Hold Me Never (Holding Never) Read Free

consequences of your action must be shown to
all. You have to be punished, Zoey,” he says with a smile.
“And everyone has to see it. This is justice. And justice
must not only be done, but be seen to be done.”
    I stare at the back of his shoulders, which doesn't look
quite as hunched as before. The prospect of doling out my punishment
has made him throw back his shoulders and walk taller, hold his head
higher than he has been able to hold it for a long time now.
    The taste of authority and power over another is
intoxicating, empowering, ego-inflating. There will be no need for
him to imbibe cheap alcohol this evening. He can get well and truly
drunk on my suffering, on his new found, fleeting power.
    I
stare round at the many stricken faces in the factory. Even though
they look visibly distressed, no one dares come to my defense. The
consequences of such a rash, foolhardy act are twofold. One, they
would bring the same horrific punishment down upon their own heads. Two, my offense
would immediately be deemed more serious and unforgivable simply by
virtue of the
fact that someone ha d spoken up for me, and m y
sentence would instantly
be doubled or tripled. There is nothing anyone can do.
    I open my mouth but lucky for me, no words come.
Protesting, pleading, maintaining my innocence would just do more
harm than good at this point.
    Officer Goddot pulls out a device from the side of his
uniform, and jabs feverishly at the keypad. There is the brief sound
of static, before Officer Goddot speaks urgently into that black
device.
    “ Officer Jan Goddot reporting from Town
Eighty-seven, Factory W-59.”
    A voice crackles through the speaker. “Yes.”
    “ I require assistance for the punishment of a
factory worker.”
    “ Crime?”
    “ Section
65 3 A,
subsection 19K.”
    A pause and a scratching noise on the other side.
    “ Two soldiers have been dispatched to you,
Officer.”
    Officer Goddot beams. “Thank you, thank you very
much!”
    He pockets the device and seems to hum as he strolls
back to me. Checking his watch, he cocks his head at me and says,
“It's almost six now. I'll shut down the machines and conveyor
belts at six as usual, but all of you are not to return to your
dormitories. Stay in the town square. You are to watch her
punishment, which will be in an hour's time.”
    I turn to look at the horrified faces. A gasp and some
voices rise in shock and protest. I shake my head at them, but some
of the girls continue crying out. Fortunately for them, my coming
public punishment seems to have put Officer Goddot in a good mood.
He blithely ignores the surge of voices and throws the main switch,
powering down the machines and lights in the factory.
    With
a gleam in his eyes, eyes that look more al ert than usual,
he saunters over to
me and yank
my arms behind my back. Do
I hear him whistling?
    I
feel metal cuffs click into place around my wrist s ,
and he leads
me out of the factory with
a spring in his step. The setting sun is pulsing an ominous deep red across the sky. I hear footsteps rushing behind me, anxious
voices calling my name. And I know that even without Officer
Goddot's order, they would not have returned to their dormitories.
They would have come with me to the town square.
    “ Zoey!”
    I twist back suddenly to see Emilia running towards me,
her blue eyes wide with anguish. She is seated away from me in the
factory, right at the other end where she polishes the finished
weapons. But every night, we share the same bunk, the same bed. We
are squeezed two, sometimes three, to a bed. And it is only in the
dark that we can share our secrets and our nightmares. Emilia and I
even share the same birthday. In three days' time, both of us would
have turned eighteen.
    Now, it seems only one of us would live to be eighteen.
    I may not have the chance to wish her happy birthday.
    I
look straight into her sea-blue eyes and
smile as best I can as the words form soundlessly on my lips— Happy
Birthday