Chapter 6

My brother never did come back to talk to me, which is all the better because I think that if he had, I wouldn’t have listened. For the next little while my brother and I barely even made eye contact, much less speak to one another. If there was something that was needed to be said, or there was something I needed to do, J would tell me. The next morning we made last minute arrangements around the hole. We were all nervous. Even if this wasn’t a trial and error examination, it was still our first group of teens coming to stay with us and it was nerve racking enough. Nine still remained the most calm of all five of us, which was good since she was the one who was going to pick the new teens up.
At lunch we ate in silence. No one needed to say anything. We all knew about what was happening that day and we all knew what was expected. In a way we were all overly excited as well. Imagine what would soon be starting. As I sat there picking at my undercooked lunch I remembered what Nine had told me the night before.
“None of these kids have been forced to come. They’re all volunteering.”
“How did they find out?” I asked curiously “I mean about our…um…cause?”
Nine beamed.
“Where do you think I go in the afternoon?” When I thought about it, I never saw much of her in the late afternoon. I’d never realized it since I had so much work to do. “I stand out side schools. I listen to conversation and offer them an alternative to life.” I’ll never fully understand how she did it, but I never questioned Nine about it again.
“Ok, guys.” Nine stood up. We all followed her lead and put down our utensils. “I’m going now.” Blink reached over and gave Nine a small pat on the shoulder, while J and C each smiled in reassurance. I’m not sure what we were all reassuring her about. It wasn’t as though there was anything that could have happened at the time. She didn’t need confidence, she had enough of that. But there was something about today that was special.
After Nine had left the rest of us sat back in silence.
“Go get the radio J.” My brother stroked his hair.
“We have a radio?” I asked in shock.
“How else do you think we get news from the surface?”
I shrugged.
“Can we listen to music?” I asked shyly.
The boys eyed each other for a moment until C shrugged and nodded. Blink tuned in.
“This is DJ X on your favorite station K-Z. Here we are sending you songs of today.” I smiled at my brother for the first time in awhile. “Now here we are with “Love what I love.”” I got off the bench in excitement.
“This is my favorite song.” I laughed and began to do something I hadn’t done in a long time. I began to dance. It started off as moving my feet and swaying my hips. Then pretty soon I started to turn around the room spinning, jumping and at one point I even grabbed C and started dancing with him. In a short time I got all three of them to dance with me. We laughed and even sang along to each song that came on. We didn’t stop dancing until Nine stood in the doorway eying us angrily.
“Irresponsible or immature? I can’t decide.” She huffed. C shrugged as J shut off the radio. Blink brushed his hair and I smoothed out the creases in my uniform. “Twenty five of them turned out.” She said. “Ready to greet them?” No one answered her. Instead we followed her out to the Open hall in a single file line. We went on the stage and sat on the chairs that we had arranged. Sitting up there I over looked the teenagers. It seemed to me that there were way more the twenty-five of them. They were all different ages and cultures. Each from different backgrounds, lifestyles and stereotypes. There were only a few that really stood out though. This was a young guy that was sitting in the very back. He didn’t look very tall but I think the reason that he sat in there back was because he had a very tall green Mohawk sitting on his head. Another very noticeable was the only black girl that sat to the far left in the middle row. She wore a dress that was flower printed accompanied by butterflies and rainbows. Not to mention her very large Afro that made I difficult to see the boy sitting behind her.
It was almost as though each group was examining the other. No one spoke or even moved. Finally, Blink stood up and walked over to the podium. He flipped his hair back from his face and smiled at the teens that were facing him. They shifted uncomfortably in their seats as he cleared his throat.
“Hello.” His voice boomed the exact same way as it had on my first day. Memories ran through my mind of my first day in this room. I looked around eyeing the ceiling and walls. C nudged me and motioned for me to pay attention. “My name is Blink,” he continued “I am a member of the council. The council is in charge of what you see around you. Your meals, your clothing, your beds…EVERYTHING. Please keep in mind that you are here voluntarily. At this point in time you are not aloud to leave.” A few people fidgeted in their seats and eyed each other suspiciously. You could tell that they had been warned in advance. They clearly didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. “You are sitting in the living room of your new home.” My brother continued after a reflective pause “More frequently known as the Open Hall. Here is where meetings, preparations, activities, and meals will be. Please feel free to ask any questions at the end of speeches. No doubt many things are running through your mind.” He focused his attention on a caucasian girl who was sitting in the front row wearing a green sweater. She had her hand raised and was now slowly lowering it as my brother spoke again. “Now you will meet the other members of the counsel.” He motioned behind him and at the group of us. Nine slowly stood up in her intimidating manner. I’m not sure if she was doing it on purpose but she seemed to be very cold faced.
“Just like the day came.” I laughed to myself covering it up with a short cough. This was exactly like the first day I’d come.
“My name is 9.” She waited for her voice to have an effect on her audience. When she saw them all giving her they’re up most attention, she continued. “I am here to inform you that although we do press on you that you are free to go wherever you please, you may not go to the surface without consent from one or more members of the counsel. This won’t be very often.” As the all Mohawk kid grinned at his friend next to him. His grin was gone almost as instantaneously as it had arrived. “Each opening that you see around you goes around your new home. Listen up so that you won’t get lost. The opening behind me is the opening for the counsel’s quarters. No one may enter through that opening unless they are council, which you are not! Over to the left of me is where the rest of the dormitories are for the rest of you. Your quarters will be given to you shortly. Behind you is another opening. This leads you to the training area where you will attend courses. These courses consist of various activities that will benefit you in the near future through strength, skill and military training. The door to your right is the kitchen where you will go to pick up your meals. You will not be served. It is up to you to put on your plate the required amount, no more no less. Finally, the door that you entered through…no doubt you saw the other two tunnels. The one to the left is the infirmary; the one to the left is the “ground”. Here is where we hold those who do not find our rules fit to obey.” She emphasized obey so strongly that fear could be seen in a few of the kid’s eyes. “Clear?” She kids shifted around a bit, a few nodded slowly “Now you will meet J.”
J, who was sitting next to me, was shaking. Clearly he wasn’t ready for this. He hid his stage fright well though. This continued on for a while. The speech dragged on as he explained about the formula and the plans for the future. I must admit that the speech had improved from when I’d last heard it. He sounded so convincing tat each of the 15 people sitting in front of him were clearly listening to him. I smiled. I don’t know why, but I did.
At the end of the briefing, we all stood up and let them ask questions. Surprisingly enough there weren’t very many. I was surprised. There was only one question that was extraordinary.
“How do we know we can trust you? What if it all goes to waste?”
Blink stepped forward. “What makes you think up there is any different?” No one spoke for a bit. He motioned for me to step forward. “Follow Quandary.” I swiveled my head towards him. What had he just called me? I decided it was best to get on with what I was doing. I would talk about it later with him. The fact that he had nick named me without my consent. “She will show you to your rooms.”
I motioned for them to follow me. I jumped off the podium in front of them discovering right then that the majority of them were taller then me. Especially the boys. I pretended I didn’t notice and tried my best to act like Nine, the only role model I had around me at the time.
I pulled out of my pocket a list that Nine had given me earlier.
“This is a list,” she had said “Of all the people that are coming down today. Here are the rooms that they are in.” She put the room numbers next to their names. “Bring them there and give them their uniforms and schedules.”
I went to the entrance of the dormitories and stood for a moment letting them take in the surroundings. They seemed as shocked as I was when I first saw the corridor.
“Will you look at that?” whispered one scruffy looking boy I hadn’t noticed before.
“This is incredible!” another said.
“Ok guys,” I interrupted. All their eyes were on me. This was something that I hadn’t felt in a long time. The last time I’d had more the five pairs of eyes on me was when I gave a class presentation about the solar system to my grade eight-science class. I sighed at the memory and snapped back in to the present. “I’m going to call out you name and I’m going to ask you that come here next to me. Joshua.” The tallest boy with the Mohawk pushed his way out of the back and came next to me. He looked down at me. I could have sworn he gave me a threatening look but I paid no attention. I pointed to the first door on the left. “That’s your room Joshua.” He walked over to the door and stood right in front of it and said nothing. All eyes were now on him. I smiled. I knew why he wasn’t going in that room. “Is there a problem?” I scoffed. He didn’t answer. He touched the door gently and titled his head to the side. Finally he turned around to face me. “I don’t know how to open it.” I smiled and put the paper back in my pocket. I strode over to the door and he stepped out of my way.
“Now watch me.” I smiled “This is the most important thing you need to learn.” I pushed the latch and opened the door very slightly, before slamming in shut quickly. I moved out of the way as Joshua moved up to the door and tried to repeat what I’d just done. He succeeded, but only just. The rest of them clapped. I laughed as Joshua grinned and took a bow.
After everyone had been assigned to their rooms and I’d pointed out everything about their rooms, including the faucet for drinking and bathing, books and how to get around I went outside the corridor and went into an over sized crate that I’d left there some days before. Inside were schedules and uniforms. I pulled as many out that I could carry and told them to give me every piece of clothing that they were wearing and give them to me.
“Why?” The girl with the green sweater asked fiddling with her sleeves. I gave her a wide grin.
“Parachutes.”

