The Annihilation of Foreverland

any moment now, his solution would arrive and absorb her, take her out of Foreverland— “I know what… you are.” Her words scratched her throat. “I know… what you hide… from yourself.”
    Something vibrated in the Nowhere.
    “Your true memories…” she said. “The ones… you want… to forget… I know what you are.”
    Something buzzed around the Director.
    He closed his eyes, but a thought still entered him. A boy’s voice, pleading. It came from above.
    No! No, please, please don’t! Please! PLEASE!
    “You are not who you believe. You try to forget…” She sat up. “What you’ve done.”
    The thought he heard was more than a voice. It was a vision. A young boy, his African skin was black. His arms skinny.
    His eyes, empty.
    A needle in his head.
    Stop. Stop, stop, stop… STOP!
    The Director spun and pointed. “WITCH!”
    Lucinda was lifted by invisible hands. A stake emerged in the ground, her hands bound behind her back. Kindling at her feet.
    “You will poison me, no more,” he said.
    He refocused his efforts, pushed away the thoughts of dead and dying children, willed them back into the Nowhere. Pushed them far away until he forgot them, until he was strong again. Sure of who he was. He was a man that brought healing to the world.
    The 21 st century Buddha.
    A body began to form near the sundial. Translucent and fetal.
    The Director smiled. He released the girl from the witch’s stake. She collapsed in a pile. Pathetic.
    “Your end has arrived.”

64
    Reed tried to count a breath. Tried to be with the pain.
    He could not.
    The bars were crushing him; his chest had no room to inflate. His breaths were shallow, quick and stabbing. When he supported some of his weight, the bars would relax. He had more room to breathe. But that brought more pain. And there wasn’t much feeling left in his legs.
    The lucid gear brushed the top of his head.
    “They want to keep us apart.” Lucinda stepped out of the dark aisle . “They’ll win.”
    “They—” He grimaced, took a dozen tiny breaths. “They want me to take the needle.”
    He went limp. The bars squeezed. He whined.
    “Why do you think they brought you to the island?” She reached out.
    The room was darker.
    Reed couldn’t see the ceiling. Or the fan.
    But he could see her. Like she was in a spotlight. Her fingernails candy red. Like her hair.
    She reached for him.
    “They want to keep you away from me. They don’t want us together.”
    Her fingers touched his ribs. Cold numbness spread across his ribcage. She traced up his side, to his arm, numbing a path as she went. It was cold and freezing and pleasurable.
    He took an easy breath. It came out smooth.
    Her hand was on his shoulder.
    Touched his collarbone.
    Erasing the pain.
    “I can’t,” he said. “I won’t—”
    “You die. They win.”
    A black tunnel closed around him, ate up the cells across the aisle . Closed in behind Lucinda as she leaned closer. Her lips were full. They touched his ear.
    “Bastards,” she whispered.
    The pleasurable numbness spread across his face.
    Down his neck.
    “I miss you,” she said.
    Her fingertips touched his lips. His upper lip frosted over.
    “I miss you, Reed.”
    His lips fluttered.
    “Tell me,” she said. “Tell me.”
    “I…”
    She hooked her finger beneath his chin. Sensation left his bottom teeth.
    “I miss you.” He closed his eyes.
    Let her lift his chin.
    Let her lift the crown of his head into the lucid gear.
    The strap tightened around his scalp. The knob snugged up to his forehead. He was losing feeling in his head, but could feel the coldness of the needle searching for the hole that had healed long ago. It sensed the stent embedded in his skull and centered over it.
    Lucinda’s lips hovered over his.
    The needle shot through.
    Cracking the skin. Piercing the frontal lobe.
    His head snapped back. He saw a bright light. His body stiffened against the bars. Crackled. Then let loose.
    He went inside the needle with his eyes open. Head cocked to the side.
    Body, limp.
    He went to Foreverland.

65
    Danny and Zin left Mr. Campbell in the classroom. They didn’t bother to check his pulse.
    They stood outside the entrance of the building. The sun was up. The sky was blue. It was like any other day, except for the four bodies in the Yard.
    “How long did you put them out?” Zin asked.
    “I don’t know. I just activated every tracker in the system, besides ours.” He looked at the tablet. “I think I hit