I open my eyes in a dark, overgrown forest. I started walking into the trees, despite my fear of the shadowy corners and scurrying noises; I’d never experienced anything like it. Suddenly, a shadowy figure appeared in the treeline. My mouth opened in terror, trying to scream. Instead, I started to choke.
“Haaw!” I gasped, jolting up and knocking down my forbidden friend.
I quickly snatched my plush owl from the floor and shoved it under my mattress. Breathing hard, I took a second to catch my breath. SLAM! My cheap, plastic door banged open into the wall, revealing Zaac.
“Up and at ‘em, Kahleesa,” the elderly monk ordered.
Nowadays, the whole city is run by them, and we haven’t had a moment of peace since the war. I looked out the nonexistent window, still dazed from my dream. For a moment, I thought I saw a forest hidden among the ashes. A figure standing at the treeline, sparking a fire. It was like history repeating itself. I shook my head and the phantom window disappeared. I stood up, the bed creaking. I threw on some clothes, tying my dingy red hair up with a rope and following Zaac out of the room and into the grimy stone hallway. I sighed, missing the way it used to be; my hair all voluminous and glossy and my parents and I together. Sometimes I wonder where they are. My feet throbbed against my too-small slippers as I walked down the hall. I slid through the lunchroom doors and into the long line of waiting children. Hopefully, I’d gotten there early enough to get a fair share of food. So far, I’ve never walked away without food yet, but I feel sorry for some of the slower children.
Soon I reached the counter.
“What would you like?” the woman asked blandly.
I felt bad for her. Just like all the others. They had no hope and though it was hard, I always managed to somehow. I looked at her black hair twisted into a knot; grey streaks weaving through it.
“AHEM,” she said forcefully, clearing her throat.
“Oh, um, expired chicken wings, please,” I said.
She rolled her eyes, “Here’s a PERFECTLY GOOD chicken wing.”
I just decided to take it. I picked up the styrofoam tray, which must have been left over from the war. I quickly set my tray down in a soft shower of styrofoam bits and snarfed it down.
BRRRRINNNNG! The bell rang just as I slid into my wobbly chair. My history teacher, Mr. Thwartner, clicked inside. I looked at his dress shoes, jealous. If only that could be me. Behind me a group of boys were muttering in hushed tones. I turned around to see what they were saying.
“Kahleesa!” Mr. Thwartner barked. “Stop talking to your peers. You are distracting them.”
I forced my mouth shut, rolling my eyes and crossing my arms.
“Anyway…” Mr Thwartner said. “ The history of the war—” and that’s about where he lost me.
Basically, the war was just a stupid thing over food and rations, and then apparently, this psychopath got loose from the asylum (joking, it was a normal person), sparked a fire, and everything burned down. I mean EVERYTHING. Finally, my mind snapped back into focus just as Mr Thwartner was saying, “ — and here was what a seed looked like.”
To me it looked like a pebble.
“Nobody cares!” a boy in the back said.
“Not true. Kahleeeeeesa dooooes,” another boy added tauntingly.
I have a reputation for being nerdy. I rolled my eyes. BRRRING! Again with the agitating bell! I thought. Cradling my computer and slinging my backpack over my shoulder, I headed to the door.
“WAIT!” Mr Thwartner exclaimed. Everyone turned back slowly, dreading. “HOMEWORK!!” he sang.
“UUUUUGGH,” the resounding moan rang out.
I walked up, snatching the paper. Looking down at it, I realized it was an essay on the flaws of the past human society. I could manage. I slipped out the door.
I pressed my back against the cool metal locker. “Kahleeeeeeeeeesaaaa.” It was like I could still hear the taunting voices. “KAHLEESA!”
“What!?” I said. Looking up I saw the principal. I sighed. Could life get any harder? Taunting classmates, no friends, a RUINED world. I followed her into the foreboding office.
I heard whispers of, “OOOH, KAHLEESA’S IN TROUBLE!” and “Ooh, look at the teacher’s pet. Wonder what she did?”
I tried my best to ignore it. I sat in the understuffed floral arm chair, wondering what I had done wrong. Had they realized that I hated the way the society worked? Or that I had been the one to steal the technically illegal pop tarts from the teachers lounge? I looked around nervously at the scarce paintings on the walls. I saw paintings of Mrs. Canklebarry’s family and of cute extinct animals.
