Tess
“So many boxes…” Olivia muttered, picking up a photo frame from one of them before carelessly throwing it back in. I waited, expecting the glass to smash, but the sound never came.
“Careful!” I chastised; “This is all my mum’s stuff.”
My best friend raised her eyebrows. “And you’re going through all your Mum’s stuff, why? It’s a bit early for nostalgia, don’t you think?”
“She died, Liv.” I reminded her. “I’m pretty sure I have an excuse.” I sighed, shaking my head. “I… I met a Rebel.”
Olivia actually laughed aloud. “I call bullshit.” She snorted. “No one’s seen a Rebel inside the Met-Wall for—”
“About sixteen hours, to be exact.” I interrupted her.
“Wait, you saw a Rebel inside the Met? You didn’t cross the Wall? You’re absolutely sure? Like, you didn’t pass through unintentionally?” Olivia asked, intrigued.
“No, Liv.” I said, almost sarcastically. “I did not unknowingly pass through the Met-Wall and into the Wild.”
There was a huge process to passing through the Wall, starting with the Barcode tattooed onto the inside of the wrist of every Met Citizen. Only people with the barcode could be granted access to the Met – which was why it was such a mystery to me as to how the Rebel had been deep inside the city.
“How on Earth did he get in?” Olivia asked, voicing my thoughts. Well, almost.
“She.” I said simply.
Olivia was taken aback. “What?”
“The Rebel.” I said, almost exasperatedly. “The Rebel was a girl.”
“There’s such thing as girl Rebels?” Olivia asked incredulously.
I almost laughed. “Rebels have been out there for years – if there weren’t girl Rebels, they would’ve died out long ago.”
Olivia raised her eyebrows. “Well, I’ve never seen a girl Rebel.”
“You’ve never seen any Rebel, Liv.” I reminded her.
She just shrugged.
I sighed and leant forward, continuing to rummage through the box I had been searching before Olivia arrived. There were so many books that I could hardly belief my mother managed to read them all. Olivia walked over and perched herself on the edge of the couch beside me.
“So,” she said, pulling a box towards herself, “what are we actually looking for?”
I shrugged. “Just… anything about Rebels, I guess.”
“Anything?”
I nodded. “Anything.”
My best friend sighed, heaving a folder at least two inches thick onto her lap. “Well then,” she muttered, “best get started.”
* * *
My father’s stare was hard and curious as I sat down to dinner that night, smelling of dust and cardboard. His fork was hanging loose in his fingers, immersed in his untouched mound of mashed potato. If it had not been for the movement of his chest as he inhaled and exhaled, he could have easily been mistaken for a statue. I forced my gaze down to my plate, picking up my cutlery, determined to avoid his stare. I knew what was coming.
YOU ARE READING
A Collection of Ruins
Science Fiction[Collab with @Mikayla_Wills !] The Metropolis was the last place standing, and the only safe place left on Earth. Outside the Walls of the city, without the technology of the Metropolis, was certain death. Until death found its way inside. When a...
