This is So Wrong (G/t)

4

"Oh Jesus, he really went there. Maybe he isn't stupid. But, still... sh-should I?" 

Ayana combated with her inner self, fighting whether to rebel and not possibly cause a conflict of some kind, or break the shell and open the wound to actually... get close to a change in this mess of a system, this hell she calls her life. Obviously, one was more convincing than the other. "*sigh* Please spare me for whatever I might say." Once she cleared her throat, she let it flow, and Evan listened intently and intensely to every word. 

"If you haven't realized, this past year has been hell for me. When my family and I were poisoned and miniaturized, your mother and father brought us here and left us be for a while, since we were the first. But, when others started flooding in, that's when it really started: the scheduling, the 'naming', the... disciplining. *shudder* Everyone was in shock, at first, being thrown right into this with no food, no shelter, and no sense of humanity anymore, so everyone complied. But, when they began realizing how wrong this was, they started fighting back, even though it was clearly a lost cause. One of those brave people was my brother. He actually grew a pretty large - numerically - following in our tiny community, and your parents were humored by it. Yet, they didn't want to deal with him." 

Ayana stopped right there. Her explanation wasn't near done, but the memories of what happened after tore her apart.

"What happened to your brother?" Evan questioned innocently, not knowing the pain she was feeling. "What did my parents do?"

"Nothing. They did nothing, but they allowed your big sis to get him. For three months, my brother just vanished, and your sister always had this damned, big, cheeky grin on her face. I never looked her in the eye, knowing how she violated my brother. Do you understand what kind how difficult it is to explain to young children why 'the giant lady keeps screaming at night' or 'why Dre went missing'? It killed me. 

"And then one day- no, one night, around sunset, I was picking flowers - those massive flowers I'm allergic to that Madam Anne wanted for some damned bouquet - and I'm approached by him, him tattered and scratched and broken inside and out. I tried to bring him into our hut - yes, a hut since dollhouses were still too good for us - but he wouldn't come. He broke my grasp, looked at me, didn't say a word, and ran. He freaking ran away, Evan! I haven't seen him since."

Evan's jaw was on the grassy hill's surface. He couldn't believe the picture she was painting, the story she was telling. 

"No wonder she was quiet. Her brother got punished for speaking out." But, he tried to see a positive in that, hoping to keep the girl from breaking to tears, like it seemed she was about to do. "Well, l-look on the bright s-side. At least he's fr-free now."

"Free? Are you kidding me? When I saw him, he was near dying. He ran that way..." She pointed to the one side of the farmland that seemed to go on forever. "...he ran, or at least tried to run, through that. That's practically running a marathon for our tiny bodies, and that's probably an understatement. I'd be surprised if he survived that and didn't get caught by some animal or starvation or murder by pesticide spraying. But, if he did, do you know what he'd have to face next?" 

Evan shook his head. Huh, the boy didn't know his local geography, apparently. 

"He'd either have to find a way to live in the woods - the freaking forest - without being killed or find some way to get through the interstate. The at-least-twelve-lane interstate with people driving at NASCAR speeds at nearly all hours of the day. He had no chance, either way. He's... he's gone." 

Ayana had so much restraint, holding back her tears and screams because she knew those Fowlers would adore hearing and seeing them - yes, she's that loud.