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I didn’t know that. I didn’t even know that Dad had been affected by the Great War. All I know is that the Great War caused the division between people. The Great War caused the CSO, and it caused people to be compartmentalised based on their genes. Ransacked and Civilised. I want to say something to comfort him, but no words come out. I want him to look at me. I want him to see how I am sorry that I never knew, and that I want a normal father-son relationship where he can tell me these things and I can listen. But he doesn’t look. Instead, he just stares in front of him and continues to walk down the stairs.
“My father would have never died if there was no conflict. My father died, and no one even remembers his name. Dying in war isn’t an honour, it is simply a brutal wake-up call for society to change its ways. My father died because people are selfish and can’t live in harmony with each other. We-” he gestures to the general outside world, “are all that is left. Once there were billions of people, now just thousands. All because of conflict and injustice. Do you understand why I need to save the world, Jasper? Think, do you really understand?” I do think, but I don’t answer him.
I think and think all the way back to Dad’s car. I think as Tyler walks up to me and says something, to which I just nod at. I think as the gang calls shots on who is going to sit where in Dad’s car. I think as I take the passenger seat next to my dad.
I am still thinking, careless about what is going on around me, even as we speed off, back to Calveron.
Chapter 19 - Emerson Clarke
As soon as I lead the gang away from Jasper and Albert, Hayden exclaims a little too loudly, “I’m glad we’re not near them anymore, I can’t stand them and their stuck-up attitudes.” He makes his way through the pack towards me, and I stop to look at him, observing his foreign and yet familiar features all at the same time. I try to remember everything about him, hoping that I won’t forget it again, hoping that I won’t forget any of the gang again.
It’s only been a few minutes, but being around them feels so natural. It feels like home.
I focus on Hayden’s jet-black hair, soft hazel eyes and his strong, tall figure. I don’t even realise that I’m staring at him until he frowns at me. “What?” he asks. “Is there something in my hair?”
I laugh and stand on my tip toes to go to mess it up. As I do, he scoops me up in a hug. “You missed me?” he says. It’s phrased like a question, but he already knows the answer.
“Not at all,” I escape his grip and he smiles loosely. He has a nice smile where it seems so natural, but something reminds me that those smiles are rarer than the most precious jewels. “You missed me though.” I tell him.
“Yeah,” he admits.
“We all did,” Aubrey comes and loops her arm through mine. “I’m glad you’re back.”
“Don’t get too excited though,” I say, trying to seem light-hearted about the whole situation. I can’t believe Jasper tried to cover for me and admitted to knowing stuff that I know he doesn’t know. What’s worse is that whatever his plan was, it backfired. I know he probably just wanted to help me, but now I’m still going to be stuck in Calveron, and he will have to find a way to lie to his dad about the location of the ring.
“Well maybe if Jasper used his voice properly and said to his dad what he knew, then you’d be able to come home with us,” Hayden says, resentment poured into every word.
“He doesn’t know anything, that’s the problem.” I snap back with just as much bitterness. I don’t know what made me mad, all of a sudden, but something about what he said set a fire inside me. Jasper defended me, and I owe it to him to repay the favour. That’s all I’m doing. Repaying a favour.
“What do you mean?” Jasper’s friend, Tyler, finally speaks. He seems nice enough, although I have been too caught up with the gang to really pay any close attention to him. I wonder if he was brought up Civilised or Ransacked. He could have been Civilised to have met Jasper and become friends with him, although that wouldn’t explain the reason why he is so comfortable with us. No, I reason, he must be Ransacked. The Civilised are never this comfortable hanging around people like us.
“I mean, Jasper doesn’t know anything.”
“Oh,” Tyler’s face falls, like he knows exactly what is going to happen to Jasper for lying. I can’t blame him. I have the same feeling lying in the pit of my stomach. You don’t need to spend that long in Calveron to realise what Albert does to people who lie. But surely, he wouldn’t punish his own son?
A moment later, Jasper and Albert return. The first thing I notice is how pale Jasper looks. He is fidgeting with his pencil, but his mind seems to be elsewhere. Tyler heads over to him and asks if he is okay, but Jasper just nods and smiles weakly. Anyone with eyes can clearly see that he is not okay.
An annoying part of me wants to go over to him and try to cheer him up, but that seems a little bit inappropriate given the circumstances. I will just have to wait to ask Jasper later what has just gone down between him and his father.
I hop in the very backseat of the car, and Hayden and Crusoe come and sit next to me. Mason, Tyler, and Aubrey hop in the middle row of the car and Jasper and Albert naturally sit in the front.
It’s awkward for a total of about three seconds, before Crusoe realises that there are computers hooked into the seats of the car and gives a whoop of excitement. He turns it on, and convinces Hayden to look too. Before you know it, Crusoe is pressing every button possible, pulling it apart, trying to figure out how it works.
While the pair of them are distracted, I catch snippets of the different conversations around the car. Mason shyly asks Tyler about Nya, who I’ve gathered is his sister. From what I’ve heard, she used to be considered dead but is really just in a special training facility for Orphans. Tyler distractedly answers Mason’s questions about her well-being, although I’m not sure why he cares. Meanwhile, Tyler has most of his attention focused on Aubrey, who is discussing with Albert about the possibility of getting her hair curled while she is at Calveron.
It is definitely an interesting conversation to witness. Aubrey is so outgoing and bold, and when she gets talking, she won’t stop. Whereas Albert only grunts and nods in response to all of her questions.
After sighing a dramatic sigh, and obviously realising that Albert doesn’t care enough to tell her whether or not they have Kitten Heels at Calveron, she turns around and gives me that look. “So, what’s with him?” She gives a not-very-subtle look towards Jasper, and the car falls silent. I feel everyone’s eyes drilling into me and all I want to do is sink into the floor and never come back.
“What do you mean?” I say stupidly. I am looking at her dead in the eyes, trying to send a message of can-we-please-talk-about-this-later-and-not-while-his-murderous-father-is-in-the-car. She gets the hint, and turns back around with a shrug, but it’s too late. Hayden has already caught on to what she was implying.
“Em,” Hayden looks at me and scrunches his eyebrows, “he’s going to hurt you.” I look at him, wondering what exactly he means. “People like him only ever want something from you, and when they have what they want, they forget to care. I don’t want anyone to forget to care about you.” He holds my hands tightly, and my head starts to spin.
“Hayden,” I whine. A deep pain settles in my throat, and I try to yell but it doesn’t come out. Great, I really don’t want a flashback right now. I need to snap myself out of it. I need air. I need to get out of the car. I need-
* * *
Thud. Thud. Thud.
