Wilde Card, page 6
“This one.” Her voice sounded final, as if she knew what Tia was trying to do.
“The rebellion?” Tia gentled her touch and slowed her ministrations so she could focus on her wording. She wasn’t so easily deterred.
“Is nothing to do with you,” Natalia replied, her tone so cold it chilled Tia’s bones.
“Oh, c’mon Natalia, I think it’s safe to say you can tell me anything now.”
“I don’t know where you got that idea from. I was tired this morning. We’re not friends.”
Tia sliced through the surgical tape and let Natalia’s hands fall away from her. Natalia’s face was drawn into a tight scowl and she was just waiting for Tia to give up. She wouldn’t, not this time.
“Nice try, Natalia.”
She left her to brood in the living room and joined Jessie in the kitchen. She was sitting on the counter, painting her toes whilst a pot boiled beside her.
“Mum!”
“Oh hush, it’s my kitchen. Plus I’ve had a shower, my feet are probably cleaner than your entire body right now.”
Tia shook her head and poured herself a glass of water from the fridge, far from her mother’s toes.
“How’s Talia?”
It seemed like everyone had the pleasure of calling her that except Tia. She shrugged as she gulped the water down. “Uncomfortable. Irritated. Rude.”
“My usual self then?” Natalia stood in the doorway, the blankets around her shoulders.
Tia purposely made eye contact with her as she answered, “Exactly.”
She didn't respond, instead turning to Jessie. “I’m feeling much better now, Jess. Thank you for everything, the painkillers especially. I’ll pay you back for them as soon as.”
“Are you leaving?” Jessie widened her eyes, “I was just making soup!”
“I really have to go,” she hedged.
“Oh, be gone then, horrible girl,” Jess smiled, jumping down from the counter and hobbling over to push a hand against her forehead. Pleased with her temperature, Jessie removed the blankets and patted her on the shoulder. “See you around Talia.”
“I’ll get your stuff,” Tia said, only glad to see the back of her. She’d had enough of her attitude today to last for months. She found Natalia’s bag and jacket at the bottom of her bed and turned around, bumping into Natalia’s chest. She groaned as Tia nearly jumped out of her skin.
“For God’s sake! Do you have to creep around?”
Natalia didn’t reply, instead looking over Tia’s shoulder at the posters on her walls. The one that she was staring at intensely was a poster she’d been given in her first year at the university. She hadn’t thought much about it at the time, just that it was big enough to hide the crack in the wall. It was a big one, sporting an image of the city in front of a mushroom cloud and the words: OUT OF THE ASHES. She probably hadn’t seen it when she was passed out earlier. Suddenly Natalia snatched her things out of Tia’s hands and stormed out of the room. Seconds later, the front door clicked.
Tia stared after her in absolute confusion.
6 - The Whispers
Her day literally couldn't get any worse. Tia was fighting homicidal thoughts. "I mean, the police are a joke. I'm smart enough to get away with it. How 'bout it, boy?"
Kal shook his head at her, "Count me out. Look at the size of me; I'd be their first suspect."
He had a point.
"You have a point," she sighed into her scarf. "I just need one shot at him, my dad taught me some jujitsu once. I can take him."
"Once?"
Tia decided to graciously ignore his amusement. Unfortunately, she couldn't adopt grace in two different ways at the same time and tripped over a rut in the carpet. She had to listen to his raucous laughter all the way to the library whilst she stewed in anger.
The morning had brought a rumour with it. Dissatisfied with the way he'd been kicked out of their group, Ryan had decided to spread a plethora of explicit sexual rumours about Tia. By midday, the whispers had made their way around the whole campus. She could only imagine he was extremely pleased with himself for vindicating his exile. Loser. She could handle the rumours as they were, after all, untrue. What she couldn't handle was the multitude of guys leering at her, suddenly believing they had a chance. To have them all looking at her now, thinking they had a shot because it was out that she was a blazing Curley's wife...it infuriated her. Ryan wouldn’t get away with this.
"Stop thinking about it and maybe you won't end up in jail by the end of the day," Ophelia fell into step with them, a lollipop between her scarlet lips.
"Here's the real Curley's wife," Tia muttered playfully.
Ophelia peeked at her under thick eyelashes and winked a green catty orb. "Extremely promiscuous, tragic heroine who died suddenly? I'll take it."
They could only laugh at Ophelia's way of thinking. She made it her business to ooze charm and sexuality - rumours about her were more likely to be true by far. Before the war, her mother had been an actress and she liked to think of herself as a daughter of the stage. She preferred to remain mysterious, so she neither confirmed nor rejected the truth of any rumours.
"A wise man once said that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about, my darling Tia," she laughed, noticing how everyone was staring.
Tia begged to differ but she let the debate slide. Ophelia was fun to be around, not so much to debate with. "I'd rather not have any links to Ryan at all, thanks."
"He wishes," Kal snorted.
