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Post by Tiff on Feb 21, 2011 21:26:01 GMT -5
I took his hand and let him lead me into the forest, an alien thing to me as we moved farther into this almost breathing thing, I became terrified, so far we managed to get into the forest without getting caught, but how would I get back into the town? My eyes still hadn't adjusted to the dark by the time he let my hand go, I was still convinced I was in the middle of the dark forest and the lights that I could see were just imprints on my retina of the street lamps back in town. I tried to find his hand again, but he'd already gone away from me. I followed him, but stood hesitantly on the outside of the canvas tent, not sure what answers I would find inside, I hadn't expected this. Finally I walked into the tent and was just about to make my way right behind Alec, when I realized he was standing in the center and I'd decided I wasn't willing to put myself at the center of everyone's attention. It didn't take me long to realize just exactly what type of people were inside, they were members of the Poor class and I clearly didn't belong, not with my white pleated uniform skirt, white long sleeve collared shirt, and navy blue vest with my private schools name stitched across the left side of my chest. I glanced around and my eyes fell on Raina, but soon moved to the person Alec was speaking to, the name, though stirred something inside of me.
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Post by Kelli-wa on Feb 21, 2011 22:34:27 GMT -5
I saw the flap of the tent move a little and finally Alec stepped in. “Delayed? This is like over delayed, I’ve been listening to Ellard describe something from the wonder years when they didn’t change a damn thing for forty minutes,” I said sharply, knowing he didn’t really deserve my hostility, but I didn’t really care. “Interesting... What are you talking about?” I watched as he walked over to Joe and his wife. I was confused, until she walked in, that is. I saw her and I knew who she was, I just couldn’t place her. Can you describe your daughter? Alec had said. “Oh. My. God. Alec! Where did you find her?!” I stood up and walked over to the girl who looked so familiar to her now, although she still stood a few feet away, afraid to get to close to her. I looked her up and down, probably giving her a disgusted look. She was different, and not in a good way. “What the hell did they do to you?” I asked, more to myself than to anyone else.
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Post by kristay on Feb 22, 2011 0:49:58 GMT -5
Raina was starting to bug me; she was a good friend but not only was she complaining about how late I was but she was also butting into the conversation between Joe and I that hadn’t even started yet. I put up a hand to Raina and gave her a threatening glare. Yes we were friends but she was not going to screw this up for me, more importantly she wasn’t going to screw this up for Frankie and her family. Joe looked at me incredulously; I could see the annoyance and pain that flitted through his features. “I’m sorry I asked, but I have to know. When was she taken?” Joe looked at me and then at Frankie and then back at me. “2 years ago; she would have been 17 now.” A chill ran down my spine; I knew for a fact that Frankie Conrad was 17 and that she had an ‘accident’ 2 years ago. I looked at Frankie and then at Joe and his wide. “Joe, you have to tell me honestly… Does this girl look anything like your daughter?” If she wasn’t the one, then I would get into a lot of trouble for bringing her here but if she was? I would have saved a life and probably reunited a family. I looked at Frankie expectantly, wondering if she could find any kind of familiarity in the faces around her. I walked over to Raina and pulled her away from Frankie, a warning hand on her shoulder. “Heel.”, I muttered softly knowing it was not the time for her smart-ass comments. “I’m sorry I was late, okay?”
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Post by Tiff on Feb 22, 2011 1:10:06 GMT -5
I had a small window to look at the guy named Joe before my view and personal space was blocked by Raina. She was still several feet away from me, but I was intimidated, she seemed to recognize me, where she didn't even look remotely familiar to me. I took a step back and wished Alec would come back to me. I could stand my ground in my high school and in social events with my peers who thought they could intimidate me, but Raina was an entirely different story, she was thin, but I wasn't about to misjudge her strength. "I..." I stuttered, not sure how to answer her question, I didn't know I'd changed. I looked down at myself trying to think how I might look different, maybe I had a little more meat on my bones, or I was a bit older. My head was swimming and Alec's rapid fire questions at the man named Joe, made it swim even more. I felt instantly dizzy and wanted to sit as the man stated that his daughter had been taken two years ago and that she would have been seventeen. Coincidence? I mean honestly, wouldn't I know if I'd been taken from my family. Alec removed Raina from my immediate view and I took in the man named Joe and my mouth fell open, he was the man in my dreams, right down to the coveralls, if he were closer, he might smell of dirt and sawdust. "Alec?"
