Perfectly Scarred

The Night

To her surprise, I reach out and open the top buttons of her denim shirt. Three buttons it takes me to see the contrast between the color of her neck and the skin hidden below her collar.

I see her F brand, only a month old, still new and fresh like mine, healing over, trying to settle, to find its place on her body.

Lisa's breathing is heavy; her chest rises up and down; she looks almost nervously from my face to my fingers as they hover above her scar. I press them to her skin and with my forefinger I trace the sign of the F and the curve of the surrounding circle.

I feel her heart beating beneath my fingers. It was supposed to be a branding to symbolize her disloyalty to society, for seeking out her parents after thirteen years in an institution that tried to teach the Flaws out of her. She turned her back on the Society. But her dishonor to them only proves her loyalty to what's good and right, and proper and honest.

I move my body closer and press my lips to her scar, and I hear her breathe out. I look up to see if I've hurt her, but her eyes are closed, and her hand moves to my hair, to my right temple. Her thumb rubs my temple. My brand.

For your bad judgment, your right temple. I hear Dahee's courtroom voice boom as though she's in the kitchen with us right now.

Lisa lifts my right hand, and I feel her thumb circle my palm.
For stealing from society, you will you branded on your right hand. Whenever you go to shake the hands of any decent people in society, they will know of your theft.

She kisses the palm of my hand, gently.

Then she reaches out, pushes the refrigerator door closed, and we're plunged into darkness.

"Lisa?" I whisper.

"I didn't want it to defrost."

I smirk, then start laughing.

"Let's go to my cabin," she whispers.

______________________________________________________

"Where Is Jennie?" I ask as we enter the cabin

Lisa kicks a pile of dirty clothes under the bed and I pretend not to notice.

"Not here."
I laugh.

Her cabin is exactly the same as mine and Niki's, but messier. She sits down on the double bed. "I can't believe you're here."

"Should I have played more hard to get?" I tease.

"I mean I can't believe I found you. I told you at the castle that I'd find you, but it was harder than I thought. You were well guarded. I wanted to meet my parents and your parents of course I did, but now ... but now that we have you, we're moving out of here. It's finally time to move," she says, pumped.

"Who's the 'we' you keep referring to?"

"Jessie, Dae, Jennie, you, and me. Maybe Niki. I haven't discussed it with my mother. Bahee has a fit if people can't agree on what to watch on TV, never mind the Failure movement."

"So you, me, Jennie, Dae, and Jessie are going to change the world, are we?"

"Not the world. Just the country. And to change the country you only have to change a few minds."

I stare at her in surprise.

"Rosie." She takes my hands and pulls me to sit beside her on the bed. "To most people, Dahee seems all powerful. She has control over the Society, and the Society has somehow found a way to manipulate the government—probably because they've branded most of them and those people now live in fear of the monster they created. Much of the public supports Dahee, but not everyone. You got people listening who never listened before. I always knew you were special. And now, I realize that you have something even more powerful against her."