Layla on the side :)
________________________________________________________
I still hated mornings. Maybe I hate them even more now. Every single morning in 7 AM sharp the big clock in the middle of this region started ringing in the most annoying way and it wouldn't stop for exactly twenty minutes.
This morning I was in surprisingly good mood. I got up ten minutes before 7 so I had time to find my earplugs. I took one of three jeans I owned and my only not ripped t-shirt. Clothes were hard to purchase, even for me.
I took the last apple from so-called kitchen and went out. I was going towards the big clock to meet with Layla like always. The street was already full of people. They were putting things on tables. It was some kind of market; if you have something valuable you can get what you want.
"Thief!" I heard someone yelling. I turned in the direction from which came the noise. Some middle aged man was going after a boy who couldn't have had more than six years. He caught him and gave him a slap. Young boy fell on the ground and started crying.
"That's what you get for stealing!" he yelled and slapped him again.
"Stop it!" I said as I was getting closer. He turned to me and stared.
"Mind your own business"
I clenched my fists and frowned. That man was a representation of the thing I hated the most about region â it turned people merciless.
"What did he take?" I asked calmly.
"He took half of my bread" he said it like it was the sin that you should pay with your life.
"I-I was hungry" the boy spoke.
"Shut it!" the man yelled.
"You got it back, now go" I ordered him.
"Who do you think you are..."
"Stop making the scene and leave"
He turned around and saw people staring at him so he walked away, but not before he gave the boy a look promising punishment. The boy was frozen on the ground. I looked at him for a moment and then tugged his arm to help him get up. His bottom lip was bleeding.
"Come with me", I said as I took his little hand in mine. He looked at me with doubt clear in his eyes, but still didn't back off. He was still scared.
I continued my way to the big clock with him in silence. Layla was already there when we came in her new outfit. She had no more clothes than I, but she managed to make it look new every day.
"What happened now?" she asked looking at the boy.
"Some stupid man started beating him up", I explained.
"And you had to react."
"Exactly"
She rolled her eyes and I gave her what-else-would-you-do look. She shook her head and crouched so she can look the boy in the eyes.
"Where are your parents?" she asked him. He squirmed and looked away. I squeezed his hand slightly and he looked up. I saw Layla's gaze soften up.
"They are gone", he said quietly, "aliens took them."
"So you were by yourself all this time?" I asked surprised and angry in the same time.
"Well, I tried", he said looking at me with his big brown eyes. I clenched my jaw and shook my head. A kid was left alone to fend for himself. They didn't care if he died or lived. They just put him there to fight with everyone else just to survive. Their cruelty kept surprising me. My anger could do nothing, but I could â at least for him. I got down on my knees and gave him a hug.
"You're not alone anymore", I said.
He smiled and took my hand again. That smile though didn't look as it supposed to. I felt like he didn't believe my promise. But he didn't know me, he didn't know I don't lie.
We went to the medical shelter. On our way there I pulled out the apple I took this morning.
"Here, take it", I said handing it to the boy. I smiled and thanked me. At first he ate it cautiously. I feel like he was saving the taste for later. I shook my head dismissing bad thoughts and continued walking down the street to the improvised shelter.
"Hi girls!" an older woman greeted us when we came in. Layla and I were spending a lot of time there, mostly because my nagging. I felt useless so I found something to make me feel like I'm making a difference.
We talked to several people and they agreed to help a little boy and keep him safe till we come back.
After that Layla was basically dragging me out. A month ago I promised that one day I'll come with her to the borders and that day was apparently today and nothing was going to ruin her plans.
We walked fast to the big concrete wall. On top of it was barbed wire. Wall used to be made of wire, but people tried to escape, and succeeded too many times, so they made a new wall. There were the wire parts of the wall, like around the main door, but no one dared to go near them. If you're asking what happened to people that have escaped, well, let's just say that they regretted it.
"What now?" I asked.
