EPISODE 3: WHAT'S IN THE BOX?
Disclaimer: Please refer to Chapter 1
A/N: Please note reference to Outcomes, which are assessment tasks students have to complete in Year 12 when studying the VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education).
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Year 12 was getting harder for Taylah, not that she wasn't copping. It was just all of a sudden all these Outcomes kept popping up for her to do and Taylah found herself studying every night and this was very new to her. It shouldn't be, but Taylah wasn't about to follow down the same exhausting road her family or Jade chose and become doctors. She wasn't the fantastic science nerd and she didn't walk around school discussing algebraic formulas. Taylah had her own road of which she is heading and that is the world of artistic expression. She loved art and she loved to be creative and studying wasn't the way for her. She just wanted to paint and sculpture and just be free with her form of creative expression.
School was over for the day and Taylah's best friend Mitch dropped her home. He already had a car and his P plates and Taylah didn't even have her Learners; she's been lazy and is so jealous. Mitch drove off and she went into her house, dropped her bag at the door, then pealed of her blazer and shoes. Then she sat alone on the couch in the lounge felling tired from the day.
Suddenly, Taylah found herself scanning the lounge and a family portrait caught her eye from above the television. The picture had her mum and dad, her sister and of course herself. The photo also had Jade in it and all of a sudden Taylah's empty feeling returned to her. At school she allowed herself to forget about her sister, but now she was home alone, the feeling flowed right back.
Taylah got up from the couch and started walking, no real destination in mind. She travelled towards the back of the house and found herself in Jade's room. She went inside and went to Jade's wardrobe and pulled out a box. The box was quite large, about the size of a suitcase and it was coloured black and had a Jade coloured underlay. Jade had once told Taylah that everything in the box defined her past, present and future and that it was for her eyes only unless she gave Taylah permission. When Jade was younger, she used to always be adding things to the box, pictures, letters, everything that was sacred and important to her was inside that box. But Taylah had never seen everything in the box, only what Jade would allow her to see.
Taylah opened the box and inside was many personal items. There were a couple of photo albums, box's and letters and there was also a journal. The journal, which was very old, was blue and large. Taylah looked inside, and then stopped herself. She closed the book, put it back in the box and put the lid on it. Then she went and sat on Jade's bed.
Taylah's mind raised with thoughts, all concerning Jade's box. How can I look in Jade's most personal belongings! She's missing and I'm just gonna go look in hers stuff because of that. Jade's not gone forever! Taylah could feel lumps forming in her throat, her eyes filling with tears. But what if what's inside that box could help us find her and bring her home to us.
She considered her options and then made a decision and went and opened the box. She took out the journal and went and lay on Jade's bed. She opened to the very first page and began reading her entries.
January 10 2010!
My name now is Lisa Smith and I am staying with a foster family. I am no longer the Manticore Prototype who started life as a statistic in a computer system next to a barcode number and a category. As far as I'm concerned, I am no longer an X5. But inside I will remain Jondy, but in silence.
So I decided to start a journal so I could document my life, and have one place where I feel safe to be truthful and honest.
I am 10 years old and by the way I'm writing you would think I'm older, but my brain processes knowledge quicker and I excel in everything I do...
January 30 2010!
...I have shifted to a new family cause the first one didn't want me...
February 30 2010!
...I really miss my brothers and sisters back at Manticore, but there is no way I want to go back. I especially miss Zack, Tinga, and Max. I hope there okay, I hope they managed to escape...
May 1 2010!
...I applied for a place at an Australian school and I find out in 2 months if I got in. If I do, I'm away from Manticore and America forever. Who want's to live here after the Pulse...
April 12 2011!
...I love my new family and they love me. For the first time in my life, someone who isn't a science project... loves me...
September 13 2014!
...Today I started to think about my past and I haven't done that in a while and I remembered the escape. The 12 of us, who had been stuck in that government compound our whole life had to watch our sister be shot by Lydecker and then escape, running for our lives for the fence that meant our freedom...
The letters went on and on until they finally reached the present. And Taylah was shocked at what she had discovered about her sister.
February 15 2021!
...Max has found me and I can't explain my delight. After finding Zack, I remember thinking that you could never lose the bond of a sibling and just like with Zack, the bond was as strong as ever. And I can't wait to see her again. But that won't be for a while cause she's escaping being captured. I just hope I'm safe and that my decision to stay with my family was the right one...
Taylah turned the page and found there were no more entries, but she did find a piece of paper by itself and on that paper was a phone number and it belonged to Max Guevera of Seattle Washington USA.