Asteria

Chapter 1

"RUN!" Brooklyn screamed as the metal things flew past her ears. Beatles? No that's not right. Ballet? No, what were they called? Asteria thought while she ran away from the men. "Brooklyn, what are those flying things called?" "Bullets," she responded grimly. Oh yes bullets. The modern world was completely new to Asteria and sometimes she had trouble keeping up. She and her companion Brooklyn were running as fast as they could through the warehouse filled with meaningless objects. They passed a creepy doll, a large painting, and a lamp. "OWWWW!" Suddenly Asteria's hair was caught on a thorny potted plant. Her beautiful purple hair that got her extra weeks of watching her siblings because her mother was not happy when she dyed it with her mom's lilacs. Her beautiful long hair that she spent years growing to be longer than her thigh. "OW!" Asteria screamed in pain as she tried to untangle it unsuccessfully. The men were catching up. Brooklyn came over and took out a tool from her satchel that looked sharp and pointy with two metal bits. She reached over and cut Asteria's hair right out of the plant. It was now sloppily cut down to her waist. Both girls took off and finally reached the door. They opened the door and saw that they were in a long hallway with doors many doors. Brooklyn reached over and locked the door behind them."We made it!" Brooklyn exclaimed. "DID YOU HAVE TO CUT IT THAT SHORT?!?" Asteria half screamed. "I was saving your life! Your hair isn't that short! It's longer than mine." Brooklyn explained. Brooklyn's micro-braids were indeed as long as Asteria's, but Asteria was now ignoring her. Brooklyn opened a door and inside were two beds. "This should do," Brooklyn said as she lay down. Asteria barely made it to the bed before sleep washed over her. She dreamed of her life before she even knew this hectic world existed.

The sun streamed through the green foliage above her. She slowly opened her eyes to see a 17-year-old freckled boy with hair redder than a pitcher plant. He had a constant smirk that only disappeared when being yelled at. "Wake up, idiot." "What?!?" Asteria asked sleepily. "Get up! Mom is gathering the whole family. I think she's gone mad." He repeated. "What?!?" She said again. "By the rain spirits, is that all you can say?" He started to climb down the tree. "Shut up, Elric," Asteria whispered to his back. "I CAN HEAR YOU, ASH!" Ash was the mean nickname that her family called her. It started because of the fiery temper she had when she was young. It still flared up all the time, and Elric constantly mocked her, knowing he'd get a response. 

By the time Asteria fully woke and scrambled down the tree, there were 6 red-heads of varying age and height. Her dad, was short and stout with a balding head and kind eyes, Her mom, tall with frizzy red hair, had a worried frown and eyes darting back and forth, the oldest sibling, Elric was discreetly imitating his mother talk, making Reela laugh. Reela the 12-year-old, was constantly giggling never taking anything seriously. Finally, the sassy grandma (called Gillie) who always had the last say. The only family member missing was Great Uncle Oak, who the family let sleep in since he was at least 125. 

"We must work together from morning till night to harvest the food for the winter." No, no, no, no, no, no, no! Asteria thought. Harvest was the season where they needed to collect food for the winter. It didn't exactly get cold, but the berries wilted and the animals migrated, so getting food was hard. Every year the harvest was excruciating and it took weeks! "I see you've finally decided to join us." Her mother said in a haughty voice. She was always the blame child. Though to be fair she usually deserved the blame. She was the one who wrecked her mother's garden to dye her hair, she was the one who slept in, who was causing trouble constantly. Her mother frowned. "I was just giving out assignments, because of your lateness, you will take the pitcher plant-cutting."

Ugh! Asteria thought along with many rude names for her mom that she would never utter out loud. Pitcher plant cutting was the worst job during Harvest. It involves cutting the pitcher plants under the trees where the gatherers were collecting food. They needed to cut the carnivorous plants so that if any of the gatherers were to fall they wouldn't be eaten alive. It was tedious, and sometimes you can accidentally fall into the pitcher plant. The plants had thick outsides, and just cutting down one can take hours.

Asteria stormed off through the forest, anger apparent on her frustrated face. Her mom must have been truly furious to give her pitcher-plant cutting. Everyone knew she was the best at hunting. Asteria was nimble, tall, and slim like her mom. She was excellent at climbing trees and chasing down the fastest of prey. Her mother would risk a good harvest just to be petty at her. Anger surged through Asteria's veins. "Asteria? Asteria?" Someone called. Ugh probably her mother. "Shut up!"

Asteria suddenly woke, the warmth of the rainforest gone, replaced by the cold boxiness of the office. Mom. She thought sadly. She couldn't imagine when her biggest problems were bad harvest assignments. Why was I mad at Mom? I'd give anything to see her stern frown. Brooklyn started collecting their items, some berries, a block that Brooklyn called an 'I phone', and the stringy pieces of purple hair, no longer connected to Asteria's head. She felt a pang of grief as she shut the hair into a desk drawer. "You ready? We can make it up to my Aunt's house. She is involved with all sorts of equal rights groups. She can help us find other like-well-like you." "Okay," Asteria responded monotone. Seeing her home in her dream, just made her want it more. Each second in this 'modern' world was a second away from home. Asteria followed Brooklyn out of the room, shutting the door behind her.