This Is Not the End

Prologue

Dark, bare room with one table, one chair, and a large two-way mirror. Three people are inside the room, two interrogators, and one teenage girl with her hands locked in metal cuffs chained to the table in addition to her ankle being chained to the floor.

One of the two interrogators approaches the girl.

Interrogator 1: So, you're the girl who ended the war.

Girl: I think we can both agree that the war is far from over. I just... changed it.

Interrogator 1: For the better, or the worse?

Girl: You will be the one to decide that. Why else would I be here?

Interrogator 1 slams hand on desk; girl flinches at the noise.

Interrogator 1: Don't mouth off to me. How did you do it? Who did you work for? You don't honestly expect me to believe you were working alone, do you?

Girl: I never said I worked alone.

Interrogator 1: Then who did you work with? How did you do it? Tell me!

*Silence*

Interrogator 1 exclaims in annoyance and leaves room. He walks into full room of scientists and news reporters, documenting every word that is spoken in the interrogation room from behind the two-way mirror. Everyone holds their breath, waiting to hear. All is silent.

Interrogator 2 walks up to the girl and the two stare at each other.

Interrogator 2 (quietly, pleadingly): Tell me.

*Silence*

Girl: You... don't I know you? From before... from the colony...

Interrogator 2 nods, girl smiles.

Girl: Finally, someone willing to hear.

Girl stands up, suddenly free of cuffs and chains, and paces around the room, thinking.

Girl: The first thing to note is that I was different. That's a big issue right there. In a world where survival is key, differences can lead to death. Keep that in mind as we go along.

Girl takes a deep breath and looks through the two-way mirror at her audience.

Girl: Let me tell you a story...