The Worst Kind of Darkness

The New Life

When she woke up again she felt her face be wet with tears and beads of sweat. She sighed. Reliving your worst memory over and over was really taking a toll on her happiness levels.

At least she hadn't woken up screaming like last time. She had gotten a punch from everyone in a two cabin radius for that. After her dad was dragged into the woods that one day, her brothers and sister were intent on forgetting their old home. They walked to the nearest base camp HQ and were assigned to camp 17 with all the rest of the people who were lost or didn't belong.
Her brother Connor was a warrior. He had changed after that night. Fighting so he could never feel useless again. Katie became the sad one. She rarely had a smile on her face except to her siblings or boyfriend, Benny, the camp's head medic. Charlie was never there. Before they went in to their new home, he had promised that he would never abandon them, but after a few months he was on the prowl, searching for the creature that killed his father.

Grace was alone. She trained as hard as she could but since that one day she had become scared of everything. Anxiety taking over her life. She didn't have one night where she didn't see that dream, replaying over and over.
She didn't really eat much, knowing that both of her parents couldn't be with her to enjoy any of the pleasures in life, such as food. She always had her father's knife strapped to her waist, even in sleep.
She kept getting those visions too. Monsters teasing and taunting. Beckoning her to come closer. She wanted to run to them and let her rejoin her parents. But they weren't there. She would get within a foot, close enough to hear their heavy breathing and the vision would end. She couldn't tell anyone about these or her leash would tighten even more and she would choke. Someone else would get hurt.
She couldn't let that happen to anyone else. Never again. Yet somehow she knew deep down that telling someone would result in her freedom. She knew just who she could talk to. With Grace's mind clear she stood up, yanking on her everyday clothes and re-strapping her ever so important knife to her waist. It held so many memories, it had saved her life. Her roommates, and friends, Maggie and Ruth were still sound asleep in their bunks. She wondered what time it was. Ruth was always awake before her. She checked the alarm clock in the corner. 5:28 a.m. Breakfast starts in two minutes. Connor would probably be down there, he always seemed to train as soon as possible. But could she really talk to him? He always seemed to have a little bit of resentment towards her.
Ever since their father had told him to run with Grace. Being forced to leave like that brings thoughts out like what if I had been there. Maybe things would still be fine. Although Connor had never told her that specifically, Grace just figured that's why. Why he trained so hard, why he seemed to have lost the ability to smile, except when he was out in the Cortex, beating his PR or his sword into other peoples heads. Even then his smile was cruel, and freezing cold.
He was terrifying, though Grace would never admit that to him. She didn't know what he'd say. He might even hit her. The last time he had ever shown her physical affection was that one day 5 years ago. The now 19 year old wasn't a caring as he once was. He had smacked her before, in training. Yelling at her to be more prepared. It was really scary, she could see the fire in his eyes boiling. She had run away, forcing herself not to cry. She just wanted her family back. Her bravery, and strength would be nice too, but as long as someone had her back, she would be happy again. But now, she had no parents, a brother that was never there, a sister who was always sad and another brother whose anger threatened to explode and murder everything in sight. A gaunt face and thin frame that feared everything was all she was left with. The cursed blade strapped to her side was quick to hurt, and the soul attached to it was left without strength every time it reaped blood.
She had decided. Her mind that had clouded over with decisions was not sharp and clear. She stared at herself in the mirror and opened the heavy metal door. The walls of her new home were metal, seeing as how the area was underground. After the war, all the monsters had been unleashed and there were bunkers made. Hopes of being protected were soon dashed after the shadows had revealed themselves. Grace hadn't been scared though. She had her dad and her brothers and sister, and that was all she needed.
Then, suddenly her family was broken and they were whisked off to Bunker 17 in an attempt to fix themselves. Soon they all can to an unspoken realization you can't really fix something that has lost a big piece of it. The fixed object will be different. In their case, that wasn't really a good thing.