They split at the door of the library, Ophelia having a 'rendezvous' with her philosophy professor and Kal a study group. Tia found herself despondent at the thought of having to revise without the distraction of friendly voices. She was getting sick and tired of all the stares and hushed conversations. Thankfully, the library wasn't quiet at all; the librarian was a grey-haired man with deep laughter lines and an echoing chuckle. He never enforced the silence rule.
Ryan, Natalia - they swirled around Tia's mind like a sickening merry-go-round. She tried to focus on the Dewey Decimal system as she trailed her hands along the maze of shelves but she was so used to it she found her first book with no problem. Yanking it from the shelf more aggressively than necessary, she found that it was the right dust jacket on the wrong book. As she went to put it back, she heard a voice on the other side. She recognised the feminine tone. She crouched down and started strategically removing books until there was a small square which she could peek through. She saw a pair of short legs in an impractical skirt and another pair of longer legs in baggy trousers.
"...he said he'd like to speak to you as soon as you can get down there," the girl was saying.
"Do I need to bring anything? Do anything?" The guy sounded nervous.
"Nope," as she popped the 'p' the girl put her hand on his arm as if to calm him. "Just yourself. Don't worry Chris, it's just a formality."
"Okay, thanks. Tomorrow morning?"
"Sure thing."
Tia was so curious. Deciding there was no harm in it, she turned the corner in the pretence of looking for another book. The pair tensed as she appeared and pretended to be faintly surprised to see them. “Sorry..."
She reached past the boy to pluck a random book off the shelf, noting that she didn't recognise him. He didn't step aside and instead quite rudely stared at her.
"Hey! You're that Valentia girl aren't you?" He gave her the once over and was visibly disappointed at the lack of skin on show through her jumper. She resisted the urge to knock him out with the book.
"No. I'm not that Valentia girl," she spat.
He turned to the girl, "Isn't it her?"
The girl shrugged, obviously annoyed at the interruption. Tia recognised her as the short girl from the reception; the one Tia had heard talking about the rebellion. Something clicked into place and she figured that this girl was more than just a sit-in at the meetings. She had some importance if she was recruiting, which is what it sounded like she was talking to this guy about. Tia backed away without saying anything more and hurried out of the labyrinth of shelves. When she looked down, the book in her hand was one on the importance of sex.
The librarian raised his bushy eyebrows at her. "I thought you took biochem?"
She felt her face warming up but she was too brown, thankfully, for her cheeks to flush red.
"Urm, I do. This is for...research." He held out his hand to check it out for her and she panicked, sensing people queuing up behind her. "I'm not taking it out...just checking a reference.”
She walked away so fast she felt her calves burn. It's always one thing or another with you Tia, she thought. Skipping back to what she had heard behind the shelves, she tried to piece information together. Before, the rebellion had only been a rumour to her. She’d had no interest and she only vaguely knew that they really, really hated the government. It was a silly idea; a group of people who get together to lament the wrongdoings of the government. That's what she had always imagined they did, anyway. It had seemed to her to be an idea that wasn’t very well thought out, seeing as their political system was putting thousands of them through education, rebuilding their homes and developing ground-breaking medicine. There was always an update on their progress and sure, they had their downside - like the despicable procreation propaganda - but that didn’t justify a rebellion. Tia shook her head as she placed the book down on a table. She didn't think she would be looking into the rebellion any longer. Perhaps she'd only cared because Natalia was involved. Some part of Tia still wanted to keep an eye on her.
Speaking of the devil…She needed to find her to hand over a box of painkillers from Jessie. Truthfully, Tia really didn't want to face Natalia after her confusing exit yesterday but she needed the painkillers. Jessie had stressed this. Tia knew she did a politics module and that she would have a lecture right now because Lorcan did too. Tia figured she'd just give it to Lorcan to pass to her. Tia texted him and asked if he could meet her.
Sure. Auditorium 5 :)
Lorcan was the most chilled out of the group and she could always count on him to go with the flow. He didn't ask questions and he didn't have any interest in gossip. A couple of minutes later she was leaning against room 5, feeling uncomfortable at the looks she was still getting when Lorcan stepped out of the room.
"Hey."
"My shaggy-haired friend, I need a favour."
He raised a thick eyebrow and waited for her to continue. Tia pulled the box out of her bag and handed it to him.
"And this is...?"
"Something for Natalia."
"Oh, dude, she isn't in today," Lorcan said, handing her back the box.
"What?" Her mind raced. If Natalia wasn't in that meant she might be at home and that was not a good thing. Tia knew from college that she wouldn't miss a lecture for no good reason. She'd always been careful about her education. “But Natalia-"
"Natalia what?"
There was no mistaking that dead tone. Tia turned around to see her standing there, her hands buried in her pockets. She appeared calm but there was a sheen of sweat across her forehead and Tia knew instantly that she'd not had any painkillers since yesterday. She must have been in so much pain, and - Tia realised - very angry if she hadn't come back to get them.
"Your painkillers," she stuck her hand out. Natalia looked at it in contempt before plucking the box away with shaking fingers.