sorry

Because my interent hasn't been working for some time, i havn't been able to up date this page. That doesn't mean i stopped writing. I kept writing, but i jumped around and wrote chapter 8, 15, 16, 17, and 25...lol...im presently writing chapter 6...

Chapter 5

In the beginning, C was probably the reason I’d stayed for more then one night in that underground grotto. After my first and last emotional breakdown, I shook back to life, and for some reason I had a strong impulse to stay. To this day I still don’t have a perfect idea of what drove that impulse. I do know that at the time there seemed to be more pros then cons of staying the going back to the life that I always felt was so unsatisfying. So when I got up the next morning I almost completely erased any thought of my parents. I will tell you that this is a very difficult thing to do. And I won’t lie; it wasn’t the last time I cried. I did sometimes shed a few tears in the dead of night. But after three months of brutal training and hard physical labor, I barely gave them a second thought, and eventually I almost completely forgot what they looked like. When I’d forgotten their voices, it was then that I found that I couldn’t cry over their memory. Like a lost pet, they had come in and out of life as though nothing had happened.
I never did move out of Nine’s room. There was never time enough to find a new place and then be bothered to move any of my belongings. It was too much trouble in our busy schedules. Even Nine, though sometimes would grumble about not being able to have her own area, would admit that it wasn’t something that was worth doing, or at least didn’t take priority over the many other odd jobs that we had to do. When I say odd jobs I mean of course that this would include anything from stacking boxes, making more tables and setting up dormitories. Basically I had to do whatever I was told to do throughout my stay there.I’d already adjusted to life. I had to adjust to my new way of life fast. I had no choice science the council over worked it. When I look back on it, I think that it was there way to help me get over my parents. They planned to work me so much I wouldn’t have time to miss my old life. I have to honestly say that it worked.
“Come here.” Said J one afternoon after I’d finished moving a number of food carts to the kitchens. I put down the box of what smelled like some sort of fresh meat. I rubbed my hands on my already dirt stained pants and walked over to him.
“Ya?” I walked over to him limping slightly. I knew he was going to dump a new workload on me. That was his job. To find harder things for me to do. He assigned all my jobs.
“Here.” He stepped aside revealing large wooden crates that were staked behind him. I didn’t understand how I hadn’t noticed them before.
“Let me guess,” I crossed my arms against my chest and fell back a step or two “You want me to move these.”
“Close…”he said throwing a large metal crow bar a my head. I was surprised that I caught it with ease. “But you also have to open them and unpack ‘em.” I wanted to smash his skull in with the crowbar he’d just thrown at me; instead I just grumpily marched past him towards the boxes. He practically leapt in front of me in protest.
“What are you doing?” He yelled.
“What you asked me to.”
“I didn’t even tell you where to go!” I rolled my eyes. He grabbed my free hand and pulled me in the direction of the dormitories. I’d never been there before. Curiosity began to over come me like a cool ocean wave.
The second that we walked through the entrance I gasped. I actually stopped and stared. I’d never seen a longer corridor in my entire life. It stretched further then my eye could see. Every 5 meters was a new door, like the ones of the council quarters, large, iron and rusted. J didn’t seem to notice face at all. He ignored it completely. He opened the first door on the right and waited for me to go in ahead of him. It took me awhile to take my eyes away from this dazzling sight but I managed to pull away and climb through the entryway. I had another shock. Inside that room was eight beds. Four bunk beds all lined up next to each other. From the top of the ceiling hung a small light bulb, but it seemed to illuminate the room quite well. There were four shelves and a few boxes and shelves dotted around the room. There was also, like in my room, a faucet that crawled up the wall almost 5 feet. Underneath was a bucket. Next to it four cups stood up right next to the wall. Each bunk had no sheet and no pillow, but the matrices looked a hundred times more comfortable then what I slept on.
“Now,” said J roughly bringing me back to reality “Here is your job. In each box there is a bed sheet, blanket and pillow. Each bed gets one of each.”
I turned my head slowly so that I was staring directly in to his face.
“What?”
“Better get started. You only have three days.” He hit my arm as though to encourage me to get started.
“You have to be joking!” I yelled at him as he left. He pretended that he hadn’t heard me. “Every room?”
“All the way down and back up again.” His voice echoed.
“I can’t believe this.” I moaned to myself. I sulked back up to the crates and tried to lift on. It was only when I felt the scourging pain in my lower back that I realized that it was to heavy for me to lift. I rushed over to the kitchens to grab a cart to push the boxes. Upon reaching the entranceway to the kitchen I stopped at the door where the lift was leaning against the wall.
“Her name and picture has been posted everywhere around that area, Blink. It was her old school.” I could clearly make out Nine’s voice from inside the kitchen. I stopped and placed my self outside the door so that I would be able to clearly listen to her every word.
“I believe you, I really do, but you can’t keep her cooped up here for over a year. It doesn’t make sense to do that.” I over heard my brother protest.
“How do you expect everyone else to make it through the year? The other recruits.” Nine protested bitterly.
“Look I…”
“I understand that she’s your sister, and I won’t lie that I’m becoming attached to her as well, but let’s think realistically…are you really going to let all this go to waste because your little sister needs some fresh air? Come on Blink. You know better.”
There was a long pause.
“What if she hid well?”
“For God’s sake Blink! Your smarter then this!” I heard her pace around a bit. “This is exactly why we didn’t want to bring her down in the first place. Because you’d get attached to her like a pet dog. Shit. What are you trying to do?”
“I’m just trying to look out for a little girl with no parents, no home or a future. I dragged her unjustly out of her bed and…”
“Blink get used to it. What do you think this is? You expect to be a foster father to over a thousand kids in the same position as Tylene?”
“Sort of I guess. This is there new home after all.”
“Look Blink. I respect you, admire you and heck…I may even love you. But you don’t know what the fuck your talking about. I think your sister’s presence has made you forget why we’re here. What we’re doing. What we’re trying to accomplish. Snap out of it.”
I sensed that the conversation was about to come to an abrupt end so I began to move slowly back towards the lift. I lifted the handlebars and began to push it quietly but as fast as I could. I knew that there was no point in my being caught. I knew what I had to do. Continue my job and pretend that I never heard anything.

