Inception

Chapter 9

Blythe had taken all of the participants to a back room where we were placed into separate rooms. I paced the room, my heels tapping against the wooden floor. I examined the bookshelves, reading various titles like The History of the Uprising, The Trials from Beginning to Now, Winning a War. They were absolutely terrible books, I read them for history at school. The door bursts open and Elian runs in. His hands find my face and he fits his mouth to mine.

I realize this may be the last time I see him until I come back; if I come back.  My fingers run through his hair when I pull away, looking into his eyes, his face wet with tears. “Hey,” I say, holding my palm on his cheek, wiping the tears away with a kiss, kissing the tears that ran down his cheek. “I’ll be okay. We’ll be okay,” I whisper, his nod so small, so hopeless. “I love you Kyra,” he says, planting a kiss on my head. “I truly do love you.”

I sigh, wishing that this wasn’t the moment to say goodbye. “And I love you too.” The door is opened again, men in white armor running in to take Elian away. They grab him by the arms forcefully, dragging him out. “Please wait!” I call, chasing after them. But they don’t listen to me. “I love you! I’ll see you when I get back!” I say this, my final words for the boy I love.

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I met up with the other participants, many who didn’t dare cry because they knew it was risky. Blythe arrived, walking at a steady pace, followed by a man in white and a woman who looked not much older than me. “We’ll get going now,” Blythe says, looking normal again, her emotions hidden under a façade.

We follow Blythe out into the cleared square where there are nine cars waiting to take us away. My eyes follow Mason as he steps into the car, closing the door, the tinted windows shielding him from me. The guard nudges my back and forces me into the car. I know I can’t defy anything anymore. I was risking way to much just going to the Trials with a fake identity. But there was no way out, absolutely no way, even for a fake ID.

As I sat in the car, my hands trembled, my nails numbing down to nearly nothing from frantic chewing. The driver was silent, concentrating on the road and the hum of the car. I stared out the window, knowing that I’m leaving so many people I love behind.

It was weird how I saw it as leaving them; in a way, it was. I was abandoning Elian and my brother to go to something that I had nearly no chance of surviving. But in another perspective, they were being taken away. Now that I was gone, their lives were endangered and I had no way to protect them from whatever psychopath was out there.

The sunny sky, turned grey with dark clouds, like my hope that had worn away to a pulp (does that make sense?). I wanted to jump out of that car and run to Elian, just stay with him and run away where we can just be together and not have to deal with anything. I didn’t want Elian, no; I needed him. Now more than ever.

The thought of him brought tears to my eyes that I wisely squeezed away. Elian wouldn’t want me to cry. He would want me to be strong and to stay true to who I am. Elian was strong, not just physically but emotionally and mentally (you. Are. Welcome.). I wanted to make him proud.

Through the tinted window, I saw the ocean, glistening in the morning sun. I lean forward off the seat and whisper to the driver when he puts the car in park. “Where are we?” I ask, scanning the landscape, seeing vast blues and greens, my favorite color.

Without looking at me, the driver replies with a deep voice, “Penn Station, New York.” I look back at the train station with a grimace, for pity of the government who couldn’t give us good transportation.

I open my own door and step out, shielding my eyes from the sunlight. I nearly roll my ankle when I step onto the sidewalk, my high heel nearly decapitating me. I stumble over to the train station, following the other participants through the fogged doors. The doors weren’t fogged, they were slashed with dirt but it was ladylike to say fogged. And I even found it appropriate to call all of us participants because we didn’t want to, but we had to.