Nila bites her nails unrelentingly as she waits for her mother, shrouded in darkness. She hasn't bothered to turn on any of the lights since she arrived partly because she hasn't fully recovered from being forced out of the simulation and partly because she has got bigger problems to worry about. Way bigger problems. Nila sniffles a bit, straining against her blocked, red nose and wipes the moisture from under her eyes. Nila can almost hear the pitter patter of her heart in her chest. She glances at the clock on the schedule on the wall, '5:45'. Her mother would have finished work by now. Her father isn't due home until another three hours. If only it were the other way around. Now Nila will have to bear her mother's wrath without any protection and in her eyes, her daughter is practically a juvenile.
"What am I kidding? I am a juvenile," Nila whines to herself, thought it wasn't supposed to be out loud.
"Indeed you are."
Nila's stomach does a backflip at her mother's unexpected appearance in the doorway.
"Mum, let me explain," she pleads, pushing the chair out behind her as she flies to her feet. "Before you say anything just hear me out."
"I found the white sludge you've been leaving behind in the bin every morning. It turns out our bin's emptying function malfunctioned yesterday so I called the cleaners this morning. They had no idea what it was but then one found a tiny piece of solid pill in there. I feel like such a fool. You have been lying to me for months, Nila. What do you have to say for yourself?" Her mother says in a scarily expressionless tone.
Nila winces at Janice's voice as it gets quieter and quieter as if it were doing the opposite and rising in volume. The heavy tone of disappointment in her mother's voice is what makes her shrink into her chair.
Nila gulps. "Well, mother, I didn't realise you were so observant."
Janice's mouth drops open in disbelief. "Excuse you? Do you realise just how much trouble you're in? You have been arrested by the government. You're under watch. No is no time to give me sass." The woman gestures to their open front door, where the two guards from earlier stand watch on either side.
Nila keeps her head down and fidgets with her fingers, inspecting every nail as it it were the most interesting thing to do in the universe. Tears brim her eyes though she keeps her head pointed downwards as to not show her mother weakness. Like it has happened so many arguments before, one tear that trickles down her cheek signals as a slit in Nila's confidence; a tear that her mother will exploit in an effort to make her daughter feel as horrible as possible.
"I'm sorry," she whimpers.
"I had such high hopes for you," her mother sighs with a shake of her head. "I put all of my eggs in one basket for sixteen years, even sometimes putting my own marriage on the line, trying to push you to be the best you possibly could. All for nothing. Am I really such a horrible mother?"
"You wouldn't understand," Nila mutters under her breath.
"What was that? No you don't get to talk. I've been informed that you're not permitted to leave this dorm for the next twenty-four hours until they decide what to do with you. Which also means you're forbidden from going to the celebration party tonight."
"What?" Nila's eyes shoot up to meet her mother's. "But I succeeded in the final test. I was apart of that group too. I deserve to go!"
Slap.
Nila hisses at the hot burning sensation in her cheek. She opens her eyes to see her bedroom to her left as the force of the slap sent her head to the side.
"Do not raise your voice at me, girl! You're not on solid enough ground to dare to speak to me like that right now."
Nila swallows down the lump in her throat and sits deeper in her chair at the round dining table.
"As I was saying, I completely agree with the authorities. At this rate, I don't even know if you're going to Earth," Janice says in a grave tone. After staring her daughter up and down, she eventually retreats into the shadows of her master bedroom, shutting the door slowly behind her.
Nila isn't really sure how long she has been sitting at the dinner table; contemplating, fuming. Her mother hasn't shown herself since she retreated into the confines of her master bedroom and the only sound that can be heard in the dorm is the ticking of the clock on the wall that now displays '8:14'. The Descension Party would have kicked off by now. All of her friends will be dancing and celebrating without her; saying their goodbyes without the formalities. Oddly enough, her father still hasn't come home – probably doing extra hours. Regardless, she can't just keep waiting around. Time is precious and quickly running out.
As quietly as possible, Nila pushes her chair from under her and makes a beeline for the bathroom. She stops in front of the mirror and studies herself from head to toe. She's still dressed in her uniform and salt streaks have begun to form on her reddened cheeks. Her chest displays a lovely stress rash. Her short pony tail may as well be a bun due to the multitude of knots at the end.
Nila then tiptoes into her shadowy bedroom to see the dress she had planned to wear for tonight is on her bed – a hand-me-down from earlier generations. Her mother must have moved it there for her in anticipation for this afternoon – or at least, what it was supposed to pan out like. It's a navy dress with a conservative neckline, opaque, short frilly sleeves and a fitted waist that flows out at the bottom. Nila takes the material in her fingers and smiles at the silky texture. She always dreamed of being able to dress up in colours other than black and white. Nila scoops the dress up and hurriedly returns to the bathroom. She'll have to get to work if she wants to look presentable for the celebration.
