Edge of the City(Original Story)

Chapter Five

  As we made it farther and farther away from Taylynn my hands shook more and more. Soon the boy turned to me and asked if I was okay. I reluctantly told him I was fine and that it was just shocking, but he could tell I was lying. “She’s still with you.” Was what he would say to comfort me. It helped a little bit but not as much as I would have liked it too. He lead me to the wall and when we made it there he showed me a trapdoor.

     “What’s that for?” I asked.

   “It’s one of the only ways out of the city. At least that we know about.” He opened the trapdoor and signaled for me to go first. I grabbed the ladder and started climbing down. Once I was down the boy quickly followed me and he lead me through the cave. “They don’t know about this so they think everyone who goes missing is still in the town. That’s why they haven’t found me yet.”

     “Yet? How long have you been missing?” I asked.

   “A year and two months.” He told me. I figured he was around seventeen. “Left when I was sixteen like you. Now my sister, she’s only seven, she left with me. I took her, afraid they would use her to find me, since she’s a failure.” 

    “Why are you trusting me with this information?” I couldn’t help but ask the question on my mind. We had met Not ten minutes ago. “And I thought your sister died.” Now that was just rude of me to ask.

   He glanced away. “My twin died, and I just have this feeling that I can trust you.” He lead me farther down the tunnel until we met a ladder. “After you.” I climbed up the ladder and pushed open the trapdoor to see the grass greener than ever and the sky a vibrant blue. The trees were lush with green leaves and there were flowers of every color. 

       “Wow.” It was more breathtaking than Taylynn’s hair for sure. The colors were so vibrant and beautiful. 
The boy finished closing the trapdoor and laughed. “Come on. You’ll love the actual woods.” I noticed some plants that my mother told me had healing powers and tried to remember where they were in case I ever needed some of them. The boy showed me a way down a well hidden path that probably went on for about three miles before it led to a clearing. I was surprised when a girl with wild, red, curly, hair and green eyes ran up to us. 

    “Jackson! You found her!” The girl was around the age of thirteen and her face was covered in freckles. “Has Oli seen her yet? I’m sure he would love to start her test.”

   “Test?” I asked.

      “Yep everyone new gets watched by Oli for a while to see what emotions you have and which ones you don’t. Once your done with that we will see what classes to put you in and once you have all your emotions back you get a job somewhere here.” 

     “Am I the only person who thinks that’s creepy?” I asked. This dude was going to watch me?

     “You can trust Oli.” Jackson smiled after he said that. “He’s like an older brother to all of us.” I didn’t know what is was like to have an older brother, but it sounded nice. I decided I would give this Oli guy a chance. “Well Maysie I got to bring her to see him. See you at supper?” 

    The girl, Maysie, nodded. “Okay.” She turned to me. “Nice to meet you Evalynn.” Jackson lead me away farther into the woods until he stopped in front of a door in a tree. 
“You guys live in trees?”

“Yep.”

“So you guys take out the insides of a tree and live in it?”

“Stop making it sound gross!” Jackson yelled.

Suddenly the door opened and a guy around the age of Twenty answered the door. “Jackson.”

“Oli, this is Evalynn, the girl you told me to get from Ormont.” Jackson said pointing towards me.

“What about the other girl?” The guy, Oli, asked. I had this kind of sense that he was asking about Taylynn. An image of her bloody body in the road filled My head. I wanted to rip all pictures of it from my mind, but I could tell it would never leave. Glued to the back of my mind. 

Jackson looked down at his feet. “She’s…” Oli must have known it was serious because he motioned us to come into his tree house. 

“Dear what’s wrong?” A very pretty girl with blond hair and pale green eyes sat on Oli’s couch. 

 “That’s Oli’s girlfriend Floral.” Jackson whispered to me when I stepped into Oli’s house. Floral was around the age of Twenty as well.
  Oli nodded to sit on the couch next to Floral as he pulled up a chair. “What Happened Jackson.” He asked.

 “Well,”Jackson looked at me for permission to talk about it. I gave him a nod. “The other girl I was sent to get, Taylynn, was shot by the guards.”

Oli sighed. “Jackson I gave you one job, which was to make sure neither of them died.” 

“You also said Eva was my main goal.” Jackson blurted. “And I got her. Taylynn was down before I was even there.”

 “You should have been there sooner. Now we have Eva here who has no one coming here with her. You know our main goal is to bring more than one here at a time. It’s a very difficult for them to deal with alone you should have known that. I have no choice but to assign you a new job.”
 “No! Please Oli! I really enjoy seeing someone look at the forest for the first time!” Jackson Empored. I had to do something.

  “Sir, Jackson deserves his job let him keep it.” I looked at Oli, Who was looking me up and down.

  “You don’t get that we can’t afford to lose people now. Last winter we lost nine to sickness because of our lack of a nurse. We are in dire need of more people.” Oli looked away. “That’s when we lost Athena.”

   Anger filled my blood as I stared at Oli. Jackson was the perfect person for this job, he couldn’t take his job! “Give Jackson his job back or I go back to Ormont and tell them about you all here.” I demanded. “And I’ll be your nurse after my schooling.” 

  Oli looked like he was thinking before he sighed. Fine Jackson can keep his job. But when they go into Ormont your going to be there too.” I nodded agreement and Jackson lead me out the door. He lead me down the dirt path until he stopped in front of one of the trees.

 “This is your tree.”

 “Great.” I started. “This was all I wanted for christmas.”

“Really? I thought you didn’t like living in trees.” Jackson said surprised.

 I sighed. “Sarcasm Jackson Sarcasm.” Jackson laughed, and I couldn’t hold in my giggle. 

 “Well I should leave you now.” Jackson said. He was about to walk off when I called for him to come back.
  “Come In with me?” I asked him he looked surprised.

  “I live right next door to you, it’s not that far. You can visit and meet my sister.” Jackson suggested. “Why don’t you come around five tonight?” As much as I wanted to see my house with him I nodded agreement and started heading towards my door. “Hey Eva, thank you for getting me my job back, it means so much to me.”
   I turned around and smiled at Jackson. “It was my pleasure to help you.” I told him.

   “Why did you help me though.” Jackson looked away. “You just met me.” 

   I could hear the question in his voice as it settled in. “Jackson, I did it because I feel like I can trust you.”
   I could see the smile across his face as I closed my wooden door.