Hello, So this is my first story so please don't be rude about spelling errors or grammar errors. This book can get dark and the plot is very twisty but I hope you all like it. I wrote it all at once and I'm just now putting it on Wattpad. Enjoy
Songs: Even my dad does sometimes: Ed Sheeran, Darkness keeps chasing me: Grace Vanderwaal, Praying: Kesha, Save Myself: Ed Sheeran.
Kiera's POV:
9/3/2054 is the day I am going to die. It is a date that has been surged into my brain every since I became 10. Today is 9/2/2054, it is my 16th birthday. I am just sitting in my bed staring out the window at the smog filled skyscrapers. My mother and father are at work and it's a Monday so I have to start getting ready for school.
I live in the Soviet States in New York City. Ever since the fifth World War when I was 9, Russia took over our country. In all honesty my life kind of sucks. Everyday is boring and uneventful. Even my own birthday because when knowing when you are going to die you don't get to enjoy your birthday like I could when I was younger.
When we are born our DNA, blood types, body weight, strength, everything about us is put in an algorithm. It will calculate the exact day you are going to die. The worst part is you do not know how death will come to you. It could be in your sleep, car crash, cancer, a bomb, you name it. Somehow, I am going to die tomorrow as a 16 year old girl.
We don't even get to live our own lives. We are all forced to wear grey because they restrict creativity. I remember one time, this girl from my school somehow found a stash of colored markers hidden and used them in class. I don't think I ever saw her again. In our country we always have somewhere to go, something to do, someone to be. Yet tomorrow it all ends.
Talking is very limited. Our Dictator Frederick Williams makes sure that we are in line and not overstepping any law. He comes from a long line of Williams'. The first Williams ever was the worst of them. We had two world wars and he just gave up to both of them. He was racist and basically used stereotypes to justify it.
My alarm goes off and I slowly drag myself out of bed. I couldn't sleep so I sat here thinking about my life. I grunt as I walk towards my closet. I grab the same boring outfit in grey as we did every day of our lives and put it on. I walk over to the mirror and stare at myself for the longest time.
My green eyes were a contrast to my wavy long ginger hair. Freckles gently lined my cheeks and nose and my skin had no pigment to it really. I wished I was born without all these freckles and bright green eyes and bright red hair. I couldn't fit in at school with all the girls with their blonde or black hair.
After breathing in and out for a while and just accepting my life, I went to the front door grabbed my grey backpack, and left. Breakfast never appealed to me unless it was pancakes or something fun.
I walked slowly to school trying as hard as I could to not suffocate under the smog. Banners of Dictator Williams lined the streets as hover cars passed by without hesitation. I could see the school up ahead which was an old prison that they reconstructed into a school. It's funny how most people call school a prison metaphorically whereas my school is a prison metaphorically and physically.
I sigh as I approach the school everyone stares at me as I pass by them. Why do they always stare like I have a weird skin condition?
"Ay! Ginger, what's the rush?" I was met by a guy nearly twice my size. His gray emotionless eyes stared at me as he smirked. My heart rate increased and I curled my hands into fists.
"Get out of my way Dustin!" I say lowly. It only made him laugh.
"Aww. Come on now Ginger no need to fight. Unless you want to." He whispers into my ear. I've seen the same expression on him before. Shivers rush down my spine and I try to suppress my fear.
"My name is Kiera. Not ginger! I am not some pet." I scrunched my fists even tighter. I hear the bell ring for school and I try to move away from Dustin. It only irritated him further. I see some of his friends come behind him and my stomach dropped as I realized it was happening again. Dustin pinned me up to the side of the building again and whispered in my ear.
"I beg to differ." A chill went through my spine. His friends held my arms back as Dustin brings out his grey baseball bat and one of his friends put a cloth in my mouth and tie it in the back. I struggle and successfully punch one guy in the face, knocking him out. Two more of his friends hold me down making me unable to move. Tears started to slip down my cheeks as I flexed my stomach. The first swing hit and I nearly passed out from the pain.
Dustin laughed and watched as my body crumpled inwards.
"Not so fiesty now, are you ginger?" He wound up again and another strike hit and another until I thought I would throw up.
"You really need to learn some manners. Didn't your parents teach you never to talk back to someone." Black started to blur my vision but I forced my eyes to stay open to prepare myself for the next swing. Dustin pulled his bat back again but paused for a moment as our principle Mr. Thatcher walked by. He stopped when he saw what Dustin was doing. I tried to talk through the cloth but all that came out was muffles.