It took me more then three days to finish all those beds. In fact it took me over a week. It wasn’t just one job that I had to do; I also had to pack food that Nine had prepared. There were containers and containers of different kinds of foods. I never bothered to ask what was in them. I knew better then that. I stood back and let what needed to be done, be done. That was the mentality in this place. I sensed it as well was told it a number of times. When I finished that job of dressing the dormitory beds, I was informed that I was just in time.
“Ok guys. Here we go. Tomorrow, I’m bringing in the first batch of kids. Thirty-Two of them, if all goes well. There can’t be any mistakes. This isn’t a trial and error test. This is it. We are officially in the revolution after the first recruits arrive.” Nine had made this speech over dinner. I was the only one surprised to see that people were already coming.
“So soon?” I inquired.
“Tylene, you’ve been here for only about 3 months. We’ve been here for almost 3 years. It’s not so soon anymore.” I nodded pretending I understood. In reality I was just agreeing so as not to start an argument. “Now if you don’t mid, I’m going to turn in early today. I’ll be up all night tomorrow.” With that she walked out of the room. There was an awkward pause as we all shifted in our seats trying to finish our foods, without talking. It didn’t work. Blink looked up at me and tried to give an encouraging smile.
“Tylene.” He began to set aside his half eaten dinner. The council has been talking about it for awhile and we were thinking that you’d be more comfortable set up in the dormitories with the rest of the recruits.” These words strangled me, making me choke on a piece of food.
“You what?” I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard.
“Well, I mean, you have been a tremendous help and all, but you are like a loose thread of sweater. You belong on the sweater but you have to let go eventually right?”
“Sure…” I started. I pushed my dinner plate out of my way. “I suppose you may as well just cut it off with a pair of rusty scissors rather then just fix it back in to place.” He opened his mouth to say something but quickly shut it. “Use a better metaphor next time. And specify whether or not you’re asking me or ordering me to do something. You’re getting the two mixed up.” I stood up and began to walk to the door. I reached for the handle when I heard a loud noise from behind me. Someone had just hit the table with their fist hard. It couldn’t be anyone else but C. I turned around and to my surprise I saw my brother standing up, hunched over in anger. He was furious. His temple was throbbing and he was staring at me with such an intent look. My heart stopped for a moment.
“Sit…back…down…”he pointed back at my bench. J looked as though he wanted to run while C had no expression what so ever. I obeyed. I sat down. But I wasn’t scared. I felt my anger sweep over me. I pouted and waited for him to talk. For a while we just glared at each other. Finally he spoke,
“Tylene,” he sounded a lot calmer now “It’s for the best. You haven’t even had the proper training.”
“I’m sorry.” I spat sarcastically “Was I asked? Was I given a choice between 3 months of back breaking labor or training?” He licked his lips and turned away. I swear it felt that he wanted to hit me.
“Tylene!” he yelled above me. “Shut up. Look you have a choice here. We are in power. We are in charge of you. If you don’t like the arrangement then you can…”
“What leave? Sure…you never even gave me a choice to come.” He sighed. I knew that I’d just hit a sensitive spot. I didn’t care. Why would I? What was he trying to do?
“Just…go…I’ll talk to you later.”
I pushed back the bench and sprinted for the door. I didn’t turn around to look at their faces. I ran to my room.

