Rupture

Chapter 7

                                               Angelica's POV

My dreams never stopped.

They just kept getting more and more detailed, always different situations, but in the end I was dragged away by a scientist or government official as my family and friends watched, their mouths turned down, eyes trying to talk to me without words.

Xavier's expression was always different, though. His was a smirk, eyes shining, as if he was amused.

"Come on. You can do it." He would always say, or something similiar. As if the situation didn't concern him, as if he thought I was strong enough, believed in me that I could get away on my own, eventually.

He believed in my independence from the rest of the society.

I always woke up, wide awake, trembling. Even though they happened nightly, I always got the same jolt of disbelief, that I had had another dream.

This morning when I woke up, I rushed downstairs, anxious to get out of the house. To get out of here.

Over the next few weeks, those big, mysterious woods became like home to Xavier and I, a place to get away from the rest of the world, where we got more privacy than in our own homes, with my family and neighbors always watching.

                                                                       ***

Edtih had been eyeing me lately, even more than usual. If possible.

"ANGELICA! COME DOWN HERE!" I heard from the kitchen, and I rolled over in bed, groaning.

I dragged myself out of bed, and padded down the wooden steps, still in my PJ's.

"Rosie's going to a doctor's appointment in a few days, and today I'm going to the grocery. Stay here with the kids, okay?" She asked.

"Okay." I said, but before I could ask her what time she would get back, she was already out the door.

I went back upstairs to change, and after I had and was pulling my socks on Rosie stirred and looked up at me from her bed.

I glanced at Chloe and Tatum, their little mouth open, ten times more peaceful-looking than when they were ever awake. I was surprised Edith's loud calling of my name didn't wake them up.

Yet they were the deepest sleepest I may have ever seen.

Rosie scrambled off the bed and scurried over to me, beckoning for me to follow her out of the room.

I closed the door behind us, and followed her wherever she was going, being as quiet as possible so as not to wake the other girls up.

Soon we were in the basement, where there were only two little windows and far away from earshot of Chloe and Tatum upstairs.

Then she turned to me and put her hands on her hips. "I'm not going to the doctor's." She said calmly, but with some sort of strength behind her voice.

I sighed. "Rosie, you have to. You don't want to get sick, do you?"

"Angel, please!" She begged, her brow furrowed.

I went down on my knees so that I was a little closer to her height. "Rosie, the doctor helps you. What if you got really sick? They help you get better, they help you feel better." I assured her.

She silently shook her head, her eyes huge.

I sighed. "Why don't you want to go, then?" I asked, wondering what her reasoning was.

"I'm not getting a shot." She whispered, trembling.

I almost sighed a second time. Everyone has to get this vaccine about every five years, yet some people can wait ten. A rare few have to get it once every two years. Sometimes even annually. They are no big deal though, they are just a general shot that keeps us healthy. It was given to pregnant mothers in big doses especially, it was required if you were pregnant. They told us that it kept the baby healthy, and prevented most miscarriages.

Rosie, of course, had to get it more often than most of us, about once every two to three years. Yet most young children did too, I guessed when she got older she wouldn't have to get it as often. Her immune system should have built up a lot stronger by then.

"Rosie, it's just a shot. It might pinch a little, but it's better than being sick by far." I explained, tired of trying to convince her.

"You don't know what it does. You don't know." She insisted, her eyes growing wider.

"Yes, I do. I just told you."

"No, that's not it. I know what it really does." She stated.

"And what would that be?"

"It makes everything hazy and fuzzy, it's harder to think." She said urgently, waiting for me to realize she was right.

"No it doesn't. Some people experience it as a temporary side effect, but that isn't what it's for." I said in return.

"Temporary...side effect..." Rosie tasted the unfamiliar words on her tongue, obviously they weren't in her vocabulary.

I grabbed Rosie's little hand and led her up the stairs. I started to make her breakfast and eventually heard the other girls slumping down the stairs, in a groggy daze.

I contemplated what Rosie said as I poured milk and cereal into four bowls. Where was she getting these ideas?