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Post by kristay on Feb 22, 2011 1:16:17 GMT -5
Frankie’s reaction was the catalyst to everything. “Oh my god, it really is her isn’t it.” I turned back to Joe and his wife, urgency in my tone. “Is it her? Is it really her? We need to figure this out Joe and if this was your little girl that was taken.” I wasn’t even sure Joe could hear me because he and his wife stood at the same time, totally ignoring my questions all together to walk up to Frankie, disbelief in their eyes. Maggie, Joe’s wife, had tears swimming in her eyes as she moved closer to Frankie, hesitantly reaching out to touch her face. “Sweetheart, is it really you?” I stayed where I was and watched the scene, amazed at my stupidity. I had seen Frankie Conrad at parties numerous times and I even considered her an acquaintance who I spoke to often and yet I had never connected the dots; I had never realized that she was Joseph and Margaret’s missing daughter. It all seemed so surreal that my head began to ache.
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Post by Tiff on Feb 22, 2011 2:05:53 GMT -5
"Alec." I called for him again as Maggie touched my cheek. "I want to go." I could smell the sawdust and dirt coming off the man and it scared me to no end. There was no way I could be this man and woman's child, they weren't supposed to exist for real, they were supposed to remain figments of my dreams and that was that. I pinched myself just to make sure I wasn't still dreaming, but I wasn't and that dizzying feeling I'd been experiencing was growing stronger and harder to stem off than ever. "Alec, I have to go." I looked the woman deep in her eyes, and shook my head. "I can't be your daughter, I'm sorry." It pained me to tell her this, because the look of longing in her eyes was unbearable, but I just couldn't be, it wasn't possible, I'm well over the age of cognitive memory, I can remember right back to my first day at school. I dashed out of the canvas tent and made it all the way to the last light that led the way, before stopping, falling and crying. I took deep breaths trying to calm myself, trying to gain my courage to just push through the dark shapes and make my way back to the town and forget these people and what I had seen. But my minds eye was filled with jumbled images of my first day at school.
There was Maggie and Joseph holding my hand as we walked down a red dirt road to a crumbling building that could only be the school. I have a set of battered books held together with a leather belt in my tiny arms and a huge smile on my face. As we continue to walk towards this crumbling building I notice a black car creeping near and the books are plucked from my hands and hurriedly placed into a satchel around Joseph's waist. Maggie places her hand on my shoulder and I know it's best not to make scene, we pass the building, and the car passes us, as if what they were looking for had vanished and they continued on. "Take her to the market, Maggie, get a basket for her books and something a five year old would carry inside, don't fret about the cost, her education is more important..."
Then another image, one of Victoria fussing over my uniform, the same white ensemble with the blue vest, black stockings, black shiny shoes, and blue ribbons tied in my noticeably dark auburn hair. She leads me out to our car, drives down the street to the pristine building where my education shall take place and let's me out. "Socialize well sweetums."
I'm a wreck, both memories seem so real, although the excitement, fear, and frustration are all too real in the first one, where as only the images in the second seem right, except for the dark auburn hair, my hair is chestnut, always has been.
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Post by Kelli-wa on Feb 22, 2011 23:41:01 GMT -5
I was shocked when he moved me away from the girl and then crossed my arms and mumbled something about ‘stupid rich kids’ rolling my eyes. I hated it when he acted like I was doing something wrong to him. My jaw locked and I rolled my eyes at him again, “Yeah whatever, I’m telling you, that’s her,” I said, pointing at the girl before crossing my arms again. As Alec asked if it really was her I rolled my eyes, he was so stupid sometimes, “I just told you that, dumbass.” Then the girl went and freaked out, you could tell this was bothering her, stupid girl really thought she’d always been a rich kid. She rolled her eyes, “Really, Alec? You couldn’t have just seen her, took a picture? Now she knows about us, she knows we’re here. Don’t you know what they’ll do?!” I shook my head at him. “Of course not, they won’t do anything to you…”
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Post by kristay on Feb 23, 2011 0:55:23 GMT -5
I didn't notice the panic that seemed to be clear on Frankie's face. "Wait, what's the matter Frankie?" I said as I finally moved towards her but by then she had gone. I watched the tears spill down Maggie's face and I felt nothing but guilt. It really was her and she had left because I didn't introduce them properly; not to mention Raina didn't help whatsoever. Before I could chase after her I turned to Raina, angry at what she had done; I shook her tiny shoulders and glared at her. "I know you have this perpetual incurable disease to spit out word vomit at any given occasion but I beg you Raina. Not just as your friend but as one of your commanders. Shut the fuck up." With that I ran out to chase after the girl who would probably have become the downfall of the resistance because I had been stupid enough to bring her.
