Serenity - Ellie Williams [1]

Four Years Earlier

Ellie: 14
Wren: 13

1 day after the Jackson group moved into the powerplant.

"Mom, can you please hurry?" Wren levels her blue eyes at her mother, who crosses her arms and peers at the girl from a few feet behind her. "Sorry, I'm just excited!" Wren laughs, which makes her mom immediatly grin too.

"Fine, sweetheart, but let's be careful? Maria said they haven't sweeped these woods, and I know you want to see the water." Her mom, Rachel, jogs to join her, brushing brown hair out of her eyes. They walk side by side between the trees, laughing as they joke and push at eachother.

"So what do you think, about the powerplant?" Her mom asks as they reach a clearing with wild flowers. Wren thinks to herself for a minute, bending over to pluck a dandelion from the grass.

"I think it's okay, the beds are kind of uncomfortable." Wren admits, feeling silly for even saying that. It was a step up from sleeping in tents, sure.

"What do you think about traveling?" She asks, leading her daughter back into the trees. Wren looks up at her, an unsure expression on her young face. "I just mean, you haven't seen a whole lot. What if we traveled a little?"

"Travel? Why? I don't want to leave," Wren mumbles, picking at the dandelion in her hands. Her mom sighs, stopping where she is.

"But there's so much to see, I hear Boston is nice and salt lake city is pretty." She argues, but Wren looks at her mom with a sharp expression.

"You want to see the fireflies." She accuses, scowling as she drops the dandelion from her hand. "What the fuck mom? I thought we agreed no more fireflies, their crusade shit is dangerous!"

"Language, young lady." Her mother scolds, shaking her head. "I just think it would be better, we have no idea if this power plant is even safe!"

"Have you told Maria? I bet she's concince you otherwise." Wren looks away, trying not to feel betrayed that her mom tried to lie to her.

"Listen, Wren, I'm the adult and if I say we're going leaving- Maria doesn't have any say in it." Rachel's glare is practically lazers at this point. "And neither do you, to be honest."

"What? You want to just drag me across the states without any say?!" Wren throws her hands up, irrationally angry all the sudden. Maybe it's teenage angst, or maybe she's grown to attached to the Jackson group. "Fuck that!"

Wren turns on her heel, speed walking further into the trees with smoke practically rising from her ears. "She wants to leave? Let's see how she feels when I leave." She mutters angrily, grass crunching under her feet as she stomps through the woods.

"So stupid, why can't she just leave the fireflies behind?" Wren continues to grumble, so deep in though she nearly smacks into a wire fence. For a second, she thinks that she's done a full circle back to Jackson, but then she realizes that it's something else.

"What the-?" She asks, looking up at the building in front of her, tall with multiple sections and as she quiets, she can hear it. "Water!" She shouts with joy, letting out a small holler. She looks left and right, for any sign of a gate.

"There," Wren whispers, looking at where she can see a small clearing and an over grown path. She pushes out of the woods, practically skipping over to the path. Turning to look at the fence, she grins at the gate sitting, unlocked.