Chapter 4

I awoke the next morning to a heavy dripping noise. My eyes were closed, but it took me less then a moment to realize where I was. I opened my eyes and sat up fast, narrowly missing the cavernous ceiling above me. I looked around the small cave. There wasn’t much to look at. I first caught sight of the tap on the far side of the room; this is where I’d heard the dripping. A cot sat on the far side of the room, and next to it was a small shelf with a candle, a large black book and a pen. On the other side of the room was a bookshelf with a number of books, whose titles I couldn’t read from so high up. High up? I gasped almost forgetting where I had slept. I was on a very narrow ledge, a hole in the wall pretty much. I was thrown a number of fabric pieces as a blanket, but I’d had no matrices, so it wasn’t a very comfortable sleep. I grumbled trying to get out of my “bed” and slipped my bare feet on the floor…the first mistake I made in my new home.
I gave a small cry as my feet hit the floor. I danced around a bit, trying to find somewhere to get off the floor, before jumping back into my bed once again. I held my toes, trying to warm them. It was at that moment that the heavy metal door scraped open, with nine standing in the doorway, looking at me in amusement.
“So you stepped on the floor huh?” she scoffed. I didn’t answer. She threw me the same pair of boots I’d worn the night before. “Your clothes are over there.” She pointed to the far side of the room next to the tap where sat a chair. On it lay the clothes from the night before. She closed the door, and again I was left alone. I shoved the boots on, once again observing that they did not belong to me. I trampled over the chair and looked at the clothes. Because of all the excitement of yesterday, I hadn’t realized the clothes I was wearing. I lifted the one-piece suit. It was almost exactly what nine was wearing. A dark green, almost gray, jump suit, that clung to my skin. I pulled it on, and zipped up the front carefully so that it wouldn’t pinch me. Next to it was a bandana. I shrugged not quite sure what I was supposed to do with it so I just held it and walked towards the door. It was then I realized that I didn’t know how to open it. I looked around for a latch like the outside of the door, not finding one, I began to panic and frantically began to feel my way around, flailing my arms around aimlessly as though I were newly blind. Fortunately for me the door opened again and nine once again looked at me as though I were a very revolting yet amusing creature.
“Once your finished, would you like to meet us in the council room?” I blushed and followed her to the room across the way. Inside sat, the three boys who stood up almost at the exact moment that we walked in. I found this tremendously amusing, but I didn’t say anything knowing instinctively that it would be incredibly ignorant of me to say anything, never mind laugh. When I’d reached my seat, everyone was already getting seated again. The four of them stared at me, none of them saying anything to me. I felt awkward, but I pretended to be engrossed in the surroundings. Finally, my brother asked
“Did you sleep well?” I nodded. He smiled and eagerly began to start up a conversation with the others.
“Today,” he started off “I have to get supplies. Who wants to come with me?” No one answered so I voluntarily raised my arm. Nine shook her head and protested.
“People will be looking for your sister.” She pointed out “You said yourself that she was a daddy’s little girl. Having your daughter randomly go missing in the middle of the night isn’t something that parents can dismiss so easily. I know.” There was a bit of arguing, but finally it was decided that Blink and Nine would go up top to get whatever was needed. I was to stay down here with J and C. At this point I became a bit upset at the fact that no one was taking my opinion into account nor were they letting me make my own decisions. From the moment I’d gotten down here there was nothing but sit here and do that. I sighed and looked down at my hands only then realized that I was in dire need of a good shower. J pushed over a bowl of what looked like cottage cheese dotted with lettuce leaves here and there. I was disgusted and almost afraid to ask what it really was. Seeing my face, my brother laughed and said “It’s really not half bad. Trust me. I made it.” In normal circumstances I wouldn’t have touched the stuff, though I knew that if I pushed it away one of two things would happen. Nine (who at this point was glaring across the table at me waiting for me to put the spoon in my mouth) would probably take the spoon and shove it down my throat or I wouldn’t get anything to eat for a good while. I slowly pushed my spoon into the goop and lifted it to my mouth. I held my breath and put it in my mouth. What I tasted was surprisingly, as my brother had put it, was not half bad. It tasted like salty porridge, and yet there was something sweet about it.
“It has everything in it.” Smiled Blink “Vitamins, protein, energy, and carbs.” I wasn’t listening. I was hungrier then I thought, and was wolfing it all down my throat.
“Its settled then,” Nine said after I’d finished. I moved my unbrushed hair out of my face and sat up straight. “Come on Blink, we want to get back before…” She stopped abruptly and looked at me. She didn’t continue, but the rest of the council seemed to know what she was talking about.
“And me?” I asked, “What’ll I do?”
“You,” began nine “Will stay here, help clean, wash up (cause you smell like a wet dog, and most importantly stay out of C and J’s way.” I knew that she was going to say something uncouth at me, so I just turned away.
There was an awkward pause between the boys as Nine stood up and began walking towards the door. I stood up to follow but made sure that there was a good distance between Nine and I. I didn’t need to give her another excuse to snap at me. I stood back and let everyone go ahead of me. For some reason C wouldn’t move until I went in front of him.
“Great.” I thought, “All I need is the kid who can’t talk not trust me.” I moved in front of him and he quickly followed closing the door behind us. When I stepped out my brother had taken J to the side and was whispering some instructions to him. I moved towards Nine’s room hoping that maybe I’d be able to sit there until I was really needed.
“Hey sweetie!” Nine yelled at me “Didn’t I tell you that you don’t go in there anymore.” I stopped in my tracks, and backed away slowly as though Nine were a wolf guarding her territory.
“Hey Nine.” My brother suddenly spoke up “Cut it out.” Nine scowled at my brother and he replied back with an almost threatening look. Nine backed away from the door and threw her arms up in frustration. I went to the door and hit the latch. I heard a click but the door didn’t move. I let go of the lever and began to push the door with both hands, but it was too heavy. Embarrassed I pushed harder, which made me look ridiculous as my feet began to slide back. I could hear Nine laughing behind me, but I took no notice, this made me push harder. My shoulders started to hurt, and my calves began to burn. Then I felt a comforting hand on my shoulder. I looked behind me and C was standing over me. He gently pushed me to the side and motioned for me to watch him. He took hold of the lever and yanked it to the right. Instead of letting go of the lever like I had he continued to hold it and he pushed, and almost as though it were no effort to him what so ever, the door opened.
“Thank you…” I said walking towards the door. Suddenly he slammed the door shut. I blinked back tears. Was he making fun of me too? But he gave me a reassuring smile, held out an open hand to the door and took a step back. I understood, he wanted me to try. I stood in front of the door and held the lever in both hands. Once again I heard the click. I pushed the door with one hand on the lever and the other on the door itself. I gasped as the door slid open making a loud crunching noise, and I smiled up at C and grinned. He reached out and squeezed my shoulder as though proud of me.
I turned around to find that the council was looking at me encouragingly, including Nine, who was actually smiling.
I turned and walke intot eh door, hearing the door slma behind me. I sat down on my bed and pulled off my boots. I just sat there staring down at the floor and for the first time since I’d arrived I began to think of my parents. What were they thinking right now?
“They’ve probably called the police by now.” I thought to myself and lay down slowly. “Lost child posters are probably all around the city. My friends. What will they think? They probably think I’ve run away.” I began to cry silently to myself picturing my parents crying together, over my picture. Just thinking of my mother crying made me cry harder. My best friend Samara was probably in hysterics crying also, and doing everything she could to find me. I clutched the blanket between my fists as tight as I could, squeezing tighter and tighter as each memory of my life drifted in and out of my head, flooding my mind with emotions.
The sound of the door opening, made me freeze and I lay perfectly still, pretending to be a sleep. I could hear someone walking towards me slowly, then it on the edge of my bed. I wanted so badly to turn around and see who it was but I didn’t want whoever it was to see my tears. I lay perfectly still, until a familiar hand touched my shoulder. I jumped in surprise and turned over, looking into C’s face. He smiled down at me. I could feel a tear drip down my cheek, and for some reason, all I could do was cry. I sat up and he held me. Rocking me back and fourth as I sobbed. As much as I felt so helpless, I din't feel as alone as I had when I'd first arrived.

