The Remedy Files: Illusion by Lauren Eckhardt Read Free Book Online Page B

She is very strict and for some reason has displayed an obvious distaste for me over the years. Jacqueline has even commented before on how Ms. Kay seems to intentionally seek me out every time she’s around and then makes some threatening comment about my attitude or actions. It’s the most bizarre thing as I’m pretty certain I’ve never done anything to warrant that reaction.
    “No, Ms. Kay.” Jacqueline quickly responds the same time I sweetly say, “Good morning, Ms. Kay.”
    Ms. Kay’s eyes stay narrowed in on me. She is not pleased with my response. Instead of replying, she looks at Jacqueline, gives a single nod, and walks towards the wall of the cafeteria where the other Level 17 students had started to gather.
    Joline once told us that she overhead some teachers talking about how Ms. Kay lost her husband years ago. One of the teachers said it was a random accident that Impetus kept quiet. The other teacher said she heard it was at the same time the Lighthouse Legend occurred. Either way, the death of Ms. Kay’s husband was due to an unfortunate accident since he was still fairly young.
    The consequences then lead to her being forced out of the Paired living quarters and in with the Unpaired, making her change her name from Mrs. Henlinbeen to Ms. Kay to honor the consistency name rule (A233) within Impetus. “In the pairing of two community members, the Community Board will choose a new last name that will represent the two members as a family. They will then be called Mr. and Mrs. with their decided new last name to follow the salutation. Unpaired will be called Mr. or Ms. with their first name to follow the salutation. If a pairing is broken due to death or other unfortunate circumstances, the remaining pairing’s name will be changed to follow the rules of the Unpaired with a Mr. or Ms. and their first name following the salutation.”
    Within one week of the accident, Ms. Kay was removed from her role as the Cooperative Manager and reassigned as the Community Museum Director which she has done ever since I could remember. Some people have said they haven’t seen Ms. Kay smile since all of that occurred. Personally, I can’t imagine ever seeing her smile.
    I loop my arm with Jacqueline’s. “I suppose we have to be good today.” I wink at her as she stifles another laugh.
    We join our classmates in line and lean against the white concrete wall while munching away at the special breakfast. Comments are spoken between bites about how good some of the food tastes and how we wish we had them year round. We watch Ms. Kay walk around, hushing smaller groups as they chat and directing them to the line of other Level 17 students if they were supposed to be a part of our group. Once the twenty of us were rounded up, Ms. Kay claps loudly to get our attention and then leads us out the cafeteria side door. Immediately the noise difference from the buzzing of the cafeteria to the quiet stillness of Impetus is apparent in what sounds like a whoosh as we change environments. 
    Once outside, we hike the incline that leads to the maintenance building on Road C. Jacqueline and I wave at Mr. Frank as he waters the plants that line the edges. His gray hair has thinned out a bit as well but despite it all, he still has a smile that lights up Impetus. Several times throughout the years he has caught Jacqueline and I “testing the waters” with the community rules. But he has always just chuckled and turned his back whereas other adults would have made sure we were caught.
    “Hi girls!” He smiles, waves, and turns back to water the plants while whistling a somewhat melancholy tune that sounded a bit familiar. I could have sworn I’ve heard Gavin hum a similar one before.  
    Caroline turns around and scrunches her nose at us before flipping her long, red hair ponytail and turning back in line. She leans over to Adeline and whispers something in her ear which causes Adeline to look over her shoulder at us and