“Kahleesa,” Mrs. Canklebarry said in a soothing tone.
I looked up.
“I hear from Mr. Thwartner and Ms. Caroo as well as a few others, that you have been bullied by your peers.”
“I uh—” I started, only to be interrupted abruptly.
“Kahleesa, you don’t have to try and get them out of trouble. This is not your fault,” she said, trying to be soothing to no avail.
“I, uh, well,” I started, deciding to tell her the truth and hoping she understood. “Yes, they have, but please don’t get them in trouble. It will only make things worse,” I pleaded.
“Hmmm,” Mrs. Canklebarry replied, considering my plea.
“Please?” I asked desperately.
Things were already bad enough and my classmates getting in trouble on my behalf would NOT be helpful.
“I will think about your proposal,” she replied, waving me out into the hallway.
I stumbled out the door still thinking about our encounter. It felt weird to be the only one in the hall, since everyone else was in class. I felt myself drift into the opposite direction but did nothing to stop myself. Right then, I needed to be alone, although I knew I should go to class. I looked up only to find that I was no longer in the school. How could I have not noticed this?! I thought to myself as I realized that I am now standing in a barren desert-like area.
I felt confused, looking around. I realized that I couldn’t even slightly see the school, but I knew that it was probably far back the way I came from. Fingers crossed I wandered in a straight path. I took a step forward.
“Augh!” I yelped as I face-planted onto the gravel surface.
I lifted my head, spewing out gravel and coughing as dust invaded my throat. I stood up, wondering what I could have tripped on. Looking down, I saw a brown pebble with reddish swirls running down it and a grainy looking surface. I picked it up and tucked it in my pocket instinctively. Turning around, I hoped I was now facing the right direction.
I eventually reached the building again. I sighed, not wanting to go back inside to the bleak classes and strict protocols. Then I heard a noise.
“Kahleesa, come here,” the voice whispered.
I whipped around wildly, looking for the source, but I saw no one. My heart raced. No one can know that I was here. This was serious enough for me to be executed, like so many others had in the earliest ages of the modern society.
“Kahleesa. I know this will sound scary, but all you need to do is step back inside the building,” the voice said softly.
My heart raced and I took a step back. I swore that I could sense a presence behind me, and I slowly started to turn, anticipating the worst. Before I could see what hit me, my head became dizzy and the world started to spin. I was vaguely aware of a hand letting a soft blue cloth drop from their hands and onto the desert floor.
I awoke, my eyes shut, listening to a soft beeping noise that was continuing to repeat in the background. One of the first things I realized is that my hands were bound. Although I knew it was a silly thing to think when I have just been abducted, I wondered how the steady beeping did not grow annoying. I gasped. How had I not noticed this excruciating pain before?
As if guessing my thoughts, a voice said, “Don’t worry. The pain is just a mild side effect of the sedatives.”
“MILD?” I said sarcastically. I smirked, proud of myself. I don’t need to be well to be sarcastic.
“If you don’t stop smirking, I’ll punch it off your face for you,” the voice said gruffly.
I quickly became straight faced.
“Now that’s more like it!” he said. I could hear the smile in his voice.
I opened my eyes. Instead of seeing the wide open desert sky, I saw dingy, grey ceiling panels. My eyes widened, despite the fact that I had guessed he may have moved me elsewhere.
“What’s that beeping?”
“Your heart monitor.”
I strained my neck trying to sit upright, but instead I fell back onto the hard cot. I sighed. Useless, I thought to myself.
“Where am I?” I asked.
“Finally! I was wondering when that question might occur to you.”
“SO… Where am I?”
“Oh, I can’t tell you that.”
“Bro! Seriously?” I said.
He laughed, “I enjoy toying with my victims.”
I felt a calloused, abnormally large hand grasp my neck and back. I was hoisted up and set onto a pillow, propped against the end of the cot and leaning against the wall. I finally got a good look at him. He had fiery red hair, just one shade darker than mine, and bright blue eyes. They reminded me of how I imagined the ocean based off of the tales I had been read as a toddler. The memory made me smile. I remembered my mother, her chocolate brown eyes, similar colored hair, and kind face, kneeling by my bedside while my redheaded father stood in the doorway smiling. My eyes teared up, imagining what they were like before they were moved to the Topaz shelter instead of mine.
