The Future isn't Bright

Nineteen

After I finished packing, we all went down the Compound's twisted corridors, passing numerous people with characteristics I've never seen until that point, all of them unique in their own way. I caught myself looking back at them after we passed, noticing a combination of oddly-colored hair and what I believed to be scales. When a large door was opened, sunlight instantly blinded me. A cold breeze surprised me so suddenly that I jumped a little. Chloe, who was walking beside me, must have felt it as well because her eyes widened in surprise. Never had I felt a cold breeze. Ever. It was the first time I had ever been cold.

I went outside and instantly felt the change in air. Canadian air was fresh, crisp, and completely unlike the heavily humid air in Femme or Mascel. The sky above had clouds. Real, puffy clouds. Clouds back home would signal the one or two rainfalls per season, and there were nowhere near as many as here right now. I walked to the edge of the gravel path onto the grass, and when I bent down to touch it, I almost fell over in surprise. It was real. Like the grass in the botanical garden that Father took me to all those years ago. Mac smiled at me and Oslo followed suit, attempting to keep his expression blank but his eyes gave away his emotions.  

I turned around to look back at the Compound. Only the door and a wall was visible, because the rest of it was inside of a hill. It seemed to be entirely flat and long, probably stretching out for at least a mile into the rock. We seemed to be in a sort of elevated plateau, and when I looked beyond the Compound, the ground stooped down into the reservoir, with a bridge stretching across it. There were no factories or any sign of civilization for miles. It was almost perfect. It saddened me to leave and think that I would never see it again.

There was a small voice in the back of my mind that keeps telling me to follow Ethan’s lead: to stay. I would also never see real clouds or grass again. The whole concept seemed unnatural and natural at the same time.  

"Will she be alright?" Chloe asked Mac quietly, thinking I couldn’t hear them. She shrugged.

"They'll probably drug her again, so that she never finds his way back," Mac answered frankly as she tucked her dark blond bangs behind her ear, as Elle used to do. Thinking of Elle instantly made my brain flood with images I didn't want to see. To make my decision to stay here easier, I tried with all my might to push them back, and they finally receded.  

"We'll miss you, Donna," Ethan said as he awkwardly hugged me before I had to step into the all-too-familiar vehicle that brought me here. I forced myself not to make eye contact with anyone, especially not Oslo, as the door was opened for me. I placed my suitcase in the car and followed it inside. What if I stayed? Would it have been that bad? I realized how much I would miss Ethan and Chloe and… Even Oslo. With that, I looked out the window, catching a glimpse of Oslo, whom I forgot probably heard what I had just thought. His his usual smirk was gone, his face unreadable.

I thought about the potential of the Compound. They wanted to take down the Government. They all had a purpose, unlike me. What was I going to do at home? Sulk around, go to school, and pretend that nothing ever happened? I wouldn’t be able to forget my father, who was who-knows-where. By staying, I would not only leave the people that made me feel normal, but I would abandon any hope of seeing my father. I couldn’t save the world from under my mom’s wing, either.

Before I could react, the car lurched forward.

“Stop the car!” I yelled. It came to a sudden stop, throwing me forward and making me gracelessly land face-first on the floor of the vehicle. I picked myself up quickly and yanked the door open, almost forgetting my suitcase. I grabbed it and pulled it swiftly as I closed the hundred-foot gap between me and the staring onlookers that just bid me goodbye.