The Shadow Plague

002

The thing about being a fourteen-year-old girl is that I'm not always willing to accept things. For instance, when I was ten years old my father was murdered. Everything happened so fast, one day he was showing me how to play Super Smash Bros, and the next day he was dead. Soon after, I was at his funeral, watching him get buried. For many years after that, I still couldn't believe he was dead. It was as if he was on a business trip or on vacation. I knew he would come back one day.

I waited.

And waited.

But that day never came.

It wasn't until recently that it hit me. My father was never going to come back.

Before, I refused to believe my father was dead. Now, I refuse to believe that I have the Shadow Plague. I'm not crazy. I'm not insane. I'm...normal. As are those other innocent kids.

I glare at a cameraman who's probably broadcasting this on live TV. The same dark-haired woman is handing out syringes to the kids. She hands one to me. I can see a light green fluid inside of it.

"Inject this into your shoulder," she barked.

"What is it?" a teenaged girl demanded.

"A possible cure for your...um...mental illness."

A spark of hope flared in the girl's brown eyes for a moment. One by one, each of the kids stabbed the needle into their very own shoulder.

I didn't move, the syringe still clutched in my hand. I didn't trust the Government or their doctors. In fact, I didn't trust anyone. Could I even trust myself? I could easily make the wrong decision...

 I stared at the "cure" for a moment. In the past, victims of the Shadow Plague would be sent to the insane asylum for "safety," but now they suddenly have a cure? It doesn't make sense. Why doesn't anyone know about this cure?

I noticed that the people who injected the needle into their shoulder were handing their syringes back to the woman, who was collecting them in a trash bag. Being as discrete as possible, I placed my unused syringe into the trash bag.

~~~

When I was little, I used to love field trips. When my teacher would say, "You're going to the museum next week!" or "Our field trip to the aquarium is on Wednesday!" I would squeal in delight and nearly jump out of my seat in excitement. I don't know what it was, but I just loved field trips. I can almost close my eyes and picture the time I went to a Native American museum with my class. Like before, the wind was blowing through the opened windows, and my hair was flying back. Normally, I would be talking to my friend Sophia, but she's not here.

After all, this isn't a second grade field trip. It's a bunch of teenagers with the Shadow Plague being shipped to an asylum.

I leaned back in my uncomfortable seat and closed my eyes.

This is a dream. I'm going to wake up and-

"Ava!" a voice yelled. I felt someone shake me.

"Huh?" I mumbled.

I looked around to see that I was still on the bus. I sighed. I was really hoping that it was a dream...

"We're here Ava!"

I searched for the speaker to see the same annoying woman from the Testing.

I groaned and stood up, stretching my arms.

I stepped off the bus, expecting to see daylight, but to my surprise, a full moon was shining brightly in the dark sky. I looked at my watch in confusion. It was blinking rapidly and read ERROR, in all caps.

It seemed as if we were in some sort of village. I could feel the dirt beneath my feet.  A dirt road extending as far as I could see. Lined up on the left side of the path was at least three cabins, as well as three more on the right side. All the way on the end was a seventh cabin. It was larger and looked more intimidating.

The center of this strange village is what confuses me the most. There, in the middle of the village is a large tree containing hundreds if not thousands of... apples?

"Where-"

"Welcome to the asylum, children," the woman interrupted, smirking. "Where everything is artificial."

I suddenly felt a knot in the pit of my stomach when the news was announced. I should've known this was the asylum. In my defense, I guess I was expecting something different. Something scarier. Not a village with a bunch of apples.

"Oh my!" the dark-haired woman gasped.

Everyone looked around to see what had caused such a reaction.

The woman chuckled. "I didn't mean to frighten you, dear children."

I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah right," someone muttered from behind me.

If the woman heard, she showed no sign of irritation.

"I just remembered that it should be morning right now, not nighttime!"

She laughed again, pulling out what looked like a TV remote.

"Silly me!"

She pushed a button on the remote, and to my astonishment, the moon turned into a flickering sun. The sky instantly turned a shade of light blue.

I guess she wasn't kidding when she said everything was artificial...

I glanced at my watch again, but it still said 'ERROR.'

"...And with that, I will be leaving you to take care of yourselves. I trust you will have fun!" 

The woman winked at me, and then, with the click of her remote, she vanished.