Blue (26 page)

“I’m saying, what if she wants to do it again? She had one albino baby, what’s to prevent her from having another one and selling it to the compound to make a quick 600,000 rand?” Anytha asked.

“Anytha. You can’t be serious. There’s only a fifty-fifty chance for her to have another Albino baby,” Ari said.

“Yeah, but thanks to all their picketing, starting February first, she can kill any baby that doesn’t meet her ‘financial’ requirements. Or, in other words she could kill any brother or sister of mine that might happen to turn out normal. Like me,” Anytha said, pulling on the handle of the car and getting inside. “And it just so happens that her ‘hero,’ Inali, has been funding a prenatal test that will help her decide whether or not to do it.”

“Anytha, you can’t think that your mother is capable of doing this on purpose? You can’t believe that she would get pregnant on purpose to either sell the baby or kill it?” Ari asked.

“I hope not,” Anytha said, buckling her seatbelt and putting her head in her hands. “But I do think that she is capable of going through with it, whether it was on purpose or an accident. Either way, I have to get home to try to stop it or it will haunt me forever. What makes it worse is that I know that Inali is at her side, justifying her actions no matter what she decides. He owns the abortion clinics. He funded the prenatal test for albinism. He even funds the compounds, for crying out loud! Inali is fueling this somehow. I know it. She already took one of my siblings. I can’t let her take another one without doing something about it.”

Ari sped the rest of the way to her parents’ house, and Anytha could tell that he was trying to make sense of everything that she just told him. Ari was not one that was easily convinced without proof, but Anytha knew that he wouldn’t try to tell her that she might be wrong until they spoke to her parents directly. Anytha couldn’t blame him. It was unbelievable. She kept running through everything in her mind as she stared out the window, hoping that it wouldn’t be too late to save her sibling, if what she had imagined was actually the truth.

Ari pulled up in front of Anytha’s house, and she got out of the car and stormed down the walkway to the front, pulling her keys out of her pocket and unlocking the front door. The door swung open and in front of her stood her father, standing with his hands in the air as if to surrender to the intruder.

“Anytha, what are you doing here?” Chester asked loudly, as if to warn someone in another room about her arrival.

“Where is Mom?” Anytha asked, walking past him and into the kitchen.

She saw her mother standing in front of the sink, tying a bow on an apron that she had wrapped around her body, and reaching for a spoon near the sink.

“Anytha!” Delah declared as Anytha walked up to her.

“Are you trying to hide something from me or something? You couldn’t possibly be showing yet,” Anytha said, pointing at Delah’s stomach.

Delah looked at Anytha with her mouth hanging open, unable to find the words to say.

“Gosh, Mom! I wanted so badly for it to be just in my imagination. I wanted so badly to be wrong,” Anytha said, steadying herself on the kitchen table and rubbing her eyes, before standing back up and approaching her mother again. “How could you do this to me? Send me away so that I wouldn’t have to watch it happen?”

“Anytha. I just didn’t want to get your hopes up. I know that you’ve always wanted a sibling, but I didn’t even know if I would be able to carry again,” Delah said. “We were going to tell you after the first trimester was over.”

“Why do I feel like you are lying to my face? Why do I find it completely unbelievable that you were going to tell me about the baby?” Anytha asked, pausing to swallow a large lump that was forming in her throat. “You’ve told me my entire life that you didn’t want any more children. You really want me to think that you were going to tell me about this baby? Were you planning on telling me about it the same way that you told me about Tabitha?”

Delah dropped the spoon in her hand, her body frozen at the mention of the name.

“How do you know that name? I—I’ve never told anyone that name. How do you know that name?” Delah repeated, dropping down to the floor as her legs seemed to buckle underneath her, and covering her face in her hands.

“I pulled her application at Humanity today, but why does it even matter anyway? She’s dead, Mom! You know that she’s dead, right?” Anytha yelled at her mom as her father interrupted.

“That is enough!” Chester said, leaning down and wrapping his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “Anytha, you can’t just barge in here and accuse your mother of something without even letting her explain herself.”

