If I had a chance at escaping I had to get out of this room as much as possible. Maybe I could pretend that I’d converted to whatever crap it was they believed. If they trusted me, I could get out. I’d glanced through the She Is The Light book last night but on page one where it basically referred to me as a door that needed opening – not a person – I threw it back on the bookshelf like the other one.
Taking a deep breath, I slipped on a pair of sandals, knocked on the door and waited. The lock clicked and then my mother was standing before me. I couldn’t just go from telling them all to do one to converted Eternal Light member because they’d know it was fake, so I scowled.
“You look beautiful, Scarlett.”
“Where’re you taking me?” I asked coldly.
“We will meet your father outside and show you around.”
“Will Noah be there?”
She looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “He is around, yes.”
I wanted to refuse to go. He was the last person on the planet I wanted to see.
“Well, he can go to hell.”
Wisely, she said nothing and just pursed her lips. In her eyes, he was a damn hero. To me, he was the enemy. He was the worst one, pretending to love me.
Arsehole.
I followed her out of the cute, log cabin style house and stood on the deck. Every other house was the same, and I had a feeling they built them all themselves. A large meadow to the left of the settlement stretched on as far as the eye can see and to the right was thick forest. I had no idea where I was or where the nearest town was.
A sense of hopelessness knocked the air from my lungs, and I fought to stay positive. It wasn’t over yet. I had to focus on that. I wasn’t doomed yet.
Gulping, I took another step, following Fiona. I can do this. The forest was probably my best bet. If I ran across the meadow, they would see me straight away. But I wasn’t sure when I’d be left alone long enough to make my escape. And I had no idea how big the forest was.
I was getting too ahead of myself. First I had to work out how I would escape and then I could worry about where I would escape to. For now, just fall in line.
“How many people live here?” I asked, emotionlessly. I wanted to sound bored for a while longer. I had to remain angry for another day or so before slowly starting to fit in. There was a danger that they’d see through it, but my options were limited to two: fight or die.
“Thirty-nine,” she replied.
That was what I was dying for. So thirty-nine people could supposedly live for eternity in some magical world Donald and Fiona cooked up. Still, people had been killed for less.
“Wow, that’s a lot of people you’ve brainwashed. Nice one.”
She stopped and turned to me. I worried that I’d overstepped the mark. If she thought I believed they’d been completely brainwashed, then she wouldn’t trust me when I started to listen. Had I gone too far?
“It is not brainwashing, Scarlett. From the age of four you have had your mind trapped within society’s walls. Free it now, let me help you, and you will see the truth. You are The Light.”
I wanted to laugh in her face. I was human. Who does she think she is? I wondered if she’d always been like that – crazy – or if someone made her believe the things she lived by. Eternal Light was older than me. They were going to kill me when I turned four, and you didn’t just decide to do that five minutes after creating a cult or religion – or whatever they wanted to call it.
Half of me wanted to appeal to her as her biological daughter. I thought it was just engrained on you when you gave birth: protect child at all cost. That was how it was supposed to be. Parents were meant to die for their children, not be the ones hurting them.
“We’ll see,” I replied, walking off.
Three people stood on high alert. Spinning to face me, thinking I was going to run, ready to pounce. They didn’t give me much credit if they thought I would run in broad daylight with everyone around.
Fiona held her hand up, and they immediately relaxed. “Do not be alarmed, I am just showing Scarlett around.”
One of them, a plump lady wearing a long skirt and apron, nodded. She looked maternal. Surely she wouldn’t stand by as someone drove a knife into me? Or however they were going to do it.
“Welcome, Scarlett, I am Judith,” the plump lady said. “This is my husband Bill and son Terry. Oh, it is lovely to see you again. It has been so long, sweetheart.”
She knew me before. When I was just a little child. My heart sank with the realisation that she wouldn’t help, if she was willing to stand back and let a four-year-old be killed then she wouldn’t help me at sixteen.
I gritted my teeth and stared. What’s wrong with you?
“Ah, there are my two girls,” Donald said, coming out of one of the houses.
“And there you are,” Fiona replied. “Are you joining us on the tour?”
“I wish I could, but I have business to attend to. Will you be alright on your own?”
Fiona nodded. “Of course.”