Inception

Chapter 8

We reached the next city as the sun rose, the sky a rosy pink. The envelope’s contents contained money, fake IDs, and transfer papers. The keys were to Karissa’s house. We drove through the streets of the city, searching for the house. When we found it, it was a deep blue, surrounded with colorful flowers on each side. A woman sat in a chair on the porch, reading a book.

Elian helped me from the car, his arm wrapped with an ace bandage. We walk up the porch steps and walk in front of the woman. She looks at us through the top of her dark sunglasses and places her book gently on the table adjacent to the chair. Her hair was a fiery red, her eyes a deep green.

“Well you must be little Pierce,” she says with a smile. I nod as she examines me and then looks over to Elian. “And who may this be?” she says, holding her sunglasses over the bridge of her nose.

Elian takes my hand. “I’m little Pierce’s significant other,” he gloats, his mouth curling into a wide smile. She scoffs, putting her sunglasses back on with disappointment. I kiss him, liking that she feels jealous.

“Are you Karissa?” I ask when she goes back to reading. Without looking up at me she says, “In the flesh, hun.” She waves us off into the house “Get yourselves settled in now.”

Elian helps me into the house when he mumbles, “She seems quite pleasant.” I giggle before closing the door behind us. The house was nice; not too big, not too small. The walls were painted a greenish-beige (that’s how it’s spelled Elian) and the couches were accented with black throw pillows. It seemed big for just one person.

I walked up the stairs looking into certain rooms. I stumble into what appears to be Karissa’s room. I know I shouldn’t be in here but decide to go in anyway (what a badman ey). I look at the pictures set atop the makeup table. I see a picture in the crook of the mirror of Karissa and what looks like my brother, both in uniform. They both served in the Purity War, the war that nearly wiped us all out.

“What do you think you’re doing in here?” someone snaps and I whirl around to find Karissa. My cheeks start to burn and my palms feel clammy. “I-I’m sorry Karissa.”

She holds her hand up. “It’s fine,” she says, stepping into the room. She stands next to the mirror and points at the picture. “Big brother huh?” she laughs. “Yup,” I respond, feeling the awkward in the air. I wanted to get out and get ready for the ceremony,

“He’s a good guy, Kyra,” she says with a passion, as if she had some deep feelings for Jer. “He is like, my only friend.” She laughs when she says this, a shaky and uneasy laugh. Karissa steps through the room, throwing herself onto the bed, her hands supporting her head.

“You better get ready,” Karissa says, her eyes half closed. I look down at myself, my entire body looking as if I had been beaten severely. “I don’t have any other clothes,” I correct, hoping to clean myself up to look at least decent for the ceremony. Karissa waves me off, disregarding my comment.

I step into the bathroom and shut the door quietly. My limbs are nothing but numb, every part of my body sluggish. I step over the side of the tub, sitting on the ledge. I run the hot water, the steam hitting my face in a hot cloud. I scratch the dry blood off my legs, my nails seeming to dig deeper into my skin. The crimson crust lay stuck beneath my nail bed, turning it into a dulled brown.

By the time I had gotten the majority of the blood off, my skin was sullied with dirt. I scrubbed hastily at the dirt with soap, feeling my skin burn. It hurt, but at this point, hurt was nothing to me.

I stepped out of the bathroom, trying to fix my hair in a way that made it seem clean. Karissa pulled me into her room and sat me down in the stool next to her makeup table. “What are you-“ I start but she interrupts me. “I’m making you look good,” she says, pulling open drawers with palettes of color inside them.