After dinner I help clean up the dishes and put them away in the cabinets. My father washes, my mother dries, and I put them away. It's been this way since I was little. Afterwards, I walk towards my room and close the door silently behind me. My room isn't very impressive. A single bed against the wall, a vanity with a cracked mirror is across from the bed, and a dull red rug rests on the wooden floorboards.
I walk across the creaky boards and look into the dusty mirror. My reflection shows my image and distorts it around the cracked corner. My dark hair is loose in its ponytail and my blue eyes are bright. The silver moonlight outlines my slim shoulders in a sheen glow and shows off my collarbone under the collar of my tan jacket.
I purse my thin lips together and slip off my jacket. I throw it to the floor and flop onto my bed.
The springs creak under my weight while I turn over and pull the blanket securely over me. I stare at the pale wall and the sounds of crickets chirping outside calms my mind. An owl calls in the night and adds to the evening serenade. Eventually sleep ebbs away at my body and I fall into a deep slumber.
My dreams are calm and warm, but they are never vivid enough for me to recall them when I awake. The morning light shines in through the window over my bed and forces me awake from my misty haze of unfamiliar faces and unrecognizable voices. I can hear birds chirping sweetly outside and the air in my room is warm and fresh from the open window.
When I sit up I can see my reflection once again in the broken mirror. My hair is straggled and pokes out of its tie in every which way. My eyes have bags under them and the dark shirt is wrinkled from how I slept on it. The rug is cold under my bare feet when I stand up and walk to my vanity. I run the brush through my hair and retie it in its usual ponytail. I pull on a pair of dark jeans and a short sleeved shirt for the day.
"Good morning, Nora." My mother greets me warmly when I walk into the kitchen.
Her long brunette locks are pinned up and she wears a dull red shirt and faded black jeans. She is a member of the hunting group, but she typically is the one who delivers the parcels of food to the citizens in the town. There are very few women in the group, but because she is the commander's wife, she is greatly respected by everyone.
"Nora, I have to leave early again. You will have to make your own breakfast. I'll see you tonight and listen to the General." She says quickly, picking up a few parcels from the kitchen table and running out of the kitchen door.
I watch her leave before walking to the cabinets. I pull open the first one and find the shelves bare. The second cabinet shows similar results and I finally decide to choose an apple from the bowl on the kitchen table. Today is Saturday and I have training for the entire day. The General will have the whole day planned, but then I remember what he said yesterday. He mentioned starting something new. I am nearing the end of my training and the last session will be exhilarating in the sense of my coming graduation. In less than a month I will be joining the other soldiers and hunting groups. I will be able to stand by the General's side and protect the town like the soldiers of Dumani. The very thought of becoming a soldier makes my heart jump with excitement. I will finally be respected in the eyes of my father for the first time.
"Nora, are you ready?" I turn and see General Merak standing in the entryway to my kitchen. "I passed your mother on the way out and she told me to come find you."
"What are we doing today?"
"I'm not sure yet. I talked to your father this morning and he agrees with my idea."
YOU ARE READING
Cataclysm
Action(Trailer Included) Life was so simple for teenager Nora Dubhe, but her curiosity becomes spiked once a secret comes uncoiled about her father's past. After all these years of living in a small town, could she be living under a pile of lies woven by...
