Vision of Dawn

Chapter 13

Work goes just like that, scrubbing at grimy cloths goes by fast, excpecially when you have someone to talk to. But Mare didn't really say much after her last words, her smiles came but duller, her movements are slow and rough. I could see how red her hands were, they were no different than mine. All the times the bristles of the brush hit my hand, it left a scar, whiter than my skin was already. I wince to myself at each sting, the water swarming into the ripped skin at any chance it has.

Dinner comes no later, consisting of potatoes, half an apple, and a piece of steak. Each I eat in a matter of seconds. I don't see Twindle at dinner, leaving me to sit with Mare and a few of the other ladies at a table in the corner. I learned later on that children eat together so they may play and do some chores. I wished to have his small figure beside me, as me inches closer only have my arm in the grasp of his little hands. Never to let me go.

How it pained me so, like it always did. I had considered it a weakness, but was it really? I mean caring for someone can be dangerous but truly is it something to push away. My brother always told me he felt stronger when I was beside him, my presence always gave him confidence. So I wonder where he would get it now, or even if he had any at all?

I pick at my empty plate, the voices around me muffled by each other. Each louder than the last, its caustic, but I force myself to stay only to not draw attention to myself. The screeching from within the ceiling hits my ears, like a piercing scream at first before a voice is heard.

"Soldiers head down the training area, now. No messing around, it's going to be a late and long night." I knew that voice, female and it was Roses. I wonder why soldiers must train at such hours, but this was a war. There was no time to rest.

Men stand from tables, popping up one by one, almost in a pattern. No one talks as they come together and walk like proud men. They must either be husbands of the women here, widows or just sad singles. I think of Titus, like he could get a girl, like anyone could handle his snake like body. I watch as they go, and a certain pair of eyes catch in mine, of course they were Titus's. He was one of them, a solider, I had expected nothing less he holds the anger and boredom most have.

Rose's voice comes again, following the screeching, "Others get to rooms, it's late and work will start at dawn." It cuts out after that. Mare stands and I follow her movements. Shuffling out with all the others, going down the hall where my room is, shared with Twindle. 2TC, the one number and two letters stand before me, as I knock on the door before pushing down on the handle harshly. It was the only way to open the door, it swings open beside me and arms wrap around my waist. Letting go so quickly I couldn't even process the embrace.

"Eira your back, you took so long." Twindles excitement filled voice was back. "Sorry, but I don't know what's protocol and what's not." My hand goes to the back of my neck, as the other is braced on the door frame.

He takes me into the room and the door closes behind me, Max jumps and claws at my legs. I scratch its little head and the space that curves down between its eyes. The movement I discovered that makes its eyes close and ends of its lips curl up, the red and slimly tongue almost falling out between its tainted yellow teeth.

I sit upon my bed, my daggers still on my thigh as my fingers feel at their flat but slick tops. I didn't know if it was steel or even silver, but the color was barley showing a difference. I never through mother could afford such a thing, they were given to me just before the war began.

It was my seventeenth birthday to say, well a few days later, but it was the thought that counted. The small box they were held in, not a cardboard and crappy one to say. But one outlined in silver vines, holding leaves of tined silver that grew off them. Its delicacy held a beauty like a star, there was no tag upon it, only a name engraved on a smooth surface, Eira. I assumed my mother had gotten it, but she denied. The box held five daggers, each different than the last, but similar they were in a way. There tips so sharp it was like pins for ends, the sides bursted with the light that hung above. The silver took many colors, it was so new and still they do. Like they were bought yesterday, only it held blood of silver, but the color was so alike it was identical. But I could feel the difference.

I tilt my head back, only to look down at the figure of Twindles curled body, kept in the darkness. I was so curious about him, but I knew little about him and yet he has come so close to me. I couldn't let him leave this place, but I needed to leave, one way or another. I needed to find Asher, oh gosh where could he be? Or even if he was still in this area, maybe he forgot about me? It didn't matter to me, but being left alone again and with no way of being any closer to my brother made me want to through something at him. Asher where are you?

"Eira." Twindle whispers. His voice startles me, but I lean forward a little as I see his light green eyes in the dark. "Yes." That's all I say, one word, so quiet as if I was not meant to speak.

Twindles eyes go down and I cannot see their glow of blue. "Eira I heard your and Mares conversation about the angel facility, why were you there?"

I laugh to myself, hidden by the back of my hand trying to muffle the sound. "A little noisy we are aren't we?"

Twindles body moves slightly, "Hey, but why? Were you there to find something?" His voice slightly a pitch louder as it settles down. I cease my laughter, the image of my brother pops in my head as I let it come. "I was there for a someone." That's someone was my brother, just like Twindle.

The night grows on in the dimmed room, but my eyes adjust as I think of him. The brown hair he held, sometimes it would move to this side when grown long. Always having to brush it out of his smoky green eyes, so cat like they were, but he made them look perfect.

"Was it a child, is that why you asked me if there was any children in the building?" Twindles curiosity from my purpose of that night was making my regret all that I had broken and lost. "Yes, that is why." I force the words out as the knot in my chest comes from all I have done wrong.

Twindles eyes of blue shine like a light would as they land on me slightly. "So who, mother, father, friend?"

"Brother." The maroon scarf comes to mine, how I craved to have it around my neck. "My brother was taken just days ago and I have been trying to find him ever since."

I can sense when Twindle becomes still, like his breathing has stopped. "Your brother." The hollowing in his voice made my eyes move to his curled shadow upon the bed.

I look at the picture seeing it through the darkness slightly, two figures, one Twindle and the other unknown to me. "Twindle who is in the photo on the wall, the one of two boys?"

I can see his eyes of blue move to the photo. "The boy on the left is me and the other is.... My brother." Twindle has family, but where? He continues, "He was my twin, my other half. Inseparable we were. That is why I am Twindle and he is Tweedle, referring to ourselves as the two Dums from Alice in Wonderland."

"You had a twin, a brother. Just like me. Where is he, here or....?" My body leans forward, he has family. A brother like me.

I stop for he has shaken in his bed, hugging himself closer. "He was never here, on the day I was found by the rebellion. I had lost my twin to the angels, at the time when they were taking children. I was hidden but he was taken from my hand and now I have to believe he is dead, there is no other possibility."

My body is shaking as well, hearing that he has witnessed the same fate. Believing from all possibilities that his twin was gone, no....... dead. I didn't like using such a word for this purpose, it was harsh and unsettling to the tightening feeling in my chest.

My voice is shaky as the words come from between my lips, how they quiver. "I am so sorry. I know how you feel."

He does not answer and I know why, seeing his body being pulled in closer. It was not something he was found of speaking about. I lay on my back, sliding down slowly, not to make too much noise. I hug my body, as tight as I can. I think of my own brother, knowing now I have to escape and I would. Hopefully soon.