The Room In Which Bad Things Happened

Everyday was the same here. That is until they arrived. I couldn't fight back no matter how much I wanted to. It hurt me so bad that I couldn't breath

They left us in this room to die, but they don't have the slightest idea who they've messed with. I look around at the kids my age who haven't seen the sun in years and know I have to do something for they have no idea what's out there.

I do. I've seen the world and I must get back to it. Yet, here I am. In this room. In this room that no one leaves.

"You have to eat." Lilyan says and shoves a piece of bread in my mouth. I spit it out and she her face crumples into worry. "I worry for you River..." She mumbles "You don't eat and when you do you won't eat much."

"This place makes me sick." I spit. "You've been saying that for all the six years that we've been here." Lilyan says in awe "You just can't quit huh River?"

The room was small and there are ten of us in here. We were all taken from their homes and loved ones. All of us are thirteen.

"Do you remember the sun?" A girl asks me every morning. I've never asked for her name because I don't think it's relevant. I have been telling her I don't for the last six years but when she asked me this morning I couldn't help it. "I do," I had said "I remember the sun. It's beautiful...you should know that. The sun rained down every morning and left every night.

"The moon was just as radiant. It lit the night sky and I would give all the money in the world just to see it one more time." The girl had stared at me with a look of longing. "My name..." She had mumbled "I hardly remember it now...my name is...it's...Luna."

Luna...I remember her now. She was that silly girl who would run in the fields. I couldn't recognize her now. Her blonde hair had been torn out. Her radiant green eyes had dimmed to grey. Her velvety dresses were back in her non-existent home. Her once snowy skin was scrapped and torn beyond repair.

I don't look myself any more. When I see myself in the occasional puddle that pools in the room I look so disheveled.

"QUIET!" I hear shrieking from above "YOU MISERABLE SCRAPS OF HUMANS, SHUT UP!" The shriek was high and loud. Everyone in the room covers their ears.

"Sounds like someone upset Mara." A boy across the room says and cringes when the next shriek splits the air.

"This is what I mean." I say and cover my own ears "This place is torture!" Lilyan looks at me. "I know." She mumbled " I know you don't like it here! I get it! OH MY GOD! I can't say it enough can I!? NO ONE LEAVES RIVER! I'VE SEEN IT! THEY'LL KILL YOU BEFORE YOU TAKE ONE STEP!" Tears pool out her eyes.

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I haven't talked to anyone in a month. I can't stop thinking about what Lilyan said. "No one leaves." I repeated that in my mind a million times.

Christmas is coming next month. It is the one holiday they let us celebrate just so they can show us how little everyone cares for us.

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"MERRY DANG CHRISTMAS YOU WORTHLESS WORMS!" Mara shrieks at three in the morning. She does this every Christmas. "LOOKS LIKE THERE'S ONLY ONE PRESENT THIS YEAR!" Mara's yell's ring through all the rooms "IT'S FOR LUNA ARKON!"

Every head in the room turn toward Luna. She goes very pale. "I didn't do anything!" A single present slides under the door. "Open it!" A boy shouts. Luna thumbles with the tie and it slowly unravels.

She takes out a calendar. "Oh great another thing to tell us how long we've been in this miserable place." A girl says and rolls her eyes.

A note flies out of the calender and Luna catches it. "Remember. Wait." the note was written in rushed hand writing and only had two words, but they were the most wonderful two words.

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"It's been two damn months since that stupid note came!" A boy mumbles "Couldn't specify how long we have wait?!" A girl shifts uncomfortably where she sits. "Maybe they meant to wait for death." The girl says. "No I don't think so." Lilyan said.

Luna had been staring down at the calendar. "On november first it writes 'wait'" She says. "Then maybe we have to wait until november first." I think aloud

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"YANKEE DOODLE WENT TO TOWN!" Mara shrieks. "Ah not again!" A boy says and covers his ears. She had been singing Yankee Doodle nonstop for four months. I cover my ears.

"WENT RIDING ON A PONY!" She sings "STUCK A FEATHER IN HIS HAT AND CALLED IT MACARONI! YANKEE DOODLE KEEP IT UP! YANKEE DOODLE DANDY! MIND THE MUSIC AND THE STEPS AND WITH THE GIRLS BE HANDY!"

"Is it over!" I girl shrieks. Mara starts again and everyone covers their ears.

No one knows what Mara looks like. We can only assume she looks horrid.

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Mara hasn't sang for two months. "I'm so glad she stopped." I mumble to Lilyan. "Yeah..." She says; she seems far off "Do you think they'll really come next month?"

I nod "Yes," I say "and if they don't we'll wait forever." She sulks down until she's sitting. "Yeah I guess."

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November first is tomorrow. I can't sleep. I can't eat. I can't think. Everyone else seems to feel the same.

"SHE'LL BE COMING AROUND THE MOUNTAIN WHEN SHE COMES!" Mara shouts "SHE'LL BE COMING AROUND THE MOUNTAIN WHEN SHE COMES! SHE'LL BE COMING AROUND THE MOUNTAIN! SHE'LL BE COMING AROUND THE MOUNTAIN! SHE'LL BE COMING AROUND THE MOUNTAIN..."

The next thing she said was barely audible. The fact that I could hear it means she probably shouted anyway. "Here they come."

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November first happened in a blurr. I remember shouting. I remember fighting. I remember blood. I remember someone named General Wyne. I remember some telling me to run. I remember the bombs. I remember the smell of death, then I remember freedom.