Forget Tomorrow - Pintip Dunn Page 0,98

my chest caves in.

But no sound comes out. I try to take a breath but can’t draw any air. A hand covers my mouth. Logan’s hand. Smothering me and keeping the screams inside.

I wrench away and collapse on the floor; I hug the linoleum tiles as if they can anchor me to this world. I don’t know how long I lie there. Long enough for William to open the closet door and announce, “They’re gone.” Long enough for Logan’s cool hands to turn sweaty against my shoulder. Long enough to wonder if I can stay here forever.

Logan’s hand moves to my neck, dislodging the wig from my head. “I’m so sorry, Callie.”

I pull the wig off and drop it into my lap. The fake hair flops against my legs like a dead animal. “How can this be her sentence after getting out of Limbo? How?”

“Once she fulfilled her memory, the ripples are taken care of.” William stares at the empty reclining chair. “FuMA has no other use for her…alive.”

Leaping to my feet, I cross the room and shove him as hard as I can. He tumbles into the chair.

“You knew, didn’t you?” I grip the collar of his shirt and dig my nails into his skin. When he flinches, I push my nails deeper. “You knew they were going to kill her, but you didn’t say anything. If you’d warned me, maybe we could’ve done something. Maybe we could’ve saved her.”

He meets my eyes. “What would you have done? Would you have exposed yourself to give her the antidote?”

I freeze. “There’s an antidote? Where?”

He gestures toward the locked glass case. “In case the administrator accidentally gets injected.”

Two needles remain. One clear and one red.

Once upon a time, Sully told me a story about a girl named Jules, who was supposed to attempt murder against her father. She was dragged into the fulfillment room by a detainment guard. A scientist followed, with two rows of needles. A few minutes later, they all walked out, seemingly unhurt.

She killed him with one needle and revived him with the next.

The red needle is the antidote.

I look around wildly and snatch the floating keyball off its magnetic stand. With all my strength, I smash it over the locked case. Shards of glass fly everywhere. Paying no attention, I reach between the jagged edges and pluck up the red syringe. “What are you waiting for? Let’s go.”

“Callie.” William shakes his head. “It’s too late.”

The needle begins to vibrate in my hand. “What are you talking about? We can still find her body. We can save her.”

“In order to work, the antidote needs to be injected within a minute of the poison. It’s been at least ten minutes since they took her body away. I’m sorry.”

I stare at him. “No. There’s got to be a way.”

“Callie. She’s gone.”

My gaze drops to the red liquid swimming in the barrel. Red like the leaf that falls into a little girl’s hand. Red like the blood that no longer pumps through Sully’s body. “So much for not knowing anything because it’s not your department.” Sobs wrack my body. I fling the needle to the ground and bury my face in my hands.

Warm arms encircle me, and I know without looking that it’s Logan. “It’s done,” he whispers in my hair. “You can’t change it. We need to think about your sister. You’ve got to keep it together if we’re going to rescue her.”

“No.” It’s suddenly so clear to me. So terribly, horribly clear.

A stillness flows through me. It takes all my worries and silences them, picks up my emotions and numbs them. All of a sudden, I understand how a girl can look into her sister’s eyes and kill. Everything is turned off except for the task at hand. The solitary goal that must be accomplished.

“We can’t rescue her yet. If they can kill Sully over a bad memory, what else are they capable of?” My hands no longer shake. The tears have dried on my face. And if any pieces of my shattered heart remain, they cower from my sight. “Don’t you see? I can’t turn my back on this now. I owe it to Sully to see it through. I was meant to find this precog. I was meant to see a future so awful I’m willing to do anything to prevent it. I won’t act on it the way my future self does, but this part of my destiny, I need to fulfill.”

“Okay.” Logan nods, and I