HABITS⸻ Festus Creed

prologue. hazy dreams

prologue. hazy dreams

Warning. This chapter includes bombs since part of it takes place in a warzone.

         

          MAIA REMEMBERS THE dim light in the room. She remembers the smell of smoke and burned grain prickling her nose. She remembers how the ground shook after every bomb that went off in the distance and how the world suddenly was enveloped in bright red light. But it was only for a moment, then it was all dark again. Dark and cold.

Her mother mumbled something to herself, calmer than the rest of her family. She always was.

Her brother's arms were tightly wrapped around Maia's small body, telling her it will be over soon. Back then she didn't understand why he said that with such certainty.

Next to them, their father looked out the window every now and then in hope that the attack would finally seize.

Then the Peacekeepers barged in with their guns and cruel words.  They ordered them to raise their hands and only allowed her brother to speak. She didn't hear what he told them but the Peacekeepers ordered them to stay inside and hide for eight more minutes.

Once again, back then the conversation that followed was puzzling to Maia.

"How could you do this?" Her father shouted wide-eyed, his hands grabbing Silas' shoulders, shaking him roughly. His words dripped with something beyond disappointment.

"I did what I had to!" He screamed back shoving his hands away.

She cried a lot, so much that her mother rushed to her side and held her close, hands covering her ears and eyes.

Then another bomb went off and another one and one more. They all fell to the ground and hid anywhere they could. Her mother pulled her under a table, not that it could do much. The thing was so old it barely endured their plates, she was surprised it hadn't broken yet.

Then the Peacekeepers came back and led them away. As they ushered them through the fields, she caught a figure with the corner of her eye. Her father.

The Peacekeepers went after him but he ran and ran until he disappeared into the long golden grass.

The Peacekeepers cursed under their breath when they gave up on the hunt for the man and continued their way to the shelter with Silas, Rae, and Maia who was hidden between the two, with her mother's arms wrapping around her protectively. 

That's all she remembers. Everything before that became a hazy dream as if it never even happened before. Like her life in District Nine wasn't real. Just another dream during the warm summer nights when sweat ran down her forehead like she'd spent all day in the fields and the sheets felt like they suffocated her.