Read Acid for Free Online Page B

stammer.
    Steve shakes his head. ‘No
um
, Mia.
Um
could get you into a lot of trouble.’
    I feel a flush rise in my cheeks, and my stomach turns sour. I push the remains of my jacket potato away, my appetite gone.
    ‘Have you finished?’ Mel says as Steve leaves. I nod. ‘Right then,’ she says. ‘Time to meet Cade.’
    She tries to get me to use the airchair again, but I refuse. I don’t want my new pretend LifePartner thinking I’m some frail little thing.
    We take a lift to another floor, where Jon’s waiting for us. ‘He’s in here,’ he says, smiling as he holds a door open for me.
    We walk into a lounge filled with low, comfortable-looking chairs. It’s empty except for a boy sitting in one of the chairs at the far end, a cane beside him.
    ‘Cade,’ Mel calls. ‘This is Mia.’
    The boy turns. He has very short blond hair and a prominent Adam’s apple, acne scattered across his cheeks and forehead. As we walk towards him, a nervous frown creases his brow. ‘Hi,’ he says. As he gets up, he reaches for the cane, and his shirt rides up and I see he has a scar, identical to mine, on his left hip. So he had a spytag too. I wonder what his real name is, and which jail he’s been broken out of. Not Mileway, that’s for sure; he doesn’t look as if he’d have survived two seconds in there.
    Mel gives me a nudge. ‘Um, hi,’ I say.
    Silence.
    ‘So,’ Mel says brightly after several seconds. ‘I’ll leave you two to get to know each other, shall I?’
    ‘OK,’ I hear myself say.
    ‘Can I get you anything?’ Mel asks. ‘Tea? Coffee?’
    ‘I’m all right,’ Cade mutters, scowling at the floor.
    ‘Me too,’ I say.
    ‘Well, shout if you need me,’ she says and, beaming at us one last time, she bustles out.
Come back!
I want to shout. Then I realize how ridiculous I’m being. I’ve just spent the last two years in prison, for God’s sake. I can take on men four times my size and reduce them to a bloody, blubbering pulp. And now I’m nervous about being left alone with an ordinary seventeen-year-old guy?
    ‘So I can’t tell you anything about me, and you can’t tell me anything about you,’ I say, trying to sound lighthearted. ‘Lucky we’re not really LifePartners, isn’t it?’
    He gives me a shocked look. ‘What do you mean?’
    I realize I’ve said the wrong thing. He probably thinks I’ve guessed who he really is, or something. I shake my head. ‘Never mind. I was only messing about.’
    ‘Oh, right,’ he mumbles.
    I decide to try again. ‘So what d’you reckon this place really is? D’you think they’re secret agents? They could be plotting to take over the world, and when we get sent to Outer we’ll start receiving envelopes with instructions for secret missions inside them.’
    He gives me a strange look. Clearly, he thinks I’m absolutely mad.
    Trying to ignore the frustration building inside me, I rack my brains to think of something else to say. I can’t. Cade fiddles with the hem of his shirt, studiously avoiding my gaze. The silence between us stretches out until it’s way past uncomfortable, and I have to resist the urge to bury my head in my hands and groan.
    Why have I got a bad feeling about this already?

 

    FOUNDATION FOR RIGHTS, EMANCIPATION AND EQUALITY GENERAL COMMUNICATION
    Date: 19.04.13
    Please note: access to this communication is available only to those entering the correct passcode. The file containing the communication will automatically corrupt five minutes after it is opened and become unreadable/unrecoverable .
    Update #1 – Mia Richardson and Cade Johnson
    Little to report. MR and CJ left our facility two days ago for their new home in Zone M. So far, one contact has been made between them and MM and JM, who have established that they are settling well. Both started their new jobs yesterday; MR at the Zone R magtram factory and CJ at the Zone Q sub food packaging plant, as planned. No problems reported by either so far. MM and JM