It was only once she was safely inside her building that a wave of fear and regret washed over Kelly. She’d been reckless today. Too reckless.
No one should be able to move the way I can, Kelly thought, pressing the button marked ‘5’ in the flickering light of the lift. It wasn’t normal. She wasn’t normal. And in the Northern Kingdom, ‘not normal’ was a very dangerous thing to be.
Absently, Kelly scratched an itch on her forehead and felt a small lump.
Strange, she thought. Had she banged her head in the alley and not even noticed?
The lift opened onto a narrow corridor lit by fluorescent lights and lined by metal doors.
Kelly trekked along to her apartment and placed a hand on the scanner. The door ground open, bits of rust scraping off as it slid into the wall.
She entered the hallway and was relieved to hear the sound of her mother watching TV in the living room. She didn’t want to answer questions about her frayed look.
‘Kelly?’ her mum called.
‘Hey, Mum. Gotta dump my stuff.’
‘Dinner in half an hour.’
In her bedroom, Kelly took off her jeans and looked down at her legs. They felt so powerful she half expected to see them covered in bulging muscles and rippling veins, but they just looked like regular legs.
Kelly changed into trackpants and sat down at her computer. She was due to upload her mandatory selfie for the week. She logged in to LifeScape and pictures of her friends appeared in her feed. She hadn’t seen much of anyone since leaving high school – but social media was a way to remember their faces, at least.
Scattered through the personal updates were a few news articles:
Nurse Awarded 10k for Reporting Co-worker!
Top Ten Reasons to Join the KG!
Then Kelly saw an article that made her stop scrolling. It was shared by one of her co-workers at Clyde’s, a guy called Sid. He was a quiet type who mostly worked the check-outs.
She couldn’t believe what she was reading.
Soul Collector to Blame for Shortening Days!
Questions have arisen over the cause of shortening daylight hours, a phenomenon first observed early last year. Reports have now emerged that Kingdom ruler William James, aka ‘the Soul Collector’, has developed a penchant for ‘painting’ sunrises. Sources claim that, as a result, small amounts of daylight are being deleted from the universe – which has done nothing to deter William James from continuing with his practices! As his dark magic grows ever … (click to read more)
Kelly went cold all over. Sid had put himself in grave danger by sharing this, and even though she did not know him well, she feared for his safety. KG techs scanned LifeScape constantly – everyone knew that! Was Sid stupid, brave, or just fed up? More and more, people seemed tired of grumbling quietly behind closed doors.
Could it possibly be true? Kelly had heard rumours about the days growing shorter, but hadn’t believed them. It seemed impossible that one man could do that much harm, even a man as powerful as the Soul Collector.
She hovered her mouse over the click to read more link. She was curious, but reading this far was dangerous enough – what if the snooping techs were tracking her user behaviour right now?
Kelly felt like such a coward. Here was Sid, standing up for what he thought was right, yet she couldn’t even summon the courage to click a link! She tried to exert downward pressure on her finger, but could not find the will.
Besides, she told herself, what was the point? What could she do about any of it? What could any one person do against such unstoppable and far-reaching power? All someone like Kelly could do was keep her head down. Blend in. Survive.
And then, just like that, the article disappeared. In its place was a video of a cat chasing a ball of string.
The KG had deleted the post. Most likely, they were now on their way to wherever Sid lived. Kelly felt sick at the thought.
She snatched her phone to take a selfie. If anyone asked, she could say that was why she had logged on to LifeScape. She hadn’t actually clicked the link, right?
She snapped a shot and uploaded it to her profile without even looking at it. A moment later the photo popped up, and instantly Kelly regretted not checking it before sharing.
In the slightly blurred photo, her hair was wild despite the hair tie, her locks bursting out in unkempt tangles. Plus, she looked worried and … there was that strange bump in the middle of her forehead!
Kelly reached up to feel it – it was even bigger than it had been in the lift.
What’s going on?