Beads of sweat begin to form on Nila's furrowed forehead as she jiggles the handle on the front door.
"Locked, fantastic."
"Where do you think you're going?"
Nila's heart explodes in her chest and she twirls on her heels to face her mother. Her appearance has really dwindled in the past three or so hours. Janice stands three meters away; arms crossed, dressed in tear-stained grey pyjamas; her hair resembling Nila's bird nest in the morning.
"Out."
"You are not going to the party, Nila. The door's locked and will remain locked until the Drawn descend to Earth in a weeks time."
"Yes, I am. I deserve to go!"
"You deserve to suffer the consequences of your actions!" she firely retaliates.
"The consequences of my actions? I've hurt nobody. If my actions were to do a harmless experiment to see what's up with this sketchy as government then I think you've got the wrong person."
"Mind your tongue, young lady. You've burned my reputation at work to the ground! As my daughter, you will forever now act like a permanent scar; an unmovable mold that I will never be able to remove from this household's name."
"Ah, there it is. The reason you're actually upset," Nila snickers and waves her finger accusingly. "I've been minding everything, mother, since the moment the Draw was mentioned you've been on my back like a leech. Don't do that, Nila. Be like this, Nila!"
A warmth floods Nila's cheeks and her eyes become obscured with overdue tears. They stand twenty paces apart in silence for some time, anticipating whoever will be the next to pull their trigger.
"Can't you see you've been smothering me?" Nila asks through shaky breaths.
"I did that for your own benefit. Going to Earth is vital for our future civilization and it is our duty to ensure we give our childr-"
"Shut up, just shut up! That's not the real reason. You just want dad to be promoted to second in command and climb higher and higher up the patriotic leaderboard. And you're just bitter because you couldn't win yourself!"
Her mother stares at her daughter dumbfounded with wide blinking eyes before completely changing the subject. "Well shoot me for trying to be an aspirational mother for our family. I tried to set you up for such a great life but you've been breaking so many rules lately...what's your goal? To end up in the Ward?"
Nila shakes her head in frustration. "Screw the rules, and screw you!" Nila shours and turns on her heels to her room.
Janice promptly advances from behind. Just as Nila is about to slam her door shut, her mother's hand clamps tightly around her forearm and she proceeds to drag her daughter back into the living room.
"You don't get to go back to your comfy room I made for you. You want to end up in the Ward? You'll spend your days locked in the laundry then," Janice says through gritted teeth and ignores her daughter's pleas. Her iron grip tightens so much that Nila can feel the tips of her mother's fingernails etch into her skin.
Nila lets out a whimper of pain. Those tears have well and truly escaped her eyes now and she finds it difficult to make out exactly what is around her. In the heat of the moment, Nila brushes her hand along her disk that sits just beside her bedroom doorway and obtains a solid, smooth square object not much bigger than her hand. Without giving it a second thought, Nila swings the black device at Janice's head.
The sound that follows is neither a bang or a smack, neither a smash or a crack. It's a sound that distinctively belongs to the moment where skin and bone break and what lies beneath is revealed. It's sickening and the second Nila hears it, she realizes her awful mistake. Her mother stumbles back and brings a shaky hand to her head which seems to be trickling out crimson-red blood at a steady rate.
Nila drops her bloodied Holo to the ground. "I just did that," she panics and retreats into a corner of the living area.
"Nila?" A familiar, male voice asks her name and through blurry vision, she locates her father standing idly at the door. If only he had come sooner. Her father is much less authoritarian than her mother. He would've made Janice listen to reason, would have told Nila to calm down. But it's too late now. Behind Jared stand the two guards.
"Sweetheart, what have you done?"
Finding herself in a state of panic, time flies by at an incomprehensible rate and the guards make their way towards her. Suddenly, she finds herself being lifted off the ground from where she sits by a pair of rough, firm hands.
"Please, Janice, let's talk about this. Surely there's something else we can do." Nila observes as her father kneels by his hysterical wife's side, attempting to reconcile her, however, before she can hear anymore the men drag her out of the dorm and into the main corridor.
After all that ruckus, it is inevitable that some curious people would peek their heads out of their doors to find out whatever is going on, on a planet where nothing dramatic normally happens at all. Strangers eye her up and down as she passes. One of these faces, she is no stranger to. Dylan's. She and her best friend make direct eye contact, and Dylan's worry-stricken expression sends a sickening feeling in her gut. He knows where she's headed, and she does too.
The Ward; Mars' home for society's incorrigible rouges.