I Become Shadow by Joe Shine Page B

everything, down to the tiniest detail I could imagine. I forgot it was all fake. I forgot I was in a box, no longer living my old life. I forgot who was in charge. I wanted to see my mother. Without thinking I opened the door.
    Everything went black.
    “No!” I yelled. “No. I’m sorry!” I said again as I shut the door. Fake or not, I wanted it back. But the simulation was over. The inside of the box became dimly lit by some ambient light, and the box’s exit door slid open.
    Junie and I shambled out of the simulator. My legs were shaky. The moment we stepped into the room I knew something was off. It was silent and there was no one else. Where were our classmates?
    Three dark-clad attackers rolled out from behind one of the other driving boxes in front of us. I was behind Junie as they approached.
    One of them, with a heavy accent I couldn’t place, snapped, “Should have kept following the green car.”
    Junie quickly turned to me. “Ren, go. Run.”
    I shook my head, snapping out of the daze they’d put me in. “I’m not leaving you.”
    “Please, go.”
    Maybe I should have listened to him. They attacked with speed, precision, and intent to harm. Two went after Junie. The one who’d spoken came at me. I was no match, not even close, and was tackled to the ground with ease. I was expecting to get punched, elbowed, or worse, but it didn’t happen. My attacker was suddenly lifted off of me and thrown into a driving box like a rag doll. Junie, eyesflashing with rage, had done it. But that gave his attackers the opportunity they needed. Maybe in a few years it would have been a better fight but it wasn’t right now. One swept his legs as the other kicked him across the chest. He crashed to the ground in a heap.
    I got up to help but only made it a few steps before something, I think it was a foot, or a lead pipe, cracked me in the head. For the third time in a week, I lost consciousness. But this time, it almost felt like a blessing.
    ONCE AGAIN, I CAME to in the hospital, lying on my back. Three days out of seven I’d ended up in here. At this rate they should just move me down here permanently and give my room to someone who might use it more.
    I stared up at the ceiling as I tried to work through how I’d ended up here. It was all very fuzzy after the car chase. Too groggy to think, I rolled over to go back to sleep. When the side of my head brushed the pillow a sudden pain under my ear triggered my memory and it all came back. A flash of Junie being beaten, pleading with me to run.
    I shot out of bed and ripped open the curtains to my left. A startled girl nursing a broken arm jumped.
    “Sorry,” I said as I closed them. I stumbled around my bed and whipped the other curtains open.
    Oh, Junie …
He was a mess. Both of his eyes were swollen shut, and he had a four-inch cut stitched-up above his ear. He stirred.
    I sat on the edge of his bed and grabbed his hand. He gave a quiet groan through his swollen, cracked lips.
    “It’s me, Ren,” I said softly. “I’m here. It’s okay.” I gentlystroked his hand with my thumb like my mother had done to me when I was a kid. His hand squeezed mine back.
    “You okay?” he forced out. His voice sounded like sandpaper.
    “I’m fine,” I reassured him. “Shhh. Rest.”
    “How bad is it?” he asked me.
    “Don’t worry about it.”
    “Ren,” he pushed.
    “You look like you shoved your head in a beehive,” I said, attempting to lighten the mood.
    He managed a pained chuckle. “Ow. Don’t make me laugh. Nothing’s broken though, right?”
    I looked him over. “Not that I can tell.”
    “Well, at least I got that going for me.”
    His breathing was labored, but steady. I thought he’d dozed off but a tear came out of his left eye. “I don’t know if I can do this,” he croaked. His voice was so soft I had to strain to hear it. More tears followed.
    “You can’t say that,” I said, more frightened than I wanted to admit. “Not you. If you