Desert Rose

Chapter 1

Present

Have you ever been so consumed by a memory? At first, it starts out warm and full of joy, as if golden sunshine is bursting out from inside you, threatening to rip open your chest in need of escape.

I could feel it all as if I had stepped back in time. The smells, the sun's warmth on my skin, but most importantly, the laughter. It danced around me, carried by the wind. This was the last time I remember feeling completely happy. I don't want anything else but this moment.

The pain follows soon after, with reality setting in and the dreadful apprehension that what once was can never be again.

Everything is different. Everyone is different.

This memory, in particular, is one that shatters my heart into a million little pieces. Haunting me with the happiness from my past and the pain of my present. It overwhelms me, conflicting my emotions and causing my chest to tighten until it feels like it's on fire.

Hot tears fall down my face, and before I think I can't handle it anymore, I let out a long, heavy breath. It all fades away, disappearing to the back of my mind, where it waits for another moment of weakness.

You see, this memory, as painful as it may be. This memory is what drives me. This memory is before the Order took over, before the separation, and before my sister and so many others were killed. This memory is how things are supposed to be. How it once was.

And I plan on getting things back to the way they were.

"Cass! Cass! CASSIE!"

Tilly's face is nearly touching mine. I feel her hot breath on my cheek; I don't think she remembered to brush her teeth this morning. Knowing Tilly, she probably did it on purpose.

"Show them you don't care," she always tells me.

But underneath the rough Façade, she really does.

We're in the middle of the market square, and my legs have decided now, of all times, not to move.

We've been planning this for months. Today is the day we escape the Compound. Not forever, just until we find a safe place. Then we come back for everyone. We'll leave just before dawn, so the guards won't expect us.

Why would they?

No one has ever dreamed of leaving the safety of these walls.

I run through the points in my head again. We had a plan. A plan I helped with!

I was ready. Running with the others. It was all going to plan, but the ghost of her is what roots me where I stand.

Not her real ghost, but a memory.

A red ribbon from one of the stalls, like the one she wore the day she died, flaps in the gentle breeze. Transporting me back to that fateful day and making my legs numb.

Tilly's hands dig into my shoulders; she's shaking me.

"We have to go. Now!" She yells, snapping me back from my memory, her voice filled with panic, so unlike Tilly. I look around, taking in my surroundings. It's dark, candles on windowsills flicker. A sign time is running out.

It must be about 4 a.m. A sea of bodies runs past us, knocking into me occasionally and shouting at us to move. The Rebels.

"Cass, the guards are coming! They saw us! We need to get to that bus!" She grabs my hand and pulls me to follow her. I push back the memory of my sister, allowing my instincts to kick in, and my feet start to move.