sens•itive

Takes place after civil war

Amelia was born in Ojai, California. A small town that no one had ever really heard of. She had two wonderful and loving parents who immigrated from Tamil Nadu, a state in Southern India. They'd had two boys before her each with "American" names as well, the eldest Andrew, and the next was Anthony. They were a few years older than her, but they adored her. Never once getting upset because their parents paid more attention to her, and her disabilities.

When she was two years old she had her first attack, the lights were too bright, the air too loud, her clothes felt like sandpaper against her skin, and the smell of hot dogs (her favorite food at the time) rancid. Every time she made a noise it hurt, when she moved it was excruciating, so she silently wept, her brother Anthony finding her curled up against the wall of the house in the hopes of getting away from the world. When he ran away to get their parents she cried harder, the pounding of his feet on the grass sounded like a jackhammer going off next to her.

When they finally got to her she was a huddled mess crying on the ground far from everyone else. Her father had the most success lifting her since his shirt was silky and smooth, with no loose threads or snags in it. He gladly carried her inside the house where he gently laid her on her bed quickly changing her into something softer, before they rushed her to the hospital.

It was there they were told about her inability to be overstimulated, it would get worse as she got older if they didn't fill her senses. Or so they were told, as they were headed back to their room they were approached by a man who offered to take Amelia and run tests while also working on a cure. However the parents didn't feel comfortable with the man's dead eyes, nor his twitching fingers. Politely declining, they got Amelia back home and in bed. Where she slept for a total of 17 hours, her body feeling raw and exposed to the world around her.

After that day she'd been taken care of as if she were a delicate flower, everything was checked not twice but three times, before touching her. The house always had to smell like faint hints of her mother's perfume and father's cologne or if it was a particularly hard day nothing at all, she couldn't eat anything with spice or flavor, salt and pepper were too much for her. There was always a background wooshing of their A/C or heater, but even that could push her over the edge. See Amelia had multiple diseases, each affecting her senses, leaving her with a childhood filled with dull colors and quiet voices. She was seven when her family was taken.

She'd been sleeping in her "special room", the one they'd put together with sound proofed walls, black out curtains, furthest from the kitchen and living room, with only a soft mattress and silk sheets that were changed out after each episode. Her brothers came barging into the room, waking her up with their scared and stressed scents, their harsh breathing like a hammer to her skull, roughly grabbing her and pulling her to the back of the room where they all huddled against the corner, the boys in front to try and keep her safe.

It didn't last long as the door broke open and men in black full-bodied armor crashed in the room. Her already sensitive body had kicked into overdrive and as a defense she'd blacked out. The only trouble was, she'd caused a temporary loss of senses to everyone else in the room. It only lasted 30 minutes and anyone who stumbled into the room had the same issue but since the kids lived there, they were able to get out, bringing Amelia with them. They didn't get far, seeing their father's unconscious form on the floor, blood pooling around him and hearing their mother shouting at the men to leave.

Andrew knew this was a losing fight, looking at his younger siblings he smiled at Anthony and pushed him towards the back door. "Go. I'll get mom, we'll meet up at the tree house."  Anthony could only nod, taking Amelia from his brother and running toward the back gate, he made it to the neighbor's house before he was caught by a man named Peirce.