"I don't know. Explore?"
"What? A stupid wall?"
"Yup", she said plopping p.
I rolled my eyes and followed her. We were walking for a long time when we reached the woods. I didn't even know that we have woods in here.
It wasn't real forest...far from that. It was more like a big, very overgrown, neglected part of the region. It was probably a part of the forest that used to be west of the Pinemoor. I stopped and Layla just continued going. I looked up to the sky asking myself why I'm doing this. I could've been asleep right now. Despite that I followed her.
"Look", she said pointing at a little rivulet after we wondered around for some time. We came closer and started to follow it; probably to see where it is going, although I was more interested in where it came from â but who's listening to me. Layla certainly wasn't.
As we were going further it was getting bigger. Water was now up to my knees. I walked with my hands in my pockets letting the branches scratch my face as I listened to a very calming babbling of a brook. After some time, we came to the wall again. There was a big hole through which the water was passing.
I stopped amazed with my mouth wide opened.
"Oh-my-GOD", Layla screamed, "I knew I had a good feeling about this"
"Quiet down!" I whisper-yelled.
"Rose, look at it. I think we can get out easily."
"And got burned below the clock? No thanks."
"Oh, come on. We found a way out, don't be so pessimistic", she walked closer and started lurking around. "Dora the Explorer who motherfucker" she mumbled.
"There is no way out of here. This is our life now", anger, sadness, "Don't fucking tough that!"
Just when she wanted to say something, we heard loud beeping noise. I sighed and started walking back. Layla was right behind me whining.
"Why do we have to go to the clock every time this shit starts making noise?" Layla asked frustrated.
"You ask that every single time."
"And you never give me an answer."
"Because I don't know. It's some kind of exercise or something."
"Those aliens are weird", she said and I started laughing.
We were the last ones coming there. The sound stopped and people were ready to go back to the things they were doing before this little interruption. Everyone started to diverge when we heard loud creaking. The main door was opening. Suddenly everyone froze.
We heard a lot of loud footsteps moving in sync. Two or three dozen solders were coming in our direction. They had caps covering their eyes. I can't say that I wasn't scared, but I was definitely angrier at them then scared. They lined up in two rows and stood perfectly still. After a few moments of silence I heard heavy footsteps. A man in expensive suit walked towards us and stood in front of solders. He was tall and very handsome. He looked few years older than me and he had light brown hair and piercing gray eyes. I have never seen eyes like this. I guess that this was the thing they were all talking about.
"Your leader and I have come to an agreement", he spoke with his deep intimidating voice.
Silence.
Nobody dared to talk although everyone wanted to say something. Man waved his hand signaling something. Few moments later, my dad walked to him. He stood next to that man and gave everyone an encouraging look. Comparing to that guy he looked old, especially because of wrinkles and gray hair that started to grow because of all that stress he was experiencing the last few weeks.
"We want to peacefully co-exist like two intelligent kinds, and even learn from one another", he continued.
"King Kael has proposed an idea; an experiment", my dad said addressing the man he was standing next to.
So this is the king? And he came here of all places? - I thought to myself.
"Kids here have no school which means no education. We would like to change that", my father continued.
"We'll take six of your teenagers to one of our schools. They will attend the same classes as our children and if that goes without any incidents we will discuss other possibilities and scenarios for your race", king said.
I was confused. I didn't know how is that going to help solve any of our problems, but whatever. Our situation couldn't be worse anyways.
"Selected kids for experiment are..." my father started saying as he took some kind of a list out of his pocket. And then it came to me. They will take six of us...
"Ethan Williams, Cora Hyatt, Cole Irvin..."
Few of my friends...
"Layla Hunter, Daniel Zielinski and..." he made pause and sighed.
"Rosemarie Adams..."
...me.
I'm going to school with aliens.
"You're starting tomorrow morning", was all they said. King left as fast as he came. My father disappeared somewhere.
I was just standing there shocked.