Page 180 of Serenity Falls

‘Funny,’ Davey says, without humour.

Lorraine ignores him. ‘Uncle Harry poured his heart into that park, but it just wasn’t right and, whatever he did, he couldn’t fix it. So, he decided to start again, from the ground up. This time he knew what not to do, and he created a wonderland.’

‘That’s very inspiring,’ I say.

‘But what’s the point, right? You know the story of Noah and the Ark?’

‘Yes.’

‘Well, then you’ll know that God did the same thing.’

I’m pretty sure it was the other way around, but who’s to argue with an insane woman?

‘He looked at his creation,’ Lorraine continues. ‘And he saw it had failed. So, he sent the Flood. Wiped the slate clean. But he spared one good man, and he let him build an ark.’

‘And in this scenario, Uncle Harry is Noah?’ I say.

‘Correct. And Serenity Falls is his ark. The first of the Advanced Residential Communities.’

‘Gotta love a good acronym.’

‘His vision was to build a sanctuary, free from violence and crime. Where good people are valued. A perfect town of the future.’

‘But Serenity isn’t perfect, is it?’ Sadie says. ‘If it was, Davey wouldn’t have been taken away. His mum wouldn’t be dead. People wouldn’t disappear or have accidents.’

Lorraine rolls her eyes. ‘Obviously, mistakes have been made.’

‘Mistakes?’ I say. ‘People have been murdered. All so you can keep up appearances?’

‘It’s more than that,’ Lorraine says. ‘Uncle Harry may have had the vision, but the Corporation has the purse strings. And it demands perfection. Or it’ll pull the plug.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Serenity will no longer be afforded the protections of the Winsom Corporation. It will be just like any other town.’

‘And that’s so awful because?’

‘The Flood is coming.’

That word again. ‘And what is the Flood?’

‘The Winsom Corporation’s greatest project – the end of the world.’

I laugh. I can’t help it. It’s so completely, totally, off-the-scale, ludicrously preposterous that I can’t do anything else.

Lorraine regards me patiently.

‘You’re fucking serious?’ I say.

‘We’ve had things in motion for decades. Viruses. Wars. Genocide. Cyberattacks. Social media bots inciting hatred and division. Our prediction is that within the next five to ten years, civilization will be indelibly fractured, which is when we will send the Flood.’

‘Which is?’

‘A new sickness. One with no cure. It won’t be painful. People will simply go to sleep. But in the grand picture, humanity will be gone. Except …’

‘For those living in your towns?’ Sadie finishes.

‘Here in our ark, we will be safe and ready to start afresh.’