Inside Read online

  INSIDE

  Special Expanded Edition

  by Kyra Anderson

  For information on future works, please visit:

  www.kjamidon.com

  Dedicated to:

  My friends and family who inspire me every day

  My TBP people, who waited so patiently for this to be finished

  R&D&Z, who put up with brainstorming sessions until the wee hours of the morning. You guys are awesome!

  Beckers, for listening to me talk about this book incessantly!

  Cheryl, you are my rock in turbulent times. You helped me through this darkness.

  Author’s Note

  Welcome!

  This is the Special Expanded Edition of Inside. Originally, when this novel was released, it was broken up into three parts to make it easier to read. However, in honor of the anniversary of its release ___ years ago, I have decided to release a special edition of the book with a few minor changes.

  First, this is the novel in its entirety. This is all three parts combined together in the original format it was intended to be in for release.

  Second, I have included an alternative ending at the very end of the book (adding to the length, my apologies!). When writing this book, I had several ideas about how the book should end. There were three different ideas that stood out particularly, but I chose the one that was originally printed because I felt that, even though it was dark and upsetting, it was the most realistic and true to the vision of the story. However, there was another ending that I started working on before I decided it was the wrong path to take for Lily’s horrific adventure with the Commission of the People. I have included that alternate ending here in the special edition so that you can decide which ending you like best.

  This story is not for the faint of heart or easily-offended. There are themes and elements in this novel that are meant to provoke intense and often unpleasant emotions. This is a part of experiencing this storyline. Like all writers, I ask that you suspend your knowledge of your reality and step into the world created in these pages. Please remember that this is a work of fiction! None of these events are meant to push political agendas, nor should anything in this book be taken as politically accurate. The politics, laws, and scenarios in Inside are 100% fiction.

  Chapter One

  I guess things could always be worse.

  There were worse things in life than having to move away from my hometown. For instance, our country could still be locked in civil war, and we could still have foreign powers imposing on us, poisoning our economy with money that did not hold the same value. The crime rate in our country could also be at the same high rate it was before the Second Revolution.

  But, it wasn’t.

  I still had to move away from everything I had ever known.

  My father was running for the position of Official Regulator of the Western Region. It had been obvious from the start that he had the favor of the people. He had spent over three months travelling the region, making connections with those who would be working under him if he was elected, practically securing his victory.

  I came from a long line of politicians. My paternal grandfather had even run for Leader of America a few decades previous. He had not been the strong leader the country needed at the time. Despite the fact that the Second Revolution had ended two decades before he ran for Leader, and he had seen the carnage of the revolts first-hand, he did not have what it took to keep the former United States on the mend from the bloody civil war.

  Because of the family history, it only made sense that my father became a politician. As with most government officials, he started on the Regulation Force, keeping the peace in the Western Region of America by enforcing the codes set by Central and The Commission of the People—the government branches founded on the tail of the Second Revolution. After he had worked on the Regulation Force and climbed to the top, he met my mother, who was a filing secretary at the time. They married and had me after obtaining their Child Rearing Permit—which was granted the allotted five-year waiting period.

  Seventeen years later, I, Lily Sandover, was filled with dread at knowing my father was going to become Official Regulator of the Western Region and, consequently, the reason my family would uproot.

  On the day of the decision, I went to school as usual, thinking of the friends I would leave behind when our family moved to Central, the new American capital.

  I met with my friends Diane and Marcie outside the front gate of our school. Knowing I was dreading the events of the day, they did their best to cheer me up.

  “Think about it this way, at least you can get away from Mrs. Crane now,” Marcie laughed, referring to our brutal and foul-smelling biology teacher.

  “Oh, wonderful.” I rolled my eyes. “With my luck, she has a twin in Central.”

  There was a sense of foreboding about leaving my old life. I had no interest in politics whatsoever. After all, corrupt politics were the origin of the conflicts that led to the Second Revolution. Politics made things overly-complicated and filled with fear. But with my family so heavily involved in the tiers of Central, it was expected that I would follow in their footsteps and become an active member of Central society as well.

  The Second Revolution was over seventy years ago, but the country was still caught up in the glory of the reform. All anyone could talk about was what their fathers had died for, the brighter world they fought tirelessly to obtain, and how we, as the next generation, needed to continue the legacy of our forefathers and push the country to success under new Central rule.

  As I ate lunch with my friends, another friend, Mary, darted to us, terrified about her history test in thirty short minutes.

  “Quick, help me,” she said breathlessly. “Thomas Ankell led the Purging of Washington with the Children of America after the government massacred which university rally?”

  “Reform or Rebel Rally, which marched down the west coast and were massacred on their way to Stanford University, which officially started the Second Revolution and led to Washington being burned to the ground,” I answered. My father had drilled me on major events of the Second Revolution before I was even able to correctly pronounce most of the words, let alone grasp their meaning.

