Black and Blue

Black and Blue - Prologue

In my dream I was running. I wasn't running from the mutants I was raised to fear, I was running from my father.

"Jolie!" Father yelled as he tried to keep up with me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw him stumble over a crack in the pavement and fall hard to the ground. Instinctively, I stopped and turned to help him.

I argued with myself glancing from my fallen father to the tall wall I was running towards. The wall that surrounded our city beckoned to me; almost whispering my name.

"Jolie," My father said hoarsely. "Help me." A gash on his forehead started to ooze blood as he reached out for me.

Without even thinking about it I turned to run again.

I sat up in bed panting with sweat dripping down my face. My hands reached for my shirt, which was drenched and yanked it over my head. I crawled out of bed wiping the sweat from my face and walked over to the window.

Through the window of my room I could see the wall. It towered high above any building and didn't have a break in it as it circled the entire city. 'The wall keeps us safe from the mutants," Father always says, but my dreams lately have been telling me different.

A knock on my door shook me out of my thoughts.

"Jolie?" I heard Father's voice through the door. "Are you awake?"

I grabbed the nearest shirt I could find and pulled it on before answering.

"Yes," I replied as I walked to the bathroom.

I flicked on the bathroom light and heard my bedroom door crack open. Through the mirror I could see Father emerge from the darkness of the hall. His graying hair was receding and his face was wrinkling more and more every day. One thing that never changed about him was his emerald eyes. They brightened when they connected with mine in the mirror.

"You're going to be late for the festival you know," He said as he stepped farther into my room. "You've been sleeping in an awful lot lately."

"I've been having weird dreams.." My voice trailed off. I definitely did not want to tell him about these dreams.

He raised his eyebrows. "What kind of dr-"

"They're nothing," I said cutting him off. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get ready so that I'm not too late."

I closed the bathroom door and heard Father give a frustrated sigh before leaving my room. I turned to the mirror and pulled my dark messy hair out of my face. I look a lot like my mother did. Same high cheekbones, same pouty lips, same gray eyes that got me almost too much attention because I was the only one in the city with them.

I brushed my teeth and dabbed on a little makeup before pulling on my white sundress. With one last look in the mirror, I slipped on my sandals and walked out the door.

The streets were packed with people drinking beer and singing songs. Colorful tents and booths crowded the sides and I could smell apple pie in the air.

"Jolie!" I heard a familiar voice ring through the crowd. "Over here!" I spun my head in the direction of the voice and my eyes landed on Harper. He was waving his arm wildly, trying to get my attention.

I smiled as I stepped into the street and towards Harper. His eyes danced as they looked me up and down.

"Beautiful as ever," he said when I reached him. His bronze hair swept across his forehead and he smiled again. He lifted his arms and wrapped me into a hug.

"Sweet as ever," I said as I returned the hug.

Harper and I have been together for two years now, since we were sixteen. In school he was always known as the all-american-boy who was sweet as pie.

Harper let go of me when we heard our city's anthem being blared through the streets. I remembered where I was supposed to be.

"Oh no!" I gasped. "I'm supposed to be on stage with my father!" I turned to run to the plaza when two big hands grabbed me.

"Harper," I said turning my head to look at him. "Come on, I have to-" My words cut short when I saw it wasn't Harper holding me. Instead of meeting Harper's warm brown eyes, I met a pair of cold gray ones. Just like mine. I was so shocked I didn't resist when he started to pull me away from the crowd.

"Hey!" I heard Harper yell. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He raised his fist to punch him and was knocked to the ground by a blast of water.

I frantically looked around for where the water came from when I saw another blast shoot a man to the ground. Then I realized the water was coming from the boy holding me. He was a mutant.

That's when the terror hit me and I started to fight. I squirmed in my captor's arms trying to get away, but he was too strong. He pulled me into an alley as a big wave knocked down all the people chasing after us. Sirens started to blare.

The boy pinned me to the wall and looked me in the eyes. Even though he was taking me, he was beautiful. His black hair spiked away from his face and his eyebrows furrowed in frustration. His gray eyes bore into my own. We stayed like this in the alley, staring at each other, until we heard running footsteps from the other opening to the alley.

The boy reached in his black jacket and pulled out a syringe.

"Sorry," He whispered in my ear. I could feel his breath on my neck. "I have to do this."

I felt a cold prick and then everything went black.