The Day We Left Earth

Friends to Dating to Engaged to Strangers

I woke up in my virtually empty bedroom and chose a grey top and black tights to wear. My shoes were dark, much like all of my closet, and I left the room. I lined up in the dining hall to get breakfast, and made conversation with no one until I sat at my table. At my table was my boyfriend Kylermo, his sister Cylitica, and Cylitica's boyfriend, Germanzi. Kylermo looked at me and took his hands in mine. "Is everything okay Mia?"

I looked at his smile and shuddered. I know he was only smiling to make me feel better, but it didn't help. "I don't know..."

"The nightmares again?" I nodded my head and he gripped my hands tighter, his smile less bright. "What about the medicine the doctor got you so you could sleep?"

I shook my head. "They don't really help." My voice came out in small whispers. I don't know why, but ever since we all came here, it's been so hard for me. I've had to make new friends and accomplices. I don't even remember where I came from or who with. I'm an only child, so that didn't help. I was always alone, and then Kylermo came. He showed me around, all the places where I should and shouldn't go, where to eat, my room, everything. We instantly clicked. I think he's going to propose, but I don't really want to marry him. It's not like I have much of a choice.

"We'll get a higher dosage then, okay? So you can have a good night's sleep." I nodded and pushed my food away from me. I didn't eat anything, and I wasn't going to. "Where are you going?"

"For a walk," I told him, still speaking in low whispers and looking down.

"Do you want me to come with you?" He started to stand up, but I pushed him back down.

"No." My voice was harsh, when it usually isn't. I retreated back quickly, like I had done something wrong. I knew I hadn't, but I had to pretend like I did. Otherwise they would think of something suspicious and mark me as their primary target. I've always had to be careful, especially around Kylermo. I could never forget his face, and I never was going to.

I practically ran to my room, something that wasn't abnormal for me. In fact, by now, the guards must be expecting it of me. It's becoming less and less, though, because I have a plan. I've always had a plan. I went into my room and sat on the bed, thinking.

I immediately stopped crying and stopped pretending to be afraid and broken. That just wasn't me. I was brave and fearless, and I remembered everything. But surely you don't, so let me tell you. This is how it happened:

"Creamy cracks, anyone?" Kylermo, if that even is his real name, looked at me with his arm out and a little piece of poison in his hand. I started shaking my head and got up to knock him out and make him go unconscious, but I couldn't move. I looked down at my ankles, which were tied to the chair. There were pieces of string all up my leg, meaning that if I got up, I would immediately fall over.

"Do I even have a choice at this point?" I asked him, trying to stop crying; but I couldn't stop. I was in shock, and the last thing I wanted was to comply to whatever was going to happen.

"But think of Lendich," he said. "If you do not eat this creamy crack, he will not live."

"You could kill him either way." I pointed out, even though I didn't want that to happen. "Either way I won't remember. I don't have a choice about the creamy crack, and we both know it. You could kill me either way, also. You know I know a lot about the government, and I also know a lot about Lendich. Lendich has probably already eaten the creamy crack because he would do anything for my safety, and if he hasn't already he will soon." I smiled, knowing I had somewhat of an advantage. At least for these next few moments.

"For all you know," Kylermo said. "Lendich was always with us."

"No he wasn't." I knew that he wasn't. "You know that he wasn't. He was going to be a soldier, but family problems stopped that from happening. He never went to the briefing. He never got a camera, or any form to keep information in a little disk. Stop trying to make me forget, I never will."

"We have Asphero, too, you know." He still held out the creamy crack. "It would be a shame if we killed him, never let you forget, and then made the public think you were crazy."

"I'll never forget." I took the creamy crack out of his hand, and took a bite. "Never."

Except I know the secret with creamy cracks, for I had them all the time when I was little. They don't melt in you mouth, but there wasn't exactly anywhere for me to put it. I asked him to bring my dress, having the cracker underneath my tongue as I talked, so that I could have one last good memory. He brought it, and I asked for some time alone. I would be unconscious in a few minutes anyways, and he left saying he would go check on Lendich. I made sure to position myself where the cameras would't be able to see me too well and spat the piece of creamy crack into a secret compartment in my dress that I had added when Quentiya wasn't looking. I had been preparing for this, and thank God they used creamy cracks. Although I think something in the blood stream would have been better, they don't really have the technology to do that to everyone yet.

I made myself fall asleep, and when I woke up, I was in a room. I pretended to never be there before, and there was a knock upon my door after I had gotten ready. Kylermo. He told me that they brought me here overnight because my planet was being destroyed and I wouldn't wake up. He showed me everything, where I could go and where I couldn't, and then, a few months after being friends, we dated. Of course it made me sick to my stomach that I was with him, but I couldn't let it show. Since we were dating we would kiss, and every time we did kiss, so that I wouldn't vomit, I pretended that he was Lendich, and that nothing ever happened.

I pretended to be weak, to be scared, since I had no one at all except him. It was sometimes hard work, but it's all working out. Through this year that I have been with Kylermo, I have been progressively getting better. I didn't take the nighttime drugs, Kylermo and I both knew they were just to help me forget more. I didn't really have nightmares anymore.

What killed me the most wasn't having to pretend that Kylermo was my boyfriend, or how Cylitica and Germanzi look like brother and sister, but how everyone I knew before are people I couldn't talk to.

Quentiya I can sort of live without, Lendich is even harder, but the worst is Asphero. My own brother doesn't even know I exist. And all those childhood memories, our parents, his hover board, they're things he doesn't even think about or know and things that I can't bear live without. Every time I pass Asphero in the halls, and he looks straight past me, my heart shatters into a million pieces on the ground, and I just want him to pick them up. I just want Asphero to fix my heart, but I know he won't. So I manage to use a band-aid and put them back together, but he just manages to shatter it one more time again.

I don't want to do this any longer, but I know that if I do, my plan will work. It has to. I've been here for three years, and if it doesn't work, then I'll wait another three. I don't want to be here any longer, but there is no other place to go.