If I gave up...

chapter 2

'We do not want to kill you.' The younger one speaks.

I screw my face up, puzzled.

'The older man laughs. 'There's a war heading our way, and you are part of that.'

'I'm Feden.' The younger one speaks.

I examine him closely, he has dark hair, dark brown eyes, with a wide jaw, he looks tall, but I cannot tell whilst he is sitting beside me. The older man is grey, with pale green eyes, which were filled with agony and hurt.

'Why is there a war...' I ask.

'To get the Earth back to where it should of been in the first place. To be free.' Feden speaks with such passion.

'The Earth is perfect..' I speak as I have rehearsed many times before.

Feden shakes his head 'Have you been living in a bubble?' He asks 'Are you really that blind?'

I keep a straight face as I nod.

The old man speaks.

'You don't know anything...'

I feel awkward, the tension in the room is unbearable, my eyes wander around the truck trying to put myself at ease.

'I'm telling you its not her.' Feden speaks again.

The old man hushes him. 'I assure you, it is. She just needs to prove it.'

I feel confused, but I am not scared, I don't feel any threat what so ever, although the hurt of my Fathers death still aches in the deepest part of my heart; he has sacrificed himself to save me... Then another thought runs through my head.

'Where's my Mother?' I ask.

Feden looks down at the floor and the old man looks elsewhere. I feel an instant burning firing up inside of me, my Mother, my dear sweet Mother, protecting me... And for what?

I suddenly become angry again.

'You killed my Mother!' I yell.

Feden tries to put his arms around my shoulder, I jerk away.

'Why!' I screeched.

The old man speaks with sincerity and remains peaceful. 'She asked us to kill her, she did, we where going to take us with her, or give her the choice of staying. But she knew... She knew.'

My heart shatters into tiny pieces, my Mother wanted to die!

'Wh-Why?' I ask.

'You heard us' Feden answers for the old man. 'There is a war coming, and she would of been killed anyway.'

I feel puzzled, I go to ask why but before I can ask, the old man steps in and answers.

'Because if the government found you gone, they would of killed her, or tried to track her down. They are after you...'

Why is anyone after me?

I sit in silence for a brief couple of minutes.

'It's okay to be curious and ask questions you know?' Feden reassures me.

'Why-What-Why are they after me?' I whisper.

'You don't remember?' The old man asks.

I shake my head, Feden turns to the old man and mumbles in his ear. They both turn to me.

'We will have to make you remember...'

                                                                            ***

The car begins to slow as we are clearly approaching somewhere, as I inhale, the air becomes moggy, it is no longer clear, it doesn't feel healthy; I go to edge to the window but Feden advises that I stay sat where I am. My breaths are becoming more deep, to last longer, as a long sewer like smell is lingering around us. Everything around us becomes dark and the truck and everything in it becomes dark.

'Where are we?' I ask, unable to take many breaths.

'You will get used to the smell...' Feden assures me. 

The old man and Feden open the back of the truck, it is completely black. I cannot see a thing.

'We are in the sewers.' Feden explains as he helps me up and walks me out the truck.

I feel wobbly, my stomach hurts from my wound, my knees begin to give way.

'Whoa steady there I got you...' Feden grabs onto my arm a little tighter.

One foot infront of the other I move forward, the old man walks steadily ahead with nothing but a lit candle, the sewers are dark, they look like they are closing in on me. We approach what looks like a door, and the old man begins to unlock it.

We wait for several minutes as the old man fumbles around with some keys he has.

But as the doors open, my eyes cannot deceive me, I see green, not grey, I see the colours of pink, purple, blue all the colours I had only dreamed of seeing, I smell, that smell, it smells fresh, a complete contrast to the smell of a sewer, its bright, I look up at a blue ceiling, with painted fluffy white clouds... Is this... Is this what Earth looked like before it all?

I pull myself out of Feden's grasp, I walk forward, there's real flowers, they are real! I kneel down to touch one as a butterfly shoots out from behind a leaf, a leaf! I feel a smile growing on my face. I stand up, I forget any pain or ache I feel as I see what looks like a sun, I know that's impossible, the sun is in space, way out of our reach... I walk towards it...

'It's beautiful!' I gasp, I reach to touch the light.

Feden walks up next to me;

'Its essence of the sun, its harmless, but its bright, it keeps our way of living... practical.'

I put my hand in the light, it's warm, the light begins to shape around my hand, glowing brighter, my eyes widen.

Feden chuckles. 'Dad! come over here and look at this!'

The old man approaches us. His face lights up.

'It is her...' He speaks softly.

I am too busy to care what they say, my heart wells up, with hope... Is this what the government have been hiding from us? The beauty of the sun... The light. How comes Earth does not see it anymore? How comes life does not grow?

 Its you Ludelle...

I hear a voice in my head...I jump back in surprise. My heart begins to flutter.

'Its you Ludelle' Feden smiles.