Rhiannon

Part 6: Cynthia

I awoke to my grandmother sitting beside my bed in a chair.

"Good morning." I said and she smiled. "Why are you in here? What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing's wrong, baby. Everything's fine. Don't worry." She said.

"What time is it?" I asked her. I didn't want to miss my plane back home.

"It's only nine. You're flight doesn't leave until four." my grandmother reassured me. I sighed in relief, even though it wasn't like I was particularly excited to leave. My grandmother looked extremely bothered for some reason, then I heard some noise coming from the kitchen.

"Who else is here?" I asked her. My grandmother grimaced. She sighed.

"A woman from the government has come to speak with you." she said. I sat up immediately.

"What? Right now? Why didn't you tell her to go away?" I demanded. My grandmother sighed.

"Relax. She just wants to meet you. She's not here to draft you just yet. The rocket doesn't leave until September." my grandmother explained.

"She's hear to talk to me? About what? I didn't do anything!" I cried and my grandmother put her hand on my shoulder to try and calm me.

"Everything will be ok. Just go out there and see what she wants." she said trying to hide the tears in her eyes. "From the questions she asked me, it only appears that she wants to know about your background, your interests, family etc. There's nothing to be nervous about." I looked at my cursed mark, hating everything that it represented. My grandmother took me in her arms. "Your mark is something to be proud of, honey. It's a part of who you are, but it doesn't define you. Someday you'll make a great soldier." she said. I suppressed more tears. These were my final moments with my grandmother.

"Wait, but I saw an agent at my school the other day! If he saw me and knew I was marked then why didn't he just draft me then?" I asked her.

"The person that is here right now explained that the agent you saw the other day was just gathering numbers and seeing how many new students would be on the next rocket. That's all. And she's not an agent... She's the General!" she said. My heart froze for a moment. The General was here? To see me? Why? The head of Providence, and the ruler of the New World Order was standing in my kitchen and wanted to personally meet me. I couldn't believe that I had gotten all worked-up the other day for a mere agent talking to my homeroom teacher. The day I had just woke to was surely going to be much worse. I wondered if I had 'accidentally' missed the rocket if I would still have to go. Skipping out on the government didn't seem like a wise idea. It was unlikely that they would allow me to live. "Now then. Get dressed and come meet her. She's very friendly." my grandmother said. After I got dressed I reluctantly made my way out into the living room. Shockingly, the General was not as scary-looking as she had seemed to be on tv. In fact, she wasn't scary at all. She was gorgeous! Like celebrity gorgeous! She had short blond hair and slate grey eyes. Her suit sleeves were short to reveal a mark like mine only it was a silver triangle instead of a red flame. On her suit, she wore a golden pyramid-like pin with an eye on it, the symbol of the New World Order. I had only seen her a few times on tv, and all of those times she had been giving some kind of speech and looking as serious as ever, but I didn't watch the news very often anymore. In person this General was so much more beautiful. Surrounding her were several muscular men, that were probably some kind of secret service body guards. They all wore sunglasses and suits and remained silent and still the whole time.

"Good morning, Rhiannon Stark. My name is Cynthia. I am the head of Providence, and also the General of the New World Order, and I've come to meet you and brief you on your future home." she said introducing herself as if I wouldn't already know who she was. Her voice was pretty like music. I shook her hand to be polite, but I didn't say anything to her yet. Instead I turned to my grandmother.