, turns out it wasn't.

"Jonathan, would you take care of Dad for me?" Lauren asked and I turned to face her. She looked weak with a bandage around her head, arms and lower back.

"Of course." I answered without hesitating. "Why would you ask?"

"Nothing." she replied.

"You don't ask unless you want to know something."

"I wanted to know if you're capable of taking him in once I'm gone."

"Don't say that." I told her. Her voice sounded as if she was already saying goodbye.

"Jonathan," she started again putting down the bowl as she finished her soup. "Could we..."

Her voice was cut off by loud static noise of the television. Lauren quickly covered her ears and I stood up and switched channels. There wasn't much channels or TV shows here in Aurum. Programs aired on television are approved by The Control most of them running from the category of documentaries and factual films to news programs which only broadcasted good news about our government. Funny how good they were in concealing all the damages they made. They feature the rich and wealthy people and convince the people to keep following orders, doing it as they did. They always show us past flicks of the Division War and tell us that without the order formed by The Control, divisions would still be at war now. If they hadn't segregated us according to class, we would've been stuck in the same muddle through all the years. They said that our classification according to social stature made our lives easier and provided us with more resources and increased our income. But who are they kidding. We all knew the truth. The citizens that benefited this set up were the rich ones and unfortunately, it included my family.

I turned the television off and yank off its plug. I plug it back again and turn it on again. Lauren tells me that we're fortunate to have a plug and some electricity since other houses in Division 37 had a poor power source.

"You should try living in Division 38." she began. "Most nights, we have no power at all. We always use candles and lanterns."

I kept fussing with the TV until the screen lit up again, still black and white and Lauren and I stumbled upon an airing news program.