Little Dawn

Chapter 1

20 years later...

Year 2040

Carmona City

         The beautiful melody that was coming out of her mother's lips woke Casey up. For her there was nothing sweeter than waking up to the sound of her beautiful voice. It was odd not hearing the sound of her music in the mornings. Casey always remembered that the only time she hadn't sing was when Peter, her dad, went away to earn some money. That was five years ago and her father still hasn't return.

       A letter arrives from him once a month. They always cry when they finish reading the five-page letter, especially the part where he always remembers Casey, his Little Dawn, to make a wish. 

       She could recall that when he was home he always told her that she was his Little Dawn.  "What's that daddy?" she asked in her sweetest voice the first time he had called her that way.

"Before the day starts the sun most come up from where it's hiding. When that happens it means a new day is about to begin and when a new day begins there's hope that everything will be different. You are that to me Little Dawn, you're a miracle send from God that gives me hope that someday everything will be different."

      She indeed was different and as she started growing older she noticed that without trying hard she could easily see the good things in this world, even though there were not many of them. Her surroundings were full of hopeless people with sad faces and broken dreams. 

       Her mother had also told her that before she was born she was just as hopeless, sad and shattered as everyone else, but when Casey came to the world her life and the way of seeing it drastically changed.

"Mommy, have you seen the dawn?" Casey had asked when she was ten.

"I have sweetheart, but that was many years ago" her mother responded, while caressing her daughter's head.

"Can I see it?" Lara had been expecting that question, but she had never been sure on how to answer it. When she was a girl, just like her daughter, she saw the dawns and dusks every day. She would have never imagined that the pleasure of seeing them would be snatched away.

"You will, but you'll have to wait a little longer" She had been expecting more questions from Casey, but when she saw her face she realized that she was happy with her response.

       Two years later, after Casey's first day of work in the plantations, she came home asking about the Golden Wall. "Why's there a huge wall preventing us to see the dawn? For what purpose? What's on the other side?" 

       That night they sat on the old couch that still fill their small living room. Lara began explaining that when Casey was two months old some soldiers took them away from home, "which was the most beautiful place on Earth". She told her daughter about the Great War and its terrible consequences. 

       Five years have already passed since that conversation and Casey still couldn't believe people, politicians and rulers allowed the Great War to end in those catastrophic events. 

       Casey slowly got up from the mattress and walked towards the kitchen. Her mother was preparing her breakfast, the usual toast and eggs. She hugged Lara and then sat at the table. A cold breeze that entered through the hole in the wall made Casey shiver. 

       They lived in a really simple house, which meant the walls were tins and the floor was cement. The nights were cold and the days extremely hot, but that didn't matter to Casey, she was raised there and she liked it.

       After finishing her breakfast she got ready for her last day of work for the week. She never complains on working in the plantations, she loves the cold breeze that hit against her skin in the really sunny days, and the rain that falls upon her when she feels dehydrated.