I ran as fast as I could; I knew the place better than she did and soon I saw her figure as she raced to get out of the darkness. "Frankie, wait! Please let me explain!" I overtook her and grabbed her by the waist, bringing her down to the forest floor with me. I didn't want to overpower her and possibly hurt her but it seemed like I had no choice because she wasn't going to calm down. "Please, let me explain."
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Post by Tiff on Feb 23, 2011 1:05:29 GMT -5
I couldn't believe I managed to end up on the ground again with this guy, how was I ever going to explain to my mother how I'd managed to soil a brand new white skirt? "Alec, you have a lot of explaining to do." I said, wiping my hands across my tear stained face, despite the gritty sand that they were covered with. "I hope you have a lot of answers for me, because I just don't understand." I managed to crawl out from beneath him, but I couldn't bring myself to run away from him, he was the only person who could help me understand a little and/or get me out of the mess I was in once we got back to the town. "They are the people from my dreams, but that doesn't prove anything." I was hysterical, tears and dirt mixing on my face and making me look like I belonged with those people in the tent. "I'm Frankie Conrad, I don't know how I can possibly have dreams about these people I've never met and it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make SENSE!" I screamed at the treetops, startling something, which made me cling to Alec.
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Post by Kelli-wa on Feb 23, 2011 1:30:22 GMT -5
Alec’s yelling at me agitated me again for some reason, and I knew that was my brother in me, but I couldn’t help it, he was being ridiculous, bringing that girl here. He was threatening the whole operation trusting her. If she told we’d be blown for sure and then what? Nothing for him, he was Alec Wilson, but it meant prison and even death for the rest of us. We weren’t of the same class, the same world, and Alec just didn’t understand that. Even if we didn’t get caught, he was just going to stir up stupid emotions that shouldn’t be stirred. If anything that girl was going to be more of an aid to their force if she was still missing and her parents had something to fight for. I crossed my arms and scowled in his direction, absolutely ridiculous. I looked back at the group of people who’d seen the scene unfold and sighed. “Really? I’m the bad guy. He nearly compromises the whole operation, and I’m the bad guy?” I asked the crowd around me and when I didn’t receive an answer I sighed and shook my head, “Fine, I’ll go find them. Whatever.”
I stepped out of the tent and into the night air in no rush to find them, although they weren’t all that far off. I could hear their not-so-muted conversation and I sighed. I didn’t understand what they had done to her to make her forget, but it must have been something good because this was obviously bothering her. Alec might think he has this all under control, and that I’m crazy, but I’m not about to let him have all the fun. “You’re name isn’t Frankie Conrad, or it hasn’t always been,” I said as I stepped out of the shadows. “Not trying to scare you, just think you should know the truth. I’m Raina, and two years ago you would have known me on a first name basis. We worked at the same station for a year until you disappeared.” I slid my hands into the pockets of my old, torn, stained hoodie. I just knew she would blow me off, I mean, I’m lower than her, she wouldn’t listen to me, especially not while Alec was around, he would be the trustworthy one. As you can probably already tell, though, I’m not the type to sit back and let the rich kid get all the glory.
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Post by kristay on Feb 23, 2011 2:17:22 GMT -5
I sighed an apology and pulled her up gently, offering her a handkerchief I kept in my pocket to wipe at her face. "I know... I would have explained things if you didn't run off... I'm really sorry about Raina; her foot lives in her mouth and I'm pretty sure if she and I had handled it a bit better, we wouldn't even be in this situation." I looked back at the lit camp er had abandoned and shoved my hands into the pockets of my jeans. "We thought they were rumors and myths at first; that the rich were stealing children from the poor and brainwashing them. I honestly didn't believe it until I met Joe and Maggie. I trusted them because they were friends of my old mentor." I smiled a bit. "You might be wondering why someone born in the rich sector would be helping these guys; it was because of Mikhail. I knew that what the rich were doing to these people were more than inhumane. If only you knew Frankie." I shook my head as I remembered the things I saw before. "Anyway; their daughter was taken from them 2 years ago... She would have been 17 by now. I knew you looked familiar Frankie Conrad but I couldn't place it until you told me about those dreams... I think they gave you something; something to forget who you are. Now I can't prove this right now but you said you'd trust me remember?"
Just as I had asked her if she still trusted me, Raina came into the clearing and I sighed in exasperation. She never listened to me; ever. I went over to her, knowing she was just trying to help. "Look, I know you're mad at me but really when are you going to learn to take orders? Besides, I know what you're thinking in that head of yours Rain... You're afraid she's going to tell the rich about this and ruin the entire operation." I waited for that sarcastic expression that seemed to perpetually tattoo itself on Raina's pretty face. "You're afraid they'll fine us." I lowered my voice. "Did you ever stop to think what they would do to me? I, a betrayer of their trust and everything the rich stand for? They wouldn't just kill me Rain; they'd torture me and use me as an example to never cross them. I brought her here, knowing all these things." My eyes were clear with disappointment in her. "I wish you'd trust me in my decisions too."
