Semblance

Chapter One: They Can Suck My--

-Elodie Crawford-

I turned the key in the doorknob and opened the door into my brand new apartment. The door squeaked open, and I could feel some sort of resistance from it as if it hadn't been opened in 10 years. The apartment itself wasn't really wasn't much of anything at all. In fact, it kind of sucked, lacking a kitchen, but it was all that I could afford, and it would have to do for the time being. 

This 'apartment' wasn't really an apartment, rather it was like an extra room in the attic of somebody's old barn. Said barn was in the middle of nowhere, the closest building a good 30-minute walk away, and all it was was some run down gas station. 

So why on earth was I here? In the middle of the countryside, in the attic of somebody's barn, with nothing but a bag of clothes and a dwindling stack of cash? Let's just say there was something horrible in the city, something so bad that if I had stayed, I would have been dead. I was the lucky one of my family and friends. To be honest, I wasn't sure what had become of them. 

All I knew was that my fiance was dead, and I was still alive because of him. 

In the city, there was a group of people who called themselves The Change. It was a pretty stupid name and wasn't creative at all, but despite this, they still managed to reign terror on the people. They wanted to eliminate anybody who didn't agree with their political views. It had all started peacefully a decade ago. They wanted social change but would lash out at anybody who refuted their ideas. First, it was verbal lashing out, but over a couple years, it turned violent. They built up a headquarters in New York City which has since been renamed Semblance City and have been slowly expanding the borders of the city through military efforts. 

Ironically, their message is "Peace, love, and equality". 

I tossed my bag on the small bed jammed into the corner of the room, and as it landed, a cloud of dust exploded out of the comforter. The dust was visible in the air as it passed through a stream of light coming in through the three windows in the room. There were 2 on the long side that looked out across the farmland, which was overgrown, and one window overlooked the dirt road three stories below. The ceiling was angled to match the shape of the roof, but the whole space seemed to be heated and insulated, which was a relief, as the weather outside was starting to get colder. There were two doors along the side of the room with no windows, one led into a small bathroom, and the other to a fairly large closet. The door leading into the room was opposite the wall with the window looking over the street. 

The room was quite stuffy being so high up in the building, so I cracked open a window to let the cool breeze from outside flow in. The white curtains that framed the windows blew inwards as I did so, but I instantly felt as though I could breathe again. 

Down below in the overgrown field, there was somebody riding a tractor through the tall grass, chopping down a path as they did so. I couldn't quite tell who was driving, but there were only 2 people who I could assume were. For one, there was the old farmer, I believed his name was Marty, but I wasn't quite sure, as I had only met him once in brief passing as I headed up to my room. The other was his son, whose name I still wasn't sure of yet. Both men kept to themselves for the most part, but the younger one who was around my age seemed to be more outgoing than his father. 

Despite the isolation of the farm, I was not alone. The barn had a few other rooms built into it. It was clear that the barn hadn't always been intended to house people, as most of the rooms were bottom of the barrel and thrown together. My room seemed to be better than some of the others on the floor below but was far from luxurious. 

Stepping away from the window, I walked back over to my bag, my worn out boots thumping on the floor. It was tattered and falling apart from my long journey which had started just a couple weeks ago when I had made a break from the confines of the city to run through the forest to get here. I'd lost a lot on the way including my cell phone, which fell out of my pocket somewhere along the way, and more than that, part of my sanity.