Rise Read Online Free PDF Page B

that hold her torso down, but I can’t see the other.
    Her hair, which shines even in this horror show of a room, fans out behind her.
    I can’t tell if her eyes are open or closed, but Dr. Friar is leaning over her, his disgusting lips mere centimeters from her.
    “You will forget everything Timothy asked of you tonight. It didn’t exist. Nothing happened. You stayed in your room the entire night, practicing the violin. You’re having problems with the middle of the piece you’re working on and you wanted it perfect for Mother.”
    She repeats him in this odd, stilted, unemotional voice. It sounds almost like the guys who work in the outside mining areas when they step into the suits and have to use the in-suit walkie.
    He repeats this several times and she parrots every word before he finally says, as he undoes the restraints holding her to the table, “That’s great, Evelyn. You can rest now. You’re very tired. Your fingers are sore and cramped, so even though you wanted to finish your cross-stitching, it will have to wait until tomorrow.” He presses a button on the wall and the table smoothly moves back into a chair.
    She repeats him, rubbing her fingers together as if they are in fact cramped. That alone seems to jolt me out of the shock that I’m in.
    Anger and a strange buzz of excitement bubble up in me as I slowly—painfully slow—shut the door and creep my way back down the hall.
    This time, when I get to the tube connecting Sector Two to the Medical Sector, I bolt. I don’t care if the Enforcers do see me. Something has to be done. I refuse to play in the Underground’s game anymore and I refuse to let Mother take Evie away from me. Take everything we had together away from us.
    Mom, Dad, and Eli will tell me everything. I’ll tell them what I know, but I’m not going to be pushed away again, like some insolent child or an annoying bug.
    I race as if the Enforcers are chasing me, straight to the Tube to Sector Three. The ride there is impossible. I pace the tiny train car at least a dozen times before it halts at the station in Three. Then, in too much of a hurry to wait for the elevators, I bolt up the stairs, taking them two, even three, steps at a time.
    I bang through my parents’ door, shouting my mom’s name, but stop in mid-yell. There, sitting on my couch and drinking tea out of my mom’s favorite cup, is Mother. She smiles when she sees me.
    I immediately glance around, trying to see if my parents are here, but all I see are two burly Guards in front of the love seat.
    “Timothy! How wonderful to see you here! Evelyn has told me the most wonderful news!”
    My nose tingles with an unfamiliar scent, but I just wrinkle it and eye Mother. “Which is what?”
    Mother swipes her hand in the air with a laugh. “Oh don’t play silly, boy! I’m sure you know.” I still don’t say anything and she lets out an exasperated sigh. “She’s picked you to Couple with!”
    What game is she playing at? I think, but don’t ask.
    She continues on. “Your parents are so proud!” She beams at me, before her smile turns wicked and she sips her tea, watching me over the edge of her cup. “Or…rather. They would be. If they were still alive.”
    And for one brief second, everything stops. My heart. My lungs. My brain. I’m sure even the world stops spinning. “What?” I barely breathe out the word.
    Mother smiles sadly. “Oh, I really do hate to be the bearer of bad news,” she says with a little pout, before sighing again and placing her teacup and saucer on the table and standing to cross to me. She puts her hand on my shoulder.
    I don’t even have the energy to shove it off.
    “I’m so sorry to say that your parents have had a terrible accident.” Tears twinkle in the edges of her eyes. “It seems they meddled where they didn’t belong and ran into an Enforcer. After that, they just chose to…stop living.” She shrugs and dabs the tears from her eyes, even as her lips curve into