“Oh. Okay, Dad,” Anytha said crossing her arms over her chest. “Please, explain yourselves. Explain to me how you could give up my sister to a compound, and never even tell me that she existed. Please explain that to me. Because I can’t seem to wrap my mind around it. And please explain to me how I’m supposed to believe you when you say that you were considering keeping this baby, because somehow I can’t help but think that as soon as February first rolls around you’ll be the first one walking in the doors of Inali’s clinic to get it ‘taken care of.’”

“Anytha!” Chester yelled as Delah started to cry.

“No, I really want to hear you explain yourselves. But first answer me this,” Anytha swallowed hard, and pointed to her mother’s stomach. “Is this one on purpose? Because I can’t seem to shake the idea that another 800,000 rand wouldn’t sound too shabby to you guys for nine months of work. Yeah, that sounds like a pretty cushy life to me. You’re only thirty-five. You have at least five more years to make as many albino babies as you can, and now because of all of your hard work on the Termination of Pregnancy Bill, you can even kill the ones that turn out like me.”

“Anytha, that is enough!” Chester said as Delah sobbed next to him. “That’s not what is happening here.”

“Okay, Dad. But please understand how this looks to me. All I know is that you sold my sister to a compound because she was different. You had every means to protect her from the black market. You had the money to protect her, and you sold her away. You gave up my sister for money. Why would I think—even for a minute—that you weren’t capable of doing the same thing again? I just—how? How could you sell your own child?” Anytha asked, yelling.

“Because, Anytha!” Delah yelled, interrupting Anytha and wiping her face with her hand, staring at her daughter with an unwavering gaze. “When everything evil in the world is out to get your baby, those concrete walls don’t look so thick!”

C h a p t e r 
24

“Did he really give you his direct phone number?” Alyssa asked Tabitha, lying on her stomach in Tabitha’s bed. “He is totally smitten with you! Did you think that Jack really liked me? I mean it felt like he liked me. He talked with me all night long.”

Tabitha sat staring at the phone number scribbled on the napkin that Inali had given her a little over two weeks ago at the party. The day after the party, the staff had come into everyone’s rooms and installed phones, telling them that they were only for emergencies, and only worked within the compound. Tabitha and Alyssa had attempted a couple of other numbers from magazines to see if they would work, but they all just led to a loud beep. Tabitha was too nervous to attempt to dial Inali’s number to see if it would actually work. She didn’t know if she would ever want to see him again anyway.

“Tabitha, we only have about a year left here before we turn eighteen. What if we fell in love, and got married? We could finally say goodbye to living in the compound if we found someone that could pay for the security we need,” Alyssa said, flipping through a magazine to an ad that featured an expensive watch, and turning it around to show Tabitha. “I know that Jack was wealthy. I think he was wearing this exact watch. Inali is obviously wealthy too, you know. You could finally get out of here.”

Tabitha just sat staring out of her window as Alyssa dreamed out loud. She was scared to tell her any of the thoughts that ran through her mind.

“Hey, what’s the matter?” Alyssa asked, closing her magazine.

“Nothing. I just think that you need to be careful. Don’t get your hopes up about these guys. I just don’t want to see you get your heart broken,” Tabitha said.

“Oh, come on. You know that you’ve thought about what it might be like if someone fell in love with you and took you out of the compound life. I mean, I don’t think you have ever dreamed about being like Marguerite, living inside of the compound forever. Scared of what might be out to get you outside the walls,” Alyssa said, lying down on her stomach on the bed and facing Tabitha. “You’re lucky, you know. You can hide from albinism if you want to. A little bit of hair dye and nobody even knows. I must say I’m kinda jealous that Inali himself chose you out of all the other girls. And I thought that Dr. Hance was already interested in you, too. You just get all the handsome men. You’ll be out of here the day you turn eighteen!”

“Alyssa!” Tabitha yelled, turning from the window and facing Alyssa. “Have you ever thought that I was never wanting any of their attention? Especially Dr. Hance! After what he did…”

Tabitha’s eyes filled with tears as her voice trailed off and she turned back to the window.

“Tabitha,” Alyssa said, her expression changing to serious. “What happened?”

“He sought me out! He was waiting for me to start my period, so that I could come with the rest of the older girls into the new dorm. I started the day of the flood and he came looking for me. It wasn’t a coincidence that I was with you guys that day!” Tabitha yelled.

