The Edge

Nightmares

“Just get out you worthless fucking Runt.” Allison was only able to get a glimpse of the woman's hatred filled grey eyes and bright red hair before the woman pushed her backwards onto the recently extinguished fire. As Allison landed on the still glowing embers she let out a scream of pain when suddenly in the distance a loud siren sounded…and once again the sreeking siren forced Eris's heavy eyes to open, she groaned and covered her face and ears with her lumpy pillow in a vain attempt to block out the sound. The room filled with a chorus of creaking beds and sleep deprived groans as Eris slowly sat up. She rubbed the sleep out her eyes, yawned and swung her legs off the side of her bed her feet touching the cold metal floor. She stretched out her sleep-stiffened arms and grabbed her duffel bag and towel. “Dibs on the first shower.” Eris rolled her eyes when Tyson pushed past her to get to the bathroom first. “Yeah, what ever just hurry up.” Eris put down her duffel bag and sat onto her bed ,which groaned in protest, she pulled out her display panel and put on a documentary. After five or six minutes Tyson came out the bathroom, the steam from his shower spewed out behind him. “You better not have used up all the damn hot water you asshole.” Eris walked into the steam engulfed bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

She turn on the water which caused the pipes to rattle softly before the water come splattering out. As she stood in the shower she touched the long healed burn scar that stretched across her back, the memory made itself known with a dull throb. After about three minutes Eris heard a loud thud from the room so she quickly washed down and she got dressed into a simple dark grey T-shirt and some once black torn jeans. As she walked out with a towel on her head, where she found Ajack laying face first on the floor letting out a muffled sobbing. “The fuck happened in here.” Eris continued to dry her hair with the towel on her head as she nudged Ajack her foot. “Ignore him, he's just being over dramatic.” Eris glared at Jessica who was kneeling next to the right bunk packing up her bags. “Well he wouldn't be on the floor if he was.” Eris knelt down next to Ajack. “What happened?” Ajack looked up revealing a crooked bloody nose and a slightly chipped tooth. The blood was dripping down his face and had pooled slightly on the floor, when Eris saw it she took a sharp breath and quickly looked away to see Tyson standing at the door. “He was running into the room and tripped over one of his bags.” Frim behind Tyson was one of the older runners. The man looked about twenty-one and had short ashy blond hair with green eyes, he was carrying an old first aid bag that was being held together with tape. “Your a fucking idiot Ajack.” Eris stood up and walked to her bunk, she put down her duffel bag and towel and walked out the room to allow the older runner space to tend to Ajack.

“Mom?...mommy?” Allison looked down at the pool of blood that had formed at her feet. “Mommy please.” Allison sobbed loudly as a figure came up behind her…“What happened?” Eris turned to see Elizabeth leaning on the opposite wall of the hall. “Ajack tripped and broke his nose.” Eris let out a sigh and rubbed her eyes, Elizabeth walked too her. “Memories can be a bitch sometimes.” She placed a hand on Eris's shoulder who looked up to her in confusion. “I am all too familiar with that look, you hide it well.” Elizabeth walked away leaving Eris staring at the ground.

As Eris made her way into the Dining cart she saw that the woman from the pick up was sitting at the table in the front, she seemed to be watching something on a display panel. She was the only one in the room which made the room look much larger than it was. As Eris walked towards her, she looked up. “Hey, didn't expect anyone would be here so early.” Eris stopped and looked at her, now that she was closer Eris could see that she had a cybernetic leg. The woman noticed where Eris was staring. “Born without it, luckily my parents work in the industrial district so they made me a new one. Names Cleo by the way.” Cleo held out her hand waiting for Eris to shake it. Eris just looked at Cleos hand and batted it away. “yeah ok” she sat down next to Cleo who moved up to make space for her. “So which district were you born. You seem to be from… agriculture? You look like you worked on farms” Cleo leaned onto her elbows and looked at Eris. “The hub.” Eris crossed her arms on the metal table and leaned forward with her eyes closed. Cleo gave a nod of acknowledgment and turned her attention back to her display panel. Eris got up and moved to the back of the room where she sat down at the table that Tyson and Ajack sat at first day. As breakfast started coming closer, more people filed in. The room slowly filled with chatter as everybody found their friends and sat in their groups. As the tired cook was handed out bowls of oatmeal Ajack , Tyson and Alex came into the room. Ajack had thick plaster on his nose and had some tissue sticking out the right nostril. You could see the blotchy bruise that had formed on his nose. Alex waved to his friends and sat down at their table while Tyson and Ajack walked to Eris. “Hey sorry we took so long, Ajack kept squirming so Alex had trouble patching his nose. He said it is as straight as her can make it so it will look slightly crooked once it heals.”