Filtered by G.K. Lamb Read Free Book Online

up my throat. If I hadn’t followed Delia out of there, we’d be having this conversation at a detention center and the tone would be drastically different. I swallow hard.
    “I’m sorry, Mother. I didn’t mean to worry you. I walked home from school, that’s all.”
    She embraces me tightly again.
    “You could have gotten yourself killed, Evelyn. I don’t want you doing that again.”
    Her grip tightens, and all the warmth of the hug is gone.
    “You can’t let them get you, Evelyn… you can’t.”
    Her fingers dig painfully into my back.
    Releasing me, she steps back. “I’m going to bed.” Her voice, drained of all emotion, is barely audible.
    I stand in the silence and watch her disappear into her room. Her vacillating tone confuses me. It’s as though she’s conflicted. She wants me to live and be free, but she also deeply fears the air, the subversives, everything. This struggle leaves her conflicted on how to interact with me and leaves my feelings toward her twisted up in knots.
    She’s just as blind as I am. She doesn’t know, so she can only fear. I empathize with her, but the pain in my back from her fingers makes it difficult.
    Father still isn’t home. Not wishing to wait for him, I head off to get ready for bed.
    All night I dream of the club. The bright colors, the heat, the smell, the life, and the look in Delia’s eyes.
    Morning comes quickly. Mother enters my room. Still in her mask, still silent. I obediently replace my filter. As soon as I do she slinks back off to her room. Getting up and dressed, I push her from my mind.
    Why we wear our masks is all I can think about on the way to school.
    The loud crackle of the classroom’s speakers coming to life pulls me out of my head. Looking at Speer fiddle with the command module, it’s clear that something isn’t working. The speakers begin playing the audio of our next documentary, G reat Occupations in the Great Society , but the projector remains off.
    “Damnable thing!”
    Speer slams a fist into the command module. The narration stops. We all remain silent, but I’m sure I’m not the only one with a smirk on my face.
    “Stand by, students.”
    Speer turns and leaves the room, without waiting for our response. He doesn’t have to. He knows that we are incapable of anything but obedience, and sadly enough he’s right. Sitting in the silence of the room I can’t help but think of the club.
    It was cramped, loud, chaotic, and intimidating, but it was also alluring, sensational, and alive. The contrast between then and now is so strong that I begin to doubt if yesterday’s events were real or just a figment of my imagination. That place seems so otherworldly in the cold grey stillness of the classroom.
    Speer returns to the room followed by two gangly men in brown overalls and simple rubber masks.
    “The projector finally crapped out, huh? We’ll get it up and running again, but it’ll take us a while.” Says one of the eerily similar technicians. The other nods his head in agreement.
    “I thought that might be the case. All right, students, listen up. The projector is in need of repair so we will work around this by going to the computer room for some unstructured lab time.”
    The other students fidget with excitement, but I don’t. I too am excited, but for completely different reasons. I have a plan.
    “Settle down. Don’t make me regret this. Stand up! Proceed to the computer lab single file.”

Chapter Six
    At Speer’s command, we rise from our desks and file out into the hall, making our way down to the computer labs. We shuffle our way there under the monitors’ withering stares.
    Entering the room, I make my way as quickly as I can toward the computer farthest from the instructor’s desk. Speer always looks and I don’t want him looking. He enters last. Taking his place behind the instructor’s desk, he kicks his feet up and leans back.
    “You have an hour of unstructured computer time. I suggest you use it