“Tabitha, what are you saying?” Alyssa asked, shaking her head.

“I don’t know what I’m saying. All I know is that I don’t trust Dr. Hance. And I don’t trust those men that were at the party. And I definitely don’t trust Inali,” Tabitha said, looking Alyssa in the eye. “And I think that you should really be careful about letting your daydreams get away from you. Not everyone has your best interest in mind, no matter how much they might act like they do.”

Alyssa looked as if Tabitha’s words cut her to the core and she sat stunned. Tabitha looked back out the window, holding back the lump in her throat. They sat in the silence for a few minutes until it was broken by a loud beep coming from the speaker above Tabitha’s door.

“Attention, residents. We will be having another celebration tonight in the main hall. Dinner and drinks will be served promptly at 7:00 p.m. Dress, again, is semi-formal. Attendance is mandatory. Thank you,” said Dr. Hance’s voice from the speaker.

Tabitha turned to Alyssa, who must have noticed the look of despair that flooded across her face at the announcement of another celebration. Tabitha rubbed her eyes and hung her head between her knees. Alyssa sat motionless on the bed, not knowing what to say.

“Tabitha, why didn’t you tell me any of this before?” Alyssa asked, her voice rising as tears began to form in her eyes.

“I didn’t want to scare you. I didn’t want to steal your innocence away. I didn’t want to steal away your belief that these people really are just looking out for your best all the time,” Tabitha said, turning to her friend.

“I just don’t understand. I guess I just always thought that you were already on your way over to the new dorm with Dr. Hance that night. Did he come get you from your room?” Alyssa asked.

“He went to my room. But that’s not where he found me,” Tabitha said.

“Well, where did he find you?” Alyssa asked.

“I was in the kitchen,” Tabitha sighed, “looking for Marguerite.”

Alyssa gave Tabitha an inquisitive look.

“The night of the flood, I found her in the kitchen at Humanity. She yelled at me to hide. To run and go hide. She was so scared. By the time I actually turned to take her advice, Dr. Hance had already grabbed me and dragged me out the door to the back of that truck. Since we moved to this new place, I haven’t had a chance to talk with her alone. But every time something happens, I can always trust that I can look to Marguerite’s face for guidance. And all I know is that when they announced the last ‘celebration,’ Marguerite’s look chilled me to the core; and her look when Inali walked into the room for the first time was even more chilling. She warned me about all this, and I am worried that she is right.”

Tabitha saw a look of shock cross Alyssa’s face, and saw that her hands had begun to shake. Tabitha stood up and walked over to the bed, wrapping her arm around her back.

“Alyssa, I hope to God that I am overreacting. I hope that Marguerite is wrong, and that everything is just fine. I didn’t tell you this to scare you. I told you this so that you can be aware. And so that you can be careful,” Tabitha said, rubbing the side of Alyssa’s arm. “So far, everything is fine. I wonder every day if I’m just creating conspiracies in my head. So, just be aware. Not everything is always what it seems, not everyone has good intentions.”

“Can I get ready with you tonight?” Alyssa asked Tabitha, who nodded and wiped a tear from her eye, rubbing her arm for a while as they sat together in silence.

Alyssa finally stood up and walked over to the closet, and thumbed through the dresses.

“Can I just wear the dress that you wore last time?” Alyssa asked.

“Of course,” Tabitha said, reaching toward the other side of the closet to grab the dress.

Alyssa slipped on the modest black dress, and pulled on the black shoes that Tabitha wore to the last party. Tabitha pulled a red, frilly dress out of the closet and slipped it on. She combed Alyssa’s hair, pulled it back into a pretty updo, and applied some simple makeup to their faces. Tabitha tousled her hair and slipped on a silver pair of strappy heels. The two walked together to the main hall, hearing the sound of thumping music coming from inside.

They walked up the front steps as bright neon lights flickered across the marble floors. They walked in to a completely different scene than the last celebration. The music was loud and rhythmic. The tables had been arranged in a circle around the room, and the middle of the floor was open. There was already a small group of girls dancing together in the middle. The room was mostly dark, aside from bright lights that cast designs across the room as they danced around the floor and ceiling.