Cured (7 page)

His lips formed the word ‘Prime,’ and I
realised what he meant. Primes have hyper-speed metabolisms and
digestive systems. They rarely feel full.

I quickly sat bolt upright and pretended that
I too was feeling merely satisfied after the supersized lunch. Our
plates were cleared, and then, to my horror, the children returned.
This time they carried enormous glass chalices filled to the brim
with an assortment of ice creams, lathered in a chocolate sauce and
garnished with chocolate shavings and sprinkles. I groaned
inwardly, but made sure my face matched the eager smiles of the new
Primes. Each Prime was given a chalice, holding what must have been
a litre of ice cream, before the children left once more. Felix and
I shared a worried glance, and then reluctantly took up our spoons
started on the mountainous desserts.

By the time I
reached the bottom of the seemingly endless sundae, my stomach was
aching and I had to keep from moaning in discomfort. Felix was
frowning and rubbing his own stomach. I looked around at the new
Primes, all of whom were so excited about having just eaten real
food for the first time in their lives, that the tense atmosphere
had disappeared, leaving them happily chatting amongst one another.



The children
came to clear the table for the last time. I smiled at the young
blonde girl, who, again, blushed scarlet. The WallScreen flickered
to life again, and Regina’s face appeared in the frame.

“I hope you enjoyed the meal, Newbies.
Welcome to the life of a Prime. Our assistants will now escort you
to the accommodation in which you will stay throughout the training
period.”

Following the
message, the little blonde girl tapped my shoulder lightly and
reached for my hand. I stood, and let her lead me out of the room
along with the three other female Newbies. Glancing back over my
shoulder I saw Felix being led by a young boy in the opposite
direction with the rest of the male Newbies. I wanted to stick with
Felix. He was already proving to be much better than me at
pretending to be a Prime. But for now I was going to have to cope
on my own.

Chapter 12

After winding
down countless hallways, which were no longer made of glass but
rather rich wood, we finally reached a large mahogany door with a
brass knocker. The girl holding my hand came to an abrupt stop. The
other three female Newbies had already reached their rooms, mine
was the last and the most confusing to find.

“
This is your
room Miss Optime,” the tiny girl said quietly.

“Thank you,” I smiled down at her, “You can
just call me Avery. What is your name?”

The girl cleared her throat and looked around
but said nothing. Of course. They were under strict instruction as
to how they may speak to us. The poor girl was probably already in
training to become a Labour Norm. I opened the door and was greeted
by the most enormous and luxurious foyer I had ever seen. My house
on Olympus was grand, but this was more luxurious than I’d never
known. A massive round parlour stood before me, adorned with plush
cream sofas and fluffy cream carpet. There were a myriad of doors
scattered around the parlour. I walked towards the first door,
eager to explore, and decided to move in a clockwise direction
around the doorways. As I reached for the first doorknob, I turned
back around to find the young girl standing, her mouth agape and
her eyes wide, taking in the grandiose room before her. I moved
back to her and pressed a finger to my lips to show that I would
keep our interaction a secret. Then I grabbed her hand, and pulled
her gently behind me.

Once the door
to the hallway swung closed I whispered, “Are we able to talk in
here?”


The girl shrugged.

“Look, I’m a Prime now. I get to make the
rules. And I am saying that you may speak to me freely,” The girl
looked worried, her brow furrowed and she bit her lip, “Now tell
me, what is your name?”

After a few
moments of silence, the girl lifted her gaze to look me in the eye,
“I’m Eva,” she whispered.

“What a beautiful name” I said. “How old are
you, Eva?”


Eva shrugged.
Norms often weren’t told their age, because their parents didn’t
like them to count down to their Cure date.

“Well, Eva, would you like to explore my new
room with me?” I asked.

Eva nodded enthusiastically, finally
forgetting her fear of the Primes in charge.

