“Aldabert, you
know we will end up together, what is all the fuss about? We both have the same
grades in every class, participate in the same afterschool activities, I mean
it is inevitable.” I said trying to reassure myself more than anyone.
“We do not
know that for sure until the day of, Beata! What if we are separated, then
what, huh? Are you just going to wag your finger in the government’s face’s and
say ‘no I belong elsewhere,’ or, ‘you guys made a mistake?’ It’s rubbish! There
is always that slight chance, Beata, and I do not think you get it!” He’s
shaking now. What is going on?
“Aldabert, I
will say it again, I am sorry for acting this way, it is just I have been
thinking a lot about us lately. You are
the closest thing I have to family, and in seven days you can be taken from me
just as quickly as my real family was. I
do not know how to cope with it.” Oh no, I feel the water works coming.
“Aldabert, I can’t loose you too…” Here we go.
I start to sob into my hand, embarrassed for Aldabert to see me this
way. I stop my selfish sobs for a moment
and look up.
“Aldabert?”
Where in the world is he?
“Aldabert,
seriously?” Complete silence is the only response.
“ALDABERT!
WHERE ARE YOU?” I scream with all the voice I have left. It sounds broken, scratched, worn.
I wait about
three minutes but begin to become impatient so I start gathering my
things. I put my shoes back on and fold
the blanket.
I bring it
with me just in case Aldabert does not return to gather his things.
“C’mon Bessie,
let’s go.”
The sun starts
to set and the mosquitoes are beginning to feast on my flesh. I stop to scratch my leg when I hear cracking
twigs.
“Who is
there?” I ask. Another crack of a twig,
it seems to be getting closer.
“Answer me,
who goes there!”
I look in all
directions; it is dusk now. The trees
all seem to blend together in an endless sea of green. I cannot tell which way is the way I came;
which is the way out? I try to listen for the sounds of townspeople, but all I
can hear is my heavy breathing and the thud of my quickening heartbeat. I start to sweat and realize what if I don’t
get out of here before morning? What will the guards say? All of a sudden, I
hear breathing behind me. I turn around
and standing there in front of me is a black, hooded figure. He is holding a syringe, and I cannot see his
face.
“Aldabert?”
And suddenly,
everything goes a blinding white.
I do not dream
at all that night.
I am awaked
suddenly by the whispering of my name in my ear.
“Beata, Beata
can you hear me?”
I open my eyes
and there he is, Aldabert, without a scratch.
“Listen,
Beata, I know you are angry about yesterday, but I had to go. This whole situation was just a little too
intense for me and I had to take a breather.
I came back five minutes later and you were gone, along with all of my
stuff. That is when I began to get
worried. I looked around the entire
perimeter of the lake and could not find you anywhere, and that is when I heard
Bessie barking furiously. I followed her barking, and that is when I saw you,
lying there on the forest floor. At
first I thought you were playing some sick joke on me, so I shook you, you
know, playing along. It is when you did
not move that I got even more worried. I checked for a pulse; steady but low,
and you were definitely unconscious. I
had to get you help so I ran you over to the nearest house and asked to use
their phone to call your guards. Beata,
I was gone for five minutes! How did you manage to get yourself into trouble?”
“Aldabert. It is nice to see you, too!” I say, sounding
very, very tipsy, slurring my words.
“Beata, this
is not a joke. Why were you unconscious
in the middle of the forest? What happened to you?” Aldabert looked like one of
those puppies you find sitting on a street corner all alone. I just want to hug him until he
explodes.
He begins to
shake me, “Beata pay attention! What happened?”
“I was
walking, and trying to find you. I gave
up eventually and gathered our things up and started to head out with
Bess. I was walking when I heard
footsteps behind me and twigs snapping.
I yelled for you so many times and at that point it was already
beginning to get dark. I could not find
which way was which and that is when I saw it.”
“Beata, what
did you see?”
“I saw,” and I
start to stutter. Not only do I stutter,
but I begin to convulse. I can feel the
foam pouring from my mouth. I can hear the guards telling Aldabert that he
needs to leave now and not to try getting in contact with me. I am shaking so much, everything is
blurry. I am just about to give up…
And then it
stops, and I am completely fine. Wait,
what just happened? I look to my sides and see that both of my guards are
holding down my arms and trying as best as they can not to self destruct. I whisper “I’m sorry,” to both of them and
turn over to look at my digital clock.
It reads 12:00 PM in its holographic yellow letters. My eyes feel heavy as does my entire body. A little nap couldn’t hurt anybody, right?
I am startled
awake by my reoccurring nightmare and look at my clock. It reads 3:30 PM. Oh, three hours, that is not so bad. I stand up and walk to the kitchen. The
female guard is standing in the doorway.
“Hi,” I say.
“How did you
sleep?” she asks me.
“Same as
usual,” I respond.
“You have been
sleeping for a long while now,” she says.
“What do you
mean? I have only been sleeping for three and a half hours.”
“You have been
asleep for two days straight, Beata,” she answers.
“Two days
straight! What is today’s date!” I yell a little bit louder than necessary.
“June the
twenty third,” it answers me.
Tomorrow is
the day of the sorting.
“How long have
I been asleep?”
“ As I said,
about two days”
“I need to see
Aldabert. Now.”
“So sorry
Beata, doctors orders are that you must stay home in bed, no visitors at all.”
Are you
kidding me? I wonder if I could get any luckier. They day before the sorting and I am stuck at
home in bed?
“I need to use
the phone”
“To speak to
whom?”
“None of your
business.” I start to get annoyed
“As your guard
I must know who you associate yourself with.”
“You know
what, you might be my guard, but you are NOT AT ALL my parent!”
I storm out of
the room, hatred coursing through my veins.
I feel it growing larger, this feeling, in the pit of my stomach,
begging to rip my body open and attack anyone in its way. Good, let it attack anybody, I do not care
anymore. The one person in the world who actually means something to me is not
allowed anywhere near me? Screw this. I
am done.
“I am leaving!
Goodbye!” I shout while storming through the kitchen. I hope they heard me. Bessie follows behind me, prancing.
“Oh no you are
not,” the male guard says, standing suddenly before me. It speaks in a sarcastic tone, one I have
never heard come out of his mouth.
I continue to
stomp throughout the house like a spoiled five year old, but I do not
care. They deserve this, they all
deserve this.
“Don’t try to
stop me. I will be out of your lives
soon enough, and one day won’t make a difference I am sure.” I spit in their
faces. I reach my hand towards the door
and I feel empowered. I have never stood
up to them before. I open the door wide
and breathe in a gust of fresh air. I
start running down the pathway when I feel something. Something is holding me
back, like a force field that is drawing me nearer to the house, and farther
away from the outside world. My feet are
moving backward but my mind tries to push them forward. Before I can count to three I am back inside
the house, standing by the door, my back facing the guards. I turn around and see the crimson in their
eyes. The frustrated look on their
faces. They are doing this to me. They are drawing me back to the house. Have I lost complete control of my life?
To Be Continued…
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