Wasteland

1 year earlier

It 2:00 in the morning. Warm air travelled through the windows and filled Lydia's lungs. Her apartment was quiet, soft snores came from down the hall indicated that her parents were more or less in a drug induced coma. Lydia felt the bruise on her right cheek from her fathers fist. Her busted lip had stopped bleeding a few hours ago. It had gotten to a point where it almost didn't faze her when he threw the first punch. The tears had long dried up. She stared down at her bruised and bloody knuckles. A small smile formed on her lips. "You fight like a little bitch." her father said, spitting blood out of his mouth. Lydia just laughed, pushing Dane off of her and walking to her bedroom. It had been about 3 hours since that happened. Dane was gone at work and Lydia had locked herself in her room, as usual. Her parents screams had stopped at about 12. The last thing she heard from outside her door was the quiet knocks from her mothers frail hands on her door.

Lydia just sat at her bay window, her fingers, much like her mothers, holding a burning cigarette. Her long black hair whipped around her face.  The cigarette came to an end, just ashes burning. She flicked it out her screen less window and inhaled deeply. The Knoxville February calmed Lydia's rampant nerves. Her eyes drifted to the sky, her sky. There weren't many stars, light pollution and the continuous atmosphere of dust hid most of them. But the few she saw she loved. She knew the name of each, which belonged to what constellation.

"Lydia." She heard a comforting voice call from outside her window. Lydia popped her head out and saw her beautiful best friend standing in the alleyway, her pink headscarf whipping around in the wind. Reece waved her hand, indicating for her to come down. Lydia sighed and backed out of her window. She made a b-Line for her bed and pulled her small Backpack off. She took a deep breath and slowly opened the old door to her room. She stepped out, hearing the sores of her father. She quietly walked towards the door when she heard a sweet, frail voice come from behind her. "Lydia?" Her mother said. Lydia turned gently and looked at her mom. "Where are you going, love?" Her mothers feet padded towards her. Everytime she saw her mom she thought of how different they looked. Her Eyes were as green as the grass in December and hair as red as fire. Her skin was pale and flawless.  "Mom, what are you doing up?" Lydia said quietly. Lydia looked at her mother. "You need to go back to bed." Lydia said, grabbing her mothers hand. Her mother just shook her head and looked at her daughter. "You're so pretty." Her mom said, pushing Lydia's black hair out of her face. "Mom, go to bed. Dads gonna wake up. Do you want dad to wake up?" Lydia said in a whisper. Her mom pulled away from Lydia and said "please be careful." Then walked back to her room. Lydia sighed in relief and walked out the door.

"Lydia Michelle." Josiah said as Lydia approached, earning a hard glare from the tall girl and an elbow to the ribs from the beautiful Muslim next to him. Reece looked at Lydia and her smile faded. "Dude your face is fucked." Josiah said, earning another hit from his girlfriend. "Another fight with your dad?" Reece said exasperated. "What happened this time?" "He found some tarot cards I left out." Lydia said, adjusting the bag on her back. "I think I broke his nose." She said with a laugh. "But everyone was asleep when you left right?" Reece said, worried. Lydia chewed on her thumb nail.  "No. My mom woke up and found me sneaking out. She looked really out of it." Lydia said, Pulling the nail off. Reece nodded and started walking down the alley. The turned onto magnolia and walked in peaceful quiet for about 3 blocks until Josiah had to open his fucking mouth. "Is that Dane?" He said loudly. "What?" Lydia said, looking over towards where Josiah was facing. Sure enough, A tall blonde head turned towards them. Weirdly, he wasn't alone. "Who's that?" Josiah asked Lydia in a quieter voice. Dane shoved something in his pocket and crossed the street, leaving the other person behind. "Lydia?" Her brother said as he got closer. "Hey." She said, still staring at the guy across the street. "Who is that?" She asked, looking up at her brothers blue and gold eyes. "Boss man needed some stuff." He said shakily. "What are you doing out here? Why aren't you home?" He asked hurriedly. "We're heading out to the quarry. I'll be home later." Dane nodded. "Just be home before 11." He said. He lifted his hand and touched the bruise on her cheek. She pulled away and looked away from him. "I'll see you later." She said and walked off with Reece and Josiah trailing not far behind.

Reece sat there, mixing herbs and mumbling something about cheap warlocks. Lydia lounged on a rock, quietly chewing on a mint leaf. "Please don't eat the ingredients." Reece said, looking up at Lydia. Lydia raised her hands in surrender and Reece went back to work. Josiah watched as she ground the ingredients into the bowl with wonder. Lydia always thought it was gross how much they thought they loved each other. She looked away from the love sick Jewish boy and stared at the stars. Up here there were so many. There were so many you couldn't even count them. Her heart begged to be able to find them, to see them and be near them. "Earth to Lydia." Reece said and snapped her fingers in front of Lydia's face. Lydia looked over at Reece and Josiah. "What?" She snapped. "I need your help." Reece said, holding out her hand. Lydia scooted over to her and sat in front. "What does this do again?" Lydia asked. "Turns your skin blue. I need you to pour this." She handed Lydia a wooden bowl filled with chunky green slop. "Don't look at me like that." She said, not even looking at Lydia. Lydia sighed and poured it into the metal container. A sharp pain started in her neck. "Okay and I need- Lydia?" Reece said, dropping the spoon she held in her left hand. Tension grew from the base of her skull, her vision became blurred. Her heart raced and her lungs became tight. "Reece-" Lydia said before falling to the ground.

People around her screamed. The sound of crashing filled the air, along with debris from the burning building.  People ran from the Trust building in fear. People cried in agony and pain as they ran out of the building. Lydia heard one word in the many screams. 'militia.'

Lydia opened her eyes with a gasp. She quickly rolled onto her side, spitting out the blood and bile from her mouth. "Lydia." She heard Reece say. Lydia gagged and heaved, the last bits of the vision leaving her body. She wiped the blood from under her nose and laid back, trying to catch a breath. Her body was sore and she felt needles pricking everywhere. The tension in her neck soon subsided and the nausea left her. "Lydia what did you see?" Reece asked, helping Lydia into a sitting position. Fear soon replaced every feeling of pain in her body. "Lydia?" Reece asked, voice becoming worried. "What happened?" Josiah finally asked, gently placing his hand on her shoulder. She stared at the desert ground in front of her boots. Lydia looked behind her at the city nestled in the valley. She swallowed hard and spoke. "The hub is gonna collapse."