Sometimes life is not everything that it seams. Some people will live out their lives completely untouched and ignored by the forces at work. However, some people are destined for great things .Often times the greatness of people is overlooked, they are singled out, leaving them alone and ridiculed. Yet these are the people that are truly strong. It is these people who will stand up. It is these people who will fight for everyone's freedom.
They are tough. They are proud. And they have no fear.
Dust swam around the closed windows of the elementary school making the place full of children seem barren. The planet Lecithin was a long forgotten colony of earth, surviving somehow off of the meager crops it's poor soil produced. The people were poor, the land was poor, and the whole planet was over crowded. Children were left abandoned while their parents died. The war with the covenant was the graceful end all were looking for on this planet, no more suffering, and no more bringing children into a world that could not support them.
However, what weighs in the mind of an adult, does not weigh in the mind of a child. Green eyes darted across the dusty window smiling as she watched the dust clouds take the shapes of animals she had only read about. elephants, giraffes, foxes, and turtles danced across the dust causing the girl to grin and giggle.
A sharp thwap on her desk brought her back to reality and caused her to glance up to the old teacher who was now hovering over her desk.
"Mrs. Hollingsworth, If you do not straiten up and pay attention your rations will be taken away." The teacher said angrily.
Anna scowled back at the long nosed teacher. All of them were always looking for a way to spread the rations further. She had watched one of the class clowns first loose his food because of his loudness, then to the fact that he could not keep awake. He got so gaunt, and so weak that he could no longer attend the classes anymore. He was gone forever, as were others. Starved away because of the facilities discipline. Anna herself was thin, way to thin for a five year old. When she stood still you could see her small ribs and rib line. Forgetting about the teacher, and about her probably going to be missed rations tonight she turned back to the window.
Her mind began forming shapes in the dust again, when she saw something. quickly she turned making sure the teacher wasn't looking. The teacher was scolding someone else who had fallen asleep at the desks. quickly Anna turned and watched as a small blue light came down, darted across the dusty playground and left.
"Misses Hollingsworth!" The teacher yelled causing Anna to spin around and sit back in her chair. "That is the second time, No rations for you tonight."
Anna grumbled and crossed her arm's angrily over her chest. She didn't care anymore, all she wanted was to get out of the school for her recess.
The clocked ticked along agonizingly slow, as it often does for those who are waiting, but soon the bell rang and the children went racing for the dust covered playground. Anna herself was tired, and hungry, so although she wanted out her feet dragged on the ground slowly. She made it to the swings and watched as the well fed kids with parents played a game of capture the flag. Anna watched as if in a daze as the kid with the red flag went darting across the pavement and onto the sand. Anna watched the sand as the wind began to pick up again, sending dust up into the air is great swirls.
She stared again, wondering what the little blue light was that had visited earlier was. Maybe she was hallucinating. Her child like mind thought about how nice it would be for the animals forming in the dust to be her play friends, To help her find fruits on the lush bushes that covered the ground. The dust began to pick up even more, sending sand into the mix and causing children and teachers alike to shield their eyes. Anna quickly held a hand to her face and looked up to the sky hoping that the speed of the sand would keep it momentarily out of her eyes. Blinking she stared Skyward and began to catch glimpses of the pale blue sky.
