Fight With Fire

40

With no windows in the surveillance room, I don't notice that time passes. There is an electronic calendar in my room that told that 3 days have gone by. 3 days of doing the councils dirty work and exposing people. But also 3 days of exploring and learning about the world outside of the hollow that the school hides. The school isn't hiding us from the world, but hiding the world from us. Or should I say schools plural.

There are multiple schools all in their sections of the world. For some reason, there have been multiple council members picked from our school but I'm not sure why. It should've made sense that there would be more out there considering how big the population is globally. Each school feeds kids into the jobs of that area and the kids of that area go to that school so it is a constant cycle. Our school doesn't apply to that. It is far away surrounded by forest and a mountain range farther away. I don't know where the kids feed from.

Or should I say I didn't.

Interestingly enough, that was my first job. It was supposed to help me learn how to work the system and find what I needed. Of course I had gone searching for, and successfully found, a manual. It helped me learn how to use all the technology even if many of the functions I didn't have access to. For now anyway.

Tracking back through time to see where the kids were recruited, or stolen from helped me learn about the cities. Straight streets with perfect rectangular houses in perfect grids. Small, fast transports that efficiently take people where needed. I saw that many people taken to my school were children of very powerful people. People with powerful jobs and bigger houses. The council was trying to breed better people by sending the children of the best to same place. They came from all over the world to this one small school.

I found my parents.

I didn't want to but I had to start somewhere. I followed mini-me across the country to where I was taken from. I wish the images could've been worse quality so I didn't have to see the large man with a big smile and laughter in his eyes. Or the woman with long wavy hair and and long, strong legs. How odd that these two made the most boring child. They were both beautiful and I am as average as it gets. Not to mention my Aerdell.

I found that I finished the tasks quickly and got to spend time searching. The cities were overwhelming and found it easier to track myself. I watched all the way back to my first interaction with Charlie and then Adrian and Gwen. So much changed for me in that one week.

I watched as Adrian pulled me through the window and I clung to him. I looked horrible with blood dripping from my hands. I was as soaked and pitiful as a dead rat and I was clearly afraid. Something I had not been used to.

Then I watched one of the most horrible things I had ever seen.

Charlie was pacing in his suit and kept glancing at the door. If I hadn't slept in that morning then I would've made it in time. I would've already been there. I see Charlie pull out a piece of thin paper. I zoom in and focus on the paper before him.He rolls it out flat and stares at it before starting to write:

Dear Ella,

He shakes his head and crosses it out.

Ella,

Again, he crosses it out.

I know you'll blame yourself and I want to tell you not to but you will anyway. You're stubborn that way.

I laugh slightly at this which quickly turns into a slight sob. A tear rolls down my cheek and I quickly wipe it away.

I'm not sure what's up with you and I never wanted to intrude but I hope you figure it out. You're hiding from everyone. Making people too scared to notice but I wasn't scared. You need to stop hiding because you're losing who you are. I know somewhere there is a good person. Not necessarily a NICE person but that's okay. Just,

Charlie stops writing and stares at the page for a few moments. He leans down to write something and sits back up again. He drops the pen and pulls at his hair.

"Seriously Charlie? These are your last words? Pathetic." He shakes his head again as he speaks to himself. "The one days she's late."

Charlie turns back to the letter and rips it into the shreds. He keeps ripping until he can't rip anymore.

"Oh shut up, it was all cheesy crap anyway." Charlie says this to the empty room.

That's where I start to fast forward. I don't want to watch him wait for me or write to me. I let my gaze blur as my eyes fill with tears and watch my figure enter the room. I stop the tape and change the screen.

Part of me wishes he wrote the letter. That he really thought about it left it behind for me to find. But he didn't.

To get my mind off of Charlie's death, I follow myself through the cafeteria and the library and down the stairs to Finn's room.

When I switch the screen to look for myself at the health centre, I accidentally go a week. But what I find stops me in my tracks.

Rory stands with his arm pinned to the table by buckles and straps. He takes a small knife and cuts a single thin line down his forearm. He shakily places the knife down on the table and runs his free hand over the cut. Blood pools through his fingers and his muscles strain in concentration. His eyes close and his breath quickens. It is clear that whatever he's doing is much more work than what he did to heal me.

It takes me as long to realize what he's doing as it takes him to finish. He's healing himself. Or trying to anyway. Healers are not known to be able to self heal but if he can than he'll make history.

When he pulls his hand away the cut is closed. It's not completely healed but not life threatening. I see that there are many scars parallel to this one that run the length of his arm.

I'm starting to realize that people are never who they seem. They're always hiding something. I guess it's hard not to when you can gain something. It makes me wonder if anyone is ever genuine anymore.

Needing something happy, I go 10 years back to when we were still in the smaller school. Small kids with chubby hands walking around small desks. Real genuine smiles fill their faces as they only pay attention to what they can see at eye level. Of course their eye level is several feet below ours. They can't see all the horrible things that roam around above their heads.

All my attention is on the small boy with blond hair that falls slightly in his eyes. He sits alone in one corner studying his hands intently. He looks up when he sees a girl with crazy brown hair contained in a pony tail.

His green eyes aren't as I know them know. Always expecting good and twinkling brightly. In the video, they are shaded as if looking in through a lens from far far away. The lens zooms in just a little bit and you can see that Finn comes into focus. I never noticed how much I had done for him that day but now I can.

Mini-me walked over with my calculating eyes even at that young age. I was studying Finn as I took a pulled a bright pink chair over to sit across from Finn. Mini-Finn and mini-me sit in silence until mini-me reaches over and grasps his hand. He immediately moves to pull his hand away until he sees that my iae isn't shrinking. His eyes widen and then come completely into focus.

"Hello Finn, I'm Ella."

"I'm Finn." Finn stares for a few moments before laughing self consciously. "But you already said that."

Finn shakes his head and looks flashing that beautiful magical smile. This is the moment that he said he fell in love with me and you can see it. It's hard to believe that he was so alone before because now he as radiant as he's always been. Pride swells in my chest for mini-me who did something magical.

Whether she knew it or not.