Behind Locked Doors

Chapter Three: Behind Your Shadow

 A/N: Thanks a million for how popular you have made our story!! We are extremely grateful. This chapter was previously titled : Be Careful Little Ears What You Hear, but that sounded a little dumb to us, so we have retitled it as shown above. This chapter also used to have humongous paragraphs and not a lot going on, so we switched it up a little bit and are very proud of what came forth. We really appreciate all the tips we have been getting and take all of them to heart. Much love to all of you & as always, ENJOY!

 Alice's POV:

     The whole day had been a blur. It must have been the mind-blowing massive migraine that had me so irritable. The cause may lay with the separation of my only sister, Natalie, and myself. The credit may be due to the long, unendurable reading of the list of acceptable and unacceptable behavior. Mostly the culprit was just life in general. 

  Ever since my mother had been executed as a Rebel (one of the slim few adult Rebels), my life had been in ruins. My father died shortly after of grief. Natalie and I were all that was left of this broken family. I was supposed to be her protector. Tough job, being across the whole building from each other. Locked doors, closed entrances, barred windows, guards with guns, cameras, and general sanity kept us apart. 

   "Come on, Alice, stay strong," I sniffled, wiping away the tears that were beginning to form. I breathed a deep sigh and mentally came up of ways to get to Natalie; none had the slightest chance of working. If I had my sister's guts instead of wits, this would not be an issue. 

  Even if there was a good plan, I would wimp out or come up with some excuse in the end. Going along the lines of, if I tried, I would get caught. They would realize I was a Rebel, and I would have to face the consequences. I would have a trial and be sentenced to death leaving my sister to fend for herself. She, having no one to direct her in life, would turn herself in and be martyred as well. Yes, I was most certainly not trying anything that stupid any time soon.

    I laid on the bed generously provided by the Union and stared at the ceiling watching the fan rotate clockwise. It might have been easier if I had a book or a pass time. My head and heart beat in unison. To make matters worse the temperature had shot up ten degrees in the past five minutes making me most uncomfortable. A loud thud could be heard on the floor above me causing my ears to ring. I painfully shook my head trying find some sort of relief. 

    I continued like this for what seemed like ages. I wished I had stayed down longer; maybe food was the cure to this excruciating pain. No, the pain was not merely physical; food would only stifle the pain for a little while. The real pain came from inside. It came from my heart that long ago was broken. It broke a little when my mom died, a little more when my dad had gone with her, more still the first time my sister had cried from hunger, and surely it had completely shattered when Natalie was taken from me. A girl could only take so much pain before she cracks. 

    Suddenly, my new roommates burst into the room laughing and talking up a storm. I groaned, but it was not quite loud enough for them to hear. The ringing in my ears intensified, and I almost doubled over in pain. They continued to carry on if not louder. I placed my pillow over my ears and hummed a little tune that my mother used to sing to me as a child, which brought me only momentary comfort. Only for a second, nothing hurt, and I was back at home...

  Mom was singing while feeding the chickens, who were falling on top of each other to reach the food first. The sun had dried the morning dew and the grass was as green as the limes growing from the trees in the orchard ahead. I heard my sister laughing as she rode Snowflake, our pony, around our five acres. Dad's blade could be heard as well, chopping into an oak older than I. It would be the firewood that kept us warm that night. I was lying lazily by a tree; my head in a book with useless information...