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  The officer led them out a back passageway to the parking garage of the building. A black SUV was waiting for them. Theo knew how rare it was for even the government officials to travel by vehicle given the limited supply of fuel. He appreciated the gesture from the mayor, but nothing could ease the vice that was tightening around his chest.

  The car pulled away from the rear door of what Theo still thought of as a casino and wound around the several floors of the parking garage. Theo and his friends hadn’t said a word. He held Kylee’s hand and wondered what was happening to Mark. He hoped that if Mark were truly dying that they would get there in time to have one last chance to see him.

  There was no need for the SUV to turn on its siren or lights to clear a path. Almost nobody ever drove on the island, and at this time of day everybody was at his or her jobs, home with little children or in school. The drive was brief. The hospital approached quickly and the government car drove right up to the entrance. The officer turned back to the teens from his front passenger seat. “They know you’re here so just go right in. You know the way to your friend’s room, right?” For the first time in what seemed an eternity, they spoke to say that yes, they knew how to get to Mark’s room.

  They thanked the officer and the driver and left the big car. The automatic doors to the hospital parted in front of them and they moved swiftly toward the elevators, once more embracing silence and the shelter of their own thoughts.

  Theo’s brain barely registered the walk across the lobby, the ride in the elevator or the brief distance to Mark’s room. The next thing he knew, he was standing with his friends around Mark’s bed. Jamie was already in the room, tears wet on her face. The beeping of the machinery in the room had become an all-too-familiar sound in recent weeks. A doctor was standing by Mark’s head, jotting something in a folder. He looked up at the teens.

  “The mayor said you are the closest thing to next of kin this young man has on the island,” the doctor said.

  “What happened to him?” asked Theo. “He’s been stable all this time.”

  “He was stable, yes,” said the doctor, “but his brain functionality has been minimal and his body has not been recovering the way we’d hoped. Instead it has been slowly breaking down over the past few weeks. We nearly lost him last night and performed an emergency surgery to drain some fluid and relieve swelling, but even so… I’m afraid there’s very little time left.”

  “Can he hear us?” asked Bill, his voice choked with emotion.

  “I’m sorry but he’s lost almost all brain function,” said the doctor. “It’s doubtful anything you say will register, but I certainly don’t want to discourage you from trying.”

  “How long does he have left?” asked Ryan.

  “It’s hard to say,” said the doctor. “Minutes? Maybe hours? If there’s anything you want to say to him, even if it’s only for your own benefit, you should say it.”

  Kylee and Michelle walked over to Jamie and hugged her. Kylee whispered something to Jamie and the three girls began to walk toward the door. Jamie squeezed Mark’s limp hand as she passed his bed. When they were out in the hallway, the doctor said “I’ll let you have time with your friend.” He took his chart and left the room.

  The three friends stood around Mark’s bed. Bill moved his mouth like he was going to say something but the words seemed to catch in his throat. Ryan put his hand on Mark’s frail arm. “Hey Mark,” he said, “We’re all here.” He looked at Theo and Bill for encouragement and they nodded. “It’s been pretty sad on this island without you man,” he continued, “I mean Bill tries to make jokes but he sucks at it. You’d really enjoy making fun of some of the crazy crap that goes on here. Damn it Mark, we aren’t going to be the same without you. Like, one day they might even bring cars back and I might actually have to drive without you to …” he trailed off, tears streaming down his face. He grasped Mark’s hand and squeezed it, thumping it against his own chest. Slowly, Ryan put Mark’s hand back down and stepped back.

  Theo felt his own tears leaving wet tracks down his cheeks. He took Ryan’s place next to Mark. “Mark… I don’t know how we’ve made it this long without your crazy spirit keeping us going. I… I know you don’t want us to remember you like this. Lying here like you are, that’s not even the real you. So I’m not going to think of you like this. I’m going to remember all the good times. I’m going to remember when we were ten and you convinced all of us to go check out that creepy house that we thought was abandoned. That stray dog barked and scared Ry so much he fell over! When I think of you I’m going to remember the way you laughed that day, the way you were always laughing.”

  Theo paused to compose himself. He concentrated on his breathing until he felt he could continue. “I’m also going to remember what a hero you were to save Jamie and that other woman. You were friggin’ amazingly brave and I can’t tell you enough how impressed I am. How impressed we all are. I promise you… we are going to honor your memory and what you sacrificed. The mayor said that the future is bright. Well, we’re going to make sure it is. We owe it to you. I’m never, ever going to forget you Mark.” He wiped the back of his hand across his eyes and made way for Bill.

  Bill was silent a while as he composed his thoughts. Theo knew Bill had said much of what he wanted to say in the weeks he had sat at Mark’s bedside. He knew Bill was searching for something especially profound and worthy of the moment. “Mark…” Bill began, “you know you’ve always been my brother. From the day you first came to our elementary school, you’ve been the guy I could tell everything to. You knew me better than anyone. I have so many good memories of doing crazy things with you. You really knew how to have fun and I’m gonna miss that so much.” He put a hand over his face and slammed his fist on the cart next to the bed. “Damn it! It’s so goddamned unfair!” Theo and Ryan came around and each put a hand on Bill’s shoulders as he fought to control his emotions. Finally, he was calm enough to continue.

