Secrets Within The Walls

Secrets Within The Walls, Chapter One

Chapter One
"The Forbidden Forest"

I stood in the hallway. The fluid slowly drowning me, consuming me whole. I felt numb, tentacles spewing out of my body. "W-What's happening?" I said as my words broke, feeling myself fall deeper as I slowly go unconscious.
"Lilith? Lilith!" It's faint, but I can hear a familiar voice in the distance.

Reality.

My eyes opened in an instant, my heart racing. My vision was blurry but I could see her. The voice. "Sophie!" I cried, my arms out in an attempt to reach her. I suddenly felt warmth cover me, making my heart calm and my eyes finally adjusted.
"Lilith what's wrong? You were crying in your sleep" She said as she hugged me.
"I don't know... I had a dream that I was being engulfed by some sort of black fluid."
"Come on now, stop crying we need to go hunting again. The royals haven't been sending food down lately, the whole town is starving." Sophie says, helping me get on my feet as I wipe my tears.

The royals have always lived at the top of the mountain for as long as anyone can remember. It's surrounded by thick walls that are at least 100ft and no royal has ever been seen exit as no peasant has ever been seen enter. Usually, the royals send updates and food to the towns beyond the walls, though recently all activity in the walls has been dormant. No guards have been sent out to any villages to give food or water in the past 6 months. Everyone is starving and some people have resorted to hunting in the forbidden forests nearby to feed their families, some not making it back out.

I grabbed my gear and locked up the windows. I walked out with Sophie and we both turned around to look at a small wooden shed that we called our 'home'.
"Do you think we'll make it back today?" She said as we stare at our home
"Don't say those things sis. We will." I said in a serious tone. The fact she even suggested that infuriated me. Every peasant is forced to wake up every day and wonder if they'll even live to sleep, solely because they weren't lucky enough to be born a royal or have enough talent to be a guard. We don't even have access to food and water that is safe to eat, which is the reason why guards are sent out every month to give families crates of food that will just last and now that they've completely stopped, were forced to hunt in the forbidden forest where they live. Currently, in my town we send a group of 5 every week to get us as much food as we can, 8 groups have died and 10 groups have come back with 3 or fewer people. Rumour has it that a distant town from us had resorted to cannibalism due to the nearest forest being a week's walk away from them. The latest rumours say there are only 6 people left there.

I stared at the trees towering over me. The whistle in the wind hypnotised me as I stood paralysed. That week, Sophie and I were selected along with 3 other people to hunt. A girl, and two more guys. The girl next to me looks horrified, I can see the goosebumps trailing across her arms and the shaking in her legs.
"Aria right? Hey you're gonna be okay, don't be so worried"
"I've never gone hunting before... I refused to take the lessons from my dad and now I face the consequences..." She cried, her words breaking and her eyes slowly tearing.
"Ugh get over it, even if you live through this we'll die anyway." One of the guys spoke up.
"What did you just say?" Sophie said in a firm tone, the anger in her eyes is clear.
"You heard me! We'll die anyway, it's stupid to think we'll survive like this. Don't get so ahead of yourselves, we're not royals and we'll never be!" As he finishes her sentence Sophie slaps him.
"Ajax right? Don't you dare speak like that. Just because we were born a little unlucky doesn't mean we have to live in sorrow." She says as she grips his collar.
"You two quit it!" I screamed, pulling them apart. "No amount of yelling is gonna feed the families that are waiting for food, the children crying to their moms about not having enough water! Now get your shit together!" Everyone goes silent, only the wind dared to speak a soft hum.