Dawn's Creed

Chapter 1

Mirrors. I remember, when I was small, I went to the Big House with my father. This is also known as the mayor's house and is the only building in our little haven with a mirror. It was usually covered a red silk sheet, and guarded under lock and key, but that day was the branding day. The thirteen-year-old girls in our village would still be feeling the burning brand on their necks, the smell of charred skin fresh in their noses. And the seventeen-year-old girls would be excited, excited to finally see the name branded into their neck that has mystified them for three years. Their husbands. As the seventeen-year-olds shuffled in, whispering quietly, I watched from a cracked door as they uncovered the mirror. I saw myself, peering through the crack,  as a girl with hazel doe eyes and wavy brown hair. Thick cheeks consumed a small nose. But I was okay with that. I was transfixed with the shimmering surface, reflecting glass in a smooth sheet, reflecting the lightbulbs on the ceiling. I stared until one of the guards saw my reflection. Coming over quietly, the guard opened the door and glared at my father, who had just turned around.

"If I were you, I would keep a stronger watch on the girl." he shoves me roughly forward to my father.

"What was she doing?"

"Peering into the mirror."

I watched their exchange with wide eyes.

"This act cannot go unpunished. She will receive five strikes at noon. If she is absent, her punishment will increase. Now, I suggest you vacate the building immediately before the girl causes any more trouble."

"Yessir." my father nods and leads me by the back of the neck out onto the street. We walked at a brisk pace, my young legs stumbling over each other to keep up. As we arrived at our house, my father threw me to the ground and started yelling.

"Look what you've done! You've disgraced me in front of the mayor, and now I have to take into the center of town to disgrace me further! If I was in my right mind, I would've just beat you then and there! If I was ever in my right mind, I should've just tossed you into the river the day you were born! If you weren't born, my wife wouldn't be dead! You stupid child!" He screams, walking to the corner and grabbing his worn switch that leans against the wall. The rhythmic whistle and thwack and the pounding, sharp pain in my back settled into a beat. I curled up on the carpet, gritting my teeth, and tears leaking from the corners of my eyes. After a while, the assaults dwindled, and my father soon walked off, flask in hand, to go fall into a drunk stupor. I lay there, immobile, on the floor, when I finally start sobbing. Later that day, I had to deliver myself to my punishment, the whips bursting open my already raw back. I still remember the feeling of my blood, staining my shirt, sticky and warm. I still have scars.

Now, as my seventeenth birthday approaches, I remember the pain the mirror caused me, and I am unsure if I want to peer into its depths again. Sadly, I have no choice. Tomorrow, I will find the name that determines my future.  Laying in bed, I stare up at the ceiling, and lay in a relaxed state, my mind wandering blissfully from one carefree thing to the next, at least until the sound of a small pebble pinging against my window shocks me out of my stupor. Wrapping, my blanket around me, I heave myself out of bed and look down into the front yard my best friend since birth, Brian Johnson, stands waving. Opening my window, I look down at him expectantly.

"Well if it isn't the great Dawn Erony Staerr! Hoorah!" He calls, whistling and clapping. I grin, and take an extravagant bow, my hair falling in front of my face. As I come back up, I blow the strands out of eyes and look back down at Brian.
"What do you want? It's early. You are going to wake up the entire neighborhood!" I call. He laughs.
"Dawn, the neighborhood is already awake! The messenger has come in! Now hurry it up!" He runs off toward the center of the town. Closing my window, I turn to get dressed. The messenger comes once every few weeks, bringing news from the outside world. Usually news of the war raging outside of our little haven.  Throwing on an old flannel, ripped jeans, and brown boots that were slightly small for me, I open the door to my room. I dart past my father's room, dancing a pattern on the creaky wooden floors that only I know, feet landing on certain quiet spots that I memorized when I was seven to silently sneak out for a break from my father's constant fury. As I reach the front door, I compose myself, running a hand through my tangled hair and rolling my shoulders back. When I'm ready, I open the door and blink in the sudden brightness of the morning sun. I make my way toward the center of town, down the dirt road, along with a few other stragglers. As I get closer, I hear the murmurs of excitement. Despite this, the feeling of dread hangs over the crowd like a fog. We know what's coming. I find my place beside Brian, and he smiles at me.
"Quiet please! I ask for your full attention!" A voice calls from the wooden podium in the middle, a small circular stage with a hole in the middle, for which a large fountain sticks up through. It has been dry for as long as I can remember.
"I come bearing the news of the disputes of the tribes! The largest fight is growing closer to our Eastern edge and is growing in violence as well. We estimate roughly seventeen-hundred fatalities so far. It is strongly advised that you avoid the roads leading through the East Fields, and take the Western detour. To our North the tribes are fighting-" I zone out the voice of the messenger, instead,  fixing my eyes to the East, toward the rising sun and the war. Brian follows my gaze, then looks at me.
"Dawn."
"Yes?"
"Don't think about it. It's consuming you," He tells me firmly. I sigh.
"I know. I just can't shake the feeling that something needs to be done about this. I don't know what, but something. Anything." He furrows his brow.
"Me too. But there's nothing we can do." He turns back toward the East.
"But something is coming. Something we need to be wary of." He smiles at me. "But it's nothing you and I can't handle, right? Listen. I have to get to work, and so do you. Have a little fun for me, okay Dawn?" He pats me once on the back and walks off. I watch him, then fix my eyes back on the sunrise. In that moment, I felt it too. Something was coming. Something unexpected. Something the war is blinding us from seeing. And it was going to change our lives, whether we like it or not.