Pause (The Forever Series, #1) by Lindsey R. Loucks

Author:Lindsey R. Loucks
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: young adult dystopian, spies, large corporations, young adult mystery, young adult romance
Publisher: Lindsey Loucks
Published: 2018-12-11T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

I wrote out everything important Derek had said during our date and my entire plan for Kendra to read once I put it in the dead drop, something I’d never thought I’d ever hear myself think. To be honest, though, it was a little exciting doing all this spy shit.

Not all of it though. My mind went back to my kiss with Derek, at Ryan’s expression when he saw Derek’s hand on my thigh, Larissa with her arms around Ryan. Some of this spy shit was literal shit, too.

Mom glued me to her side all of Sunday for homework and chores and our weekly movie night on the WindowWall, so I wouldn’t get a chance to deliver my note at the dead drop until after my shift at the community center on Monday.

While there, a sudden thought occurred to me while I was helping Phyllis and Howard create a dropdown menu on their website. “Hey, so random question. Have you ever—or would you ever—drink Pause?”

They looked at me thoughtfully for a second and then both answered an emphatic “no” at once.

“Mind if I ask why?” I had my reasons, obviously, but they were a lot smarter and wiser than me by default.

Phyllis reached for a peppermint in the pile between them and unwrapped it. “Old age isn’t a bad thing. Sure, it slows you down some, but it’s important to try and keep up with the rest of the world. We’re changing and growing just like everything else.” Her expression tightened. “But that’s just our opinion. Not everyone agrees with us.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“All those people who can afford Pause don’t realize what they’re missing. They’ve stopped changing and growing. They’re obsessed with pausing themselves so they’ll live forever. So they don’t want to learn what it’s like to grow old. They don’t want to know what happens after you die. Those are two important things to know that they’ll miss out on unless they stop drinking Pause.” Her voice was strong, forceful, like she’d thought about this a lot. She popped the peppermint in her mouth.

“I see your point,” I said, “but for the sake of argument, if you did live forever, you could have time to learn new things. Other languages, other cultures. How to ride a horse or make a bookshelf.”

Howard lifted his bushy eyebrows. “We would do those things probably, and maybe some Pause people would too. But we know for a fact that most of them just soak in their wealth all day. What’s the point of living forever if all you’re going to do is take up space and not do anything productive?”

Just exist. See? Boring.

“Do you know many Pause drinkers?” I asked.

“Some of our friends hit it big in the stock market long ago and drink it.” Phyllis shook her head. “They’re no longer friends of ours, not because they drink Pause but because we don’t. They started to treat us as inferiors, but they’re the ones stuck in a long, unchanging life.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.