Chapter 5

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“You are sitting in the living room of your new home.” My brother continued “More frequently known as the Open Hall. Here is where meetings, preparations, activities, and meals will be.” He paused for a moment and looked down at me. I was expressionless. “Now you will meet the other members of the counsel.” He motioned behind him and the girl stood up.
“My name is 9.” She said confidently. “I am here to inform you that although we do press on you that you are free to go wherever you please, you may not go to the surface without consent from one or more members of the counsel. Each opening that you see around you goes around your new home. Listen up so that you won’t get lost. The opening behind me is the opening for the counsel’s quarters. No one may enter through that opening unless they are council. Over to the left of me is where the rest of the dormitories are for the rest of you. Behind you is another opening. This leads you to the training area where you will attend courses. These courses consist of various activities that will benefit you in the near future. The door to your right is the kitchen where you will go to pick up your meals. You will not be served. It is up to you to put on your plate the required amount, no more no less. Finally, the door that you entered through…no doubt you saw the other two tunnels. The one to the left is the infirmary; the one to the left is the “ground”. Here is where we hold those who do not find our rules fit to obey. Clear?” I nodded. Not because I understood, but because I knew that there was really nothing else for me to do. “Now you will meet J.” She took two steps backwards and one of the boys stood up. He walked over to the front of the platform and nodded, almost as though he was greeting me for the first time (which in fact it was since I hadn’t had the pleasure of receiving a proper introduction when I’d first seen him).
“I’m J as you’ve just been told. Doubtless you have some idea why you are here. For those of you who don’t I will give you a brief sum up.” He paused, closed his eyes, took a deep breath and began “We are the start of a great rebellion. We are the cream of society. We are the future. Many adults have said this. We are at an age where we can decide for ourselves. We have a better understanding of the world then adults do. We wish to take a stand. This is our stand. By recruiting as many adolescents as possible we will create war. This war will spread across North America and then spread to the rest of the world. By doing this, the world will be reborn and we, the teenagers will create a perfect world of understanding and reason.” I coughed and raised my hand slowly. I knew that this speech was planned and most probably rehearsed but I needed to ask a question.
“Um…I’m sorry to interrupt.” I said with a forced smile “But um…what happens when we grow up? Like, we only have…what…a few years left of our adolescent years.” Then he did something that I hadn’t expected. He grinned and his eyes flashed.
“Why I was just coming to that.” He turned to look at the other three “You see, a few years ago, when I was still in school, I found that by killing certain cells and hormones in the body, you could prolong someone’s physical appearance and mind set for quite a long time. They would look the same. Stay the same way for quite awhile. So I made the “antidote.” A liquid so powerful it could prolong someone lifetime at the age that the drink it at.” He smiled. I wasn’t sure what he was expecting my reaction to be, but I’m quite certain that it wasn’t what I’d done. I stood up quite suddenly and burst out
“How do you know it works? It would be a horrible waste to spend time making and organizing all this when it doesn’t even work.”
“Do you think we would do all this if we weren’t sure?!” he yelled so forcefully that I sat back down quickly. “It’s been tested.” He turned around and winked at the others. They all chuckled to each other as though this were something incredibly funny. I however found this whole thing stupid, interesting but stupid. I let the issue lie. “Now then,” he smiled as though I’d said nothing “tomorrow night you will take the antidote.” I was about to protest but something held me back. A feeling I had. I nodded and stared down at the ground. “It’s settled then.” J announced “Tomorrow night we will have our first welcoming ceremony. Now then, that should conclude the introduction for tonight. We shall all get some rest and…”
“Wait.” I interrupted again “Whose he? Why didn’t he speak.” I pointed to the second boy. He looked flustered and a bit embarrassed but continued to smile. There was a long pause and nine finally spoke up
“This is C. He doesn’t speak.”
“But wh…” I began.
“It is time to get rest. We will be carrying in new recruits starting the day after tomorrow. There is a lot to be done until that time.” We all stood up and gathered at the base of the stone stage. I realized something that for a moment made me nervous.
“Um…guys?” they each looked at me with quizzical looks, probably waiting to here a contradiction. However this is not what I gave them. “Um…where exactly do I sleep?”
They each looked at each other. They seemed as confused as I was. Apparently this was a detail they’d over looked. The huddled together a way from me. I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I could hear my brother arguing with nine. C was nodding and shaking his head furiously. He was also making livid hand gestures towards the two of them obviously trying to get a point across. J was also trying to justify a point, and trying to reason with nine. In the end, everybody looked pleased except for nine. They calmly walked towards me and smiled, except for nine who grumpily hunched herself over.
“You’ll sleep with nine for now. Tomorrow we’ll try a figure out where to put you.” My brother said gently placing a hand on my shoulder. Nine didn’t even try to force a smile she made it perfectly clear that she didn’t want me anywhere near her. She waved at me, gesturing for me to follow. Again we walked in a single file. We went through the opening that they’d empathized was the counsel’s rooms. It was another tunnel but it seemed to be much shorter and well lit unlike our entry. It went in about 30 feet and stopped at a massive picture hanging on the wall. It showed the over view of an army standing in front of a tower that was stretching far up in to the sky. The tower was big and black almost implying that doom was near. There was something friendly about the picture though. I had no time to think about it though. There were 3 doors on left of me and 3 doors on the right. They were tall and wide rusted iron doors with a metal latch in the center of each one.
“This,” said my brother enthusiastically “is my room, if you ever need me, knock.” He pointed to the door on my left closest to the opening. J walked over to the following door.
“Mine.”
Finally C, shuffled over to the last door on the left and nodded so low it was almost a bow, remaining perfect eye contact with me.
“There on the far right is our meeting room.” J motioned.
“Those are the bathrooms.” My brother waved a hand at the next door.
Finally we came to the last door on the right closest to the opening of the tunnel. There seemed to be a distinct air of tension between the three boys as Nine glared at me as though I were a disease.
