The Girl From The Right Arm

Chapter 11

Aria piloted the two girls up a little hill a little above the camp and sat there on a stone. They could see the whole camp. The adults who sat in front of the campfire or trained on one of the training grounds. She pointed next to her and Sonya sat down while Harriet sat on the other side. The girls watched the sunset in silence. The sun merged with the blue sky and the colours red and orange lit the sky. It looked beautiful. 

"I think it's time I told you about how I lost everything to WICKED and joined the right arm." Aria sighed and looked up.

"Are you serious now? Only three people know about your past, nobody else. And you want to tell us?" Said Harriet, incredulous.

"I trust you," Aria said softly. Sonya put her hand on her shoulder.

"If you are ready to tell us, then we will listen to you.", Sonya said with a smile. Aria looked up at the sky and watched the bright stars shining down on them.

"When the flare broke out, nobody told me how bad this disease really was. I was always told that everything would be fine and that I didn't have to worry. It was covered up and everyone pretended to be all good. And I didn't worry about it, but then my mom got sick. She made gurgling noises and screamed all the time. She went crazy. She turned into an crank. I always asked my dad why she was with one black pencil because she got black lines. I didn't know she had the flare. Everything was kept from me. One night, she screamed again. I couldn't sleep and was worried about her. So I'm gone in her room, even though my dad had forbidden me to. And there she was, she had her eyes scratched out. And was staring at me with her creepy, greedy look." A tear ran down her cheek.

"She said she was hungry. As naive as I was, I got her the rest of the spaghetti.", Aria gave a short laugh, "When I came back, she looked at me greedily, then jumped on me and screamed all the time that she was hungry. When she tried to bite me, my dad shot her. He had heard my screams. She was dead because of me. It's my fault that she is dead." she sobbed and buried her face in her hands. Sonya took Aria lovingly in her arms. She buried her face in her shoulder, sobbing, while Harriet patted the girls shoulder gently.

"You are not to blame for her death. She would have become a crank." Sonya whispered soothingly.

"Death is much more pleasant than crank life," said Harriet.

Aria broke out of the hug and sat up again. The stars twinkled down on the girls and the cheerful laughter of the members of the Right Arm could be heard around the campfire. "My father got paranoid. On every corner, he thought he saw WICKED employees. He was afraid of losing us to WICKED, like many other families before us Reminiscing. As always, I had no idea about any of this. Nine years ago, when I had just turned eight, the WICKED soldiers came. My dad ordered me and my brother to run away and find the right arm. We went through the secret passage of our house and came out on a deserted street. 'Hide behind the trash cans, Aria! I'll see if it's safe ', that was the last sentence my brother said to me. So I was hiding when he came running around the corner. Several WICKED soldiers behind him. They got him. They pushed him to the floor and one of them took out a syringe and stabbed my brother in the arm. He then stopped moving. The soldiers dragged him away. He tried to protect me and was caught himself. A short time later, my dad came out of the tunnel and told me to run. The soldiers had discovered the tunnel and were coming through it. So I ran," she said sadly.

"I hid behind a wall and watched as the soldiers pressed my father to the ground and shot him. 'Everything will be fine' was the last sentence he said to me. They shot him right before my eyes." More and more tears ran down her cheeks.

"I wanted to fulfill my father's last wish, so I ran. Out of town into the scorch. I hiked through the scorch for four days and I felt the mountains disappeared further and further away. Vince and Mary found me. At first I was scared they were WICKED, so I ran and hid. Mary took me in and looked after me as best she could. She became like my mom to me. But my family would never replace her. No one could . To this day I still hope to see him again. But after nine years my hope disappears more and more. ", she sighed and wiped her tears away.

"What was your brother's name?" Asked Harriet.

"It doesn't matter. I don't want to give myself any false hopes.", she sighed and got up.

"Come on, let's go to the others," Aria said and climbed down the hill. "Aria!" Sonya called after her. The girl turned around questioningly. "Thanks for telling us," she smiled and hugged the girl. Harriet ran up to them and gave them a hug.

The feeling of friendship and security flowed through Aria.

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