I tossed in my cot with heavy eyes and aching knees. Not an arm behind the head or a foot from under my blanket could comfort me to sleep. The sky was its blackest hue. It had to be far from the morning, I thought to myself.
Everything felt ordinary. Places to be, deadlines and tests moved time forward and left no time for questions. I was like everyone else here. Only separated by a number on a thin tag.
I looked out the window. The ladder of the watchtower stared back. Its long legs and sturdy rungs had never threatened me before. I had always seen the guards who lived in those towers and their guns that faced the outside world. But there were only children here. Who did they need to keep out and why did they keep us in?
I questioned everything now. Though I knew I would get no answers.
The lock of the dorm door clicked. The backs of my eyes stung from the light that passed through. A pair of heels tapped their way into the room. I felt her presence. Though it was too dark to know for sure. The sound of shifting cloth approached my side of the cot.
"It's just me," Valencia whispered.
I pretended not to hear.
"I won't wake you," she said and sat on the cot, "There are so many things I want to tell you. So many things you will want to ask someday. Just know I did everything — everything I could at least," Valencia said passed her finger through my hair, "It's going to be different from now on, but you will fight. I know you will."
The weight of her body lifted from the cot. I stayed still, unwilling to speak.
Valencia reached her hand out to V33 who slept beside me. She held her V33's hand for a moment then stood to open the door again. Her dark figure was cloaked in all black and lit from her sides.
"Remember me," she said tender, and closed the door.
Valencia's cries crowded the room long after she was gone.
I kept to myself and wanted nothing more than to speak her.
•·················※·················•
"Get this place cleared. Now!" a man's voice shouted in the distance.
I took a deep breath. Its taste was foul and thick.
.•:※──────✧※⏣※✧──────※:•.
Uh-oh, this CAN'T be good! Who do you think this man is? Please be sure to keep voting and commenting below and help other readers join the adventure.
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X-Marks: Stealing Shadows
Science FictionChildren are disappearing. And their parents don't want to find them. After Valen is taken from her home she is used for government plans never spoken aloud. Only the mark of an "X" on her forehead is left to tell her past. When her new home is over...
