The Program

At school, Sloane struggles with her grief over Miller’s death. She sees one of the handlers watching her again and knows that she must stay strong. After one of her classes, the handler approaches her to speak with her about Miller’s death. Sloane knows that this is protocol after a loved one dies by suicide, but she feels nervous. The handler tells her that she is at a high risk of dying by suicide because of Brady, Miller, and Lacey. Sloane assures him that she does not feel depressed. After her talk with the handler, Sloane checks on James. James tells her that no one spoke to him, which Sloane thinks is a bad sign. She asks him to go camping with her again that weekend, and he agrees.

On Friday, James and Sloane go camping again. At the campsite, Sloane sets up the tent, while James sits in silence. Sloane feels overwhelmed because she knows that she is losing James to his depression, but she does not know how to bring him back. They have sex, and Sloane feels connected to James for the first time in a while. Afterward, James tells her that he wants to die by suicide. Sloane begs him not to, but James says that he knows that they will put him in The Program, and he does not want to forget her or Brady. Sloane makes him promise to fight against his depression, but she knows that it is an empty promise.

For the next month, Sloane takes care of James. One day, Sloane sees the handlers coming toward them and realizes that it is over. She tells James that she loves him before they drag him away to The Program. Sloane waits to see if they will come back for her, but they do not. Later, Sloane has dinner with her parents. Her mother says that James will be okay now, but Sloane tells her that there is nothing happy about James forgetting her. Sloane’s mother says that forgetting is better than dying and that she wishes that Brady had gone to The Program. This infuriates Sloane, as she tells her mother that Brady would never have wanted to forget his life. Sloane says that The Program takes away a part of people until they are shells of themselves. Sloane’s mother says that if James and Sloane are meant to be together, then he will be attracted to her again after The Program. Sloane tells her mother that she hates her, then storms out of the house.

Sloane drives to the part of the river where Brady died by suicide and stands on the edge of the cliff. Sloane kisses her ring and lets herself fall into the river. As the current pulls her under, Sloane panics and tries to swim to the surface. She slams into a rock which pushes her back up the surface. Sloane thinks she broke her arm as she drags herself to shore. She cries because she realizes that Brady may have felt the same panic before he died. She wishes that she had known how to swim so she could have saved him.

When Sloane gets home, her father panics when he sees her arm. Sloane tells him that she tried teaching herself to swim, but that she had an accident. Her parents believe her, and her father takes her to the hospital. In the car, Sloane’s dad tells her that he knows that she tried to die by suicide, but that he will not report her. He says that he wants her to be safe because he does not want to lose another child. Sloane promises not to hurt herself again.

Over the next few weeks, the epidemic has a surge in London where they implement The Program. Sloane decides to go to the Wellness Center to avoid suspicion of her depression. A week later, Sloane sits in the Wellness Center when the room goes silent. She sees two handlers walking in with James in between them. Sloane can see that they removed the tattoo on his arm. James does not see her, and the handlers move him out of the room. Sloane panics because she does not want him to leave without knowing if he remembers her. She takes off her purple ring and throws it at the back of his head. James turns around to see what hit him and looks at Sloane. He does not show any sign of recognition but continues walking. Sloane runs out of the Wellness Center. She thinks about her first kiss with James by the river. Two weeks later, James promised her that he would never leave her and that he loved her. Sloane feels overwhelmed by the fact that this will never be true again.

Sloane tries to keep up the façade of normalcy, but she does not know how she can pretend to be happy anymore. One day, Sloane gets home from school and goes to her room. Her mother calls her downstairs, and Sloane worries that something has happened to James. When she comes down the stairs, Sloane sees two handlers standing in the hallway. Sloane’s mother tells her that she and her father are worried about Sloane, and they do not want to lose her like Brady. Sloane runs back into her bedroom and slams the door. She grabs a picture from her shelf of Brady and James. She knows that when people are in The Program, they clean the room and destroy any evidence of their past lives. She does not want them to take the picture, so she finds a slit in her mattress that she used to hide things in. She puts the picture and her purple ring in the hole and covers it up, hoping that someday she will find it and that it will help her remember. Sloane grabs a pair of scissors as the handlers burst through the door. Sloane slashes her wrist in a last attempt to fight back against The Program. The handlers grab the scissors and stab her with a needle to sedate her. When Sloane regains consciousness, she realizes that she is lying on a bed in restraints. As she stirs, she hears a voice say, “Welcome to The Program” (121).