Ani:
I believe my parents are alive, I mean the River wouldn't kill off two of their best soldiers, it's my brother and I that they want. The only completely human produced kids in our society, so we're constantly on the run, running away from the people who are trying to kill us.
These are the thoughts that run through my head as I'm trying to sleep. I stare up at the stars, I bet that many humans lived on this earth many years ago. One star for each one of them, my father and mother get the sun and moon. I can't remember the last time I got a full night of sleep. I'll be naming and tracking stars and by the time I'm done the sun is up. Sometimes I grab a small snack from our food stash, Aaron would be furious if he found out that I do this. But he's the one that gets all the sleep.
"Juliet, James, Jonathan" I mumble under my breath. I think of names for the stars for each letter, tonight it's J and tomorrow night I will assign these names to stars.
The sun's rising now, I close my notebook, lie back, and enjoy that sweet sun on my face. Aaron's waking up now, he doesn't bother to 'wake me up' as he goes out for the day. I feel bad that he has to do all the work for us, but he insists on being the only one to go out.
As soon as Aaron leaves I start packing my bag up, sometimes Aaron starts coughing really badly at random. I have to go into the town to get him some medicine. However that means bypassing the robot guards. They are deadly. If they spot you breaking the law in any shape or form they will kill you on the spot no mercy. I've seen people beg for their lives just to be shot in the head. Children have to watch their mothers and fathers die and they are left to fend for themselves on the streets.
I spot the specialist of this small town. He's the one I get all of Aaron's medicine from. A robot guard walks up to me.
"ID?" It says in that staticy tone they all are programmed to use.
I pull a small cloth out of my bag and hold it up to it's scanner, it's an ID I stole from a kid my age a few years back.
"All clear"
I salute the guard and walk over to the specialists office. I slip some medicine into my bag and start running. But before I can get too far a guard grabs my arm. I scream in pain as the metal tightens on my exposed shoulder.
"This is it, Aaron will have to fend for himself" I think as a tear falls down my face.
"Miss, you have been charged with attempting to steal valuable goods the penalty for that is death"
My life flashes before my eyes, but I never feel the hard metal hand of the guard hit me, all I hear is a simple weak "Run" I look down to the ground and see a man, his head is bleeding, but that's all I see before I start running. I hide behind a bush and wait for the people to clear the area no one wants to be around a 'dead' body after all.
I run up to him and try to shake him awake, he slowly sits up, blood dripping out of his mouth. It's Laurens, one of my old friends.
"That was a close one," He gives a dry laugh, "I'm Laurnes by the way" He smiles.
"You could have been killed! Laurens we've known each other for years," I sigh, "What were you thinking!"
"I just wanted to help you beautiful"
He's clearly drunk, that's why he's acting this way. Laurens has always been shy, he would never save me if he was sober. He never calls women beautiful either he's usually too scared to tell anyone he loves them.
I sigh, "Laurens you big dummy. Now let's get you fixed up." I rip off a piece of cloth from my shirt and put it on his wounds. He seems to misinterpret what my getting close to his face means and he kisses me.
"What the hell!"
He laughs and I scoff. "I never should have helped you." He smiles wide.
"We had better get you home Laurens" I help him up and lie him down on a mat in an alley his 'home'
"Oh shit I gotta get home. Aaron's gonna get worried"
I start running home, but by the time I get there, Aaron is already there.
"Where did you go?"
"Uh... I just wanted to hang out with Laurens!"
"Yeah right, tell me the truth Ani"
"That is the truth"
He sighs and puts his head in his hands, "I just want to keep you safe okay? It's a dangerous world out there."
"Yeah, yeah I know" I sit on a ledge.
A wave of pain hits me in the head I fall over. "Not another flashback not now!" The world slowly blurs into our old house, the day the guards found us, I see them come in, take one look and us and strike my parents over the head. Or is it the head? Aaron shakes me awake with tears in his eyes, "ANI, ANI WAKE UP PLEASE!"
"I'm up, I'm up, it was just another flashback it's fine"
"Oh... so you now see that they are dead"
"No, the guards hit them on the shoulder. THEY ARE ALIVE AARON!"
He just sighs and sits down by the fire.
