SPLIT

Chapter 1

I gasped for air resulting in my lungs filling with even more water. It burned with each breath I took as I struggled to keep my eyes open. I was tired. So very, very , tired. If I could only slip into bliss one last time it would be all over for me.

"Vera ! You fell asleep in the water again !" My aging mother yelled , yanking my head out of the dirty dish water.

"I'm sorry ! I'm sorry ! I just can't take all of these late nights anymore" I apologized , wiping my face with an old rag.

"It's alright. Why don't you go see Charlie for a bit? I'll clean up here ." She said with a smile. A smile was hard to come by around here , atleast a real one.

"You sure ?"

"I'm sure honey. Now go." She said as I grabbed my jacket. You see , the thing is that it's always been just Charlie and I . Since birth. My birth that is. He's a few months older than I am , though he likes to keep that whole year over my head at every chance he got. We've been as thick as thieves ever since. Without him , I don't think I would've lasted as long as I did. The people around here either have 1 kid - like us - to spare them the heart ache of seeing their children grow up in this place , or they have multiple children to work on their behalf so they didn't have to. So friends were hard to come by , but it didn't bother me since Charlie was really the only friend I needed.

"Snuck out again ?" He said with a chuckle,holding his hand out to me as he pulled me unto the ledge.

"Nope. Fell asleep in the dishwater again." I said embarrassed while we walked across the walls of what used to be an old bell tower .

"You gotta talk to Miss Geladi about all of these extra hours your working down in the pit." He said while I only listened.  No one understood what it was like living here. Around here you had one of two jobs -not that it was your choice anyway- the young men had to work in the factory while the women worked in the pit. The pit was like this dump of a place where we would spend hours on end washing everyone's laundry or mending it otherwise and trust me , it's a lot more work than you would think. Picture a hot boiler room with a bunch of young women - like myself - slaving away with buckets of water , a few rocks to clean with and drenched in sweat as you have no choice but to stay since everyone basically relied on you . No one understood what it was like working in the Pit. No one cared.

"It's not that easy Charlie. And you know it." I said balancing on one leg at the edge.

"But if it's causing you physical exhaustion , don't you think she should give you a break ? You can't work like this ."

"You make it sound so easy. What do you think would happen if even one of us stopped working ?" I said sitting down on the edge of the broken down roof.

"Uh... men would start to walk around dirty and pants- less ?" He said goofing off.

"And you would like that wouldn't you ?" I said laughing while he sat down next to me.

"I would. No restriction.  But I think you would like that even more. " He said lightly shoving me.

"Shut up." I said laughing while our gazes fixed on the gaint wall before us. It's become almost a tradition of ours , like this was our spot. We would sit here for hours and watch the wall ,wondering what lied on the other side of it. Sometimes when we were lucky , we would see bright colours shooting into the sky . They were loud and made my ears hurt , but they were so beautiful. It was nice to escape our reality for a bit. Even if it was only until curfew.

"Have you ever imagined what Faylea might be like ?"

"Yeah . A bunch. " he said shifting so we were now looking at eachother "sometimes I imagine it a jungle with over grown weeds and trees,monkey's everywhere. Or a hot desert with lots of sand and people living in tents. And other times... I just imagine them living like us. Messed up and damaged."

"So you've thought about this a lot then ?" I said laughing while crossing my legs.

"I've had the last 21 years to think about it. But I wouldn't think someone as young as you would understand. "

"Shut up !" I said laughing while shoving him. "It's only a few months and you know it."

"To you maybe. To me it's a very important whole year. " he said teasing as the sirens signaling curfew went off loudly in our ears making my smile drop.

"Walk you home?" He asked getting up.

"Sure."

The thing about living here is that it's nothing like you've ever seen before. We live in a terrible place with even worse conditions. We work until we die there's no way out of this. That's why we're called the place of lost hope , cause by the time you've realized you're stuck here for life , you've abandoned all types of hope. I often imagined what my life would be like if the tables were turned , have that explosion not ruined everything... Would I be happy ? Would I still have met Charlie and be friends ?  Would all of this just be a figment of my imagination? Something you would have nightmares of but wake up from and realise it was never real ?

Everyday here felt like a nightmare. One you would never wake up from. So we had to find joy in the little things , in little ways. In friends, in my looney imagination , in my mother's good night hugs, in the dreams that would forever be held captive in my heart.

That's it ! I've never really written in this genre before. I'm more known for my hopeless romantic stories and teen fiction. So I hope you enjoy what I'm doing here. Try and bare with me as I try to figure my way out around this.  Thank you so much for reading. Remember to leave your thoughts in the comment section below.  Until next time keep howling my wolves ❤🐺