Terranovus

I was tired, sore, angry and hating life when I walked through the door of my home and found my parents beside themselves with worry. They had presumed the worst when they heard of the commotion at the square and at the sight of my damaged shoulder they immediately called the Army and demanded to know what happened.

The Army escorted me to the hospital where my dislocated shoulder was put back into place with some general anaesthetic. After I awoke from surgery, I was immediately interrogated by the Army. It took all the control I had to lie and tell them a group of angry and jealous people took me back to their home, with plans to use me for ransom but fortunately whilst they were arguing amongst themselves I was able to slip out and escape. At the beginning, I wasn’t quite sure if my story was believable but once my tears started they definitely believed me.

In the early hours of the morning, I was discharged and my family were escorted back home where were we placed under twenty-four hour security. Due to my injury, our flight to Terranovus was delayed by one day. That night and following day I slept pitifully and switched off my Ingo, sick of the thousands of messages from strangers who either envied me, wished me luck or sent me death threats yet sent me friend requests at the same time. Television networks contacted my parents, desperate for interviews, and offered lots of money. Dad told them no despite mum’s eagerness, she wanted the money to help the family shelter. To pass time and to distract myself, I found my Kindle was my only sanctuary. It was bliss to be able to jump into another world and temporary submerge myself in someone else’s drama.

A soft knock on my bedroom door pulled me out of the story I was reading.

“Tabitha, can I please come in hunni? I’ve got some water for you, I thought you might be thirsty,” my mum said from outside. I laid my Kindle down and rolled my eyes. This was the tenth time today she had found a reason to come into my room.

“Sure,” I responded. The door handle twisted and my mum appeared looking worried. She walked forward holding the glass of water and gently placed it on my bedside table.

“Is your shoulder still hurting?” she asked and studied my sling.

“No,” I replied, “I just took some painkillers not that long ago.” My mum sat down on the edge of my bed and looked at me sadly. I could feel my frustration reaching a boiling point.

“Can you please stop looking at me like that?” I snapped at her. She looked at me seriously.

“What you’ve been through wasn’t the best start to a new opportunity like this but aren’t you at all happy about living in Terranovus?” she asked. I bit down hard on my lip to stop myself from blurting the truth.

“I’m happy here Mum. I don’t want to say goodbye to my friends. This is my home. I don’t want to leave them,” I said.

“Is that why you’ve been ignoring Tommy?” she asked. I felt myself beginning to blush and looked away shamefully. Mum continued, “that boy has been messaging your father and I non-stop. He cares about you Tilly, you know he does and I know you are upset about leaving him and that’s why he’s outside in the kitchen right now.”

My stomach did a somersault.

“Are you serious?” I asked her. She nodded and I groaned, “why did you invite him over Mum?”

“No matter how hard goodbyes are, they’re something that needs to be done. Now get out of bed and look presentable,” she snapped and I rolled my eyes. Great, bloody fantastic, another person I had to lie to.

Ten minutes later I had changed out of my trackies and into my leggings (which may I add, is an incredible feat with just one hand) and quickly tidied my room by shoving everything on the floor under the bed. I turned to my door, took a deep breath then twisted the door handle.

He sat awkwardly at the dining table holding a glass of water untouched. The moment I entered the room his head snapped up and looked at me. His tired eyes quickly scanned over my appearance and despite my arm, he appeared relieved to find me relatively unharmed. He stood up from the table and stared at me.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” I awkwardly said back and together we glanced at my parents who were non-conspicuously watching us from the open kitchen. I rolled my eyes.

“Want to come into my room?” I asked. He nodded and I threw my parents a not-at-all-impressed look as I shut my bedroom door behind us.

I turned round and found Tommy staring at me heartbroken.

“Tilly,” he whispered, the pain in his voice was clearly audible.

“Don’t,” I replied tearfully. I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t want the sympathy. I didn’t want the sadness. I didn’t want to go to Terranovus. I didn’t want to be forced to spy against my will. I didn’t want Tommy’s life in my hands.

Suddenly I found myself by Tommy’s side, with his big warm arms wrapped around me. The tears I was trying so hard to hold back finally surfaced and ran down my cheeks.

“It’s okay,” he said and gently rubbed my back. I sobbed harder into his shoulder.

“No it’s not,” I told him.

“Tell me what happened,” he said, “from the start.” I took a deep breath and thought back to the crowd, the car, the basement, Geoff and Flynt. They told me not to tell him, not to tell anyone. But this was Tommy, I couldn’t lie to him.

Suddenly I was very aware of how quiet my parents were, and these walls were like paper.

“Not here,” I whispered to him then beckoned my head over towards the fire escape stairs outside my bedroom window. He smiled and nodded. And with my mind made up, I slid open my bedroom window and climbed out. If Tommy’s life was in danger he had the right to know.

A little while later Tommy and I were sitting on north section of the rooftop admiring the city lights and watching the sunset. I had told him everything, every little detail and I hadn’t regretted it at all.

“Why would the Commander lie about the lottery?” Tommy asked. I shrugged my shoulders and sighed.

“I don’t know,” I respond, then remembered what Geoff had said, “to keep the peace probably. Could you imagine the riots if the Sectors knew?” Tommy let out a chuckle.

“They’re already rioting because an engineer for the Army was chosen,” he said. That was true, if the Sectors knew the lottery was fake there would be a world war on our hands. Tommy continued, “so what we know for sure is that the Commander is choosing geeks to move to Terranovus, what else would those rebels think he’s hiding?” asked Tommy. I poked him in the ribs playfully.

“Oi! I’m not a geek,” I protested. He turned to me laughing.