“This,” she practically spat “Is my room. After tonight, you won’t touch this door, you will not come near this door and you will certainly not pass through the door.”
It was the beginning of my relationship with nine.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I yawned. I could feel someone poking me and shaking me. I sat up sleepily and looked at my alarm clock. 3:10am. I looked at the foot of my bed where I could see my brother’s shapely body moving quickly around my bedroom.
“Blink?”
“Shhh!” he hissed. “Hurry, we’re already behind schedule.”
“What?” I was confused but I moved out of bed anyway thinking that it was a better idea then upsetting my brother.
“Where are we going?” He didn’t answer. He threw an outfit at me. I couldn’t see it, but I knew that they weren’t my clothes. They felt rough and heavy. I didn’t want to put them on, but I’d grown up with my brother long enough to know that it wasn’t the smartest thing to piss him off. He turned around to let me change and began to scribble a note to our parents.
“What are we doing?” I repeated, after putting on the last bit of clothing. Still, he said nothing. He finally finished the note and re-read it, mumbling the text to himself.
“Come,” he said “we have to go.”
“But,” I began “mom and dad will worry…”
“They’re your past life, “ Blink interrupted. “You don’t have to worry about them anymore.” My first thought was that I was dreaming, and that I would wake up anymore. Maybe that’s why I followed him down the stairs quietly. He practically threw a pair of heavy black boots at me.
“Here,” he said “put these on.” I squeezed my feet into them and ran after my brother who had already begun to walk without me.
He began to slow down once we reached the sidewalk. When I looked up at his face, he looked serious and fixed on the road ahead. Everything was silent until he said
“Take a good look at our house.” I looked back and stared at it as it as it began to fade in the darkness of the night. “It’s probably going to be a long time till you see it.”
I sighed angrily. He was frustrating me.
“Where are we going, Blink? Tell me now!” I raised my voice to a high whisper.
“To our new home.” He simply said. I stared at his empty face.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“God damn it, while you please speak lower. You’re going to wake up the neighborhood.”
“Well, you’re not telling me anything! Tell me where we’re going.”
“Soon.”
“No!” I yelled “Tell me or…I’ll…sit…right here!” I sat myself on the street.
“Are you crazy?” he looked at me sitting there in the dim light of a street lamp.
“Am I crazy? You’re the one who dragged me out of bed at 3:00 am to go to God-knows-where!”
“Can’t you trust me?” he looked at me.
“Why? For 3 years you’ve been pushing me out of your God-damned life, and now you’re suddenly asking me to trust you? And at 3 in the morning…what’s wrong with you?”
He sighed.
“I know…but…you’ll understand. I didn’t mean to push you away, it’s just that…well…come with me…I’ll explain on the way.”
I looked up at the face that I’d grown up with. I reluctantly got up, feeling a bit stupid and immature for sitting in the street.
We began walking again. My brother began explaining how it had started.
“Ever since I’d become a teenager, I’ve felt so alone. So stupid. I’ve felt as if this world has done nothing for me. My body began to break down. My mind was being wrecked. I couldn’t think straight. Then one day, I realized that it wasn’t the world that was destroying me, it was the people who made this world the way it is.”
“Who exactly?” I cut in.
“The adults.” He said to my surprise “So for about a year, I sat alone, until I met 3 other people who felt the same way. We wanted to start something. Where we could be in an environment where we weren’t alone. Safe. We found a place and hid there for a time. It worked until we realized that we weren’t the only ones who felt the same way. When one of the 3 people made something,” the thought of “the something” made him smile. “Which would keep us from being adults, we knew that we couldn’t keep it to ourselves. We would start a …cult…if that’s what you want to call it.” He looked down at me and smiled.
“Is that where we’re going to your cult? Your club? Your little tree house our something?” I looked at him. I was tired and frustrated. His very brief story made no sense to me. I was sure that he was making fun of me laughing behind the serious expression that was sitting on his face. He frowned at me as if I’d just contradicted him completely.
“This isn’t a joke.” He grasped my shoulders and looked me in the eye. “I’m serious. We’re leaving the adult world. We’re going to our new home.”
“Whatever Blink!” I began to walk back towards my house. I didn’t know what he was talking bout, nor did I really care, after all, I was only thirteen and the idea of leaving your bed at three in the morning to see a tree house seemed like a pretty farfetched idea.
“Where are you going?” he called after me.
“Home!”
“Home is this way!”
“No,” I said turning back to him “You can’t just pull me out of bed to join a…a…club house!”
He ran to me and grabbed me.
“I know you don’t believe a word I’m saying but…I couldn’t tell you earlier. I didn’t even know if we’d be bringing anyone yet. Very last minute. It’s hard to believe, but this is what is going on.”
I looked away from him. As much as I wanted to believe him, I couldn’t.
“Promise me that if I want to leave I can!” I said firmly.
He let go of me and stared down as though trying to figure out a way around my request.
“I can’t promise you that. But I can say that I will do my best to make you want to stay there.”
I knew that he wouldn’t let me go back and that there was no point in fighting. He was a very persistent person. At the same time there was a childish thrill that seemed to be grabbing my hand and eagerly pulling me along with my brother. I finally agreed that I’d go with him. We walked without saying a word to each other. After walking for what seemed like forever he brought me to a very run down part of the city. Every corner seemed to be worse then the last. Garbage lined the sidewalk and the tree and the buildings looked as though they hadn’t been touched in ages. But walking down the deserted street you could tell that their were, in fact, people living here. Some windows were open with curtains blowing outside, and if you looked close enough you could see the faint glow of a television set in one or two of the windows. We finally reached what seemed to be a corner store. For a brief second I thought that we would be going inside, but my brother only motioned for me to follow him behind it. There is always a fear of walking into an alley way. You never know what could be lurking inside the shadows, which could be why I gave a short gasp at the first sign of movement in front of my brother. That’s when I saw them for the first time.
“Your late.” A deep male voice whispered out of the shadows.
“I know.” My brother shot back. He grabbed hold of my arm and squeezed it reassuring me that it would be alright, and then flung me into the darkness of the alley knocking me off my feet.
After regaining my stance, I looked up and saw three figures leaning against the side of the wall. “This is my sister.”
A tall, almost bald girl walked out from the darkness. I could almost feel a difference in the weather as she stared at me with an icy gaze. I refused to show her that I was frightened out of my wits.
“A bit small.” She pointed out to my brother in a rather harsh voice.
