The Further We Go

Chapter 1- The Begining

     My pale legs crossed over one another as I sat in the tall green grass. The grass was still wet from the morning dew. I plucked a daisy from the wet grass and rested it in my long fingers, over my pink dress. Slowly I picked off a pedal one by one. I looked around making sure no guards would catch me near the wall. There are no trees or green plants to hide me, so I have to be aware of my surroundings. Just past green field are sets of trees forming a forest. That is where I will go if I need to make an escape.

My head stretched up to the sky, just glazing over the thick metal wall above me.
     It is a boring wall with no colour and no detail. It is usually guarded to keep everyone from leaving, but every year people have tried to climb it. The grey cage is cursed, no one makes it all the way up and survive, even if they had the right equipment they can't make it alive. One year a man tried to escape but a lightning storm struck him dead. Once he died the storm went away. Even though I want to leave this city, I'm not stupid enough to try.

     Since we can't escape the wall, we have other sources. Once a year every year a trail appears in the forest. The tale is that there are 3 doors: the first is the door of death, the second is the door of freedom and the third is your old life back. Every June 27th the leaders choose ten sixteen year olds, who are chosen because they have a so called secret power. The pure souls travel through the forest and supposedly die on July 27. The leaders train them for a month and throw them on the trail. None have come back alive. Search party's come the day after looking for who remained and who has perreshed . We assume that the unfound body's made it to freedom, but I know that they are all dead.

     A hand rapped around my right shoulder and I whipped around expecting a guard. I saw a man standing in front of me. He wore his leather jacket over his uniform. His raven black hair swayed in the calm wind. He faced his white grin at me, still wresting his hand on my shoulder.
"Jake," I screamed. He smiled at me and laughed. I pulled a hand full of grass out of the wet dirt and shot the pile at him. He duck in terror, still laughing and smiling. I also smiled and he sat down beside me, staring at the wall.
      "You almost gave a heart attack!"I shouted.
      "Please Freya, the only thing that would make you wet your pants is ghost right in front of your eyes." He replied.
     "The purity test is tomorrow. You ready?" He asked me.
Water filled my eyes as I thought of my brother, his test and when he was ripped away from us, never to be seen again. Thrown into the forest in hopes of finding a way out. And my father stupendously trying to save him when he went in the forest.
     "I feel sorry for those suck ups with a  so called pure ability," I laughed.
I leaned up against his thick shoulder.
      "I finally turned 18, they are recruiting me to train the pure souls," he looked down.
     "I'm 16 now, they are testing me tomorrow."
     "If I know you, you are far from a pure soul," he laughed.

      I grinned at him. My brown hair blown in my face by the light breeze and the sun began to fall. A beautiful light was blocked from the wall. It blocked the beauty of a sunset.

       "Night is coming,"he said with no expression
         "I don't want to leave." I quickly replied.
        "We will get caught by the night guards."
        "I don't care."
        We sat there for hours, just staring at the stupid cage. The suns last light fell and the moons took its place. When the night sky was as dark as a ravens feathers we began to leave.

       As we walked through the city, I watched sky. The stars seemed to dance around. At night you can see all the stars because no one in our city turns on their lights. It is always pitch black in the city. All the buildings here are destroyed. No one owns stores are works. The only place we have is our houses, but on the south side of town is where magic happens. That's where he leads our pile of rubbish. I've heard that lights dance all day over there. The building are clean and built properly. The only problem is no one can go there. It's guarded 24/7 by guards and another Great Wall separates us from them. Only the pure souls get to go see the prosperity land. They are trained there. Our Founder provides us with everything we need to survive but the rest we have to find ourselves.
                           ***

     We stood outside of a small grey house. It was shaped like a box and was made of stone. Rotten grass surrounded the house, resisting any beauty. 

     We walked to the door of my house and faced each other. He hovered over my small body, looking down on me. I hugged him a goodbye and he quickly scattered away into the night.

     I opened the front door leading me to the kitchen and I realized everyone was already asleep. I tipped toed past the short hallway and into my shared room. Slowly, I opened the wooden creaky door.
     In the room we're two beds laying beside each other. One of the beds had my little sister Melody sleeping in it and the other was empty. Her blankets seeped off of her tiny body and I could see her shivering in the cold nights weather. I picked up the knitted quilt and tucked it over her pale arms. Her red curly hair covered her freckled face, as she snored in her sleep. Her face was sweet and soft. A young girls face but covered inch by inch with freckles. We shared the same eyes, a bright husky blue and both of our lips are thin.
     I walked over to my bed and quickly wrested my head.
     "Freya," a voice said in the dark.                   "You won't leave us will you?" She whispered.
     "I would never,"I replied