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I was thankful for it, though, because the anger was the only thing strong enough to distractLucas The Reds, the five we’d seen before, had entered the Mess Hall and had made steady passes up and down the rows of silent wooden tables and benches I wondered if they’d sensed as clearly as the rest of us had, that they were still being watched, even as they’d been clearly elevated to watch us The PSFs clustered in the corners of the large roo toward each other as they picked and tore apart the firestarters’ every stiff movement Part of me wondered if they were more afraid of the Reds than ere

Lucas passed by our table twice, once behind me, once in front ofhi formyself in so you were starving until a feast was laid out in front of you

Older, taller, harder Lucas Lucas with the dimple in his chin

Red

The word ran circles around le word that sohts Red, Red, Red, Red

I’d thought about it, you knoondered if the two of them were still alive, if they were in a camp liketheet hit with the false high of war to the possibility of it, even as the years marched on Lucas would be Green, like irls separate Mia would be Blue, which would also explain why I hadn’t seen her They didn’t let the colors mix unless ere in the Garden I nursed that little hope for years, shielding it, keeping it close to me like a candle in a rainstorm

And maybe soht, off to find and rescue Prince Lucas froeon and fortress depending on the day I’d sing, and he’d ansith a shout, I’d sing and he’d answer again, over and over until ere tired of the game or were called in for dinner I always found hi that was the irow up and you stop pretending This place beats every last dreas The truth was silossy fairy tale Lucas was a year older than me and three years older than his sister, Mia, but neither had been hit with IAAN in the time I’d known them They moved away a few months before I realized I’d already been affected bythe virus, the disease, whatever it was Their parents had both lost their jobs and headed a ways north to try to find work in a bigger city

Bedford was a small town made even smaller by the economic crash and the bottomed-out markets that the people on TV couldn’t shut up about My parents hadn’t let ood-bye to the Orfeos--they’d never liked their "influence" They’d whisper that word like it was the devil’s own name Influence They didn’t like how I acted when I finally ca to recreate the carefree e’d run around their house and outside in Greenwood, s each other with plastic swords They didn’t like it when I told the us snacks, or when I repeated so she had said It took me a while to understand that when you don’t like soht So aggressive, a challenge to their authority

So I’d watched theI didn’t stop until I found the bundle of sparklers he’d left for me in the tree fort The notebook of stories he’d spent three years writing I kept them there so my parents wouldn’t find them and take them away I wonder all the time if they’re still there If Greenwood exists anywhere outside of ot to stay because we lived off the charity of the Church I don’t know if my parents are in the old house, or if they picked up and moved as far from the memories of their unblessed freak child as they could I wish I didn’t care

Lucas and one other Red, a girl with cropped blond hair, served as our escorts I had to force myself to stare at the back of Ashley’s head to keep fro at hih that the snow melted before it touched hih the mud and sleet But that would have been crazy

Where had he been sent, if it hadn’t been to Thurmond? Where was Mia? Was she like him, or me, or was she one of the other colors?

Theas they are dragged open by the PSFs waiting inside My hands are useless, cra the water from my hair and sweatshirt anyway We leave a trail of smeared mud and water behind us that the Green cabins on cleanup rotation are going to have to hts--not that there’s any real sun to filter through the clouds of dirt thisout each dark hour until it beco I can’t re is large enough to s several hundred kids whole Thebut stretches of work tables and plastic bins The ures in black uniforuns, but today there’s only a dozen, ins to solidify at the back of my mind, but I push it away before it can take shape I need to focus I need to get through today, and ets easier as you get used to it