  “I don’t want to end this… I don’t want to say goodbye. I’m just gonna tell you that I’m never gonna forget you… I’ll think of you in everything I do. I love you, bro.” Bill lowered his head into his hands and was eerily still. Theo and Ryan took seats. They sat in silence, revealing nothing more with their voices but telling all through their tears. Time lost all meaning in that quiet room. Theo knew that hours passed but had no real sense of when it was that Mark began to fade away. The stream of doctors and nurses and equipment seemed to be moving in another world far distant. Theo was aware of the commotion as Mark was covered with a sheet and removed from the room, but it existed in a silent void.

  It took him a while to regain focus, to realize that Kylee was there with her arms around him. Bill, Ryan, Jamie and Michelle were there too. Theo realized that these were the only people left for him in this new world. They were his friends and they were his family too. He reminded himself of his promises to Mark. That saddened him but anchored his concentration and strengthened his resolve at the same time. Theo reached for Kylee’s hand. He panned the room, looking at his friends. “Guys, I think it’s time to go.”

  Chapter 11

  The residents of Atlantic Island had grown all too accustomed to burying lost loved ones. Though Theo and his friends tried as best they could to make time and space for mourning Mark’s passing, the forces of necessity and order pushed them back to work and school. They attended a small ceremony for Mark as his body, wrapped in a sheet, was placed on some kind of a hastily constructed floating platform and set adrift off the north end of the island.

  Bill and Jamie sat on opposite ends of the line formed by the group of teens. Theo knew that Mark’s death had made them ashamed of the growing feelings they had shared. He wished there was something he could do to bring them together. He knew they needed each other if they hoped to come to terms with their shared loss and move forward.

  Theo waited until a few days after the funeral to take Bill aside. Something in his face must have signaled his inte
nt because Bill backed up a few steps. “Don’t start on me man, I can’t take it right now.”

  “Bill,” said Theo, “I’m not going to push you into anything. I know how you feel about Jamie and I know how you felt about Mark. I see what’s going on and I’m telling you, it’s no good for you or her.”

  “I can’t feel right about this! I can’t feel right about anything. Every time she crosses my mind or I see her I think about how close we were getting while Mark was dying in a goddamned hospital bed! I was wrong, Theo. Wrong and awful to my friend.”

  “Not one person would say you were wrong, or that you’ve done anything to disrespect Mark. You stood by him to the very end and so did Jamie. If you were telling me that there was no feeling left between the two of you, if you didn’t want her… maybe I’d say that’s fine. But that’s not how it is and you know it. The two of you are choosing to avoid each other. You’re running and hiding from your guilt and I’m telling you, it’s crap.”

  Bill’s face turned red. He was getting angry. “How can you say that? How can you say that me even thinking about a girl when Mark is floating in the ocean isn’t disrespecting him? Let alone the girl he wanted when all of this happened to begin with!”

  “I know you’re getting pissed at me,” Theo said, choosing his words carefully. “Like I said, I’m not going to push you. I just want you to realize two things: one, we all need each other, whether it’s friendship or love or whatever. Nothing about this life here is easy or simple and we need to all be together in this. Two, I knew Mark almost as well as you and I am telling you he would want you to be happy. Jamie makes you happy Bill. You don’t have to run to her this second, but think about it. Making a conscious choice to run away from her is not going to help anybody.”

  As Theo spoke, Bill had tightened his fists and Theo thought there was a reasonable chance that his friend was going to take a swing at him. When he finished, he waited cautiously as Bill processed everything he said. Bill’s hands opened and his shoulders slumped, defeated.

  “I get it,” he said. “It still doesn’t feel right to me but I get your point. I won’t make a huge effort to stay away from her, okay? But somebody needs to tell Jamie the same thing.”

  Theo smiled. “Kylee’s already on it,” he said.

  Classes began the next week. Theo wasn’t aware of anyone getting moved up or down a grade, though he knew few people well enough to discuss such things. He was more suspicious than ever that the tests had ulterior purposes, but none were made apparent as the students received class assignments.

  Theo noticed that just as the test had neglected history, his schedule did not include any history courses. He could understand that the new country had very little history to draw from. Everybody there could remember the Event of a few months ago and what had transpired since. Still, Theo remembered learning about the ancient Greeks in a class in tenth grade. There was value in learning about those ancient societies and their traditions and customs, or at least he thought there was. It seemed someone had a different idea.

  His schedule only contained four courses, held at locations scattered around the school floor of the Palace. Theo had math with Bill and Kylee. Ryan and Michelle were way beyond his level when it came to arithmetic. The class, conducted by a very short man named Mr. Stevens, seemed to be a general overview of Algebra with a bit of Pre-Calculus thrown in for good measure. One hour of Mr. Stevens droning on about two variable equations and Theo longed for the weekend and the feel of a hammer in his hand.

