Change

Chapter One

I run my slender fingers through my thick dark hair. Each day like the last. I'm sick of it, being me. You see, having a mental disease doesn't help your self esteem when everyone talks behind your back. I was diagnosed with PTED(post traumatic embitterment disorder) when I was 13, when my parents died.

I relive that night each pasing moment. When I close my eyes I see the red of my father's blood on my mother's hands, as she screamed his name. The day the government came for my father was the day I had to grow up. My mother was strong and defiant, she fought back, yet, it only takes so long for the human body to react to a bullet. The next day, I went back. Not a sign it had ever happened.

It took them two months to find me, running from place to place, catching busses, anything. All the while I was spreading the story, the images flashing behind my eyes as I retold each gruesome moment. When they found me, I was with my best friend, Adrian Parks, well, he wasn't my best friend so much as my only friend. He never told me why he left home, but I could tell when he changed his shirt sometimes. The dark bruises and fading scars were fairly obvious against his pale skin. Adrian was so brave, knowing they would attack if he angered them. The Code Enforcement Agency was strict when it came to sentencing people. Adrian and I would laugh and call them the Dullness Drones.

I'm 15 and it's been two weeks since Adrian left to gather supplies and I have been forced to move camp. Again.

There is a loud crash and a gunshot to my right. "Come along quietly or we will be forced to shoot again, criminal!" Dullness Drones! Not again. "No!" The voice was defiant, and not at all my own. Adrain? He couldn't have found me, let alone be risk being so loud.

Soon I saw the face that belonged to the voice. She was about 14 and she had a short stature and scratches and scorch marks littered her face and skin. Her hazel eyes matched her auburn hair. I almost choked when I saw what she wore; tattered jeans and a ripped black shirt that was once a full t, but was now a sorry excuse for a crop top. "Quick, this way!" I whisper and she follows, into the shadows. My sea blue eyes met two bright hazel irises in the dark. My broad state made it hard for me to not stare. I have never seen someone so underfed. And I hadn't eaten in over three weeks. "Hi." She whispers, even in the dark I could see the teasing smirk in her eye. "I'm Gabby, you?" I almost laugh. "Meghan Lukas. CEA's most wanted criminal."