Subjects, The

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As we got closer I could see behind the sandstone a curved concrete building- a purpose-built structure. But still no fence, no wire. Not a bar in sight. For this, I?d been told that morning, I should be grateful. This was a 'lifeline . . . a last chance?. That is what the judge said.Daniel is a sixteen-year-old drug dealer and he?s going to jail.Then, suddenly, he?s not.A courtroom intervention. A long car ride to a big country house. Other 'gifted delinquents?- the elusive, devastating Rachel, and Alex, so tightly wound he seems about to shatter.So where are they? It?s not a school, despite the 'lessons? with the headsets and changing images. It?s not a psych unit-not if the absence of medication means anything. It?s not a jail, because Daniel?s free to leave. Or that?s what they tell him.He knows he and the others are part of an experiment.But he doesn?t know who?s running it or what they?re trying to prove. And he has no idea what they?re doing to him.As we got closer I could see behind the sandstone a curved concrete building- a purpose-built structure. But still no fence, no wire. Not a bar in sight. For this, I?d been told that morning, I should be grateful. This was a 'lifeline . . . a last chance?. That is what the judge said.Daniel is a sixteen-year-old drug dealer and he?s going to jail.Then, suddenly, he?s not.A courtroom intervention. A long car ride to a big country house. Other 'gifted delinquents?- the elusive, devastating Rachel, and Alex, so tightly wound he seems about to shatter.So where are they? It?s not a school, despite the 'lessons? with the headsets and changing images. It?s not a psych unit-not if the absence of medication means anything. It?s not a jail, because Daniel?s free to leave. Or that?s what they tell him.He knows he and the others are part of an experiment.But he doesn?t know who?s running it or what they?re trying to prove. And he has no idea what they?re doing to him.
Sarah Hopkins is the author of three novels including The Crimes of Billy Fish, which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers? Prize. She works as a lawyer in Sydney and is married with two children.