LOST

Chapter 1

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Violence/mention of kidnapping/foul language
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For as long as anyone could remember, the world outside the stone wall had been in ruins. The wall stood at least 50 feet tall and stretched for miles around the city. The city, known as Serenity, was one of the biggest cities in this decaying world. In fact, it had been the only city that withstood the storms that brought the ruin. Well most of it anyway, over half of the city had to be rebuilt. During these storms, trees would spark in a bright orange flame and the buildings came crashing down with one gust of wind. It was amazing that the city still stood after all of that. After years of no storms, the people began rebuilding. Adding more and more buildings within the stone walls. Its neon lights at night were enough to brighten any dark alleyway.

In the center of the city, stood a tall and large building. The city folk called it the elite's manor. Which was a good name, since that's exactly who lived there. All of the cities important persons lived there. From the founder to the city council members. Each lived in luxury in their suites and each felt safe there. Located at each exit, as well as on each floor, were armed guards, ready for anything.

There were people who often spoke of those outside the walls. Often the ones who looked homeless and crazy. They spouted nonsense most of the time. But occasionally, there would be one person who you could understand. He would tell stories of the world outside the wall. Like he had seen it before. He had even spoken of people who lived outside the wall. There were a few names for them- like outlanders, outsiders, and the lost. They were only stories though. Everyone in Serenity knew, no one could survive outside of the wall, there was no food and very little water out there. There were also stories of people who had survived long enough to become monsters. But again, no one really knew if the stories were true or not. For the most part, people left the crazies alone, believing that the wall would protect them from whatever was out there.

There was, however, one person who believed in the stories. A young girl by the name of Park Ji-Yeon. Since she was a little girl, she believed that there were people outside the wall. Living and thriving. However, her father, Park In-Su, The Founder, of Serenity would often scold her for believing in such things. Given that she is The Founder's daughter, she needed to act a certain way. As she grew older, she learned to keep most of her opinions to herself.

Ji-Yeon is a spunky girl, or so the city folk tells her. She doesn't care much for her father's strict rules and disobeys almost everything he says. For instance, he forbid her to color her hair. He found it to be too radical for a woman, her hair should be a natural color. She colored her hair a navy blue, which resembled the night sky, just to spite him. He was furious with her of course and refused to speak with her. He would also try and control what she would wear. She was always well dressed, not like in a dress or skirt kind of way. But she would occasionally wear an oversized sweater with black tights and knee-high boots, or a baggy shirt and ripped jeans with either ankle boots or converse. Her father wouldn't say much as she wasn't revealing too much skin, but he would always have the look of disappointment on his face.

Ji-Yeon and her father would argue constantly about everything and anything. She always felt cooped up in the elites building. Not to mention her constant feeling of being watched. She would have guards stationed outside her apartment door every day and night. Her father told her it was for her protection, but she didn't understand why? She made it a point to bring it up every time he would stop by to "check" on her. And whenever he would, they're arguments would always end with them yelling at each other.

Ji-Yeon stood at the kitchen counter, her face red with anger. Her father had stopped by and they were in one of their heated arguments. Her anger with him grew the more he stood there with that look of hierarchy. This time their argument wasn't about the guards who stood at her door or the ones stationed at the wall. No, this argument was about one guard in particular. Ren, Ji-Yeon's fiancé. It was on her eighteenth birthday that her father announced her engagement to him. At first, she was hesitant, much like anyone would be if they only met the person that day. But the way Ren acted with her, she knew they would be happy together. It was at least the one thing she didn't question. However, what he was telling her, she disagreed with. Her father insisted that Ren would be transferred to the elite force known as Ghost.