  Theo’s wandering mind pondered Mayor Lucas’s offer about the council. He hadn’t spoken to Lucas since he overturned Bill’s sentence, but Theo knew the mayor was keeping tabs on him and his friends. After all, he knew about Mark’s fatal turn before any of the rest of them did, and had even sent them transportation. So where was any notice about the council, or any notice about anything for that matter? Ryan had said they were close to getting a closed circuit television signal up and running, Theo thought. Maybe that would allow the mayor to keep in touch with the citizens.

  Theo was startled as the other students stood up and got ready to go. Kylee grabbed his arm. “Rise and shine!” she laughed.

  “I didn’t realize it was over,” Theo said.

  “No kidding,” said Kylee. “You were in a totally different zone.”

  Bill, who seemed to be happier as of late, punched Theo lightly on the arm. “Bro, if I have to sit through this, you gotta be there with me.” He showed Theo his notes, which though written in a nearly illegible scrawl covered most of both sides of the paper. Theo uncomfortably showed them his own paper that only had a few equations scratched out on the top half.

  “I’ll get with it next time,” Theo said, “I don’t really know what happened to me.”

  “Ah, it’s cool,” said Kylee, “Mr. Stevens is pretty boring.”

  “X squared plus Y is verrrrrry interesting,” said Bill in a perfect impression of the teacher’s slow drawl.

  “Yeah, well it’s not like they had much to choose from,” Theo said. “They couldn’t exactly put out a hiring bulletin online.”

  Theo tried his best to pay attention in his next three classes. He found Physics fascinating and Geology was a subject he hadn’t been exposed to since middle school. His final subject of the day was Government. Theo realized that none of his friends had that on their schedules. He walked all the way down the long hall of classrooms until he found the right room. He was immediately struck by how small the room was. He could only see two armchairs but no desks. Theo looked down at his schedule. He was certain he had confused the room numbers.

  “If you’re in the wrong place then so am I,” laughed a voice behind him.

  Theo spun in place and saw Mayor Lucas smiling from the doorway.

  “Mayor… what are you doing here?”

  “I’m your teacher, Theo,” said the mayor, “though I daresay we will be teaching each other.”

  Theo tried to smile. “Sir, I don’t understand.”

  “We have a few ladies and gentlemen on my advisory council who aren’t as…open, shall we say, as I am to a young man like you being onboard. I decided we could spend this period discussing some things that are crucial to the operation of the island. This way, I help prepare you to hold your own when you join the council, and I give you ample opportunity to express your views and concerns just in case the other members try to steamroll over you.”

  Theo opened his mouth to remind the mayor that he hadn’t technically committed to joining the council, but thought better of it. Instead he asked, “But…aren’t I going to miss out on the rest of my education?”

  “Our school system is a work in progress just like everything else,” said Lucas, “but I imagine you’ve already noticed that the schooling for the youngest students is a little more…structured.”

  “Yes, sir, I was actually going to ask about that. It looks like the kids who are working age are given a really light schedule.”

  “You’re right about that,” said the mayor. He gestured for Theo to sit and then sat himself in the remaining chair. “We don’t have a huge teenage population but our focus is going to be more and more about identifying the proper departments for those students after their schooling ends. The volunteer system has been great so far but we’d like to see a little more organization. We want to put the best people for a job in that job, you see?”

  Theo nodded. “I do, but I’ll tell you there is a lot of talk about college. It’s kind of something we used to think about a lot.”

  “I understand that. Believe me, I am a huge proponent of education and I want our kids to go to college but assuming we are to remain bounded by this island, the infrastructure just isn’t there. The island has basic needs that must be met to keep the population thriving.”

  The mayor eyed Theo curiously. “So how have you enjoyed your first day of school?”

  “I don’t know. It’s a little different than I expected but I think it’s okay.”


  “Good,” said Lucas, “I’m glad you approve. One thing I’d like to ask as part of our arrangement here is that you keep an eye on the students and their reactions. Any feedback you can give that can help us refine our educational system and help us nudge people into the right career paths would be enormously helpful.”

  Mayor Lucas paused and his smile faded. “Before we go any further I’d like to offer you my condolences on the passing of your friend. I hope we were able to provide you with as much time as possible to say goodbye.”

  “Yes, sir, we all really appreciated it. Thank you. I was wondering though… well, how exactly did you know about Mark?”

  “I try to know as much as I can about my citizens,” said Lucas, “in particular I wanted to know about those who had suffered from the Event. When I saw your name on Mark’s visitor registry, I put things together quickly.”

  The mayor turned to look out the one large window in the room. It showed a view of the buildings behind the Palace. “Is there anything you’ve been wondering, Theo?”

  “Well, I didn’t really have a chance to think about questions to ask you,” Theo said. “But, I guess I want to know if anything new has been discovered about what happened to us.”

  “A very good question,” said the mayor. “I believe your friend Ryan has some knowledge about what we’re learning. I’m sure he’s keeping it under wraps until the science team presents its findings. Small scale at first so we can pick through the information, but we will be having a big town hall gathering on Halloween and I think you’ll find all of this enlightening. I’ve been briefed on a few things, and of the three questions: what happened, how did it happen and what can we do about it, I think some serious progress has been made on the first.”