We continued to crawl through the vent, until it suddenly dropped downwards.
"Should we go down or keep going?"
"There's no other way around it. I guess we're going down."
I positioned my dress and sat down. I used my arms to slowly lower myself in. Then, shaking, I let go.
As I fell through the air, I felt a weird feeling. I felt free, but at the same time.....I did not. I felt like a fallen angel. I was finally able to fly, but I couldn't.
I screamed loudly as I fell, my dress flapping all around me and my hair flowing behind me. Suddenly I landed flat on my face in a pile of dirty laundry.
I emerged from the pile, a sock stringing from my hair. Disgusted, I pulled it out and threw it away.
"I'm coming down!" I heard Mark yell. Oh no. But that meant -
Mark cheered loudly as he fell. Maybe he's used to this kind of thing. Or he was before he came to The Outcasts.
He landed on top of me and I was buried in laundry again.
A few seconds passed. "Tilly? Where are you?" Mark called, looking around.
Suddenly I burst out of the pile. "Rawr!" I roared at him and he gasped.
"Haha. Very funny." Mark remarked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
"Yes. I know it was." I smirked, pretending not to detect his sarcasm.
"Come on, let's go." Mark said, stepping out of the laundry dumpster. "We have a war to fight."
Suddenly I heard a voice. "Come, Tilly...." It said. It sounded like......Jasper? I cocked my head slightly, slowly walking towards the source of the sound.
"Hey, Tilly, where are you going?" Mark asked.
"I hear Jasper's voice. I need to find him!" I said. "Mark, please wait here. I'll be back in a second, okay?"
"Wait!"
"What?" I turned round to face Mark.
"Stay safe. Please."
I put both of my hands on his shoulders. "Jasper might be in trouble. I don't want him to die. He's everything to me, and we've gotta get out of here alive! All of us, you hear? No one can die. I wouldn't be able to take it." A tear rolled down my cheek. I wiped it. "Do you know what it's like to lose someone you love? It's like......it's like your whole world.....falls apart." I remembered all the things I'd lost. My mother. My innocence. But most of all, I had lost myself, in the blizzard of hardship. Why must it be this way? Why can't we all just accept our differences and respect them....
"Because we are selfish human beings." Mark whispered, staring right into my eyes. "We all want three things. Respect, money, and power. When those three things are void, we become better existences. But the truth is, every second we thrive, every minute our existence fails to rub itself out, we destroy everything. Even ourselves, after some time. Corruption lives within us all. It only takes the wisest of people to see it."
I stared at Mark for a while, surprised by his wisdom. "I would be corrupting, destroying myself if I didn't at least try to save Jasper. Please, let me go. I promise I'll be safe."
Mark sighed. "Ha. Who am I to hold back a stubborn spirit? Go to him. I'll look for everyone else."
I hugged Mark. "Thank you so much!"
Mark stood still for a few moments, before closing his arms around me as well. "You're welcome."
I let go. "I must go! Okay bye!" I turned and sprinted towards the voice.
"Bye." Mark whispered, waving slightly.
YOU ARE READING
Tilly|✔️
Science-FictionA young girl is kept prisoner in a strange place deep underground. She doesn't know why - she's been there all her life. But after she sees a strange video, and joins a group of rebellious experiments called The Outcasts, she begins to see the darke...