"There's more room by the west side of the building and no security cameras." With that he turned away and left. Dustin laughed with his friends as the saw me struggle against their grips as they dragged me to the west side.
This was my chance. No matter how much pain I was in I needed to leave. I quickly kicked my legs up in the air hitting Dustin and a friend in the jaw. As they stumbled back I ripped my arm out of the ones grip and kicked him back while I punched the other one in the nose and he fell back as red blood came trickling out of his nose. I made a run for it. I could hear footsteps behind me so I ran even faster trying to get away. Once I reached the school I hurriedly ran to the girls bathroom and leaned against the door. I didn't hear anyone for a while so I must have lost them. I coughed my way over to the sink as I tasted a little bile in my mouth. I quickly ran to the toilet and threw up what little was in my stomach. I leaned my head against the cold seat as I sat there for a while.
After a couple minutes I got up and went to the mirror. I lifted my shirt up to examine the already forming bruises. They were all along my torso along with old scars Dustin has made with his knife. I slowly twisted and felt an extreme amount of pain. I winced as I saw that some bruises were forming on my side next to my back which was also covered with scars. Dustin hadn't done anything to me in a while. It was about three months ago when he last attacked me and I thought after that he gave up. I was so wrong. At least I won't be in this world tomorrow and my pain will all wash away.
I really didn't feel up to going to my classes and since I am going to die tomorrow anyways I might as well go home. With that I slowly opened the doors to peak out and saw that no one was around.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I stepped out. I was just walking through the hallway to the end of the door when the bell rang. It was about 2:30 since most of my time here was spent in the bathroom or being beaten. Everyone started heading towards the door. We all had to be silent since adults were present but that didn't keep people from staring at me with disgust. Why did everyone have to stare?
I walked home trying not to look deformed and quickly went straight up into my room. I went to the corner of my bedroom and sat down, wincing at the pain in my stomach. I stared at the wall for a while thinking. Why couldn't I be normal? Why couldn't I keep my mouth shut when my teachers got things wrong? Why do I have to have red hair and freckles?
I stared at the wall for a few minutes before completely breaking down. I sobbed and sobbed feeling the tears burn my skin. All this pain will be gone tomorrow. I thought and continued to sob about my tragic life. You could be starving in Africa. You could be in a war. This is nothing. My breathing started to calm down. I heard the door to our house open and I walked over to my door to look through the crack. It was my dad. He was a very successful doctor and most days would spend nights at the hospital. He recently was on call two nights in a row which meant he could come home early today. Mother was also a doctor however but not as successful as my father considering she was not a man.
My dad saw me looking through the cracks as he made his way up the stairs. I slowly and quietly opened the door as he gave me a tired smile. He walked by and when he was just close enough he whispered.
"I love you"
"I love you too dad." I whispered back. He frowned as he noticed my red eyes and tear stained checks but I simply shook my head and smiled hoping he wouldn't go crazy about it. He sighed and then disappeared into his bedroom to get some well needed sleep.
A couple hours later my mom arrived. I was laying on my bed lost in my own thoughts as my mother opened the door to my room. I sat up and she, just like my father, noticed my face. I was horrible at hiding that I cried. My parents have seen this exact face a million times and they tried to stop it but never could.
"How bad is it this time?" My mom asked as she walked over to me.
"Mom, you are going to get caught if you help me-"
"How bad is it this time?"
"I've had worse. There was no knife this time." I whispered. She gently pulled my shirt up and took in the bruises in front of her. She examined it and tried as hard as she could to be gentle when she would touch my stomach to make sure it wasn't ridged.
"There are no signs of internal bleeding this time. You might not need a trip to the hospital this time. I have some bandages-"
"Mrs. Jackson, what are you doing talking to this adolescence?" A massive guard in the standard grey uniform stood confidently in the doorway. My mother stood up and confidently stalked to the guard. I always admired her braveness in even the most terrifying situations.
"I am simply examining my daughter. Being a trained doctor and all I wanted to make sure she was alright." My mother spit out. The guards hand holding the gun came up and before I could react he striked my mother across the face with his gun. My mother never moved. She just stood there as if nothing happened.
"You need to watch your tone." The guard said in a threatening tone. "Once you have finished, you are to proceed to the kitchen to prepare dinner for your family like normal. If I see this interaction again I will have to take both you and your daughter to a prison camp to make up for disrupting our nation's laws." He walked away.