I snapped back to reality when I heard heavy footsteps enter the room. I looked at the only doorway, but no one was there.
“Hello, Kahleesa.”
I whipped my head to the side, searching for the voice’s owner until my eyes landed on a tall, balding man. He looked straight at me, his face expressionless except for one small corner of his lip tilting up at the corners.
“Who are you, and what do you want?” I asked briskly.
“Well, I am the head of the government,” he said smoothly.
“Um, well, what do you want from me?” I asked again.
“Well you know our top agent, Brentman, noticed that you were acting strange—”
“In what way?!” I demanded.
“You grabbed a seed from off—” he started.
“So that was a seed! I must plant it. You’ve got to let me out of here!” I exclaimed excitedly.
“Well, about that. We don’t want you to have a seed.”
“Why? Oh, and by the way, what’s your name?” I inquired.
“My name is classified, and so is my reason,” he responded rudely.
I guess I couldn’t have expected more than that from a government official, I thought, laughing at the thought.
Ignoring my sudden outburst, Mr. This-is-Classified looked over at Brentman and whispered something into his ear. Brentman’s eyes land on me momentarily, and I looked away.
“Well, Kahleesa, Brentman wants me to tell you,” he said, annoyed, “that the reason why we don’t want you to have the seed is because we would no longer have power over people.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.
“Well, if people don’t have seeds, then they can’t grow crops, which means we are their only food source. That finally means that their lives are in our hands,” he said excitedly, almost like a child on Christmas morning.
“Ohkayy,” I said, slightly confused.
Again, the tall, balding man looked to Brentman and whispers something. The soft murmur of Brentman’s response almost reminded me of the sound of cicadas on a quiet night, at least from what the recordings sounded like. To my surprise, the man pushed himself up from where he was crouching next to Brentman and walked out of the room.
As soon as he was sure the man left, Brentman leaned forward, his eyes twinkling and gestured for me to come closer. I felt like I was looking at the ocean waving at me. I leaned closer. He whispered into my ear. I smiled and nodded.
Standing up, my back ached from lying in the stiff cot for hours. He pulled out a knife and cut my ropes. We nodded at each other as he unlocked the door. I crept into the hallway and slid out the door.
As the sirens wailed, I sprinted through the desert, dust flying at my heels as I looked toward the sun. Looking back, I saw the government vehicles on my heels. They were surprisingly slow, and I laughed a little. Must be some useless scheme to try and fix all of the damage they’ve made.
After nearly an hour of running, I thought I’d finally lost them. I looked up. The sun had almost set, and the sky looked as if it had been painted gradiently in different shades of pink and purple. Although I felt as though I might pass out, the beauty astounded me. I shifted my eyes towards the ground and saw a bland grey building just on the horizon. I breathed a sigh of relief. With my last bit of strength, I pulled myself forward.
As I rounded the side of the building I realized that this just happened to be the sanctuary where I lived. I silently slid through the door, suddenly happy. After all these years of wondering what the outside world looks like… I thought, trailing off. Luckily, it was late enough that all of the guards had gone to bed and it was way past curfew. I slipped into my room and was right about to lay down in my bed when I saw a pot on my window sill. I gasped. I walked hesitantly over to the pot. It was speckled brown with a beige rim. There was a tiny hole drilled in the side of the rim and a yellowing, crumpled note was attached.
Use it wisely, Kahleesa.
There was no signature, and I didn’t have an inkling as to where it came from. But for some reason, I trusted whoever sent it. There was already dirt in the pot, although it was darker and more moist than the stuff outside. I stuffed the seed into the dirt and covered it, hoping this was correct. I snuck out of my room into the eerily silent hallway and into the bathroom. I filled up my hands with water and carried it to the pot, dumping it. I crossed my fingers that this isn’t a trap and laid down on my bed, my mind racing. Eventually I fell asleep.
In the morning I woke up, and for the first time I almost forgot where I was. My eyebrows furrowed. A few seconds later, my face turned into a display of wonder. Growing out of that little brown pot was a green sprout of hope.
