Some people don’t realize how valuable time is. They say,
“Oh it’s just 24 hours!”
or,
“Just a week! What a short time!”
I mean what do they know! But, I have to admit. I thought that way too.
***
The breeze hits, knocking me back on my feet. The future was coming for us. Step in the wrong place and you’ll be in the future. Cars that fly, cellphones that follow you wherever you go. Even real BB8’s from Star Wars the Force Awakens! If you’re not a fan of Star Wars (which FYI you should be) then I’ll give you some info. So there’s Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Yoda, Boba Fett, Ahsoka Tano, and more. Don’t even get me started about crummy, old, and ugly Luke Skywalker! Anyway… I was walking through the rough breeze on that sunny, crisp afternoon, tugging the handles of my backpack, while watching my footsteps appear in the mud, leaving a mark until the following travelers would arrive and mark their footsteps on the land, giving proof that they had been there, too. My dirty blond locks flew into my hair, knocking me off course and stopping me in my tracks. I rolled my eyes. My hair had been the least of my problems when I first came but ever since the wind started picking up my locks couldn’t help but have some fun by blowing into my face. I continued down the track, hoping that the people from the future wouldn’t spot me and aim their high tech laser guns at me. One shot from those things and you’d be discinerated. The future isn’t something that you look forward to like you did when you were little, your eyes gleaming with hope that you’ll make a difference and become the richest person alive. Right now during the time of the future that wasn’t what mattered. Your life mattered. By the time I reached camp I found my sister, Camila, waiting for me. Her cocoa powdered hair was tied into a tight bun as she cooked dinner above a small fire she had made.
“How’d hiking go?” she asked as she continued to cook food above the fire.
“Not so well…” I said.
“You know Bree, we have to move on from this place. If we stay much longer they’ll find us and hunt us down.” she said to me.
“I know,” I said. “but don’t you think that you got to live the moment like every day might be your last?”
“When you don’t have anyone, yes. But when you have someone who’s that special something, no. And Bree, you’re my special something.”
***
The sun shines and the birds chirp. It’s summer. My mother and father watch me from the window as I sing and dance with Camila and push my little brother Johnny on the tire swing. He laughs and screams, “Higher! Higher!” as he goes soaring up in the sky, away from us, and back. Then the people from the future appear and take their laser guns and shoot at Johnny. His head snaps back and he lays, unmoving. Then they shoot at Mom and Dad, who fall to the ground. They smirk at us and touch my brother’s breathless body.
“Don’t you dare touch him!” Camila screams, and then they shoot at her too and my heart falls and my breathing stops and Camila’s words ring in my ears. “You’re my special something…” and I fall. I fall into that black hole of loneliness and see Camila’s fingers slip from my grasp, letting me fall, fall, fall.
***
I gasp for air, screaming for Camila and Johnny and Mom and Dad. Camila then turns her body and calms me down, singing me a lullaby and kissing my forehead. She was just like mother, but the difference between her and mother was that Camila wasn’t dead and lying on the floor, disintegrated. She was alive and moving.
Camila and I leave right after a meal of rabbit stew, heading towards the woods. We were heading East. The only safe place I knew in the East was Barley’s. Barley’s was a barber shop down 6th View Avenue and was full of high tech security and armour. The friendly owner; George, had come to our parent’s get together parties and was always making someone smile. When Camila and I reach Barley’s we’re both out of breath and Camila who had been walking more than me, had collapsed in front of the entrance, making me drag her inside. Camila was light for a nineteen year old. She was mostly bony and fragile and preferred to eat less than the rest of the family. When I finally managed to get her inside, I let her doze off on a torn up, leather chair. Then I started looking around for George. I couldn’t find him anywhere, but knowing George he liked to sleep early and was probably dozing off himself. So I settled down next to Camila and let my eyelids droop and my breath steady as sleep took over me.
***
I yawn and sit up straight from my place next to Camila and find her still dozing off. I plant a kiss on her cheek and grab a pink, linty hair elastic that was sitting on a chair, brush off the lint, and tie my hair into a ponytail, making it more convenient for me when the wind hits. I look around the rooms until I find a pair of sneakers, my size, and some fresh clothes which I change into. As I try on the clothes I feel convenient with the fact that they fit me as well. I immediately start meditating at the spot, letting my nerves calm down, making me forget about the future for a second and all I see is my family. Johnny with his two front teeth missing, making him look like a six year old even though he was eleven. Father was crouching above Johnny and was staring at him and his perfectly chiseled chin started to glow in the light, and his hazel eyes gleaming with pride. Camila and I, best friends forever, laugh at each other and connect our friendship necklaces together. Then there’s my mother. Perfect mother. Her slim body so perfect and her amber hair glows in the light and her perfect lips, pursed in a tight line but her eyes shine most beautifully. Blue eyes that pour into a sea of emotions nobody could’ve imagined. Emotions like; sadness, anger, fear, love, hate, and death. That’s what I loved about her. You didn’t have to ask. Her eyes told you the whole story. Word to word. Sentence to sentence. Everything. That’s why it pains most to think about her.
***
I open my eyes and Camila is in front of me.
“You know,” she says. “I think you look like a crying baby when you meditate. You should’ve seen your face!” she said making an expression of a twisted face and I elbow her.
‘“You keep hush about it,” I say leaning in close, whispering. “And I won’t tell anyone, if we see anyone, about the fact that you snort like a pig when you’re laughing.” Camila pouts and sticks out her tongue.
“You’re a sore loser Bree.” she says and turning away.
“At least I have sportsmanship!” I shout after her, and her cocoa powdered hair sways back and forward in the distance.
My stomach growled and grumbled and tossed and turned and I found myself chasing after Camila who was holding a pot of left overs from last night’s rabbit stew.
***
The next morning I woke up to find that Camila wasn’t right next to me in the bed we had shared. I had given up on finding George. He was probably dead like the others or had been captured and had been reprogrammed to terminate humans like us. I got up and the cold air kissed my cheeks like chocolate bliss and swept me on my feet, making me search for Camila. She was nowhere to be seen. Then I noticed something I hadn’t noticed before. Holes were blasted through the walls and scuff marks were plastered on the floor. Then something with a glint caught my eye. A pin with a red angel on it. The symbol that represented the people from the future. That meant only one thing. Camila was missing because the future had her. What they didn’t know was that they had picked the last straw with me, Bree Suvil.