"I'll take my chances. Thank you very much." She muttered under her breathe as she turned towards me with a small cut on her cheek where there would most likely be a bruise. She began putting some sort of cream to help the pain on my stomach as she muttered under her breathe of how before, women were not treated like this. Also, other things of how she missed America and that parents should be allowed to talk to their own children whenever they want. After she fixed my mess of a self, she left.
I spent my night and most of the day thinking. I never slept because if I tried to sleep nightmares would fill my head. It was the same dream over and over. It has been drilled into my brain and I can never seem to forget it.
A bright light wakes me up as I realize that I can't move. I try to talk but can't. Everything I say is muffled by a cloth. My arms and legs are tied to a chair. I try to struggle free but can't it's as if everything is stuck. Dustin is standing in front of me. He laughs as he watches my face contorts in fear. He brings something from behind his back. This time it isn't a bat, but a gun. The last thing I hear is a gunshot. That's always the same place I wake up at. I just decide not to sleep instead of going through it over and over every night.
I walk over to the window sill and sit on it. I reach back behind the grey pillows to reveal a small box cut out in the window sill. I grab the latch and pull it open to see my notebook and artistic pencils. I quickly pull them out being as quiet as I can and put the little door back in its place and cover it with pillows again. I slowly open the notebook to reveal all my drawings. They were all in grey or charcoal because my parents could not get any colored pencils.
Creativity and art were seen as a waste of time, but my parents always got me supplies somehow. Most of my drawings were of people or cities. I tried my hardest to make them look not as depressing but it was hard without color.
The rest of the night and day I stayed in my room and drew. Whenever a guard came to my house I would pull a blanket up on me and hide my notebook to pretend I was asleep.
I didn't bother going to school considering I was dying today anyway. I simply said I had a headache and hid in my room only coming out of my room for food. I simply sat and thought about death.
I used to be so afraid of death. When I was little it scared me so much that when I found out when I was going to die I cried in my room. Now however, I've grown accustomed to it. I think it's funny how we fear death but want something to take the pain of life away.
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a car door close. I gently went to the window and perched my eyes right in the corner of the window so I wouldn't get caught by one of the guards. My mother stepped out of her grey car and walked back to our house. I slowly went to my door as I heard my mother's footsteps. They stopped right by my door and I stood their. My mother cracked my door open and quietly entered my room.
"Mom-" I whispered. I started to worry that a guard would come and do their routine check up in our house making sure everything was right. She put a finger to my lips as a single tear streamed down her cheek.
"Kiera, I need you to be strong for me. This isn't right you should have lived a long life. I know I should not be talking to you, especially before tomorrow but I just wanted to say that I will always remember you. When you feel your death come don't be afraid, just know that me and your dad love you and will always love you." She mumbled through silent sobs.
"How do I know when I am dying?" I asked out of pure curiosity.
"Some say it feels like you just want to go to sleep while other say you smell roses." With that my mother went to the door of my bedroom. There she opened the door and stood to the side. A man wearing all grey with a black band wrapped around his arm stood in the doorway. He was huge and had some medals on the right side of his chest. He walked confidently towards me and grabbed my wrists. I was confused as to what was going on but my mother stood there reassuring me that everything would be alright. He took two metal circles and placed them around my wrists he then pressed a button and the metal circles pinched my wrists as the shut closed and a bright blue light strand was extended between the two. I stared up at the man as he went behind me and pushed me forward. This is it I thought. I was moved into a black hover car and seated at the back. The guard sat beside me with a blank face as the car started to move. I knew I shouldn't be talking and I knew I shouldn't say a thing but after all I was going to die anyway.
"Where am I going?" I whispered as the guard slightly turned his eyes toward me. "I won't tell anyone you talked to me, I would just like to know where I am going."
"To the hill." My mind froze. I read about it somewhere that that was where young children went for if their death was premature or before adulthood it was a place they could have fun and rest. Almost like heaven. They could also keep an eye on you so you don't do something stupid. I sigh and look out the window. A couple drops of acid rain collect on the window as I pass the clouds of smog.
The grey buildings pass by and black hover cars move around us. Up ahead signs in grey and black point us to the hill. The guard slowly shifts his eyes to the rear view mirror and side mirrors before making a sharp right turn. All I feel is my head bang the window as my eyes start to close into darkness. I don't smell roses. I don't feel like falling asleep. In fact it's the opposite. I smell the same smog I do everyday and I feel excited. I open my eyes to see that I am alive. The guard keeps looking behind him. He looks at me with wide eyes and panic flashes through them. I feel something warm and wet slide down my neck. I reach my hand back and look to see the fingertips smeared with blood. It feels as if the room is spinning as I finally feel darkness cloud over me.