We opened the first door. Inside was a vast
floor of glossy tan coloured tiles. In the centre of the room stood
a large stone tub, with spa jets embedded in the sides. The room
had a WallScreen stretched across the far wall. I switched it on to
find it was a makeup station, already programmed with an image of
my face, to which I could apply millions of cosmetics on the
screen. At the press of a button, a pair of arms extended from a
hole that appeared in the wall to then replicate the design onto my
real face. Eva stood, entranced by the enlarged image of my face,
twirling on the screen. I gestured for her to apply any of the
make-up she desired. She used the blusher to give the hologram
version of my face a pair of bright red cheeks. She pressed the
‘apply’ button and the mechanical arms extended from the wall. They
grasped my face with a rough grip, and held my head still as a
makeup brush swished over my cheeks. The arms finally released me
and I stepped back, turning to Eva. She burst into a fit of
laughter upon seeing my scarlet cheeks.

“You look like a dolly!” she squealed in
delight whilst I used the back of my hand to rub the makeup from my
face.

My mother used a make-up station daily, but I
had never experimented with it before, and vowed never to use one
again. Next to the make-up machine was a hairdressing station,
which had countless options for hair colours, styles and dos. Eva
asked me to try out a new hairstyle, but after catching sight of my
still far too red cheeks in the mirror, I decided not to mess
around with the hair station. Those machines were ruthless.

I left the bathroom, towing Eva behind me,
and entered the next room, which turned out to be my wardrobe.
Across the back wall of the wardrobe room stretched the largest
WallScreen I had ever seen. There was a holographic image of me
projected in front of the Screen. A perfect replica of my body was
spinning in leisurely circles wearing only plain black underwear,
waiting to be dressed at the press of a button. I backed out of the
room quickly, disturbed by the eerie, translucent version of
myself. I missed my WallDrobe back at home, where the clothes were
shown on a faceless mannequin instead of on a life-sized Avery
duplicate.

The next room was much more to my liking. A
smaller, quainter room with shelves stocked to the roof with books.
A single, massive red beanbag sat in the centre of the floor. I
made my way over to the shelves and ran my fingers over their
spines. I pulled a large brown-covered one off the shelf and opened
it to the middle. A cloud of dust spilled from the pages and I
breathed in the enchanting scent, feeling at ease for the first
time since I awoke that morning.

Eva finally
managed to drag me away from the bookshelves, and led me to the
last door. My bedroom was the largest room yet. The bed was built
into the floor, with the top of the mattress at floor level. It was
adorned with so many pillows that I could barely see the gold
trimmed duvet beneath them. The rest of the room was decorated with
a huge sofa, a small spa pool, a writing desk and a table and
chairs. The furniture was scattered around the room and barely
filled in the vast space. I turned to Eva, who had a grin plastered
on her face. 


“Wow,” she said.

I nodded.

“Aren’t you used to this, though, since you
already live on Olympia?” she asked.

“You never really get used to it, Eva.”

“
But now it
all belongs to you instead of your parents,”she smiled.

I knew she was trying to be kind, but my mind
reeled at the comment. My stomach flipped. I had momentarily
forgotten about my impending doom. I was never going to live like
this. In fact, once I got caught out, I was sure I would spend my
life in a concrete cell, probably in Tartarus. I shuddered,
thinking about the most hellish prison in the land. Only the worst
criminals went there. Rumour was that one would choose death over
Tartarus, because living in Tartarus was like dying over and over
again.

Suddenly feeling extremely nauseous, I turned
to Eva, “Hey, I am really tired Eva, mind if I have a nap?”

She nodded and squeezed my hand before
skipping happily from the room. I stood still until I heard the
mahogany door click shut. Then I walked over to my bed and
collapsed onto it.

Chapter 13

I opened my eyes and sat up. Disorientated, I
looked around frantically. At that moment, a WallScreen opposite my
bed blinked to life.

“
I hope you
are enjoying your accommodation, Newbies!” Regina’s voice trilled
out. “It is now dinnertime so please return to the dining
hall.”

I groaned. I
wasn’t remotely hungry. In fact I still felt bloated from our last
meal. 
“Call Felix,” I instructed the Wall. Seconds later, Felix’s
face filled the screen. His dark blonde hair was ruffled and his
eyes were dozy; he must have fallen asleep too.

