The Sleeping Prison

Chapter 4

When she woke she was in a huge bedroom filled with silk sheets and expensive comforters. The walls were made out of beautiful mahogany and the ceiling was high above her head.
It was a beautiful room, even the bars on the window were beautiful.
She remembered the goodbyes and the tears and then being poked and prodded off. On to a train, into a car completely blinded. She had been in a place were scurrying feet were heard from miles away. A hospital probably.
She was sat down on a bed, then took off her blindfold and inspected her eyes and put it right back on. They did the rest of her after. She let them without complaint, without a touch of disobedience. For the first time in her live.
She remembered them inject her with needles, and then silence.
She guessed she had fell asleep and now she woke up here in this fancy and romantic bedroom.
The king bed was nicer than the bed she had at her dorm. Everything was absolute top of the line even for the people of Luna.
But there were little reminders that this was a prison. The bars on the windows, the missing handle on the door, the almost invisible camera in the corner. Yeah, that's right I see you.
But something was off. The colors too bright, the shapes too blurred, and she could almost feel things that she couldn't see. She knew that on this wall was a door, behind her bed was a door.
She pushed herself into a sitting position, she blinked the sleep out of her eyes making the shapes just a bit more crisp. She sat up, her head no longer throbbed and her head no longer spun.
She got out of the expensive bed and moved to the closet. Inside was hundreds of dresses, all different styles, colors and textures. They were all beautiful but she hated dresses. She was going to have to talk to management about her attire. She looked down at the short little silk nightgown. Ugg! What is up with this place!
She went though the dresser. It it was no use, she sprawled the beautiful clothes all over the room until clothes hung from the walls.
She went back to the closet, she pulled out a black dress. It was simple and fit her perfectly. It was tight but not too tight, the material was stretchy. It ended around her mid thighs. She would have wanted it a bit longer but at least she could move her legs. It came up and around her neck like a choker.
She was shocked at how different she looked in the dress. How different she looked in general. She had never really bothered to look in a mirror. She had changed, her blue eyes never lost their color but her eyelashes curled and her eyebrows had darkened and turned down making her look intimidating. She had filled out but her body was lean and strong. Her jaw was stronger now, she looked deadly.
Someone knocked on the door. She jumped.
She headed to the door of the bedroom, knowing she couldn't open it she yelled, "If it's my father go die in a hole. I may have come with you to save Julian but that doesn't mean I have to like you!"
"It's not your father," said a faint small voice of a women. She immediately felt guilty. She opened the door, she had a cheap maids dress on. She had a patch on her shoulder, a moon. Haven't wasted any time making the once free country's people slaves.
She felt for the girl, she couldn't have been any older than 13. She was a beautiful young girl. She had a broken and lost look in her eyes.
Brown hair, brown eyes, she felt a twang of pain for Hannah. She looked much like this girl.
"Hello, my name is Leo," Leo said with a gentle voice.
"I know who you are, I have been assigned to you. My name is Elizabeth, you can call me Eli."
Eli... She recognized that name. But from where? This girl look so much like Hannah... Hannah has a sister. This was Hannah's sister.
"Eli, is Hannah okay?" Her voice was hysterical and ragged.
Her head fell and she knew the answer. "Hannah died, she was trying to get away. They all died. They shot them. All the ones who tried to escape."
Just like that she stumbled backwards gasping her dear sweet friend was dead. It was because of you, you know? She was helping Julian get to you. You are a monster, a evil voice echoed in her head.
"No one was left to take care of me, I was sent here. I am glad I am here with you, you will take care of me won't you?" Her eyes were so open. She broke on the inside, how could she tell this girl that her sister died because of her.
"What happened to Luke? He could care for you. He was practically family to you?" She was desperate to hear good news of her friend.
"He's dead too. Died protecting Hannah as she died. I was too afraid to go to her when they died. Will you take care of me?"
How could she say no. She had killed her sister, what was the point of saying no.
