Nine and counting

Month: February

Cora and Callie were twins, not look alike twins but they had their similarities, they were born on the same day of the same year only seconds apart. They lived in a small house with their mom, dad, and older brother, Dave, who was already 15. This family of 5 was a normal family, they did normal things, on normal days. Until the day of the family count.

Every 10 years, the government would count how many families lived on each street, and how many people were in those families. They would take the whole year to go to everyone's house and see if the family was good enough to be left alone. But there was a catch, if you were ages 1-18 you would be pulled for 4 days, parents never told their kids what happened in the room, other than that they would be counted, they would tell you to hold still, say nothing, and obey no matter what.

Cora and Callie were 4 when their first one happened, they didn’t remember anything. Anything but the death of their 18 year old brother. He came back with the 2 girls, hoping he was in the clear, but the next day Police vehicles glided to a stop in front of their house. Their parents didn’t let them see, but they saw blood.

They were 14 when the next one came, two officers escorted them to their glider. After a long ride they made it to a large house. They were given a bedroom, with a bathroom, and food. That was all for day 1. Day 2 came around and they were escorted to a white room where they lined up and were tested for any viruses or illnesses that could spread, then they injected something into their arms, one at a time kids fell to the floor. Alive? No one knew until they woke up back in their rooms, no one knew what had happened while they slept.

Day 3 was when Cora realised that something was off, she had followed the guards but Callie wasn’t with her anymore. Her heart raced as she tried to remember when they had split up.

“Cora Walker” a guard called. She stepped forward. “Callie Walker” he called again, Callie stepped out of the crowd. “Follow me.” the guard said.

The guard led them to another room where 8 other girls stood lined up. The girls joined the line and they filed into a cybertruck. They sat there for what felt like hours, the girls were silent, too afraid to speak. A glider screeched trying to stop, the girls let out terrified screams, the Cybertruck plummeted hitting the ground with a crash.

The guards that were driving climbed into the back to check on the girls, dragging them one by one out of the truck. Cora stayed awake along with another girl who hadn’t passed out from the fall.

“Test complete, one casualty. Returning the remaining children now.” one of the guards said, Cora looked around, she recognised the scraped up body of her sister and crawled over to it checking her heartbeat. Cora froze, Callie wasn’t breathing. Cora let out a panicked whimper, which caught the attention of one of the guards.

“Callie!” Cora whispered, shaking her sister’s limp body as if it would suddenly awake like nothing had happened. Tears were streaming down her face as she shook harder, her lip was trembling and she let out a choked sob.

“Cora Walker” the guard said, “I am going to have to ask you to leave the body.” he continued.

Cora sat in the cybertruck while other girls filed in, the limp body of her sister beside her. Cora clenched Callie’s cold hand trying not to cry. The Cybertruck stopped at multiple houses, dropping the girls off one by one. Until they came to Cora’s house, the guards carried Callie off the truck and escorted Cora to the door.

“Ma!” Cora shouted when her mother opened the door, unable to hold back tears Cora broke into a sob.

“Mrs. Walker, your daughter Callie was killed in an accident.” the head guard said, setting down Callie’s limp form.

Sadness turned to anger and Cora shouted “That's not true!” all of the guards looked at her, “I heard them, they said that the ‘mission was complete’.” Cora continued. Cora’s mother stared in horror at Cora as the truth spilled from her mouth. One of the guards pulled a gun and pointed it at Cora’s father.

“No,” Cora’s mother said but guards held her back, minutes froze and two bodies lay on the ground. Cora screamed out first her brother, then her sister, now her parents. Who else was being murdered like this.

A month passed, and no one except for neighbors and friends had seen or heard from Cora since her parents' deaths. The officials questioned everyone, and those who didn’t answer would be shot on command. 5, 6, 7. More people died protecting Cora, one day an elderly woman came up to Cora and asked why she looked so skinny and pale. Cora didn’t respond,

“I know a man who takes care of people like you, who have lost everything to the Family count, which is really just a death trap.” the elderly woman said. Cora reluctantly followed the woman to an alley where a man took her in.

Later on the news the woman was told to be shot and killed by a murderer that they ‘still haven't caught’. 8. Cora kept a journal, marking down everyone's names that the Family Count had murdered.

Dave, age 18

Callie, age 14

Dad, age 42

Mom, age 45

Mavis, age 15

Mavis’s mom, age 49

Juniper, age 12

Elderly woman, age 70?

She wondered what she could do to stop this, and why the government wanted to kill innocent people.