“Did you get the message, Fe?” I asked, my
voice still croaky with sleep. Felix shook his head, his hair
falling into its usual place.

“Just missed it,” he said groggily, “What did
old Regina have to say this time?”

“It’s dinner time.”

Felix nodded, “Cool.”

“COOL?!” I squealed, “Are you kidding? I will
explode! I have never been forced to eat so much in my life!”


“Really?” Felix looked bemused, “I think I’m
kinda hungry.”

I shook my head in disbelief, “You’re such a
boy.”

Felix grinned
and my stomach fluttered a little.

“A man, Avery. I am a man, not a boy.”

“Oh shut up.” I said, but I smiled.

“Shall I come pick you up on my way to
dinner?” he asked,

“If you can manage to find me.”

“I’m a man,” he repeated, “Directions is what
we do.” Felix flexed his muscles mockingly and grinned. I smirked
and shook my head at his macho tone before ending the call.

As I waited for Felix to arrive, I wondered
whether we were expected to dress up for dinner. The dress that I
was wearing form the ceremony was crumpled, seeing as I had taken a
nap in it, so I made my way to the WallDrobe room. I told the
WallScreen to ‘randomise’ an outfit, hoping that it knew the proper
attire better than I did. The creepy Avery hologram was suddenly
wearing a full-length pale yellow gown. No. Absolutely not. I
clicked ‘randomise’ again, praying for a better outfit. I breathed
a sigh of relief as the gown disappeared from the hologram, and in
its place was a black playsuit. It was formal enough, with the
neckline plunging into a V much lower than I would normally wear,
but it was more to my taste than the yellow dress. I confirmed the
outfit with the Wall and opened the draw below the screen to find
the playsuit fully pressed and ready to wear. I threw it on quickly
and checked my appearance in the mirror. My hair looked as though
it had been electrocuted and there was smudged makeup all over my
face. I sighed and threw on the same sandals I had worn that
morning, before heading to the dreaded makeup station.

I picked the first makeup look that the
machine showed me. The arms reached out and dealt to my face in
under a minute. The result was very natural, and looking in the
mirror, I could barely tell I had any makeup on. Maybe the makeup
station wasn’t so bad after all, I decided.

Minutes later there was a knock on my door.
“Come in!” I hollered whilst I was attempting to tame my unruly
mane with a comb because I was still too scared to go near the hair
station.

Felix walked in.“Nice crib.”

I stopped still. He had changed into a pale
green shirt and black dress pants, with a matching suit jacket. He
looked fantastic.

“Thanks,” I managed to choke out. Felix
strolled in and plopped himself onto a pink furry armchair, and I
managed to regain some composure, “Is your room the same?”

“Identical, except it is blue themed not
pink.”

I nodded, “Do you think I need to change into
more formal clothes too?” I asked, tugging unconfidently on the hem
of my playsuit.

Felix shook his head “You look fine.”

Fine. That
was all. Just fine. I sighed and gave up on my hair, tossing the
comb onto the floor. 


“Let’s go.”

We reached
the dining room last out of the Newbies. No surprise, since the
Primes probably used their newfound speed to get there. There were
no two seats together so Felix sat next to the nasty blonde girl
who had laughed at me earlier, and I sat next to Theo.

“Avery,” he nodded curtly, before turning to
face in the opposite direction. I was hurt by his cruel treatment,
and I had no idea what I had ever done to hurt him. I had been
unnerved at lunchtime, but I wasn’t going to let anyone treat me
that way, no matter how handsome or charming.

“Okay, what is your deal?” I asked him. His
attitude was starting to get on my nerves.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” He
looked me straight in the eye and my breath caught, his dark eyes
scorching my own.

“You’re acting as though you don’t know me,”
my voice was a loud whisper, but I needn’t have bothered
considering everyone else in the room bar Felix had super-hearing.
“Don’t you remember –“

“I remember just fine,” he interrupted.