Chapter 3

A Chapter by Isa Ruffatti

“Mervie, let your brother be!” Mother had hollered, “What is so chaotic about being different?” and she’d remained silent (not before swearing by all her ancestors that if a certain Massimo had kept his mind in sculpture and had not strayed into politics this would never had happened) as she flopped down on her armchair as if worn-out by the outburst. “The People don’t swear Mother” Mervie had snapped icily after a minute or two but when her mother didn’t budge from her seat she’d given up talking to her. “Goodnight” was the last thing she’d said to her in hours and Mervie had lain awake in bed well until midnight. She remembered that when she was little Mother had always had a smile on her face especially for her and Spence but just a few months before, after Father had disappeared the Mother she had known for most of her life was gone. The once jolly woman who had radiated such warmth to her children now lived in cold rage, which she suspected had been there the whole time, laid back until something to do with Father´s disappearance triggered it. But why? The question was enough to keep her awake for hours. Her eyes slid to the Happy Pills everyone took once in a while “Those pills give me the creeps Mervie, you are strong enough to go without them” Spence had shuddered at the mere thought of the pills sitting in Mervie’s night table. She shrugged at this, everyone took Happy Pills, and everyone was perfectly happy afterwards, it would probably clear her head up a little. She plucked a little Happy Pill from its case and eyed it, “Why shouldn’t I trust a petty little pill like you?”

Mervie took the hoverbus the next day. Both Mother and Spence walked everywhere they went and expected Mervie to do the same. But now, the hoverbus looked to Mervie the easiest way to go to school. Every single edge seemed soft and comfy to Mervie and she sighed pleasantly as she sat down and told the smiling driver where she wanted to go. Still, she could not help but doubt the strange feeling that seeped into her. Euphoria, she thought impassively. Now, if we should all look outside Mervie’s mind we would find it too cold to go out in a simple shirt and pants but the Happy Pills she’d taken were full of laudanum and so she remained ignorant to the shudder that shook some of the guards and low-ranking officials and as they basically being the government´s eyes and ears, were prohibited by the law on pain of death to take Happy Pills and so could feel something was erroneously wrong, not to mention the strange white little things that slowly poured from the sky. In their wide eyed glare was a mingled feeling of both fear and extreme curiosity. One sole official, however, clad in black, the color of high ranking officials, did recognize the wet little puffs as nothing as simple as snow. He slyly slid into a dark corner and whispered into his interference cuff “Zane Goodman here. Prepare for lockdown, there’s some nasty outsider wrecking our system”.

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