Forbidden Enchantment Series: The Virus

Secrets And The Beach Segment

                   I was jerked awake by a gentle vibration against my skin, a light rapping noise coming from the wooden frame I was leaning against followed by Willow's voice. I wiped my face, which was sticky from the tears trails. I stood up and felt a sharp pain behind my eye. I winced and stumbled, catching myself on the door handle. I placed four fingertips on my upper lid trying to get rid of the pain. I faced the entrance, fixed my hair and opened the door.

"Ember" Willow asked. "My...you look terrible, what happened?" She inquired walking through the door. I felt like crying again, but the tears wouldn't come. Instead I gestured for Willow to seat herself on the leather couch with the hand(my hand, maybe?). She watched my face and slowly moved over to my suggested seat. I shut the door and followed her. I sat down next to her and put my head in her lap. "Ember...what is it? What's wrong? They told me you left your decision assistant before he even began his tour." She persisted.

"Willow, it hurts, I miss my family, my old biosphere, my brother-" I blurted before I was interrupted by a sob. Willow lifted my body and lay down behind me, gripping me in a full embrace.

"I know... I know" she whispered cradling my weary body.

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Willow told me I had slept the remaining hours of yesterday and through the night. It was eight forty-five and Willow had already left me to get ready. I was supposed to meet Andrew in the same place again today at nine fifteen, giving me only 30 minutes to get ready and get over there. I wondered what he would say. Would we start over and tour segment one again? If we did, in fact start over, I knew I could keep my emotions contained. I kept the same jeans on but traded my black shirt for a grey one. I walked into my bathroom and turned towards my image-reflector. I looked at my ratted hair and then into my red eyes. I stood, for a time, in pity of my reflection before reaching for my brush. Fifteen minutes later I looked again at my image. This time my hair was in soft curls and pulled up into a loose ponytail. The redness from my eyes had faded with a few eye drops and the bags under my eyes also disappeared with a bag cream and concealer. I looked nicer than yesterday. I was satisfied so I turned to head out. It only took five minutes to get over there so I headed over to Willow's.

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Footsteps sounded within. The door handle creaked then jolted clockwise. Willow looked surprised and relaxed.

"Come in" She said quickly opening the door wider and extending her left arm in towards the house to gesture my welcome. I smiled, understanding her worry about my previous state of grief and hoping to relieve it. "Are you feeling better" she asked as she closed the door.

"Much better, thank you"

"Oh good! Have you come to hear my secret?" She asked walking towards the back of the house. In all the chaos I had completely forgotten about her secret. I eyed the scab across her cheek. I remembered the sight of it fresh with blood and the tear in her cardigan.

"I actually just came to kill some time. Honestly I had completely forgotten about that." I said honestly. I followed her to her bathroom where she continued her makeup routine. I stood in the doorframe and watched her reflection in the mirror.

"Well do you want to hear it? I've been dying to tell you." She said in earnest.

"Of course." I said laughing softly and shaking my head. Trying to create the "obviously" look.

"So on Saturday, two days before the beginning of the growing up course, we met with our parents to say goodbye right?" The question was obvious.

"Yes" I nodded.

"I took a walk after the train dropped me off because I felt a little emotional and needed some time alone." I nodded.

"Wait, how were you there when I got dropped off then? If you went for a walk? Didn't we take the same train home?" I asked.

"I took an earlier train." She answered abruptly.

"Why?" I asked. "Didn't you want to spend the day with your parents?"

"I prefer my goodbyes to be short and sweet... Besides my mom began to cry and I was having a hard time keeping my emotions in. I want my parents to think of me as strong..." She said smiling sadly. I smiled warmly and nodded understandingly. "So anyway" she continued. "I took a walk around the biosphere and.." She trailed off. She turned to face me a look of seriousness suddenly in her eye. "Ember... I saw your brother." She stated. I felt a sharp pain in my stomach.

"What" I asked, trying to give myself an excuse to think. She nodded, her eyes getting big. My thoughts raced. "My brother? Here? How?" He would now be eighteen, transferred two years ago. I never knew which biosphere he was moved to. The information was classified. I felt overwhelmed and confused my body began to shake and I felt lightheaded. I wondered how we could both be transferred to the same biosphere even with a two year gap. Was I allowed to see him and interact with him? I understood now why Willow couldn't tell me out in the open like that. First of all if I had reacted like this it would drawn much attention. Also, we weren't supposed to communicate with our family after we transferred as far as we were concerned. I had never heard of any two family members, much less siblings, being transferred to the same biosphere. Has it ever happened before? But surely the government knew we were siblings and we were both relocated here. My head throbbed. I suddenly realized I had to see him.

"Where?" I persisted.

"Segment 6, the lake/orchard section" She said. I had to see him. But I didn't want to look suspicious.

"How did you get your cut" I asked trying to get her to move on so the pressure and excitement wasn't so overbearing.

"Oh well I was climbing a tree. I had been up there for some time and was going to slide down" She said laughing a bit. "Well in the process of getting down my cardigan got caught on a branch. Then when I went to free myself my foot slipped so I fell the last 3 feet to the ground and I think a branch scratched my face as I fell. I'm pretty badly bruised too. But if I wouldn't have fallen I would never have seen your brother. He came running over when I fell. I don't think he recognized me though. He helped me clean up and brush my hair. He cleaned the scratch on my face. I know it was him. I know it was Jason." I nodded. However, a sudden feeling of doubt began to build inside me. She didn't know for sure if it was him. He didn't even recognize it was her. Willow spent most of her childhood with Ember and Jason was almost always found with the two so it would be most likely he would recognize Willow. But it could also be possible that he was trying to hide the fact that he recognized her to keep them both out of jeopardy.

"We better get going otherwise we are gonna be late" I stated. Feeling I convinced Willow I believed her and that I wasn't going to take action about it. She turned off the lights in the bathroom, grabbed a black jacket off her bed and followed me out the door. We walked in silence and navigated to the building.

The rest of the day I tried to focus on the tour of the beach segment, but my mind wandered to thoughts of my brother. Andrew still seemed worried about yesterday and tried to comfort me. He showed me with enthusiasm the great views and explained the many fishing processes and harvest gatherings. I was grateful to him for trying so hard. The sights and view were like I never saw before. The ocean seemed to go on forever into the distance. Much like the view from the edge of the glass. But it didn't seem to captivate me in the same way. My preoccupied mind drifted sleepily through the day and when I returned back to the cubicle I found myself planning to see my brother. The day we tour the lake segment. I would keep it a secret, but i'd see him. I was sure of it.