As I waited for my mother to complete her meeting with the elitist, I decided to go through some of my father's old things. Ever since my dad died, my mother had boxed it all up and refused to open it. My parents had loved each other very much. They met when they were younger at... Actually, I don't really know how they met. I guess I never really thought of it before now.

My mother buried the boxes in the back of the closet. This is the first time I have been able to search for them without her knowledge of it. She refuses to let me go through his things. As I pull the biggest box out I quickly search for the picture I am hoping to find in his belongings. Although pictures are considered outdated, it was all we had been able to afford. The picture had been taken the day taken the Elitist aptitude test. It was right after I had discovered I was eligible. My father was so proud of me, that he took me to a nice restaurant. He must have saved for months to have been able to afford the luxury, but it was the most fun either of us had had in a while. My father had told me he would support me if I chose to leave and become an elitist. Despite the draw of unlimited wealth and research opportunities, I ultimately chose not to join.

Suddenly my hand encountered a leather notebook. It is unfamiliar; as far as I know, my father never owned a journal. Writing things out by hand is so outdated. New technology allows you to transfer thoughts into writing without you doing any work. However, my family can't afford that sort of luxury, so we have voice recognition software. It records and writes spoken words, but ours isn't that accurate.

This notebook is so old it appears as though the binding is mostly disintegrated into dust. Only the tiniest threads hold the papers together now. As I carefully open it, I don't see the words I am expecting. The pages are filled with zeros and ones repeated for the entire book. I don't understand why this book of apparent nonsense is hidden with my father's belongings.

In the other room, I can hear the meeting with the elitist wrapping up. I decide to keep the journal as I shove the boxes back into the closet and hurry out of my mother's room. Stopping in the room I share with Joy to hide the notebook under a few loose floorboards, I hurry to the kitchen to start preparing dinner. I can't risk Mom finding out about the notebook; if she does, she will likely take it back and throw me out of the house for stealing from her room.

Suddenly the door to the living room open and my mother along with elitist emerge. I watch in shock as my mother embraced the elitist.

"Thank you, Charlotte. I will consider what we discussed. As I'm sure you know, this news is quite shocking." Charlotte? So that is the elitist's name. Why is my mother being so friendly to her? She better explain all of this to me to me once Charlotte leaves.

"I understand, Marylyn. However, this is a matter of utmost importance. I require your answer by this time tomorrow."

"Of course Charlotte, that will hopefully be enough time for me to make a decision."

The elitist called for the soldiers to join her. Once they are in the kitchen with us, she pulls out small handheld silver remote.

"Stand back," is the only warning we get before she punches a code into the remote. I watch in shock as Charlotte and the two soldiers grow blurry for a second before completely disappearing in a white flash. No wonder I never see elitists in hovercrafts or the sky train. They have portable transporters to go wherever they want in an instant.

Now that they were gone, I could ask my mother all the questions this unexpected visit brought up. However, before I could start interrogating her, she started talking.

"I know you have a lot of questions Coral, but they are going to have to wait. Joy will be home any minute and we don't need to unnecessarily worry her. Don't mention this visit to anyone, understood?" I hesitate to answer; I hate keeping secrets from Joy.

"Is that understood Coral?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Mom! Coral! I'm home." Joy calls out excitedly as she opens the door. "Guess what I learned about today in school? We learned about matrices and spent the day using them to solve multi-variable systems of equations."

Like Lillian and I before her, Joy is in the most advanced classes and has knowledge way ahead of her peers. Even though she is only nine years old, she is already studying advanced Algebra. I learned about matrices when I was seven, but most students don't study them until at least age twelve.

Joy continues to talk about her day at school with her usual excitement, but I am only half listening. There are things I don't know about my parents. Clearly, there are things about my father I never knew, secrets I intend to find out. Also, Mom hasn't been paranoid at all today. In fact, she has been calm, orderly, and in charge. She is actually acting like the parent instead of the responsibility falling to me like it usually does.

It must have taken something drastic to bring her to her senses, and I have a feeling it has something to do with whatever it is Charlotte came here to talk about. An elitist in this part of town is unheard of and bound to cause people to ask questions. However, when I opened the door to let them in, none of people outside walking home from work seemed shocked. It was almost like I was the only person that could see them. I believe the notebook I found with Dad's stuff can answer many of my questions. I have no idea what is in the notebook, but I intend to find out.

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