In a nightmare world ravaged by misery, the Imperium offers utopia to a select few. When Arya and Everett are recruited into this elite society, they choose to leave their homes against their families' wishes.
Naive and young, Arya and Everett are...
It only takes a few seconds to make sure that the two dilapidated rooms are empty. The stairs leading to the burnt chambers above are almost entirely broken; no one is up there. The second room is bare but for a chair with one leg missing and a charred wooden table pushed against the wall. Carefully propping myself on the edge of the table, I absent-mindedly kick the small heaps of rubble on the floor.
Where are you? I think, accidentally striking the rubble with too much force, causing a cloud of dust to rise up to my face. Although no one ever wanders here, I clap a hand to my mouth, holding in the coughs until I start to tear up.
As I'm wiping my eyes, I hear the softest shuffling of feet right outside the chambers, and a second later, Everett appears, stopping at the doorway.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah."
I walk over to Everett, stepping behind him as my gaze darts to the doorway, half expecting my father and Joseph to come storming down the dusty road, reprimanding us for indulging in something as futile as a relationship when we should be focusing on the Resistance instead.
"No one saw," he says from behind me. "I was careful, don't worry."
"Good," I whisper, my throat still hoarse from the dust.
I turn to face Everett when he tugs at the end of my shirtsleeve. "The recruitment is tomorrow, and . . . I want to talk to you about something."
"What is it?" I ask, but his wide blue eyes are staring right into mine, reminding me of all the times we've been here together not talking.
And suddenly, as the feeling swells inside my chest, I raise myself on my tiptoes and press my lips against his. At first, Everett stiffens in surprise but recovers quickly, putting one hand to the nape of my neck and using the other to pull me to the side. My back meets the wall, my fists curling around the thin fabric of his stained white shirt.
"Wait, Arya," Everett whispers minutes later, his lips brushing the edge of my mouth. When I open my eyes slowly, he lowers his head to my shoulder and says, "I was thinking that if one of us gets recruited . . . what if we really said no and stayed? Maybe we can change-"
"You know it won't change anything," I say sharply, forcing him to raise his eyes to mine. With a dry laugh, I add, "They'll find someone else to replace you before you even finish rejecting them."
Everett sighs deeply, brows furrowing as he interlinks his fingers behind my back. I press my palms against the warm skin of his cheeks. "Listen to me. This is the only chance we'll ever get to leave this place. We promised each other we'd take it, even if it means we can't be together. Remember?"
As we lock eyes a wave of emotion passes between us, carrying the memory of a promise whispered behind these same walls when we turned sixteen and secretly chose a path our fathers would never approve of.
"I remember," he nods resolutely, peering at me with what feels like cautious finality . . . like goodbye.
I shut my eyes tight as Everett wordlessly closes the gap between us, leaving nothing but darkness behind my eyelids and silence ringing in my ears.
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