  “And Ankell went into hiding…when?”

  “When the True New World group attacked Central to try and overthrow him,” Diane answered. “The True New World group was crushed when the Commission of the People was first organized.”

  “Right,” Mary said. “And the Commission was started by Ankell’s right hand man, Bryant…Matthews?”

  “Morris,” I corrected.

  “Why do I keep wanting to say Matthews?” Mary groaned, rolling her eyes. “Okay, Bryant Morris. Now, the study guide says know the first three courses the Commission of the People started in the first twenty days…” She looked at us, her eyes pleading. “…Help?”

  “Did you study at all?”

  “No. I tried, but I had a huge chemistry project and I totally forgot about this test!”

  “That’s what you get for slipping out of class to go to the lab,” I teased.

  “I’m trying to do well in that field!” Mary defended.

  “Are you sure it has nothing to do with Mr. Hyatt?” Diane leered, causing everyone to chuckle at the thought of our serious, but attractive, chemistry teacher.

  “No!” Mary gasped. “Please, just help me.”

  “Okay,” I started, “remember it this way, what is the motto of the Commission of the People?”

  “To preserve the rights, humanity, and well-being of the people of America,” Mary recited perfectly.

  “Exactly. First, The Preservation of the American Life, where the Commission purged the country of all non-citizens and all whose family had been brought h
ere as slaves, illegal immigrants, or expatriates, as well as any others that the Commission deemed ‘undesirable.’ Second, the Humanities Course. What did that one do?”

  “That was when the Commission dissolved the state lines and determined the region boundaries, as well beginning to rebuild whatever had been destroyed during the Second Revolution.”

  “Good, and the third? Think about the motto.”

  “The…Well-Being and…Country Conservation Course?” Mary said hesitantly.

  “Yes.”

  “And that was when the walls were placed on the north and south borders and the American Foreigners Regulations were enacted,” Mary completed. “Okay, I think I can remember that. And just to be sure I got this right, Ankell stepped down from leading the country before he died, right? Leader Hank Fannen was the first Leader after Ankell.”

  “Right, Ankell died about thirty years ago from a heart attack,” Marcie concluded.

  “Okay,” Mary said. “And the last part says our essay question is going to be to give a brief summary of the role of the Commission of the People.”

  “That should be easy. The Commission of the People monitors the Regulation Forces of the different regions,” I answered. “They ensure the well-being of everyone in the country and act as the active intermediary between the people of the regions and Central. The Commission keeps the country running smoothly. Currently, the Commission of the People is headed by Dana Christenson.”

  “The most powerful man in the entire country other than Leader Simon,” Marcie added with a nod, “and no one has ever seen his face.”

  “Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?” Diane whispered, raising her eyebrows. “Why is he in hiding?”

  “Maybe he’s really smart and powerful and everything, but he’s hideous,” Mary suggested with a laugh.

  Quizzing Mary, unfortunately, brought my attention back to my family situation with laser focus. I was happy for my father’s growing career, of course. He had worked very hard to get to his position and he deserved the promotion. I knew it was selfish to be so upset about the move.

  Even though I lived in the biggest city on the coast of the Western Region, my school felt very small that day as everyone wished me luck, as if I was the one running for the position. Teachers caught me after class and encouraged me, saying that my father would most certainly get the position.

  Marcie, Mary, Diane, Sonya, and I walked home together after school, as we always had. We lived in the same neighborhood and even though it was a thirty-minute walk, none of us could drive—the driving age was twenty-one, four long years away.

  “Mary, how did the test go?” Diane asked. “Did you remember Bryant Matthews?”

  “I remembered Bryant Morris,” Mary chuckled. She turned to me. “Thanks, Lily,” she said, “I would have been dead without you.”

  “You’re welcome,” I said. Mary’s face dropped, seeing my forced expression.

  “You worried about your dad?”

  “No, not really,” I admitted. “I just don’t want to leave. I don’t want to go to Central and go to school with the children of other politicians.”

  “It won’t be so bad,” Sonya assured. “Maybe you’ll even find a boyfriend.”

  “Oh, yeah,” I groaned. “It’s so nice to know I have to move away completely to find a boyfriend.”

  “Well, I think everyone in the city remembers how you broke Tommy Barker’s nose two years ago.”

  “He grabbed my ass,” I defended quickly, “what was I supposed to do?”

  “Oh, no doubt that he deserved it,” Diane agreed. “But now everyone is afraid of you. Tommy was a big guy. He changed schools because of you!”

  Gossip about other students entertained us on the walk home, including talking about a pregnant classmate who was facing the sentence of abortion and a three-thousand dollar fine for conceiving a child not permitted by a Child Rearing License.

