Days Like This by Alison Stewart Read Free Book Online Page A

rivers on her geography spreadsheet. Alice didn’t really enjoy lessons and would much rather play with her dolls or listen to music or draw improbable flocks of birds in even more improbably coloured trees.
    Almost obsessively, Alice drew the things that were disappearing from their world. Lily noticed that many of the rivers Alice had mapped no longer existed.
    ‘You’re making the rivers longer than they actually are,’ Lily couldn’t resist saying.
    ‘No, I’m not,’ Alice said, defiantly adding another few centimetres to the Zambezi.
    ‘Idiot,’ Lily said, grinning.
    ‘Sticks and stones, Lilla.’
    Lily sighed. ‘Alice, there’s something I have to tell you.’
    ‘What?’ Alice said.
    ‘I need you to listen to me and try to be a big girl.’
    When Alice didn’t want to understand something she became irritable, and if that didn’t work, there was always the tantrum.
    ‘What are you talking about, Lily?’
    ‘I think I’m going to be taken away, like Daniel was,’ Lily said in a rush.
    Alice pressed her fingers into her ears and hunched up her shoulders. Annoyed, Lily pulled Alice’s hands away and held them down, forcing her to listen.
    ‘Okay, I’ll just tell it like it is,’ Lily said. ‘Megan and Pym have a problem with me. You know it’s true, Alice. They had a problem with Daniel, as well. And they’ll probably end up having a problem with you, too.’
    ‘What are you talking about?’
    Alice had gone red and looked like she might begin wailing. Even with her face all scrunched up, she was pretty. She was pale like Lily, but Alice’s eyes were velvet brown, not washed-out blue, and her teeth were small and perfect.
    The kind of teeth our parents might aspire to
, Lily thought sourly.
    Now Alice’s teeth were clenched together and she was struggling against Lily, who was much stronger.
    ‘You have to listen to me, Alice. I can’t exactly explain it, but I think we’re in some kind of danger – me now you later.’
    ‘Ow, you’re hurting me! You’re just jealous!’
    ‘What?’ Lily said. In her surprise, she let go of Alice, who sat up, rubbing at her wrists and scowling at Lily.
    ‘You’re mean, Lilla.’
    The lights flickered out then and they waited for the emergency generator to kick in. Lily knew that all the ‘privileged’ families inside the Wall had generators to supplement the erratic electricity supplies. She wasn’t sure why the main supply was erratic. That was yet another thing her parents wouldn’t explain.
    When the generator grumbled and stopped and the lights came back on, Alice was still scowling, her face wet with tears.
    ‘Why do you think I’m jealous, Alice?’ Lily said. No matter how exasperating she was, Lily didn’t like seeing her little sister upset.
    ‘You’re just trying to frighten me because you’re jealous that Mum and Dad love me more than you,’ Alice said.
    ‘Oh, Alice, I’m not jealous. I’m just worried and scared. There’s something wrong with Pym and Megan.’
    ‘There is not.’ Alice’s voice was high and wobbly.
    ‘What’s going on here?’ Their father had entered the room in that stealthy way of his. ‘What’s she saying to you, Alice?’ he demanded.
    ‘Nothing,’ Alice sobbed.
    ‘Why is she upset?’ He swung around to face Lily, grabbing her hard on the upper arm.
    ‘She’s done nothing, Dada, honestly, we were just arguing, that’s all. Let her go. She’s… she’s been using the moisturiser in my bathroom, that’s all,’ Alice stammered.
    Pym put his arms around Alice with the same gentleness that Lily and Daniel had once known. Lily looked away.
    When he left, Alice shuffled her chair closer to Lily’s, reaching out tentatively to touch the finger marks on Lily’s arm. ‘Sorry Lilla, I didn’t mean to get you in trouble. I’m sure they love you, too. I know they do.’
    Lily put her arm around her sister’s shoulders.
    ‘They do love you, Lily,’ Alice said quietly. ‘And I know they