When the Sun Cries

Chapter One

Grace Herlum had never seen the sun or felt the way its warmth would embrace her, and she had already come to terms with the depressing fact that she never would. Not many people knew that she was alive. If they did, she would have been executed with her parents a long time ago. Although she never knew them and forbid her mind to stray to the endless possibilities within the words of 'what if.'

As a young girl, the caregivers would tell her stories of the outside world- about a time when people were able to have children and watch them grow without punishment. It was a time long before she was born, a time when she hadn't even been a thought.

25 years ago, the government had realized a major flaw in their system. The worlds non renewable resources were sparse and the ozone layer was thickening at an astounding rate due to the amount of vehicles and factories that were constantly creating carbon dioxide. Basically, as a human race, they were killing themselves. A new law was established globally that stated couples were no longer given the natural right to reproduce. If they dared to defy the governments ruling, they were executed along with their child. Grace despised this law and had grown up fearing the sun, never wishing for its rays to touch her abnormally pale skin due to the fact that the consequences could possibly be life threatening for her and the small handful of people that she cared for.

At times, she would catch herself gazing into the dim and flickering light that hung from a piece of string in the middle of the room, pretending it was the sun. The light cast strange and distorted shadows across the walls and ceiling, covering the six beds that spread evenly throughout the room. A bulky television was wedged between two walls in the corner of the small room, complete with a thin layer of dust that it had collected and an uncomfortable stool placed in front of it. Grace knew that the television had been outlived. It had been out of commission for years and wouldn't even offer static, despite the two weeks she had been consumed with attempting to put it back in order.

Jace and Connor had tried to help as well, although the television they were fixing happened to be the first one they had ever seen. The two boys were the only others that shared the room with her. For the first few weeks she could hardly tell them apart, considering how similar their facial features were. They shared the same brown eyes and dirty blonde hair, although Jace appeared to be more slender than his brother and Connor had to wear glasses. Their whispering constantly echoed throughout the bare room but she could never decipher their inaudible words. A few months after their arrival, she heard them speaking once they had assumed she was asleep. Grace had discovered their first safe house had been found and destroyed by the authorities. Jace and Connor were the only two to survive, and they had been unbelievably lucky considering they had been discovered directly by the special department, who thrived in high stress and dangerous situations. The department was specifically created by the government to hunt down safe houses and excute everyone inside mercilessly. Grace could confidently say they always did their job correctly.

Grace lay on her bed, allowing the springs to dig into her back through the old mattress. She sighed, knowing that it would leave marks and tight knots in her shoulders when she woke up from her restless sleeps. Her blue eyes scanned the dirty pages of her novel, eagerly flipping to the next. Her hands squeezed the sides in anticipation as the protagonist finally got onto the train. Books were a rarity and had practically gone extinct by the 60's, but somehow the caregivers had been able to get their hands on a couple. That's how Grace spent the majority of her time, reading books that she's read several times and ignoring the hushed speaking of the twins as they sat on their beds pushed as far from the stairs as their restricted living quarters would allow.

Her favourite novel was one of the oldest that she had ever heard of. It was from the 1990's and was titled Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. The care givers believed fictional stories to be pointless and rotting of the mind, but she hid it in case anyone tried to steal it from her. This was the story she was reading now, and when she heard the familiar clicking as the gears turned to unlock the basement door, she threw the book under the thin mattress and sat on top of it for good measure. Alsiah was the youngest caregiver of four and she also happened to be Grace's favourite. Alsiah was 29 years old and barley taller than her. Unlike the others, she liked to visit more frequently and brought her new stories to read as often as she could. The young woman walked quietly down the stairs with a tray balanced on her hip, trying to keep the contents of the bowls from spilling over and onto the stairs.

"Alsiah!" Grace jumped off the bed and ran over to the stairs, carefully taking the heavy tray from the woman so that she could make her way down at a faster pace.
        "Good evening, hun. How are you doing?" Alsiah wiped her hands on her faded, ripped jeans before sitting on the bed across from Grace's. "I'm okay, the twins have been having more nightmares recently." Alsiah offered a warm smile and touched Grace's arm, "You know what they've been through, just try to ignore it. I bet it will stop soon."
      Grace smiled back, more out of courtesy than of kindness, "I understand."
     "Good girl," She smiled kindly but as she recalled something, her expression darkened slightly and her smile wavered. "Now, I have some bad news. The special department has decided to do house inspections in the area," Alsiah stopped for a moment to take in Grace's expression of alarm.

Grace's heart rate quickened and she paled, making the freckles on her nose stand out dramatically against her skin. "Don't worry. This is a good thing because now that we know, we can prepare." Grace tried to control her breathing and clasped her hands together to keep from fidgeting. The twins were barely 6 years old, they didn't need to see her like this.
     "Okay. So what are we going to do?"
     "Emili can explain more later on, alright?"

Alsiah smiled and patted the space in front of her. Grace switched over to Alsiah's bed and allowed the woman to put her strawberry blonde hair into a long braid. "But Emili doesn't even like me, she's really scary," Grace sighed, blowing a stray piece of hair out of her eyes. "She's just strict, and her age isn't exactly decreasing, if you know what I mean," Grace noticed her wink and smiled. "Plus, she's hard on you because she loves you."

Grace hopped off the bed when the braid was complete and she lifted her mattress to reveal the book. She grabbed it quickly and then jumped back onto the bed that Alsiah was resting on, causing the woman to bounce slightly.

Grace and Alsiah stopped smiling as soon as they heard quick footsteps coming down the stairs. Emili had her hair in a loose bun. White strands were starting to fall out and the woman was frowning, defining the wrinkles around her lips and eyes. Alsiah stood up slightly in front of Grace, who had her book protectively squeezed against her chest, "Is everything alright?"
        The woman put a hand over her heart and sighed, shaking her head, "Katherine is pregnant."

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Authors Note: Please let me know what you think in the comments! I am not exaggerating when I say that I've had this plot in my head for approximately two years. I guess it's time to finally start writing it.

This specific story will not be having regular updates due to the fact that this one will be written at leisure or whenever I have writers block with the other two, although I do hope you will read my other stories as you patiently wait for updates on this one.