Undone: A Dystopian Fiction Novel by Chad Evercroft Read Free Book Online Page A

Whenever she touched me - a casual hug goodbye or a friendly high-five - her heat soaked into me and made me feel alive.
    I didn’t have many dreams in those days, I took each day as it came, but she was always there in my sights. She kept me getting up each morning, just so I could see her at breakfast. She was the reason I came home after class instead of wandering around campus or working on homework in some drafty coffee shop. She was my illumination, my spark, my endgame. I just wanted to hold her forever, but after a few moments, she gently broke from my arms and gave me an understanding smile.
    “We should get some sleep,” she said. “It’s been a rough few days, and I know I just get more stressed if I’m not rested.”
    “Yeah,” I agreed, though I already missed feeling her head on my shoulder. “Same here.”
    Tyrsa smiled and got up. I listened to her run the water in the bathroom, brushing her teeth and washing her face by candlelight. As I waited for my turn, I thought about what Tyrsa had told me, and couldn’t help but think about my own father.
    Tyrsa and I were opposite in that way: she had no mother, and I had no father. However, unlike Tyrsa’s mother, my father hadn’t wanted to leave. He had done all he could to stay, fighting the cancer that multiplied like rabbits in his body. Even though I only knew him for the first four years of my life, I remember him being strong, like athletic star-strong, but none of that had mattered to the illness. For a while, Mom took pictures of him constantly, to preserve his memory for me, but after a certain point, the pictures stopped. I always just imagined Dad going out like a movie star, muscular and healthy-looking. When I got older and saw what cancer did to peoples’ bodies, I knew that image of him wasn’t true. I was glad Mom had stopped taking pictures though. I preferred my false memory to the truth.
    I decided against taking a shower that night. Standing up and washing felt like too much work, so I just brushed my teeth and splashed my face with a little warm water. Lawrence and Rick were already asleep, purring like two great cats. I got into the bottom bunk and stared at the wood frame above me, the mattress squeezing through the slats like puff pastry.
    Tyrsa, I thought, her name sparkling like water in my mind. Tyrsa.
    I woke the next morning to Lawrence shaking me, a toothbrush between his teeth and an angry expression on his face.
    “Hey, dude,” he said when he saw my eyes open. “They’ve shut off the water. We don’t have any water.”

Chapter 5
    We checked Joe’s office, but found it empty. To our dismay, it looked like he had been robbed, but upon closer inspection, it was clear he had just freaked out. Nothing was missing; everything was just scattered on the floor and across his desk. There was a post-it note stuck to the wall under the TV. Beth read it aloud.
    “Getting out of town. Utilities might be down. Call this number.”
    Beth read the number and Rick dialed it into his phone. Tyrsa looked at me with a confused face and I shrugged. This was all very odd. When someone picked up, Rick hit the speakerphone button so we could all hear.
    “Hi, we’re in an apartment, the building belongs to Joe Luck. He gave us this number. What’s with our water, why is it off?”
    “Mr. Luck has not paid the bill,” a voice droned. “He is always late, and so we shut off the water until he pays this month and next.”
    “But he’s gone!” Rick exclaimed. “There’s a state of emergency in effect, things are crazy here. What are we supposed to do without water?”
    “I’m sorry, that’s not my problem.”
    “Not your problem?” Rick exploded. “You know there’s a kid in this building, right? And an elderly woman!”
    “Sir, I’m going to hang up.”
    “The hell you are! We…”
    We heard a click and then a long busy signal tone. Rick stared into the phone, shocked.
    “They can’t do that!” Lawrence cried.