THE END

Wishful Thinking

Month: March

“Don’t do it!” Lio screamed, her hands bled tomato sauce, her ears were ringing and she barely heard the shot. Vesper turned as Kaylee screamed,

“Whoops.” Lio flinched at his smirk.

“Wha-” she tripped backwards, cutting open her leg. “Agh.” she hissed.

“You have so much potential,” Vesper laughed. “And, so little to lose” his tone changed. Lio tried to stand but grew hazy and soon passed out. “Don’t worry ladybug.” Vesper smirked as the lights faded.

A steady Beep could be heard nearby as Lio slowly gained consciousness. What happened she thought to herself. She looked around at the white room. A long glass Cylinder sat in the far left corner of the room, there were open handcuffs attached to the right wall. And next to the bed Lio was cuffed to was a monitoring machine, and a desk which held a variety of sharp tools and syringes. A one way window was on the left wall and she guessed that behind it, Vesper was watching.

“Rise and shine Ladybug.” Vesper’s voice crackled on the speaker. You could almost hear his smirk.

“I’m not your ladybug.” Lio hissed fighting against her restraints.

Three men in white overcoats walked in holding bags with different types of medicine and more tools. A woman came in after wearing gloves and carrying a machine that looked like a vacuum. Lio’s stomach dropped when she saw them preparing the tools. The youngest, a boy with blondish hair and dark blue eyes bent over Lio’s body. A syringe was passed to him and he neatly and carefully stuck it into Lio’s arm. She squirmed, then fell again into unconsciousness.

Lio jolted awake, according to the clock on the monitor it was midnight. The woman from earlier carefully opened the cuffs and hummed quietly to calm Lio.

“Follow me.” she whispered quietly. Lio looked around, blood soaked some of the knives that lay sloppily on the table, under the bed she was laying on the Vacuum machine was full of a liquid but Lio couldn’t tell what it was.

The woman escorted her toward the door then explained that she needed to pretend to be escorting her to the Operation room. Cuffs closed around Lio’s wrists and she was led to a large room full of more cylinders. She took the cuffs off and turned to inspect Lio.

She smiled softly which comforted Lio. Then escorted her over near an open tube. The lights in the room flickered on and Lio’s hand flew up to shield her face. While the woman delivered a gut punch forcing Lio into one of the tubes. She hissed as the door shut and a purple goo started to rise. The woman smirked as Vesper entered the room, he handed her a wad of cash then turned to look at Lio.

“Soon, Very soon.” he said quietly. Lio watched helplessly as the purple goo rose to the point that she no longer could breathe. She felt her body go limp, then went back to unconsciousness.

Days passed of being fed through the tube, Lio grew increasingly skinnier and weaker. Vesper visited every day, watched the tests, and stroked Lio’s forehead whispering “Soon, Very soon.” while she slept. When Lio awoke one morning, a different doctor was there. He took blood tests and after an hour of floating in the tube that was in her room, she was let out.

“It worked, honey!” Vesper walked in the doctor following close behind. Lio frowned, “Your sickness is gone.” He continued excitedly before grasping Lio’s hand. The doctor, now convinced that the two were married and had spent the past few months trying to cure her sickness, smiled.

“Congrats you two, good luck on the kids.” he said, then he left. Lio’s face grew pale.

“You lied to him?” she rasped.

“It won’t be a lie soon my Ladybug.” he smiled.

“What did you do to me?” Lio asked, playing the curious and innocent soon to be wife.

“I simply added enhanced abilities to you, and eventually our kids will be sold off to other countries.” he answered. Lio held back a scream,

“Why me?” she asked, her voice quivered.

“Because, you're the perfect choice, been through a lot, still kind, still soft, still the same old Lio from when we were kids.” Vesper answered.

Lio was led to the room with the cylinders. In one cylinder a boy, about 19, close to Lio’s age, floated in the purple goo. The goo slowly drained and the cylinder door opened. The boy collapsed and started coughing.

“Why is he here?” Lio asked, fighting off the urge to help the boy.

“This is the man who will donate blood to you.” Vesper answered, the boy looked up dazed.

Lio’s heart raced, she doubled over, pretending to be hurt. Vesper dropped to the floor beside her. This was her chance, she kicked Vesper’s chin and he fell over unconscious. She stood over Vesper’s limp form for a few seconds before reaching her hand out to the boy. He grabbed it, still confused as to what just happened. Lio led him through the hallways trying to find the exit. The sirens were blaring now and Lio guessed she didn’t have much time.

