Incognito

Prologue II

Amiia's POV

Nothing.

I feel completely full, of nothing...

No emotions.

Its like I'm walking dead.

I died the moment I heard my name in the list; right there, right then.

"Amiia?" my mom called worried "Amiia please say something..." she started crying now.

They called it the MCT; Mind Catastrophic Trauma. I call it reality. No sane human would feel happy or bubbly if they were told they were part of the SET; which is basically picking random people, and  equipping them with prototype 'weapons' for planet jumping. The objective is to test if the weapons are adequate for the guards to go to the indicated planet and make it a safe place to live. You might think, what's wrong with that? Well, this is the 103 SET of the same planet. No person has ever come back alive.

I know the real purpose of the SETs. District C14 is over populating, and the "experts" are just sending us to die to reduce our growing population. How could everybody be so blind?! They truly believe the Union wants to find for us –the remainings- such place. If this is true, why do they keep giving us the same useless weapons!

I could hear my mother's endless, painful cries from the kitchen. She knows the whole meaning of this clearly, but she doesn't want to accept it... How could she? She worked so hard her whole life. All day; all night. She worked because my life depended on it. They assured her our names wouldn't be even thought to put on the list. You can only expect the unexpected.

I turned the faucet all the way to the right to take my last shower. The hot water was burning against my skin, but I couldn't feel the pain. There was no hurting. There was only nothing.

I took my time in the shower, but after I saw that my delicate pale fingers were wrinkled, I got out thinking I've been here long enough. Wrapping my body in a towel, I went from the bathroom to my room.

I watched impressed my gown. It was a gift picked by the Union. A turquoise Imperial cut gown with a belt full of gems. Its beautiful, but I won't wear it. Its precisely what they want me to do I won't do... I'm not a puppet; I make my own decisions. I pick out a pretty grey short dress from my closet, grey gloves, and a pair of shoes.

I quickly pass my hands through my hair, not even bothering to look into the mirror. What is there to see?

Going down the stairs I passed through the kitchen, only to see my mother lying on the floor, sobbing. Once she noticed my presence, she stood up, and hugged me for the very last time.

"My baby girl" she said in-between sobs.

 "Mother, I have to go now. The more time I stay, the more hard it will be to let go..." She nodded hurting.

"Wait!" She ran to her room, to come back with a little brown box. "I meant to give you this when you were married, but..." she look directly to my eyes "This is for you"

I opened the little box to find myself the most beautiful necklace I've ever seen. It was a simple white gold chain with a magnificent pendant shaped as a phoenix holding an unidentified delicate gem in its beak.

"Its stunning!" I said to her in awe. "Could you..."

"Of course..." she nodded in approval.

I turned around lifting up my long dark-brown hair while she gently clipped the necklace on; the unfamiliar cold gold chain laying on my warm skin...

I could see the sadness in her face. All of the lines across her face, telling me the story of what she went through.

Now I can't help my self questioning << How am I going to ever going to make it? >>