Shades of Purple

Chapter 6

'"She wakes up again. She looks at the clock beside her bed, and the time reads: "12:01 A.M." It's December 2nd, and Marina isn't dead. She looks down at her wrist to see if she had somehow misread the date, but her wrist now reads something else: "ERROR."'

* * *

'I have to get out of here,' Marina immediately realizes. She knows that the one thing the government hates more than anything else is being wrong, and they would not be opposed to breaking their own laws and killing her or her family to hide the flaw in their system. Now fully awake, Marina pulls down the covers on her bed and stands up. She is now in full panic mode.

"Otis, wake up," Marina whispers urgently! Her dog immediately obeys, obviously sensing the distress in Marina's tone of voice.

Otis lets out a loud bark, and it echoes throughout the, otherwise silent, house. Marina quietly scolds him, realizing that it may have woken her parents.

Marina feels her heartbeat quicken, and she knows Death is close behind, lurking in the shadows in wait.

"No, boy, we need to be as quiet as possible," Marina tells Otis, desperation evident in her voice as she begins to throw a bunch of random things in an old book bag and changes out of the long shirt she was sleeping in. After she finishes getting her things together, she pulls out a notebook and pen; she starts to write a note to her parents but then realizes that the government officials may somehow find it first. She isn't sure if her parents are allowed in her room before officials are sent in. Yes, it hurts her to have to leave her parents without saying goodbye and, yes, it will hurt them too; at the same time, though, she knows this was necessary for their safety and hers. Marina just hopes they can find it in their hearts to forgiver her.

Marina opens the door to her room, letting both Otis and herself out before closing it shut behind her as quietly as she can. She begins to walk slowly and quietly down the stairs, wincing as the one stair lets out a loud creak. She holds her breath as she listens to try and tell if the noise had woken up her parents.

When she does not hear any noise coming from their room, she lets out the breath she did not realize she was holding and continues to make her way down the last few stairs. Marina sees the front door of their house and reality sinks in, making her rethink her choice to leave— 'I do not want to leave, but I know what will most certainly happen if I stay. I do not want to live without my family, but I also do not want to die. I have two choices, but not even one of them is a good one. What do I do? Do I run, or do I wait?' She makes her choice... she runs.

Marina turns the doorknob and opens the front door to the house she grew up in, willing herself not to rethink her decision again, and steps out into the dark oblivion of the early morning hours. She makes her way to the end of her neighborhood and looks back at the house she so wishes she were still in, a single tear rolling down her cheek as she thinks about all that she is leaving behind— her family, her friends, her life as she knows it; everything is about to change.

She turns her head back towards the road in front of her, and something catches her attention. Marina sees a pair of eyes from her neighbor's window; thinking that her neighbor may have seen her and alerted authorities, Marina runs, quite literally, for her life. She does not stop until she is sure she is no longer in the Village boundaries. The trees surrounding her makes her unsure of which direction she should be heading, but she decides to just pick up later in the morning when she can actually see what is ahead of her. Aimlessly wandering will only get her even more lost. Otis has already fallen asleep next to a tree stump. Knowing she will not be able to go to relax as easily as her dog had, Marina sits down beside him and looks up at the star-filled sky.

"What the hell did I just do?"