Counterfeit

-fortynine--

--fortynine- PLEASE COMMENT THROUGHOUT THE CHAPTER GUYS! 

"WHAT INFORMATION IS it that you need?" 

Charleston sighed deeply, his body collapsing into the seat as he did so. I could tell exactly what he was feeling just from the way he took his breaths. I knew, because I felt the same way too. 

"Everything." He answered. "How they get access to all the medication they have, how their system here in The Dormir works, including The Alternation and the Hibernation Pods." I still didn't what the Hibernation Pods were. I wasn't sure I wanted to. If they had the ability to change my memories, there was no guessing as to what else they could do. 

 "We want to know what their aim is, what they're doing to all the camp residents, how it affects them. And you... How it's affecting you right now." 

A shiver ran along my spine that had nothing to do with the winds in the room. "Me?" 

He nodded. "You, Pip." 

"That what you meant when you said I was your Inside-man?" 

Another nod. 

"Explain it to me. Please." 

With contemplation, he came over to me. Everything seemed to slow down when his skin reached my skin. He took hold of my left hand and rolled the sleeve of my jumper up my forearm, revealing my tattoo. 

I knew it so well. 

It was strange, I figured out in that moment; before he came here, it was like I knew I was forgetting things without actually being aware of it at the same time. That I could feel parts of me erasing slowly, but the emptiness left behind consumed the knowledge that I had ever owned something to even lose. 

Yet, at the same time when all those memories were leaving me, I was making new ones, remembering things, places, details. 

I could tell you the exact amount of lines tattooed onto the determiner on my skin, but I couldn't have told you a single thing about the boy I loved. What had I done? 

His touch brought me back into focus. He didn't speak, but his eyes - he told me I was okay. That I was safe with him. 

 "This tattoo is both saving you and harming you at the same time. And I bet you don't even know what it means." 

He was right.  In ten months, three hundred-and-four days, forty-three weeks, I had not been able to understand two individual letters etched into my skin.

'RD'

That was all it said. Around it, a thin black circle crossing through a tiny freckle I had. But I didn't know what it mean. Who it meant I was. 

There of course were three variations of tattoos in The Dormir, and mine was one of them. 'The middle-class campmates', as Kinley liked to say, presumably because his was the most commonly occurring, therefore he liked to think it meant he was an upper-class campmate. Even I knew that was wrong. 

MiKinley's was different than mine. This terrified me long before Charleston told me it should. And Thea's was different than both of ours. Who would I lose? Someone, guaranteed. 

MiKinley's tattoo was very much alike mine. In fact, they were all almost identical, contrasting only in terms of the two letters. MiKinley's: 

'IR'

And then Thea's, the rarest of all the tattoos in The Dormir, perhaps only 30 people at most: 

'IN'

Ava and Patrick were the same as me, but now, that wasn't much of a relief. After all, it was only a moment ago that Charleston had told me it wasn't all good news. 

There were others, too. Gus, Alistair, Harriet and Billie who joined us for suppers, friends of all ages around the Camp. They were people who were supposed to be safe. That was why we were all here: to be safe. And now - for some, a death sentence? If injustices were toxic, the whole world would be dead. 

I looked to Charleston, waiting. Braving my fate. He answered. 

"Research Development." 

-fortynine--

12/12/17

Quite like this chapter!!

You finally know (sorta) what the tattoos are! Well, you know Pip's and what her's means.

Does her tattoo sound good to you? I'm really interested to know this.

Thank you so much to all you wonderful people who read this! I cannot say enough how happy your comments make me. Truly, I adore you.

Book 1, Part 2 is coming. Be prepared.

- 

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

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Isaiah 40:31 

Really trying to remember this verse at the moment. 💜