I continue to sit, breathing heavy in the protective room. I hear a woman scream whilst a gunshot fires, I try to hold back the tears.
'Shhhh...' Father hushed me. He puts his arms around me and mother.
I hear footsteps, unusually close, my body begins to shake, the thought of my dear family getting hurt paralyzed my thoughts; my body suddenly goes numb.
BANG!
The metal door that is protecting us jolts. I jump out of Fathers grasp and go to scream, Mother clamps her hand over my mouth.
BANG!
The door begins to unhinge, Mother keeps her eyes on me the whole time as Father begins to stand, I realise what he is doing, I go to move forward to pull Father back, but Mother keeps me hidden. There are tears in her eyes;
'Just remember, you're different, don't let anyone hurt you' My Mother begins to cry as she speaks.
They surely were not suggesting they were going to die?!
'Mother...' I choke as I can barely speak.
The doors bangs for the last time before the door comes down. Stood before are two men, one old and one young.
'There she is!' The younger one shouts.
Father steps in front of me and Mother, as the younger one moves forward he pulls out a gun, shooting Father in the chest.
'No!' I scream as I pull from Mother to catch my descending Father. I sob as he falls into my arms.
Mother then kneels in front of me.
The older man approaches her, I go to lean forward but the younger male grabs my arms, I scream with tears rolling down my eyes; in the sheer panic of the thought they would kill my loved ones.
'Get off me!' I scream again, as the younger man tries to hold me down, I kick him, winding him, as he kneels I pull away grabbing the knife he was about to stab my Mother with, I fall to the other side of the floor.
'Ludelle!' Mother screams, she tries to get to me but the older man hits her again.
It angers me, I stand and run towards the older man with the knife. But as I approach, I slice of pain greets me at my stomach, for there is a knife there, I stop, look down at my wound, the blood gushes out as I become weak; I step back. Then everything goes black.
***
I do not open my eyes, the wetness from the blood of my stomach is gone, I felt pressure on my stomach, like it had been bandaged; but I am moving, fast, I hear the two men speaking. They were not carrying me as I was laying, but the movement is bumpy. I groan.
'She's waking up!' One of the men speaks.
I slowly open my eyes and slowly sit up, at first there is a blur, but then clear as day, we are in a truck what looks like a green truck, we are in the back and someone else is driving in the front , I see the two men that killed Father. I do not speak as rage is boiling up inside of me. I scream, and go to punch the younger one.
'Where's my Mother!' I yell.
The younger one grabs my arm. 'Your tough aren't you?' He chuckles.
I try and force myself out of his grip. But its no use.
'What do you want with me.' I speak hopelessly.
They do not speak.
'Just kill me and get it done with.' I speak again.
'We do not want to kill you.' The younger one speaks.
I screw my face up, puzzled.
'The older man laughs. 'There's a war heading our way, and you are part of that.'
'I'm Feden.' The younger one speaks.
I examine him closely, he has dark hair, dark brown eyes, with a wide jaw, he looks tall, but I cannot tell whilst he is sitting beside me. The older man is grey, with pale green eyes, which were filled with agony and hurt.
'Why is there a war...' I ask.
'To get the Earth back to where it should of been in the first place. To be free.' Feden speaks with such passion.
'The Earth is perfect..' I speak as I have rehearsed many times before.
Feden shakes his head 'Have you been living in a bubble?' He asks 'Are you really that blind?'
I keep a straight face as I nod.
The old man speaks.
'You don't know anything...'
I feel awkward, the tension in the room is unbearable, my eyes wander around the truck trying to put myself at ease.
'I'm telling you its not her.' Feden speaks again.
The old man hushes him. 'I assure you, it is. She just needs to prove it.'
I feel confused, but I am not scared, I don't feel any threat what so ever, although the hurt of my Fathers death still aches in the deepest part of my heart; he has sacrificed himself to save me... Then another thought runs through my head.
'Where's my Mother?' I ask.
Feden looks down at the floor and the old man looks elsewhere. I feel an instant burning firing up inside of me, my Mother, my dear sweet Mother, protecting me... And for what?
I suddenly become angry again.
'You killed my Mother!' I yell.
Feden tries to put his arms around my shoulder, I jerk away.
'Why!' I screeched.
The old man speaks with sincerity and remains peaceful. 'She asked us to kill her, she did, we where going to take us with her, or give her the choice of staying. But she knew... She knew.'
My heart shatters into tiny pieces, my Mother wanted to die!
'Wh-Why?' I ask.
'You heard us' Feden answers for the old man. 'There is a war coming, and she would of been killed anyway.'
I feel puzzled, I go to ask why but before I can ask, the old man steps in and answers.
'Because if the government found you gone, they would of killed her, or tried to track her down. They are after you...'
Why is anyone after me?
I sit in silence for a brief couple of minutes.
'It's okay to be curious and ask questions you know?' Feden reassures me.
'Why-What-Why are they after me?' I whisper.
'You don't remember?' The old man asks.
I shake my head, Feden turns to the old man and mumbles in his ear. They both turn to me.
'We will have to make you remember...'
***
The car begins to slow as we are clearly approaching somewhere, as I inhale, the air becomes moggy, it is no longer clear, it doesn't feel healthy; I go to edge to the window but Feden advises that I stay sat where I am. My breaths are becoming more deep, to last longer, as a long sewer like smell is lingering around us. Everything around us becomes dark and the truck and everything in it becomes dark.
'Where are we?' I ask, unable to take many breaths.
'You will get used to the smell...' Feden assures me.
The old man and Feden open the back of the truck, it is completely black. I cannot see a thing.
'We are in the sewers.' Feden explains as he helps me up and walks me out the truck.
I feel wobbly, my stomach hurts from my wound, my knees begin to give way.
'Whoa steady there I got you...' Feden grabs onto my arm a little tighter.
One foot infront of the other I move forward, the old man walks steadily ahead with nothing but a lit candle, the sewers are dark, they look like they are closing in on me. We approach what looks like a door, and the old man begins to unlock it.
We wait for several minutes as the old man fumbles around with some keys he has.
But as the doors open, my eyes cannot deceive me, I see green, not grey, I see the colours of pink, purple, blue all the colours I had only dreamed of seeing, I smell, that smell, it smells fresh, a complete contrast to the smell of a sewer, its bright, I look up at a blue ceiling, with painted fluffy white clouds... Is this... Is this what Earth looked like before it all?
I pull myself out of Feden's grasp, I walk forward, there's real flowers, they are real! I kneel down to touch one as a butterfly shoots out from behind a leaf, a leaf! I feel a smile growing on my face. I stand up, I forget any pain or ache I feel as I see what looks like a sun, I know that's impossible, the sun is in space, way out of our reach... I walk towards it...
'It's beautiful!' I gasp, I reach to touch the light.
Feden walks up next to me;
'Its essence of the sun, its harmless, but its bright, it keeps our way of living... practical.'
I put my hand in the light, it's warm, the light begins to shape around my hand, glowing brighter, my eyes widen.
Feden chuckles. 'Dad! come over here and look at this!'
The old man approaches us. His face lights up.
'It is her...' He speaks softly.
I am too busy to care what they say, my heart wells up, with hope... Is this what the government have been hiding from us? The beauty of the sun... The light. How comes Earth does not see it anymore? How comes life does not grow?
Its you Ludelle...
I hear a voice in my head...I jump back in surprise. My heart begins to flutter.
'Its you Ludelle' Feden smiles.