Leering faces, shouts, jeers, and extended legs are my only companions, always present wherever I set foot. It's become a part of my reality, another bitter pill added to the pile I somehow manage to force down my throat every time I look in the mirror.
The few friends I possess are my teachers- and, of course, my parents. And Holly. Holly, the Queen of Detention. It's rumored that she's never left the principal's office. But, what the jeering, proud rich kids don't understand is the drive behind Holly's actions- and lo and behold, it's the same motivation that allows me to extract myself from my bedsheets at 5:00am sharp, every morning.
The Insurgency.
This morning, it was the hope and soaring emotions only belonging to the prospect of a new recruit- and not just anyone. Tonight, at midnight, by the glowing fountain of the Smith Residence, Titus Smith would appear before us. His mother had always been part of the Insurgency- it was only the trouble of getting away from her notorious husband, Aeron Smith, CEO and founder of Smith Industries. Smith Industries- the same, threatening company whose propaganda loomed above us all, claiming and promising "all-natural sunlight for all". For now, the sun only shines in the Affluent Districts.
After she passed away, she handed her position as Phoenix of the Fire of Rebellion, Mother of the Insurgency, to her son.
As I combed my dark hair down the length of my uniform-clad back, five words rang in my head, circling like vultures in prospect of a fresh kill: Tonight. Midnight, near the fountain.
YOU ARE READING
The Phoenix
Short StoryThe United States as known has been obliterated, now an enormous, dark city that stretches from coast to coast. In order to eliminate the poor populations, the States have manufactured a plague meant to lure the destitute to the fate mountains upon...
