Queen

Chapter 2: The Shed

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Veronica

Chapter 2: The Shed

I hear a door slam and Logan quickly looks away from me, moving to begin his daily activities as father walks in the door.

"Liberty...You're up early!" Dad looks at me. Why does everyone seem to be surprised that I can wake up early?

"Ugghh. Don't worry. I'm getting ready to go to classes anyway."

"This early? School doesn't start for another 2 hours." Dad looks at me questioningly. I know that school doesn't start for a while, but I want to go to my special place. I need to keep reading. It's like an unseeable force, pulling me toward the words, scrawled on a page. But I can't tell anyone that.

"Classes, got to stay top of the class!" I say. I feel bad lying to my dad but, it's for the best.

As I prepare leave the house, I realise that the rain has stopped, but with that said, the temperature is the same. It's still rather chilly. I pull on a pair of worn fabric pants, a plain shirt and a cargo jacket, my usual attire. Clothes are hard to come by so we make do with what we can find. I still have some items from my collection in the empire, but not many still fit me. As I leave the house and walk toward school, I think about everything. Our society, the rules we live by, what we have become, segregated, judged on wealth, part of a corrupted society.

As I get closer to the Learning Compound I look at the clouds and think; what have they seen in their lifetime. I think of the history they would have watched, play out right in front of them. They probably look down on us, ashamed of what humanity has become.

I push the rusty gate open to enter the Learning Compound, when I see a hunched figure sitting on the pavement, not far away from where I am. The creak of the gate gets his attention and he turns around, like a deer caught in the headlights, packs up his things and rushes away. I stand there confused. He has the persona of someone living in the Southden Region but the appearance of someone living in the empire. I keep walking at a fast pace around behind the school to my special place, if that boy was at school, who else might be here?

I feel like I've seen that boy before, and for the whole walk over to the shed, I can't get him out of my head. When I get where I need to be, I shake my head. Am I serious? He is just some random boy who doesn't matter. It doesn't matter If I've seen him before! I see heaps of boys all the time! As much as I try and tell myself this, something about him feels different. I vow to put all thoughts related to him out my mind, he cannot, will not, contaminate my special place. I pull open the door to the shed and close and lock it behind me as I step inside.

As I flop back onto the hay, I let happiness flood me. It has been a long time since I've felt happiness reside with me. I can't shake the feeling about the boy I saw earlier, something seems off. As I go to adjust my position, I feel something small, hard and cold press against my arm. I brush it off, but it won't budge. I sit up and quickly push apart the hay surrounding the area, feeling as if I'm about to be caught doing something wrong. I step back in surprise. A small door is cut into the wood floor of the shed.

I gently push on the makeshift trapdoor to see if its hollow and take a leap of faith, grab the small doorknob and pull as hard as I can. I hear a groan as I pull the door from its foundation. Dust erupts everywhere and I can't contain my coughs as I struggle to clear my airway. I look down into the small deep cut-out in the floor of the shed. Black. Pitch. Black. I rummage around in my backpack until I find a small flashlight and shine it in the direction of the gaping hole in the middle of the shed floor. I grab my things and begin to descend into what seems to be from inspection, the pit of death.