“She’s strong though.” He threw back at her. The girl lifted my arm and stared at me up and down.
“She’s fine.” Snapped a male voice, and a young boy, about 15, of medium height, stepped out.
“What do you think C?” asked my brother. Another boy, quite tall also about 15, stepped out and shrugged.
“Fine.” Said the girl “Let’s get moving before someone catches sight of us!” She moved quickly past my brother and bent low to the ground right over a gutter. She inspected the ground, brushing away some dirt. Then, unexpectedly, she lifted the top of the gutter and moved it to the side. She stood back and the two other boys jumped down. I could hear their feet hit the cement down below, but it was anyone’s guess as to how far down it was. At this point I thought that I’d figured out that it was a joke. Even if it wasn’t, the idea of making my jump into a sewer was absurd. I began to laugh.
“You’re joking right? A gutter? You have a cult in a gutter?”
The girl gave me an icy cold stare and then shot a look at my brother.
“What the hell did you tell her? Or more importantly, what DIDN’T you tell her?” she asked him angrily. He shrugged and started to explain, until she cut him off. “Whatever.” Then she looked over at me. “Now look…I’m sorry your brother didn’t tell you about anything, but this is for your own good. I’m not about to argue with you, and I’m certainly not going to stand around here taking crap from people, especially you. So get your ass down there.” She pointed into the gutter. I stood there for a few seconds. This girl was intimidating, but not intimidating enough to make me willingly jump into a sewer. So I just stood there. I didn’t say anything. I didn’t need to. She took a few steps towards me and stood hanging over me. For a second I thought she was going to slap me, but instead, she took my shoulders and moved me forcefully to the edge of the opening. If she let me go, I was sure to fall in. “At this point,” she put calmly “You have two choices: Jump down or I drop you in.”
“I’ll climb down.” I whispered in fear. She let me go away from the gutter and stood back so that I’d have room to get down. I stared down in to the darkness of the gutter. I let my foot go blindly searching for the ladder.
“There isn’t a ladder.” She said. “Only a floor. Jump!” I looked down into the darkness and took a breath. Then I let myself fall.
It didn’t take me long to reach the ground, but when I did, I was unprepared and I fell hard on a concrete floor, making me fall over on to my left arm. My brother and the girl quickly followed. My brother reached up through the hole and slid the gutter top back into place. It became pitch black, it was only then that a strong stench, suddenly smacked me in the face making me feel faint for a second. Suddenly a small light flickered behind me. The girl held a small lantern with a small wax candle inside.
“Follow me!” she said shoving me to the side. I turned quickly to look at my brother. He was avoiding my eyes. Instead of trying to catch his eye, I looked around at what was supposedly my new home. I was in, what looked like a large cement cylindrical tube. I was standing on a narrow cement platform that stretched into the darkness ahead and behind me. It was an abandoned sewage system that was plain to see. There was no water but the remains of old plastics and aluminum bottles lay stranded here and there, along with old pieces of broken down garbage. The stench in the air suggested that it hadn’t been abandoned for long.
We were in a single line. The girl was leading the front of the line, then the two boys, me and then my brother. I stared at my feet as we walked. I was tired. I wished that I were back home in bed without a care in the world, oblivious to what was going on right now.
I couldn’t see anything ahead of me except the back of the boy in front of me. Repeatedly I noticed him turning his head ever so slightly as though I were a time bomb about to explode or an animal following him home. We suddenly turned abruptly down a smaller concrete tube. I felt dizzy.
“This can only be a dream.” I thought to myself as we stopped abruptly at a wall completely covered in graffiti. It seemed to be a large mural of some sort. From the glow of the lantern I could make out a large shape with different shades of blue and white splashed together. I guessed that this was the ocean. It was consuming what I supposed was a city. Large rectangular shapes all compacted together.
“Remember this spot.” The girl said to me. “This is the front door.” She handed the lantern over to the boy behind her and carefully inspected the wall. “Move the light over a bit to the left.” She ordered.
As it was moved to the left I could see more shapes emerging out of the darkness. I saw what seemed to be a swarm of people all gathered together underneath a large tree. The figures were expressionless but somehow you could almost tell that they were anticipating something.
“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” my brother sighed. “C painted it. Didn’t you?” My brother looked over at the boy who was holding the lantern. He grinned. My stomach turned. “It’s like it speaks to you. The painting I mean.” I nodded.
“I found it.” She girl suddenly burst out. I moved a bit closer to see what she was talking about. She was leaning over one of the large painted buildings and pressed one of the windows. There was a small click. Then a large rumble sounded. It echoed all along the cylindrical walls and suddenly the wall slid back quite suddenly, revealing three long corridors, all leading into darkness. We began advancing down the center hall. There was a loud groan and the wall slid closed behind us. I felt a surge of panic run through my body. I had no idea where they were taking me, but wherever it was I wanted light. We soon came to an opening; almost as though we were standing on a cliff over looking a vast territory of land. The candle in the lantern was lifted up to what looked like a large torch hanging off the wall. The candle was lifted out of the box and brought to the tip of the torch, which was dripping wet of something, but not water…I gasped as the flame erupted and a chain of fire began to encircle the entire room. A long piece of string was connecting a circle of torches that hung off of the stonewall.
Pretty soon the whole cave was full of light. Now I could see almost as though I was in a large auditorium. The width was at least the size of a soccer field and the height must have been a little under that. We were standing at one of five entrances all leading down towards a bunch of poorly constructed picnic tables all put together facing a large jagged stone slab. It looked almost as though it were a stage. On this stone slab were four chairs. This was my first look at the Open Hall.
“Home sweet home.” Sighed my brother. They all lead me to a picnic table and smiled down at me. “Sit there,” my brother informed me “and just wait a second.” He had an excited twinkle in his eye. Then all four of them turned around and disappeared behind the large platform. About a minute later all of them appeared on top of the platform, smiling. They sat down, each at an individual seat on the stage and my brother stood up.
“Hello.” My brother’s voice boomed loud and clear, reverberating off of every corner of the cave. “My name is Blink. I am a member of the council. We are your council. We are starting the rebellion.”