As the two turned a corner, shouts could be heard from behind them. She saw it, the exit. It was so close. She darted forward dragging the boy along and reaching the exit. When she turned the knob however. It pulsed, black swirled with white around her and she awoke.

“What happened?” she asked, wires and tubes stuck out from her body.

“Lyssa, You disobeyed direct orders to kill the boy.” a voice came from behind the one way glass.

“VR mission 462-79 failed. New mission incoming.” an AI assistant responded to the voice. Lio didn’t have time to wonder, because the world around her swirled and she was again put into a simulation.

“Lio, your mission is to terminate the boss of Nikka.” A familiar voice echoed inside her head. She didn’t remember being tested, she didn’t remember anything. She just knew she had to finish the mission.

THE END

Its In the Past

Month: April

April 1st, 2015

Dear Journal,

My birthday was a few days ago and I got this new journal, so I decided to write in it. I don’t know what I am going to write. Probably the events of school so far. Well Mom is calling me for dinner.

Goodbye,

~Olivia

April 2nd,

Dear Journal,

The weekend is coming up, I am going to Ohio with my family to visit some old relatives. This should be interesting. My little brother is being really annoying today. At school Hailey was gossiping to Maria who told Michal who told my older brother that Daniel likes me. I really hope he does, I wonder what my first kiss will be like.

Goodbye,

~Olivia

April 5th,

Dear Journal,

Sorry I missed a few days, Hailey, Maria, Jamie, and Connor, were talking behind the 7th grade lockers, (There is a little space back there that the high school girls like to call the Hanger) I was eavesdropping, and they said that I was a little nuisance and that an energetic fun loving girl like me would never make it to the popular girls little clique.

My mom said that they were being stupid, and that I don’t need to change anything about myself. But I feel like I need to, so I am going to be the girl they all envy by the time school starts again.

Goodbye,

~Olivia

August 14th, 2015

Hey there,

I was digging through my old books and found my old journal. I guess you might want to know what happened in the past few months. Well, I graduated 7th grade, then worked for 2 months with my grandma on her rental properties. I earned a lot of money, then before I knew it, summer was almost over. And I did what I said I would, I changed so much the girls won't know what hit them. I’ll update you more after school in 2 days.

Byeh,

~Livs

August 16th,

Today was the first day of 8th grade. And let me describe in more detail what happened. I walk down the hall to my first class and the whole hallway just stares. Then the boys started whispering and laughing. I wonder if they like me, I mean what's not to like, I look beautiful. When I sat down at the lunch table a few of the girls came and sat with me, and they asked me questions like, Did you do your hair? And, is that your moms makeup? I answered honestly.

I had a great time the rest of the day, then came home and found a piece of toilet paper on my arm, that would've been embarrassing.

Anyway, till tomorrow Diva, (I still don’t know what that means.)

~Livvie

August 19th,

I can’t stop crying. The girls asked me if I would like to go on a girlie mall trip, so I went and they sabotaged me in front of the hottest guy in school. Now they all laugh when they see me. I still have paint stains on my jacket.

August 20th,

I have decided on something, I’m not going to let them hurt me anymore. I am going to try to be emotionless through the entire school year. Then maybe they will prey on someone else.

Bye.

September 14th,

Hey journal, I forgot that I had this. You're probably wondering what happened. Well, after a few days of being emotionless, people started noticing, my mom decided that this place wasn’t a good fit for us. There were multiple reasons for this decision but now we are in the process of moving. I can make a fresh start.

Bye

~Olivia

February 19th, 2016,

Dear diary,

So much has happened in the months that went by. After we moved, I met these girls that were super nice, they accepted me for who I am. I realized that anyone reading this probably won’t know what happened at the mall. So I wrote a little story to help build on the picture.

I was walking down the hallway to my history class when Hailey and Jamie walked up to me and asked If I wanted to go with them to the mall. I said I would consider it. When they showed up with the car I sat in the back, Jamie and Hailey went to the front of the car to talk to Hailey’s mom. That's when Maria set off the glitter bomb. After that they joked about it for a while, the clip went viral on youtube and I still get recognised for it. Afterward when we got to the mall we shopped for a while then we ran into Milo and the boys. That's when the girls tossed purple paint on me and they all ran. I still shiver when I think about it.

Anyway, thats what happened.

~Livvs

March 4th,

Dear Diary,

This will be my final entry. I want to remember these moments as I grow older so I am going to keep this journal for this part of my story. Maybe when I’m older I will find this and make an entry but for now I’ll keep it empty.

Goodbye, but not forever.

~Olivia Grant

THE END