Fiona went to work after school, as usual. Jonas walked her there. As they talked, Jonas stopped suddenly, gazed at her hair, then shook his head violently. He did not explain, and to ask would be rude. She went into the House of the Old.
"Today," Mrs. Heather explained, "You will learn one of those secrets which were mentioned on your sheet. Fiona, it is vital that you do not disclose what you learn today to anyone in the community. Do you understand?" Fiona nodded eagerly. She hoped that it would be that they would take her Elsewhere, where released people went, to see where the Old were being taken care of.
Mrs. Heather led her solemnly to the auditorium. Inside, many of the Old were gathered, and a small bed with one of the Old on it was at the front. "Shh. Albert is going to be released. Watch, but be quite, Fiona!" ordered Mrs. Heather. As Fiona looked on, a Caretaker in white went up to Albert on the bed, and rolled up his sleeve. The Caretaker filled a small syringe with a clear liquid. Fiona winced sympathetically. To be released, Fiona supposed that the Old would need to be immunized against diseases Elsewhere. The Caretaker slowly injected the liquid into Albert's arm. Albert gave a wrenching scream, twitched as if in pain, then flopped limply onto his back. Ouch, that must have really hurt, thought Fiona. As she watched though, no doorway to Elsewhere appeared, but the Caretaker shoved Albert's body into a large box, shut it firmly, and pushed it down the garbage chute. Fiona felt dizzy, then the room started to fade to black…
Mrs. Heather was leaning over her, fanning her face. Fiona immediately regained her voice, and began to scream. Her mentor's hand clapped over her mouth. Fiona stopped screaming, and Mrs. Heather released her grip. "That's what they mean, don't they? They don't mean released from the community – they mean from life. THEY KILL PEOPLE!" Fiona said quickly, urgently. She was scared out of her wits by the crime she had witnessed.
"Shut your mouth. You have witnessed a release. Fiona, I realize your distress, so we will not start training you in the art of release until tomorrow. Instead, we had one member of the audience who is new to the House. We have to make sure she will not tell a soul. You may watch." Fiona was not all too sure that she wanted to, but she followed Mrs. Heather faithfully.
"Hello, Samantha," called Fiona's mentor, cheerfully. "So you saw the release, did you?" Samantha just made a noise deep in her throat. "You would never tell anyone about that, though, would you now?" asked Mrs. Heather, still smiling. Samantha regained her voice.
"You bet I will! I am going to tell everyone and -"Mrs. Heather cut her off with a sharp slap of the discipline rod, straight on the fingers. Samantha yelped with the sting. Still, she stuck to the opinion that everyone should know. Fiona winced, and looked away with each slap. Finally, half-dead with pain, Samantha agreed to keep her silence. Fiona almost ran away from the pitiful scene, wishing that people would not give in so easily, wishing that discipline rods did not hurt quite so much.
When they were alone again, Mrs. Heather turned apologetically to Fiona, discipline rod in hand. "Fiona, will you keep your silence, please? I really do not want to harm you, do you understand?" she asked. Fiona stared for a long while at the weapon in her mentor's hand. She remembered the agonized screams of Albert, and his last twitch. Yet she still looked at the weapon, and remembered Samantha's agonized submission.
"Yes, Mrs. Heather. I promise not to speak of it." Fiona mumbled. She gave in easily at the mention of pain, but she had a reputation to keep up – and after what she had seen, Fiona was sure that, if she attempted to tell anyone about the truth of release, she would be released, herself. Still, she thought, the community has the right to know…