“Are you sure about that Miss I-got-99.99%-in-my-Graphic-Communications-subject?” he said with a large smirk plastered across his face. I grabbed a fistfull of the dust lying around me and threw it at him.

“Oi!” he cried and shook the dust out of his hair.

“I’ve not a clue what else the Army has planned but those men were crazy and desperate though, did you know such a rebellion existed?” I asked. With all dust gone, Tommy thought for a moment then shrugged.

“I’ve heard rumours of some people who don’t like the Army, who believe there’s an alternative system of controlling population numbers. Come on, it’s not like the Army are doing a brilliant job keeping this world on its feet.”

“That’s true,” I said. We fell silent and as Tommy stared out at the night city I couldn’t help but watch him. His eyes were alive with ideas and thoughts running wild through his mind.

“I’m sorry you’re involved in this,” I told him.

“It’s not your fault,” he said. “It’s just a bit surreal isn’t it?

“You can say that again,” I mumbled. At that moment we heard footsteps climbing the fire escape stairs and we immediately fell silent.

“I thought you two were hiding up here,” we heard my mum’s laugh. We sheepishly turned to her and smiled back. She placed a pile of blankets at our feet handed us two containers of hot pumpkin soup.

“Thanks mum,” I said.

“This is awesome, thanks Mrs V!” said Tommy. Mum laughed and placed her hands on her hips and looked down at me concerned.

“Are you feeling better?” she asked.

“Much,” I replied.

“Good,” she said, “and how’s your arm?”

“It’s fine, the painkillers are still going strong,” I told her. Mum nodded.

“Right,” she said, “don’t you two stay out too late. I’ll keep the window open for you.”

“Thanks!” Tommy and I yelled after her as she made her descent back down the stairs.

Together, Tommy and I quickly tucked into our dinners and gazed out at the city. I tried to imagine a place with no skyscrapers. A place filled with parks, gardens and lots of trees. I wondered if Terranovus would have the same birds that we have, seagulls and pigeons. Some people owned cats and dogs but it was uncommon because animals were expensive and required a lot of space. Perhaps we could own a dog in Terranovus.

Simon loved dogs. He would be so jealous.

My heart skipped a beat as I thought of Simon and Jack.

“Would Simon and Jack hate me?” I asked Tommy. He nearly choked on his soup.

“What? Why would you think that?”

“Cause I’ve said goodbye to you, and not them?” Tommy shook his head and swallowed another spoonful of soup.

“Nah, they’ll understand. They’ve always known I’ve been your favourite anyway,” he joked. I laughed at that and gently nudged him with my good arm.

“You three are going to get up to so much mischief without me,” I said.

“Me?” laughed Tommy, “don’t you mean Jack?” I snorted into my soup and Tommy sniggered. He always found my snorts hilarious.

After we had finished our soups and set the empty containers to the side, we gazed out at the city and darkening sky. The beautiful sight of twinkling lights and chime of the trams never bored me. After a while I started shivering so Tommy shimmied closer and wrapped the blankets tightly around us.

All of a sudden I was awfully glad Simon and Jack weren’t here.

“What will you miss the most?” softly asked Tommy. I thought for a moment, there were so many options to choose from: my friends, my home, the streets...

“Everything,” I responded. Tommy poked my ribs and I giggled.

“That’s cheating. What will you miss the most, the one singular thing you will struggle the most without?” he asked seriously.

At those words I turned to him and saw the sincerity in his eyes. I admired him for a moment, and watched the last ray of light reflect against his soft brown hair. I traced his strong jawline down to his lips that were naturally quite pink.

“You, I’m going to miss you the most.”

He tilted his head, and as he did so, I closed my eyes and felt him lean forward until his lips fell on mine. Immediately we started moving in sync. He kissed with such confidence and sincerity, I tried to best to follow suit. It felt so good, so right, so meant to be. He brushed a hand through my hair and placed it gently behind my head. He tasted sweet, and hilariously slightly pumpkinish. After a few seconds we broke apart and rested our foreheads together, our noses slightly touching.

“Please don’t leave,” he begged. I felt my heart shatter and tears began to roll down my cheeks again.

“We have to. I asked Mum. We don’t have a choice,” I cried. Heartbroken, Tommy pulled me towards him and wrapped his arms around me. As I sobbed harder and tears splashed onto his chest, he made shushing sounds and slowly rocked me back and forth whilst rubbing my back. Eventually I calmed down and he wiped away my tears. I looked up at him and he looked back at me with a strong fierceness I had never seen before.

“I love you Tilly. My only regret is not telling you years ago,” he said. I smiled at that.

“Years ago? Since when?” I asked.

“Since you were five,” he responded. I grinned and slapped him across his chest.

“No way,” I laughed.

“It’s the truth,” he insisted, “we first met each other at daycare remember? The first time I met you were wearing blue overalls and your hair was in pigtails.”

“You’re pulling my leg-”

“Pinky promise,” he swore and I stared at him curiously.

“Why did you never say anything?” I asked. He shrugged his shoulders and stared out at the Sectors in thought.

“You were Tilly. Fun, charismatic and friendly Tilly who never showed me any interest. I was scared the feelings I had for you wasn’t mutual, I didn’t want to scare you off. But I’m afraid now I’ve waited too long ... too late,” he said sadly, then turned to me seriously, “I want you to promise me something.”

“Anything,” I said.

“Promise you won’t forget about me.”

I softly smiled and wrapped my hands around his neck, letting my fingers slowly caress his hair.

“I promise,” I said and leaned forward for a second kiss, this time with more passion, more urgency and purpose. Each movement ignited sparks within my soul, sparks which fired into flames and created roaring feelings of love, absolution and devotion. Tommy was my love, my soulmate and my match. Terranovus could keep us apart but I knew our love for each other would never waiver.