"Tell Jessie I said thanks again," she emphasised Jessie's name. Lorcan was clearly lost, looking from Natalia’s purpling face to Tia’s.
"You're late man," was all he said.
"Went for a run." Natalia lied smoothly. She'd had a lot of practice at it but Tia knew that with a fractured rib she definitely hadn't been for a run. Tia wanted to ask if something had happened with her uncle but the death stare Natalia was giving her forced her mouth shut. She swept past her and Lorcan into the lecture room, leaving behind two very perplexed friends.
"Oh hey, I heard about you and Ryan," Lorcan wiggled his eyebrows.
"Prick," Tia swatted him.
"He must be burning," he laughed. She couldn't help but laugh along with him at the truth of it. She was glad that he'd defused the tense atmosphere.
"Her face..." Lorcan trailed off. He was referring to Natalia and Tia wasn't surprised. Natalia looked like she’d been dragged over a cheese grater. Tia simply shook her head. It wasn't her place to tell plus Lorcan and Natalia weren't even friends, as far as she was aware. She supposed it had been too much to hope that taking care of Natalia and letting her actually rest in her bed would ease some of the tension between them. She rolled her eyes as she headed for the canteen. She needed coffee if she was going to survive the rest of the day. She was rounding the corner to the havana of hot caffeine when she saw it.
STRAPPED FOR CASH? READY TO HAVE A BABY? THE GOVERNMENT CAN HELP YOU.
Another propaganda poster.
“On campus!" she growled.
She couldn't describe the rage that bubbled up under her skin. She felt her hands cramp into fists and her face warming up. It was one thing to display adverts on TV and leave it up to the adults to decide whether they agreed, whether or not they wanted their children to watch it. But to place them in a university and target easily influenced and - even worse - struggling, young students? She ripped the poster off the wall and pulled it into pieces. Why were they allowed to do this?
All the hair on her body stood on end when someone stepped up behind her.
"I heard you like being watched," a sour mouth laughed against her ear.
It was the last thing she’d expected and the last thing she needed. Her restraint snapped into little pieces. She saw red. Spinning on her heel, she grabbed the arm of a stranger and shoved him away. He was taken by surprise and fell heavily against a group of people who had stopped to gawk.
"What the hell?" he yelled.
"Don't. Touch me."
More people had gathered, watching excitedly as Tia glared at him. The guy lumbered to his feet, ape-like with an unshaven face and square jaw. He launched himself at Tia. "You're gonna regret that, slut."
And then Tia did something she'd always wanted to try; she reared her booted foot back and kicked him right between his thick legs. He bent over with an animalistic roar. All of a sudden she felt much, much better. Ignoring the cheers of the crowd, she spun on her heel and walked briskly away. In true Tia form, she refused to put her head down and met the eyes of anyone who dared to stare. She was furious. She didn’t care about the guy who’d attacked her. The thought of having a baby at her age rose up like bile in her throat. In this world? In this post-WWIII wasteland? 19 years since the war and she still hadn't seen a real sunrise. Jessie always described what they really looked like. How the colours of the sun had melted and shifted across the sky like blood running through water. She would say it with longing.
"We used to take things like that for granted," she'd sigh. Now the sky was permanently scarred by the deep, gloomy blanket of pollution. Why would Tia - why would anyone - at this age want to bring another child into the world when they hadn't themselves figured out what they were doing?
"I totally don't mind having a baby after graduation. I might speak to Josh about it," a girl walking past Tia was saying.
She openly scowled at the girl. She was so wound up. The fight she'd walked away from hadn't released enough steam. Her joints were stiff and her shoulders tense. She needed to get to a roof. Forgetting she had a seminar to attend soon, she shouldered through the masses of people milling around the building.
She would have taken a deep breath if it had been worth it. The air in the city had tasted funny for as long as she could remember. She knew it hadn't always and that they were all living in a tainted bubble.The death rates had only recently levelled out; cases of asphyxiation and bronchitis beginning to peter out. Tia always shoved that thought away whenever it cropped up. Her grandfather, Adrian, always complained and it seemed as if he’d always had that rough, penetrating cough. Shaking her head, Tia headed down the road, hopping over potholes and debris. She passed row after row of deserted shops black with dirt, smashed windows like glaring eyes. She was used to it all. The scene was as familiar to her as her own family.
She was so distracted that she almost passed her destination when she reached it. The building was short and squat compared to its neighbours; like it had been dropped there as a joke. She nearly walked past the old candy store because someone had recently boarded up the shop windows and the metal letters above the shuttered door had been removed. The shops around were deserted but not all of them were destroyed. Sometimes owners came and tried to tidy up their old business - suffering from nostalgia or pride - even years after the devastation. This particular owner had left it decades too late. Tia swung around the corner to the side of the building. She hopped onto a bin and lifted herself up onto the ledge of a high window. Having done this a dozen times before, her hands and feet found holds naturally that allowed her to climb up the last foot. She had to push herself over the edge onto the roof itself but it was easy thanks to a well-placed pipe.
