Lucas's Little sister, A Terra Nova Story. Eloa Taylor

Part 6

      Boylans bar, for the most part was normal looking. If I ignored the color of the soldiers uniforms, I could almost pretend that they were my fellow soldiers, kids who I trained or who used to work in shifts with me protecting my home. What sat before me now were the men who hurt my home. And my brother whom had already taken a seat at a table in the middle of the bar.
        "Are you just gonna stand there? Or are you gonna join me, sis?" I sighed, sitting across from him with the small hope that he wouldn't touch me if I sat far enough away. I wondered if his hypochondriac cohort would be joining us but he seemed happy enough now that he had a drink in his hand.
       "So what's your plan after you've drained this place dry?" I asked, then letting my drink burn my throat.
        "That won't happen for a long while sissy, I wouldn't worry about it."
        "Quicker than you realize, I mean those men sure seem efficient. So what? You'll buy a nice dome from which to watch the world we left burn? Instead of just staying in this one? A perfect world with beautiful plants and creatures."
       "If I expected you to berate me during our walk, I would have just locked you in your dark cell again." I shut my mouth, resigning to not ignite his temper further. It's embarrassing but, I truly am afraid of the dark, or worse being all alone in the dark. When the terrorists came and took my family, I was hidden in a closet, one in a funny place that the soldiers didn't spot when they swept the house. I was in there three days. I couldn't cry or make a sound, hardly even move. I had no idea if I was going to be in there forever. Then my father and brother were sliding open the door. I'd do anything to never sit in the dark crying again, well almost anything.

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       Eventually Josh showed up for his shift and we exchanged long sullen looks. I ordered veggie fries just to be able to talk to him, much to my twisted brothers chagrin.
        "Isn't it nice? Isn't this nice?" He asked spreading his arms.
        "Isn't what nice Lucas?"
        "Freedom."
        I leaned in, getting a touch closer to his face. "Lucas sweetie, I'm here against my will."
        "Yea yea. Whatever. I mean big picture. A world without Daddy over your shoulder scowling."
         "You are the only tyrant Terra Nova has ever seen. Our father held babies and- and... welcomed those seeking asylum from a broken world. He was far from perfect but he made a world separate from greed." I didn't care anymore, let him lock me in that room forever with no sun or hope. I couldn't take his repetitive sob stories anymore. "Mom died, and it was a tragedy. She was murdered, but it's not our Father, or the citizens of Terra Nova's fault."
       "I think our nice evening has come to a close." He stood, getting to me in two strides. I stood, taking his outstretched hand in the hope of preventing more quarrel. All eyes were on us, everyone had turned themselves to see the feuding siblings. They were probably waiting for me to cry, beg mercy, apologize. Maybe they just wanted to see him hit me, his big mouthed sister. But we simply walked out the way we came, I took one more look over my shoulder at Josh, he looked more scared than I felt.
       It was night now, if I squinted, it still looked like my Terra Nova, the beautiful trees framed by the moon and all the stars. You couldn't see all the craters and fear in the dark.
        Surprisingly enough, my brother didn't say a word the whole way. Didn't even drag me down to the cells just released me in front of my bedroom and said good night. Something was up, or maybe by some miracle, I'd simply broken him.
       Sleep was obviously out of the question, but the Eloa that slept here every night must have something hidden in here. I already have Dads blade hidden, but I need medicine to be able to do anything with it. I was shoveling through drawers when I saw it. A little box that looked like an old fairy tale book. Inside, the very thing that had overtaken my life before this one.
      Lucas called it medicine the first time he gave it to me. A more accurate term would be everything enhancer. The guy I bought it from the street afterwards called it Catalyst. It made me feel invincible, like my puny lungs no longer held me back, like I could memorize every word in every text book while climbing a mountain. Lucas had given it to me when it seemed like I wouldn't make it to the end of the year without spending months in the hospital. He said it was so I'd get my degree, but I think he just didn't want to be alone.
       It wasn't addictive in the normal sense, I mean sure you craved the serotonin and adrenaline that came with it, but I think I'd be the only one to die without it. I had been walking home from a store when it happened. I had been off it a few days, I didn't need it anymore, I was a graduate now. But my body would not be ignored. All the exertion and suffering I should I went through those weeks came all at once. The drug only made me feel cured, really I was just too doped up to know how weak and exhausted I was. I collapsed, ended up in the hospital for four months with liquid in and out of me all hours of the day.
      Obviously I was fine, no lasting damage, but I kept some for emergencies. I might need it if I am to save my home. But not yet. So I stuffed it back into the drawer I got it from.