District 7 Female - SORREL GOLDIE
She is so beautiful from here. Laurel has always been the better-looking child, but now she looks so tranquil, like she’s frozen in time. Her ghostly blonde hair is knotted up in a tight bun on top her head, a few stray stands poking out here and there. Her blue eyes are two bowls of ice as they stare ahead at me. She’s wearing a simple white hospital gown, but somehow it makes her seem angelic.
There’s only one problem with this picture; a thick sheet of glass separates us. Why do they have my poor sister and I inside of this cage? Why do I have to watch her sit on the medical table and stare off into oblivion? Nothing makes any sense.
Once the drugs wore off, I awoke in this chair, my arms and legs strapped down by nylon binds. The room I’m in was empty and windowless, with no doors to lead me out. Three of the walls are white-washed, but the one directly in front of me is a smooth sheet of clear glass. On the other side is an identical room, and could be a perfect reflection of my room, expect for the girl sitting in the center: my sister.
My hands are raw from pounding against the glass. My eyes are sunken, dark purple circles forming a rim where my bags are, and my tears have since dried on my cheeks. It isn’t that I couldn’t get to her that scares me the most; It’s that blank stare she’s been giving me for the entire allocation of time we’ve been here.
To be honest she is starting to scare me. I need to go to her and kiss her and tell her everything is going to be okay. But sitting here strapped to a chair… that drives me up the wall. If Rudy thinks I’m going to help him now, he is just as crazy as President Sezony.
My form of entertainment has been watching the hands on the clock tick by. To pass the time, I watch the time. Occasionally, I’ll look down at Laurel, but she’s always the same as before. Right now the clock reads 9:59. I am not sure if that means it’s morning or night. Time really has no meaning in this box.
The moment after the second hand makes it 10:00, the glass before me shatters and a magnificent array of color flashes before my eye. Also, the constraints that bind me and Laurel down disappear back into the chair like metal vines. I take that thought back.
I jump off my chair and rush to Laurel, my boots crushing bits of glass as I cross over to her room. My arms envelope her into a tight hug, but I quickly pull them back. She’s cold. She’s so cold, her skin is ice. And she’s vibrating, as if she is constraining herself from doing something.
“Laurel, what did they do you? My poor little sister…” I drop to my knees and rest my chin on her thighs. She flinches on contact. Everything about her is rejecting me. She can’t even look at me. I reach for her hand, but she pulls it back.
“Don’t.” She snaps, her frozen eyes now burning into my own. “Get away from me, Sorrel. Now.” There is a flicker of light behind her eyes; I can see it, but it fades away just as quickly as it appeared and a cruel version of my sister takes its place.
“I know you are in there. Come back to me.” My eyes plead, tears slipping down my cheeks. “Think of home. Remember the soft hay of the barn as we cuddled under the stars. Or what about when you dragged me to that horrid party on reaping night?” I laugh, but we both know it’s forced.
She begins to cry also, and I think I’ve gotten to her, but once again an invisible force fights back. It is almost as if she’s fighting against herself for control of her body. Maybe that’s why her hands keep shaking and her skin tingles like snow.
“Please!” Laurel buries her head into her hands. “Just go away! Get away from me!”
I won’t let her go. “No! I will fight for you, Laurel. I’m not leaving you again!” This time I grab her hand and don’t let her pull back. She needs me right now.
Then, all of the sudden, her skin burns and her face becomes bright red. The tears stop and she flashes me a cruel smile that sends a dagger to my heart.
“Silly girl.”
And she leaps at me. She thrashes her fists into my chest and face. I start to see stars. My whole body hurts and the punches keep coming. I can’t fight back; this is my sister! Men in black clad uniforms enter the room and restrain Laurel before she can do more physical damage, but I’m already mentally scarred.
Something inside of me dies as she flashes me an evil grin before the door closes and I’m left all alone, her screams still echoing in my head. I slump back into the chair, and turn my attention back to the clock. Oh how I wish for that feeling of time being at a standstill…
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Author Games: Return To Seasons
ActionAurōrae is a wild and ravenous world. Dynamic biomes dominate the landscape, and the oppressing government split their people into four different States, and under them, Districts. Author Games has visited this place before, but a lot has changed si...
