Read Online The Remedy Files: Illusion by Lauren Eckhardt - Free Book Online
Authors: Lauren Eckhardt
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so deep. He’s right. I’m outside the walls even though I shouldn’t be. Whispering as quietly as I could I asked, “Where do apples come from?”
Chuckling as he took a few steps closer to me, Gavin replied, “They are grown in a different community far away then dropped off to the co-op during the Sleeping Hours.”
This shocked me. There’s another community nearby? Why doesn’t anyone talk about it? And how are apples grown? How do they get them to us?
“Is that where you’re from?” I quickly sat up straighter and covered my mouth with my hands. Oh no.
Gavin bent down, balancing on his back feet to be closer to me. “You won’t be punished asking questions out here. It’s a good thing to do.” He glanced over my head and then turned his blue eyes back towards me. “It’s getting dark, Evangeline. You should get back to the Home.”
He was right. The sky seemed to be quickly darkening. I looked back at the flower but the bee had long since flown away and I hadn’t even noticed. I jumped to my feet and searched for a good place to crawl back through the thickets. I turned back to Gavin. “Where are you from?”
Gavin smiled, acknowledging the fact that I asked another question. “Tomorrow I will tell you that and anything else you want to know. Okay, Evie?”
I scrunched my nose at him before crawling back through the bushes. No one had ever called me anything other than Evangeline. Evie sounded so weird.
I was luckier than I knew at the time that I slipped through to the other side without anyone seeing me since I wasn’t very careful. I walked back to the Levels 5-9 Homes, my mind filling with ideas about questions I was never before allowed to ask.
Gavin said he would tell me more the next day, but I didn’t think I was going to return. Not until I talked to Jacqueline and she told me that there’s no way that a boy could be living in the woods. That’s when I decided I would go back and make sure he did exist. And if he did, I would just get a few questions answered.
That night I struggled to fall asleep. Halfway through the Sleeping Hours, I could swear that when I held my breath, I heard the faint sound of a loud machine rumbling. I imagined it was the other community dropping off food for our co-op. Tomorrow I will ask Gavin more about that. And find out where he’s from. And ask him how he knows where apples come from. And why his eyes are so blue. I slowly drifted off to sleep, as endless questions filled my mind.
When I returned the next day to prove to Jacqueline that this boy in the woods was indeed real, I struggled to find the same opening the bee had effortlessly guided me through before. Apparently there are very few places in the thickets that are penetrable at all, which was something Gavin later taught me.
I found a spot, right as Mr. Frank had come around the corner of one of the steel sheds with a hose in his hand. I buried myself among the leaves, not moving, but watching as blood trickled across my left hand from one of the limbs scratching me during my quick dive in. I thought that Mr. Frank saw me at first because the little I could see of him seemed as though his head was facing my direction. But after a few moments that seemed like much longer, he eventually walked away as the noise of the waterfall from the hose in his hand and his typical humming of a song followed.
After a silent debate on whether I should just return to Impetus, or continue on my risky journey, I pushed through the thickets to get to the other side. I figured I would just take a quick glance, see if he was there, maybe ask one question and then hurriedly return to the safety of the community.
When I poked my head out, sitting on the ground with his back to the same tree as the day before, was Gavin. His head was leaning backward touching the tree, his eyes closed. He seemed to be sleeping. I just watched him for a moment. I had never seen a boy sleep before or observe one in such a
Chuckling as he took a few steps closer to me, Gavin replied, “They are grown in a different community far away then dropped off to the co-op during the Sleeping Hours.”
This shocked me. There’s another community nearby? Why doesn’t anyone talk about it? And how are apples grown? How do they get them to us?
“Is that where you’re from?” I quickly sat up straighter and covered my mouth with my hands. Oh no.
Gavin bent down, balancing on his back feet to be closer to me. “You won’t be punished asking questions out here. It’s a good thing to do.” He glanced over my head and then turned his blue eyes back towards me. “It’s getting dark, Evangeline. You should get back to the Home.”
He was right. The sky seemed to be quickly darkening. I looked back at the flower but the bee had long since flown away and I hadn’t even noticed. I jumped to my feet and searched for a good place to crawl back through the thickets. I turned back to Gavin. “Where are you from?”
Gavin smiled, acknowledging the fact that I asked another question. “Tomorrow I will tell you that and anything else you want to know. Okay, Evie?”
I scrunched my nose at him before crawling back through the bushes. No one had ever called me anything other than Evangeline. Evie sounded so weird.
I was luckier than I knew at the time that I slipped through to the other side without anyone seeing me since I wasn’t very careful. I walked back to the Levels 5-9 Homes, my mind filling with ideas about questions I was never before allowed to ask.
Gavin said he would tell me more the next day, but I didn’t think I was going to return. Not until I talked to Jacqueline and she told me that there’s no way that a boy could be living in the woods. That’s when I decided I would go back and make sure he did exist. And if he did, I would just get a few questions answered.
That night I struggled to fall asleep. Halfway through the Sleeping Hours, I could swear that when I held my breath, I heard the faint sound of a loud machine rumbling. I imagined it was the other community dropping off food for our co-op. Tomorrow I will ask Gavin more about that. And find out where he’s from. And ask him how he knows where apples come from. And why his eyes are so blue. I slowly drifted off to sleep, as endless questions filled my mind.
When I returned the next day to prove to Jacqueline that this boy in the woods was indeed real, I struggled to find the same opening the bee had effortlessly guided me through before. Apparently there are very few places in the thickets that are penetrable at all, which was something Gavin later taught me.
I found a spot, right as Mr. Frank had come around the corner of one of the steel sheds with a hose in his hand. I buried myself among the leaves, not moving, but watching as blood trickled across my left hand from one of the limbs scratching me during my quick dive in. I thought that Mr. Frank saw me at first because the little I could see of him seemed as though his head was facing my direction. But after a few moments that seemed like much longer, he eventually walked away as the noise of the waterfall from the hose in his hand and his typical humming of a song followed.
After a silent debate on whether I should just return to Impetus, or continue on my risky journey, I pushed through the thickets to get to the other side. I figured I would just take a quick glance, see if he was there, maybe ask one question and then hurriedly return to the safety of the community.
When I poked my head out, sitting on the ground with his back to the same tree as the day before, was Gavin. His head was leaning backward touching the tree, his eyes closed. He seemed to be sleeping. I just watched him for a moment. I had never seen a boy sleep before or observe one in such a
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