Countdown

Chapter 2

Red, nothing but red. A voice echoing and repeating the same thing, a number. A dream that happened every night since she was born. She remembers her parents being worried and afraid with her being confused as they told the person in charge of their town. The man vowing to help protect her. She's never once found out what these dreams mean, everyone else seems to know but not her. The other kids her age and younger don't know but the older ones certainly do.

She remembers growing up protected, everytime she would get hurt someone was instantly by her side and assting. Someone would pick on her, they would be quickly dealt with. What made it worse was that she was the only one that got this sort of treatment. Other kids were jealous and would bully her for it only to be scolded or worse hurt.

Her scars once came from a time when she was surrounded and they held her down as a kid whipped her back with a belt. She never once saw them again once the older people got there. Many days later and she still hadn't seem them, she suspected they were grounded. The older people said that was correct, it wasn't till years later that she found out they were killed, their bodies hidden.

She vowed to never let anyone befall that same fate for as long as she lived. When she would go to the ceremonies, people would glance at her nervously and she saw their fingers cross while others kissed their crosses and prayed for her name to not be called. She did nothing but pray along with them, what was the strangest part however was the fact that when their kids, friends or loved ones were called up they didn't even blink an eye. It seemed that as long as she wasn't called upon everything would be fine.