A Perfect Utopia?

Chapter 16

Aliyah had been so excited.

They were going to see if she was fit to become an Elder. Her brother used to joke that it stood for “Evil Looney Drunkards…” and Aliyah had since forgotten the rest. It was a phrase that had never failed to make her smile, just as her brother had never failed to make her smile.

Of course, that was entirely before he had joined the ranks of the Elders.

Aliyah had honestly been unable to understand how just an elite group of people had managed to turn her wonderful older brother into a man that could barely even smile in front of his little sister.

Aliyah had supposed that that would be one of the first reasons why she said no…

When Aliyah, now only thirteen, had stood in front of them, it almost felt like she was standing in front of a firing squad. The absolute worst part was that this was her family. The atmosphere in the room was so tense that Aliyah felt like it would have been hard to cut through with even a large knife.

They had let her talk. They had wanted to know why Aliyah wanted to do this. They had wanted to know what made her want to do this. But first, they had made her swear upon everything that was dear to her and everything that she was worth that she was answering all these questions as accurately as was possible for her.

It was then that Aliyah began to see just how terribly wrong everything was becoming.

Other than her brother, she had not realized how uptight and stern everyone else had become. She had found that she could barely remember the times that her father as actually the happy and laughing person that Aliyah had grown up with.

That was why she was actually quite glad when she found out that she had been rejected. The reason was something that Aliyah could not remember, but that did not bother her. At least Aliyah was now free, right?

Wrong.

She overheard her parents talking that night.

They were talking about how they were going to kill her; that there was not a single other choice. All her family was there and no one, not even her brother, were even going to bother to stand up for her; tell the rest of the family that Aliyah was a very valuable person, and that she could not be killed. That was something that she could never forget: the hurt and the pain that she had felt that day. There was never any other pain and hurt that could ever rival that.

That night, was the night that Aliyah disappeared, never to be found-

“Aliyah,” someone called, shaking her shoulders. She opened her eyes and rubbed them as the man who had startled her out of the day-mare. It was the same man who had scared Domini that first time, except this time he was much more somber and put together. It seemed as though he had aged ten years in a span of time that could not even reach ten days.

It did not surprise Aliyah. The amount of responsibility that was put onto your shoulders could age even the youngest of people. That was what had happened to her.

“Yes?” She asked, as calmly as she could, considering the circumstances.

“Lavinia would like to speak to you. Shall I send her in?”

The mere sentence that he had just spoken startled Aliyah very much. It startled her so much, in fact, that she could not even bring herself to say yes. She simply nodded and gestured non-committedly with her hand. The boy man seemed to understand and turned around to send Lavinia into Aliyah’s office.

Aliyah only had a moment to gather her wits, because she was sure to need all of them with Lavinia being around.