They Took Everything by Vote, So I Disappeared Chapter 05

They Took Everything by Vote, So I Disappeared Chapter 05

“What… what is this?”

Dad shot to his feet, nearly dropping the official address-change confirmation.

Mom heard the commotion and rushed out of the kitchen.

“What is it, Harold?”

She leaned in for a look and froze.

“She changed her address?”

“When did Erin change her permanent address?”

Bryce swallowed.

“I just checked the paperwork.”

“Her new address is… a secure federal research facility in the Red Mesa High Desert.”

“A secure federal research facility?”

Dad’s brows pulled together.

“She just graduated from high school.”

“What would she be doing at a secure federal research facility?”

Kelsey happened to walk out of the bathroom with a face mask on.

“Oh, come on. Why are you all freaking out?”

“She probably changed her address because she’s scared we’ll make her go to the local state

college.”

“It’s just an excuse to run away from home.”

“She probably found some restaurant that pays a little better and went there to work.”

“A secure federal research facility?”

“No one needs anybody like her.”

Kelsey’s words calmed Dad down a little.

He gave a cold laugh.

“Kelsey’s right.”

“She’s just throwing a fit.”

“She’s using this whole running-away thing to threaten us.

Mom still looked uneasy.

“But… she didn’t even take her college acceptance letter.”

“Is she really not going to college?”

“Fine! Then she doesn’t go!”

Dad slammed his palm on the table.

“That’s the choice she made.”

“So she’d better not come crawling back and beg me later!”

He turned to Bryce.

“Go back to the municipal records office tomorrow.”

“See if they can confirm exactly where her permanent address is registered now.”

“Get your loan sorted out first.”

“We can’t let it get delayed any longer.”

“Okay. Got it.”

Bryce raked a frustrated hand through his hair.

Meanwhile, I had already spent thirty hours on a train, followed by another six hours on a bus.

At last, I reached the edge of the Red Mesa High Desert.

There were no skyscrapers.

No glowing neon lights.

Only yellow sand whipping through the air and barren land stretching as far as I could see.

The bus stopped outside a facility surrounded by barbed-wire fencing.

Several people in olive-green uniforms boarded the bus.

“Everyone off.”

“Form up outside.”

We filed off in a line.

Cold wind drove grains of sand against my face, stinging my skin.

“Welcome to Site 93 Research Facility.”

A middle-aged man wearing glasses stood in front of us, his voice loud and clear.

“Starting today, your names will temporarily be erased from outside systems.”

“Here, you have no family.”

“No friends.”

“Only your teammates and your research mission.”

“Now, surrender all personal electronic devices.”

“You’ll be issued standard-issue clothing.”

I unzipped my duffel bag.

Then I took out my old phone with the cracked screen.

The screen was black.

I didn’t turn it on to see whether I had any missed calls.

Because I already knew.

Even if there were any, they wouldn’t be calling because they were worried about me.

They’d only realized they were missing someone they could order around like a servant.

I placed my phone in the collection bin beside me.

Then I was issued an insulated windproof jacket and a pair of steel-toe work boots.

When I changed into them, I looked at myself in the mirror.

No carefully done makeup.

No pretty dress.

But I saw myself freer than I’d ever been in eighteen years.

Life at the facility was extremely monotonous.

Every morning, I got up at six for physical conditioning.

After that came intensive coursework and lab training.

People here rarely talked.

Everyone was pushing themselves to the limit for the classified project.

My research advisor was an older professor with graying hair named Warren.

He was stubborn and extremely demanding.

During my first week, I made a mistake in a data calculation.

He tore into me.

“Erin, do you think this is a joke?”

“You think you can just throw something together?”

“This isn’t some game for a princess like you!”

“An error in the third decimal place can destroy a launch vehicle and get people killed at the launch

complex!”

I silently took the report back.

Then I stayed up for three nights straight and recalculated every piece of data.

When I finally placed a thick stack of flawless calculations on his desk, Professor Warren glanced at me and pushed his glasses up.

“You’ve got some grit after all.”

“Go grab something to eat in the cafeteria.”

“I saved you some chicken cutlet and cheese pasta.”

It was the first time I’d had meat since arriving at the facility.

The chicken smelled amazing.

One bite, and I felt completely satisfied.

I sat in the nearly empty cafeteria and finished every bite of the chicken and pasta.

No one was there telling me,

“Don’t eat so much. Save some for your brother.”

No one told me to wash the entire family’s dishes afterward.

The wind here was fierce.

The sand was coarse.

But I slept more peacefully here than I ever had in that house.

Before I knew it, three months had passed.

September arrived.

The new school year began.

First-year students began arriving for registration.