Chapter 110: Chapter 7.1
On the fourth morning, Tazmin was in the line of children waiting to visit the Whitelisted. She had a look of quiet determination as she watched the other children chatter excitedly. It felt like we were taking them on a school trip. Only three children remained behind, Harry being one of them. It seemed like Jen hadn't recovered yet, and he spend most of his time gently stroking his head, hoping it would be of comfort. With the extra numbers, Bella came with us, while Tommy and Anna stayed behind.
This time we chose not to play games that involved moving around too much as Tazmin still had a little trouble moving about. Since the night before, there was a larger space cleared, but we easily filled it with the extra children. Tazmin sat in the circle with her leg outstretched in front of her. At first, she was watchful; her gaze wondered into the crowds of whitelisted, both suspicious and curious, but after a few games of pick-up sticks, she forgot about the others bustling outside of their little circle and started to enjoy herself.
The night before, Ian had worked on recreating a board game with the supplies he had at hand; although they had to make do with a pencil sharpener, a paper clip, and various coloured erasers as counters, they were excited to play.
Theo and I were quickly roped into playing as well, and Harvey took much delight in explaining the rules to us. Around mid-day, Tazmin grew quiet and kept glancing around with an apprehensive look, no longer paying attention to the games being played.
"Are you okay?" I asked her.
She blushed slightly and shook her head. Instead, she shuffled over to Theo and muttered something in her ear. Theo rose and held out her hand with a smile. Tazmin gladly took it and was pulled into standing position, her eye cast downwards.
"I'm just going to take her to the toilet. I don't think its safe enough for her to go alone." Theo announced.
I nodded and watched them leave. But I noticed that they hovered by the entrance and there was someone on the outside stopping them leave. Concerned, and fully aware of the prejudice that was circling amongst the militants, I joined them at the entrance.
A middle aged [SS1] man stood blocking their way; he leered at Tazmin as if her apprehension was a source of humour for him. He didn't look military; his appearance was untidy to the extent it might have been called unkept. He had overgrown greying hair that stuck out at odd angles and a shadow of a beard.
His eyes glanced up when I appeared behind them and I saw a quick upturning of his mouth, but otherwise didn't acknowledge me.
"Aren't you going to give your uncle a hug?" the man asked, with a hint of sarcasm.
I watched as Tazmin's expression paled and she stared blankly ahead as if she couldn't respond.
She was frozen.
"I'm going to get upset if you don't respond. You're embarrassing me." He wore a tight, fake looking smile, and I got the impression that he was a dangerous man. From his uniform, I presumed he was a researcher of some sort.
Slight tremors set out that quickly blossomed into violent shaking. She barely kept upright, and Theo steadied her from behind.
"I don't think she wants to talk to you." Theo pressed, attempting to get him to move.
"She's a smart kid, I think she can tell me that herself."
"Tasmin, should we go back now?" Theo asked, but it was as if she could no longer hear. Regardless, she allowed Theo to lead her away from the small crowd that was forming behind me. I followed behind, while keeping one eye on behind us. He stood at the Whitelisted entrance watching us go, with a gratified smirk, completely unfazed by the people grumbling as they had to move around him to exit. He watched us until we were out of sight. I escorted them back to the medical ward, but Tazmin didn't even seem to notice. It was as if she'd turned her mind off and was running completely on autopilot. We sat her on her bed and Theo draped a blanket over her shoulders. Then she blinked, and she was suddenly back, the sensation suddenly knocking her back into reality.
"What's wrong? Why are you back so early?" Tommy asked, appearing from the back of the ward. I wasn't sure what Anna had him doing all this time, but it seemed to keep him busy.
"We just had another run in." Theo summarised quickly.
"Why am I shaking so much?" Tazmin muttered, her expression still a blank sheet. "I don't get it. I wasn't afraid before. I don't get it." She looked at me as if I could provide an answer, curiously and somewhat detached.
"It's okay to be scared." I comforted her.
"Who was he?" Theo asked, draping a blanket over her shoulders.
"…One of my dad's colleagues." She answered slowly. Her teeth chattered despite the blanket.
"What did he do to you?" Theo probed.
She opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out, her eyes watered, and she shook her head violently.
"It's okay." Theo soothed. Tazmin rested on the side of her bed and her fox shadow jumped up into her lap. She absent-mindedly began fussing her, and I sure I heard her purr. "What's your shadows name?" She changed tactics.
"Her name is Miki." She looked down at the fox affectionately and tickled her under the chin.
"That's a very cute name, I can tell you love her a lot."
"When I was younger, she was my only friend." Tazmin started to relax, and her expression softened.
"It's the same with Shadow. I wouldn't have survived without him." I agreed.
"Rex has got me out of a lot of trouble before. I don't know where I'd be without him." Tommy smiled warmly, trying to give comfort.
A moment of silence passes between us, then I hear a small sigh escape from her, "I just wanted to be brave." She whispered.
"You were brave. Part of being brave, is being scared." Theo retorted.
"But I couldn't do anything, and I kept shaking." She sounded disappointed in herself.
"It's okay-" Theo started but was interrupted by Raven appearing in the doorway. She dramatically forces the doors open on each side and strides in, each door folding shut behind her, closing her in.
"-That was quite smart to use the innocence of children to charm the whitelisted." She erupts. She didn't look angry, but she definitely didn't know how to read the room. Each of us stare at her for her outburst, but she didn't seem to be fazed. In fact, she seemed pretty pleased with herself, and I get an uneasy feeling that things are about to get worse for us.
"We're not your enemy Raven, we just want to protect the children." Theo sighed, not in the least bit taken in by her exclamation.
"Protect a bunch of children over protecting your nation? How naive." She spat.
"They deserve to be protected, like everyone else here." Theo put a comforting hand on Tazmins shoulder
She smiles slyly, sending an uncomfortable shiver down our spines. "Here." She hands us a document, and Theo steps forwards to take it. "I'm looking forward to your response." She adds before taking her leave.
"What is it?" I ask, peering over her shoulder.
"What does it say?" Tommy peered over the top of it, knowing full well he couldn't read Reagan.
"Both of you give me some space, I need to make sense of this." She knocked us off numbly and flops onto an empty bed.
Tommy and I look at each other, then at Theo, watching her confused expression deepen with concern. She flips over pages after pages, each one quicker than the last as she scans what's written but understands little of it. She lingers on the last page and stands abruptly, "Ezra, get the children back here now. I need to speak with Ian, maybe he'll know what to do."
"What's happened?" Tommy asks, dread blossoming on his expression.
"Just do it. I'm sorry Tazmin, but this is really important."
Tazmin nodded timidly. With a quick stride, I followed Theo back to the Whitelisted, perplexed and uneasy. She doesn't give any explanation and I trail after her in silence, knowing it was useless to try and get her to explain before she was ready. My mind reeled with terrible possibilities of what that article could contain.
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sophie10smail
sophie10smail Sorry, it's taken so long to update! Hope you enjoy the chapter, I will be updating more regularly now until I finish this volume. If you like it, please give a comment or review!
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