CONFINEMENT

CHAPTER ONE

   Castania woke as though it was just an ordinary day, her eyelids fluttering for a second before she slowly rose from her slumber. Sitting on the edge of her disorderly bed, sheets tossed around like she was some dog playing around under the thin white linen, she looked herself in the mirror, as she did every other morning. The distorted reflection looking back at her from the broken glass suddenly reminded her what a special day it was today. Salvation Day.

   She stood up slowly to avoid the dizziness, the rustic floorboards creaking under her weight. The anemia had kicked in a couple of months back, at least that was what the doctor had told her when she had showed up for her routine checkup strongly encouraged by the Council, the people who were in charge of the whole country, Tetrea. It consisted of 12 members and a Minister, who was the one with the final say, but she had long forgotten the names of them all.

   She knew that the anemia was brought on by her diet, consistently consisting of stale leftover bread from the diner and plain clear soup served at the school, if you could really call it soup, it was only boiled water with a bit of soggy potatoes floating around. The doctor had told her to either eat more meat or purchase the needed supplements from the pharmacy, but how was she supposed to do that when her family was as poor as could be, and she hadn't tasted meat in years? She had just complied, told him that she would try to fix it as best as she could, just to shut him up before he would speak about pregnancy and having children. It was no use trying to argue or scorn him for his ignorance, he was just not from here, sent out by the Council to collect records of the people in the Zones, while making sure no one would die under their watch. They clearly had no idea how underfed most of the people in the Zones really were. Or maybe they did but just didn't care, and the doctor was only doing his job.

   She went out into the small kitchenette they hardly ever used, searching for the rest of her family. Her mother sat hunched over on the couch. She was a frail, olive-skinned woman with big, bright green eyes and dark blue veins poking out from under the skin all over her body. Castania had always assumed it was because of her constant need for movement, even though she ate less than her and therefore lacked the energy to move around, resulting in painful headaches. Castania could see she was having one now, or she would have been sitting with some kind of fidgety thing like a crochet hook or an embroidery hoop, making colorful garments.

   "Morning mom." Castania tried but to no avail, her mother was completely out of it. Just before she was about to make it for her room again, the door swung open and her father, a very ordinary looking man with bright red curly hair and a beard, stormed in taking up every inch of the place with his presence. He was thin as well, but not as some of the other people in their Zone. He worked as a line cook in the diner where he had worked since he got out of school, never ever calling in sick and always showing up on time. He was a man you could count on, which the owners rewarded by allowing him to bring home any of the bread they had to throw out at the end of the day. It wasn't much but Castania knew that it was all the owners could afford to waist, so she was thankful. She knew their daughter from school, Edwina, who was just a year younger than her, and she had once told her how much she hated spending time in her parent's diner, watching and smelling but certainly never tasting the food her family worked so hard to cook for other people, all day every day. Castania wouldn't go as far as to call her a friend, but they did spend almost every afternoon together in that diner, doing their homework in unison.

   "Morning Indie. Did you sleep well dear?" Her father asked with a small voice, trying not to wake his sleeping wife on the couch.

   "It was alright. Nothing special." She answered slowly. The middle name had been his idea, and now hardly anyone called her Castania, not even the teachers at school.