"I can try."
•••
Julian didn't sleep, he was awake.
Images of their childhood flashed in his eyes. Red hair dangling down from their branch upside down. Their games, their pranks, their problems, their tree. Everything was done together then.
He remembered convincing her that her imperfections were her, he never told her that they she was perfect but that she was whole. Perfect people are not whole.
Suddenly a memory came back to him with a fierce intensity.
"Julian! Come here!" Leo called down to him from the tree. He scaled the tree like he always had. When he got to the top Leo said, "I am going to fly!"
He laughed but then she leaped of the branch and his breath caught. She fell but only for a second then grabbed a handful of the weeping willows branches... or whatever they're called, and swung up into the air. She even had enough momentum to do a backflip in the air and land gracefully.
"Wow that was fun! Come on you try!"
Julian knowing his reputation was in play he had jumped and grabbed a handful of branches and still fell. He ended up flat on his but on the ground with a record bruise.
He remembered that day because he learned that Leo could do things no one else could. She didn't have to practice, she just did. She was lighter than a feather but as strong as a rock. He was the soft one, he would have to harden.
He made a plan in that second. Luke had a group of nurses and doctors scurrying around him. When one of them left a guard would come and stand by the door. If he could beat the guard then they could... what? They could what?
He was so stupid! He looked out the window.
Window! We can escape through the window!
He gestured to Hannah. "As soon as Luke wakes I need you to make him quiet and still. I need you to tell him to stay asleep. I will give a symbol and everyone will have to get out the window"
Hannah was the only one who could really communicate with Luke. Luke was deaf, or at least close to it. He had been for years but he had no problem lip reading.
He gestured the others over one by one and told them the plan.
Now, he thought. Let's get that window open.
The window had steal bars around it and the window was under lock and key. That was bad but what was good was the rusting of the bars had left most of them barely hanging on.
He spotted a ring of silver on a man's belt loop.
"Hey you!" He yelled. The others looked at him and the to the window in surprise. No, he wrote small and faint in the dust on the floor. The guard looked at him then seemed to lose interest. "Oh come on dumbo, I'm talking to you!"
The man snapped, "I'm not the one behind bars, if I were you I'd watch my tone."
"Well we can change that, you could let me out. Then you could say to your superior that I tried to escape. You could kill me, I'm sure your dying to do that, but I'm sure you don't have the guts to do that. You and your people are cowards! Too afraid to even let your people be what they want to be!" He was screaming now. All the hidden anger he felt for his friend came pouring out now. "Your afraid of your differences! Your afraid if smart people get jobs for smart people they would over power the country! Your afraid that strong people get to be in the military then you might actually win!"
The man on the other side of the bars squirmed. Julian put his hands on the bars, holding them tight. The man was just on the other side of the bars.
"Come on, Coward!" He willed the man to hurt him. "I'm caged! I can't hurt you. Are you afraid of something that can't hurt you? You really are a coward!"
He broke, finally, he thought. He swung a hard punch though the bars. His first contacted Julian's cheekbone and he staggered back but not before he got the key.
Guards rushed forward and restrained the man. Julian had won, he will escape.
•••
"Miss Leo, someone is waiting for you. It is not your father, I can assure you." Eli said.
"Who is it, little Eli?" She has taken to the girl quickly. She had tried to comfort Eli but it was true she needed comfort herself. Then Eli suddenly straitened and rushed from the bed to the door which is now where she stood.
"Come with me and you will find out." Leo allowed herself to be lead away. There was a series of passages and hallways, she tried to keep track but couldn't.
They arrived at a room with a big oak door. She stepped inside and there sitting on the desk was a tall young man. He wasn't like Julian. He had blonde hair and black eyes. He was looking out the window.
"Hello Leonora. I have been waiting for you." His voice was thick and certain.
"So I've been told, who are you?" She held her voice firm. She was a warrior.
"I am your betrothed."