Chapter 1

Upon being asked the question “How did the revolution begin?” I have always responded with “When teenagers began to think for themselves.” In all seriousness though, I suppose there isn’t one single event that we could pin point, after all teenagers have been around for millenniums. It was always destined to happen at some point or another. At least that’s what I’ve been taught. If it had to begin with a certain point in time, which all stories must, I would say that it was when the council was formed. The four. In 2016 when J, 9, C and Blink met.
J was in his first fifteen year when the stated out. A genius. Without him, nothing would have happened (although, it is then that I wonder, whether we should curse him for it) The boy had everything that a boy of this age could possibly want, a brain so highly advanced that he could solve equations almost as fast as a calculator, great looks that girls would fall for, an incredible body, and of course wisdom and experience. What he didn’t have was friends or family. His parents constantly neglected him, and so did the majority of the kids around him. This was probably due to the fact that as he seemed like the perfect person, others were intimidated and scared of J and his abilities. Being completely alone until meeting my brother, he began to experiment, I still have no idea what his original idea was but that is unimportant, for with a slip of the formula, he came up with the Antidote. A concoction so powerful and unique that it kept your physical body in it’s same state for at least 20 years.
9 was in her first year of sixteen. Her parents had sent her off to join the militia for a 3 year intensive when she was 14. No wall could hold 9, and a year and a half later she escaped. Not because she wasn’t strong enough for the camp but, in my opinion because it wasn’t strong enough for her.
C was the mute one. His history was probably the saddest out of all of the council, which is why he never spoke. Though he never spoke, he had to be one of the most helpful of the four. He was organized and most of the basic ideas came from him. When you spoke, he had such an intent look, as though you were the most important thing to him and there was nothing else he’d rather be doing then listen to you.
Blink was 17. He wasn’t the appointed leader, but because his views were so well expressed, he automatically came off as the leader. He was brave, good-looking, trustworthy, but most importantly my brother.

My life started off as normal as the next person. My family was normal. We had our differences but they were resolved through unconditional love and patience. My father was a doctor and my mother was a teacher. My older brother was almost 3 years older then I, and although we had our differences, in many ways we shared them. He never hid anything from me. That is until I turned eleven, that’s when everything changed…
One summer day around mid-July, upon passing my brother’s bedroom I heard him shuffling around behind the closed door. As all little sisters are, I was filled with curiosity and decided it was at that moment that I needed to find out was he was up to. The door was slightly opened so my tiny hands pushed the rest of the door open silently so that my brother wouldn’t notice my coming in. Upon opening the door all I found, to my dismay was that I held a black garbage bag in his hands and was putting in a few odds and ends such as lead pencils and spiral notebooks. The bag was already half full with more things that, at the time, I automatically assumed was garbage.
“What are you doing?” I asked, watching my brother jump in alarm.
“Nothing.” He mumbled “Just tiding up my room a bit.” He got up and began pushing me out his bedroom door. I didn’t understand why he would be throwing our perfectly fine pencils but of course I didn’t question it, being only eleven and having other concerns on my mind.
Despite the fact, that I didn’t really care enough to ask about it again, nor tell anyone about the moment, I think that I remembered this moment because it was around this time that my family’s life style became very different. My brother had changed almost instantly, emotionally scaring my parents at every opportunity he had. Constantly yelling at my mother and father, telling them that they had no say in his personal life, and that their lack of interest in his life was disgusting. Constantly telling them that I was in their favor and not he. Even now I wonder if he knew how badly it hurt them.
Sometimes my father dismissed it as a “teenage phase” my brother was going through.
“He’ll get over it soon enough.” He would say over confidently to my mother but there never was a change. My parents tried to do everything they could to change his attitude, but there was something about his mind set, that wouldn’t listen to anything that they had to say. Eventually we would see less and less of my brother. He would be gone for a weekend, and then one week he never came over, claiming that he was at a friend’s house. It was at that point where even my dad had to put his foot down. My brother was punished a number of times, not that any of the retributions actually worked, but the point that I’m trying to emphasize is that my parents tried their best to be good parents. Never had I seen my family so unhappy. There were days when I’d go to bed, trying my best to remember a time when my family was happy. When I couldn’t remember, I’d fall asleep to the sound of tears rolling down my face.

Two years and three months later, October 11th 2020, was the night that I was woken up by my brother and his dream.

Prologue

June 7 2024

It is dark, and yet, I somehow see the sun shining through the gray and haze of the bitter present. Life has been cruel to those who have lived to see these days; I pity the ones who have experienced the worst. I feel their pain. To watch a loved one suffer because they fought for another’s opinion should never have to happen. Dark are the days that have come to pass on us, humble servants of another’s dreams. It is unfair. Then again, who said life was fair? To those reading what will now be nothing more then a documentation of my experiences, I bid you farewell. I have lived through what will be passed down as “Hell’s Nightmare”.

Tomorrow’s Sister
A.K.A
Tylene Bradley