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Post by Kelli-wa on Feb 23, 2011 7:42:29 GMT -5
There was Alec again trying to calm me down thinking I needed to be spoken to as if I were a child. He was so condecending it wasn't even funny. "Orders?" I asked harshly. "I've got news for you, sir. Inside that tent we're the same class, I'm not poor and you aren't rich. I don't take my orders from you." I was already verging tears now, he knew how much I hated this. He wasn't really helping the situation. As he explained what I was thinking I just opened my eyes a bit wider when I looked at him, "Duh!" I kept my eye on the girl just to make sure she wasn't running again, stupid had left her alone again, or basically alone. "You're the son of one of the richest families behind that wall, they won't do a damn thing, they can't touch you," I mumbled. "Alec, to ruin our compromise is one thing, but bringing her there? You risked everything we've worked for the things my brother died for." My tone was even, but it was apperrent on my face that I was upset and he would know right away. I glanced at the girl again and shook my head, "Please don't tell," I whispered to her, my voice cracking for the first time as I spoke those words of weakness. I glared at Alec again, "Why the hell should I ever trust you? You're a compromise in yourself, I don't know why they let some rich kid join up."
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Post by kristay on Feb 23, 2011 9:52:45 GMT -5
I couldn't help it when my voice rose to a higher degree; I knew that I should have kept calm because I couldn't rely on Raina or Frankie to not freak out anymore. "Who said that class had anything to do with it Rain? I rose through the ranks of this organization all on my own; not because of what I was born with but because they know I show potential and leadership. If you have a problem with that, then take it up with the fucking elders; tell them you can do a much better job than I can." I could feel my hands ball into fists and they shook with the repressed rage that seemed to fill me at her words. She didn't know how I lay awake at night, fearful that they would come and take me; torture me for all to see and then take my life. But every night, no matter how scared I was, I still fell asleep with the thought that gave me peace: that it was worth all the sacrifice because it would make everyone equal again. I wanted to give that to the people I was fighting for, even at the cost of my own life. I lowered my voice again; this time I didn't care if she believed me or not. "You know these people are brutal and heartless; they killed your brother before my very eyes didn't they? They have no mercy, even for their own kind Raina. You should know by now that I'm doing all this for the people; I don't get anything from being here but I still show up every night don't I? I think that should at least stand for something." I watched her beg Frankie not to tell but for some odd reason I wasn't worried. For some very strange, unexplainable reason, I trusted Frankie Conrad to keep the resistance a secret from those who would do it harm.
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Post by Tiff on Feb 23, 2011 22:35:45 GMT -5
I was overwhelmed, how on the earth could I be manipulated into being someone else? What could they have given to me to forget my old life and remember someone's life so vividly? And...if they had this kind of power and technology how come they couldn't figure out a way to stop me from remembering this life they'd taken me from. I now had a new definition for the mysterious Snatcher's my friends were so adamant about joking about. My parents.
I nodded my head at Alec to tell him I trusted him, who else was I going to trust? I watched him and Raina banter back and forth, listened to both of them explain things and argue back and forth. I turned away from the both of them. "I won't tell." I said. I can't, I can't go back to Town, they'd know somehow that I knew. I'm not a good liar. "Alec, what will happen if I don't go back?" I asked, though I wasn't sure my question was heard. "Will it jeopardize Joe, Maggie, and Raina?"
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Post by kristay on Feb 24, 2011 1:45:49 GMT -5
I sighed with relief when I heard Frankie promise not to tell anyone about the resistance. For some reason, I trusted her just as much as she claimed to trust me. I put my hands in my pockets and turned to face her. "I think you have to go back for now-- it's late and they're going to be looking for you." The resistance wasn't prepared for that yet; we weren't prepared for the rich to come down on us and slaughter us. We still had much to plan and prepare and we were so close to our goal but at the same time, still so far from it. I knew that they were impatient for a revolution but I had urged them to take things slow or risk messing it all up.
A small smile tugged at the corners of my lips and I couldn't help but joke even if the situation was dire. "Hey, it would jeopardize me too you know." I shook my head. "I'll take you home and we'll decide on what to do tomorrow. Right now, it's too late and I'm pretty sure we won't be able to think properly in the dark."
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