I Am Not a Number by Lisa Heathfield

Author:Lisa Heathfield [Heathfield, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: young adult
ISBN: 9781780318691
Google: rASADwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 45028518
Publisher: Egmont UK
Published: 2019-06-27T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

‘Too many of you have been forgotten for far too long. Left to rot among policies that do not work. You deserve better than this. You have our promise that with us you will prosper.’ – John Andrews, leader of the Traditional Party

Gunshots shatter my dreams. I sit bolt upright and feel for Lilli in the dark.

‘What’s wrong?’ she asks, sleep weighed in her voice.

My heart is beating so hard against my skin that it hurts.

There’s shuffling, talking in the room.

‘It’s okay,’ I say to her.

More gunshots.

‘What the hell is that?’ a man asks.

‘Jesus,’ I hear Darren say and it sounds like he’s crawling from under the bed.

‘Someone put on the light,’ a woman shouts.

‘Are you both here?’ Mum asks and I feel her sitting beside us, her hands reaching for Lilli and me.

The light turns on. Mum’s arm is tight around my shoulder as I look for Luke. He’s there, he’s safe, his dad is next to him.

‘Ruby?’ I hear Destiny call from across the room.

‘I’m here. We’re fine.’

Fine?

There’s distress and confusion on everyone’s face. No one stands up. We all just sit and look around. Some children are still sleeping.

Darren is staring into the room. ‘The man and his wife have gone,’ he says. ‘The one who was talking about escaping. And their baby.’

I never knew that fear was something you could touch. But it’s walked into this room and it’s here in front of us all.

An older man stands up, his hands gentle in the air.

‘Let’s not panic,’ he says.

‘Not panic?’ It’s one of the men I saw led from his house on the night we were all taken. ‘Did you not hear what we just did?’

‘Yes. But we don’t know for sure what’s happening.’

‘They could have fired shots to scare them,’ someone suggests.

‘Who else is missing?’

There are voices everywhere.

‘Quiet,’ a woman says, fierce enough to stop the words. ‘Do you want the guards coming in here now?’

The silence is instant, but it is not clean. It’s thick and muddy and sits heavy in my ears.

Darren looks up at Mum. ‘There are at least seven people missing,’ he whispers.

‘And definitely the baby?’

‘Yes. The baby has gone.’

‘They won’t have hurt it,’ I say. They must have only fired the shots in warning. In a moment, the door will open and the missing people will come back in. And when the baby cries and we can’t sleep, no one will care.

I watch the door. I make it open in my mind.

Some people lie back down again.

I wait for the door to open.

‘Where are they?’ I whisper to Mum. But she doesn’t answer.

I don’t know if anyone manages to sleep. Mum stays on the bed with Lilli and I. There’s not enough room to move when we lie down, but I don’t care. I just want to see those people again and the mother feeding her baby.

Darren stays lying on the floor, but he reaches up to hold Mum’s hand, his arm resting against the shallow mattress. The light stays on and I’m glad.

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