[ELENA]
The Gate was just beyond the forests outside my bedroom window. Though I couldn't see it, I knew it was there. The metal and stone separating us from the truth. Were we the lies?
My father made it clear. Humans were the real monsters; he didn't have to say it outright for me to understand. Yes, there had been a war. And yes, the Attributions were going to kill us all. Were the machines wrong for that? Possibly, but how could I be sure of every story I'd been told? I wasn't sure. And the facts presented to me depicted us as the complete opposite of what I'd grown up to believe.
Humans, my people, my ancestors, may have been wise in their own ways, but the cruelty ran deeper than the surface. To sacrifice our own, to willingly give up children for moments of peace... was it worth the price? Taking a woman's child, giving it away to the machines across the border of our world, was it worth it? And what of the child's mother, would she had agreed to it so easily?
Damien grew up believing he was alone. His parents were the Attributions I'd been raised to fear. But if they raised him without issue, sculpting him into a respectable young man, then those on the opposite side of the Gate weren't evil.
We were.
And if the Attributions were truly the monsters we feared, they could only be a reflection of their creator.
"Elena?" Marleth's voice hunt in the air behind me, but I wouldn't look. With my chin pressed upon my hands, I leaned against my open window. I watched the birds flutter over the trees. Night would fall over Homestead in just an hour's time, and I worried.
Was Damien all right? Did that machine hurt him? Kill him?
The thought made tears burn in my eyes. I wiped them before they could fall.
The door to my room closed. The sound of the lock followed. Still, I didn't turn to look back.
"Elena, talk to me." Marleth came to my side and pulled the empty chair from beside my bed. She sat down, shifting her dress to cover her legs. With the window open, my room was cold. But I didn't care.
Her hand reached out to touch my shoulder. "Elena, look at me at least."
I couldn't. When the wind blew over the trees and the leaves rustled with movement, I wondered if the motions belonged to the beasts who lived out there. Hiding and sneaking around in the guise of animals. Sweet, innocent animals... with machinery under their fur.
"Please." Marleth's fingers pressed down against my skin. "I'm your friend."
She was, wasn't she? I had no reason to ignore her. She hadn't been the one to keep secrets from me.
My father did.
"So is Damien," I whispered, pulling my hands out from the window's ledge and onto my lap. My nails dug into my knees as I sat. "And yet, I can't look at him."
Marleth's hand slid down my arm. "I know..."
"And if he came back, how could I even try to look at him?" Biting my lip, I finally gave Marleth my full attention. She looked as I felt. Dressed in a night's gown too early to end the day. Her hair was a mess of blonde waves. Dark lines of makeup stained her eyes. Her bottom lip pressed out as she sighed.
So did mine. "It's my family's fault he's out there." I looked back out the window. "It's my family's fault he grew up alone as though he were shunned. No infant should be taken from their mother."
"Elena, we don't know if that's what happened." Marleth scooted closer, her chair right beside mine. "If there is a treaty, there have to be rules, and laws, and—"
"Tell me of a mother who would willingly sacrifice an infant?" As my fingers closed into fists, I looked over at her. "Even if she was explained per treaty and laws the reasoning behind it, why would she?"
"Elena..." Marleth frowned.
The next gust of wind blew conversation through my window. The quiet echoes of murmurs, gossip; the worries of Homestead. Everyone knew of my return, that I hadn't reached the Gate. And they noticed we all returned without Damien. The anxious atmosphere made me shudder, tear up, and stand from my chair.
I slammed my window shut. Gripping the window's handle, my hands shook.
Marleth stood and placed her hand on top of mine. "Elena, there's no reason to dwell on the past. What's done is done."
"What's done is done?" I pulled my hand out from under hers. "Do you hear yourself?"
"Elena, I just—"
"No." Emotion flooded through me. I burned with rage, with sadness. Hearing my father's voice repeat the story over and over again in my head. There was no way to ignore it, pretend all was well because it was done in the past. The past would be my future, the treaty would be my rule book.
And I wanted no parts of it.
Walking center of the room, I crossed my arms and faced Marleth. She frowned. "What we learned today hurt me, too, but if we think too much on it, if we cry about it, we can't move forward. We need to move forward."
"We?" I chewed on the insides of my cheeks. "You mean me. I will have to learn to do this, and I won't. I refuse. There has to be another way to gain peace."
"No, Elena, you can't. Listen to me," crossing the room, Marleth placed her hands on my shoulders, "you have to see this as the only way. What if your father grabbed unwanted children?"
Unwanted children? Was that an excuse? "Unwanted to whom?" I whispered, clenching my jaw.
"To their mothers, their parents." She placed her hands under her chin. Emotion welled up in her eyes. "What if this was the case? What if—"
"No!" I shouted, dropping my hands in fists at my side. "That's insane! It would be their child! Their flesh and blood! My father..." I pressed my fingers against my bottom lip to keep it from trembling. "My family has spent generations ruining families..."
"I don't think so, no." Marleth quickly shook her head. Her hair fell over her shoulders in a tangled mess. When she looked back at me, her own tears fell. "Think of Theo."
"Theo? No, Theo's fine." I pointed at the ground, at the castle walls around us. "He has a life. But Damien? Damien had been lied to his entire life! Don't you understand that?"
She pressed her hands together, pleading with me to listen. "I do understand his story, but Theo's story makes sense, too, doesn't it?"
Rolling my eyes, I huffed with frustration. "I can't believe you."
"No, Elena, listen." Marleth came closer. "His parents abandoned him, Elena. He was left unwanted, ignored. And your father," she closed the space between us and grabbed my hands, "your father took him into the castle and protected him. Raised him. Educated him. He did what his parents did not want to do."
"And who said that, hm?" I moved in closer, my nose nears hers. Narrowing my gaze, I watched as hers widened. "Are his parents around today to say that? Do you see them?" I pointed out the window. "No one leaves Homestead, Marleth. If you are born here, you die here."
"Elena—"
"And Theo's parents have never been around. Never." I shook my head. "We never questioned it because, as you said, we believed what my father said. They abandoned him. But is that the case?"
"Elena, you're thinking too much into this." Marleth wiped at her eyes.
"Or you're not thinking enough," I whispered. "Why doesn't Theo have parents? And why was there never a woman suddenly without a child; Damien's mother? Families went missing and no one asked questions..."
"Elena, don't, please."
"But I will ask. My questions will be answered." I dropped Marleth's hands, slowly stepping away from her. "You heard my father; the treaty is broken. This only means the Attributions will come for us."
"You don't know that." Marleth tried to come back to me, to hold me, but I pulled away.
"You're right, I don't." Turning back towards my door, I grabbed the knob and turned. "But if they do, I'll be ready. I have to be."
For Homestead. For Damien. For the truth.*
*
Thank you for reading <3!