  The pregnancy laws were put in place by the Commission of the People in the Family Preservation Act. The Commission of the People was adamant about keeping families together. Marriage was only allowed after the age of twenty-five and after a required two-year engagement period, lowering divorce rates dramatically. Divorces were looked down upon, and the children of broken homes were treated differently and considered unstable. Unfortunately, this lead to high suicide rates among broken-home children. The Child Rearing License was meant to eliminate the possibility of children living in such unstable environments. The five-year waiting period allowed for the couple to prove economic stability, ability to raise a child as a proper member of society, and mental acuity for good parenting.

  Unfortunately for me, nothing in those child rearing laws prevented parents from moving their children away from their home towns.

  When I walked through my front door I was greeted by my cat, Dexter, a routine that had been repeated since I had gotten the pet.

  “Hey, Dex.” I stooped to pick him up. “Did you behave today?”

  “Lily?”

  “Hi, Mom!” I replied, following her voice into the dining room. When I looked at the table, I was shocked to see papers spread over the surface, surrounding my mother and her laptop. “What’s all this?”

  “Most of it is for the campaign,” my mother answered. “Funding papers, mostly…” I glanced over the papers, feeling overwhelmed by merely the sight of so much paperwork. “Lily,” my mother beckoned, motioning me closer, “what do you think of this house?”

  “Mom…” I groaned. “You’re already looking for houses?”

  “We have to be prepared.”

  “Dad hasn’t even won, yet.”

  “You don’t think he’ll win?” she said in a tone that sounded condescending. I forced a smile, placing my hands on her shoulder and leaning down to kiss her cheek.

  “Of course he’ll win.”

  Once I was able to escape from looking at houses in Central, I went to my room, taking Dex with me. I couldn’t tell my parents how much I dreaded Dad’s victory. I could never tell them how much I hated politics and the constant reminders of the Second Revolution that plagued everyday life for me. I understood the significance of the war, but the way it was discussed made it sound like a religion rather than a historical event.

  I flopped onto my bed, snuggling with Dex, pondering the rapidly-changing direction of my life.

  My father had made it clear that if I did not want to work for Central he was not going to force the issue—but he said it with the parental tone that suggested he would be “disappointed” if I did not join the political arena and continue the family tradition.

  I pulled Dex closer.

  I did not realize I had fallen asleep until the sound of the front door woke me.

  “Karen? Lily? I’m home!” my father called. I took a few deep breaths, blinking the sleep from my eyes and preparing to share my parents’ enthusiasm for his campaign.

  I made my way downstairs, the sinking feeling in my gut starting to consume me. My father was happy. Very happy.

  “There’s my beautiful little girl!” he greeted, hugging me tightly and kissing my cheek.

  “I’m not so little anymore, Dad.”

  “I know,” he said, running a hand over my hair. “But you’ll always be my little girl.” He looked between my mother and me. Mom looked expectant.

  “Alright, alright.” He raised his hands peacefully. “I spoke with Cynthia earlier today and she says that, so far, I’m in the lead.”

  “That’s wonderful! Tom, that’s wonderful!” my mother gasped, ecstatic. She rushed forward, kissing him. I forced my smile wider.

  I understood that there was no logical reason to feel such anxiety at moving away. True, I would be away from my friends and everything I considered comfortable. I also knew that the city we would be moving to would be about nothing other than politics. Even then, there was something frightening about going to the capital. Everything inside of me screamed that Central was dangerous.

  Ou
r family spent the rest of the evening in the living room. I sat a chair with Dex, reading a book while my parents actively watched the news coverage on the Western Region Regulation Force appointment.

  I had never had a problem concentrating on a book over my surroundings before. Living in a house where there were constant visitors, whether political advisors or other members of the Regulation Force, had made me able to focus on my homework when there were forty other people in the same room. But even as I moved my eyes over the screen of my e-reader, I could not absorb the words of the story.

  My worry was making it impossible for me to drown out the noise of the televised news.

  “And, still holding a strong lead from the Regulators in the Western Region, Thomas Sandover appears to be the one who will take the position of Official Regulator for the Western Region. There is still one more hour before we will be able to call the race, but with the difference between Sandover and his competitors, it’s going to be difficult for anyone to catch up,” the news anchor explained.

  I had already known that my father was going to win, but hearing the possibility of the official announcement made me feel sick.

  I set my e-reader aside and curled up in the chair, watching the television, disinterested, waiting for the final, official word on my fate.

  * *** *

  It was suddenly cold. I shivered and huddled closer to Dexter, my eyes fluttering open in confusion. Startled, I straightened immediately, causing Dexter to give an angry mewl and bound away. The living room was dark, the only light in coming from the streetlights outside. Even though the furniture was in place, the room was devoid of my parents.

  There was an icy feeling to the space that was impossible to ignore. I slowly stood, seeing my breath form a cloud in front of my face. It was nearing the middle of the year and summer was in full swing. There was no logical explanation for the chill.