Helena leaned against the door frame as she looked into the room. Light from the setting sun acted as the only light source. It streamed through the open window and lit up the desk against the wall. The desk and the girl sitting at it. Alright, not technically a girl, Helena conceded, as, at sixteen, she was only a year younger than Helena, but she emitted an innocence that made it impossible for her to be anything else.

The girl was staring at an apple in her hands, turning it, pressing her thumb into a bruise and twisting the leaf on the stem. As Helena watched, the girl tossed the fruit back and forth a few times. Her head tilted to the side, her curls tumbled over her shoulder revealing the side of her neck.

Helena licked her lips as she took in the pale skin. Not for the first time, she couldn't help but wonder if everyone in the communities was so physically appeasing, or if Myka was the exception. A rather wonderful exception if that was the case.

Helena walked across the room to lean back against the desk. Myka didn't acknowledge her presence, which seemed odd, really. Myka was usually one of perfect manners.

Intent on getting Myka's attention, Helena plucked the apple from her hands. Myka's head snapped towards her. Helena could see the irritation linger on her lips and the fight to keep it down in her eyes.

"What could possibly be so interesting about an apple?" Helena asked once she was sure that Myka was, once again, not going to give into her emotions.

Myka shrugged and leaned back in her chair. "Everything, I guess."

Helena scoffed. "You were searching for something specific."

Myka sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Her fingers, still not accustomed to hair longer than her shoulders, twitched halfway through the locks.

"I was waiting for it to change," she slowly admitted.

"Change into what? An orange?"

Myka threw her a scathing look but quickly relaxed. "I guess I… I'm just not used to everything having color all the time. I keep waiting for it to all drain away and leave the world in the grey I grew up in."

"Waiting? In dread or anticipation?"

"Would you want to return to grey once your life has been painted?"

"Your community should have made you a writer. The way you string words into sentences is riveting."

"We don't have writers. There are no written stories."

"A shame, truly. I can't even imagine a world without stories."

"We have stories, but they are all word of mouth."

Helena put the apple down and braced her hands on the edge of the desk. "In truth, the way your community functions fascinates me."

Myka sighed. "I don't want to talk about it."

"I am simply curious."

"Please, Helena. I just want to forget for a bit."

"If you do insist."

Myka inclined her head in thanks. "Is Christina asleep?"

"For a while now. She truly is a darling child."

Myka nodded again but her eyes flashed for a moment.

"They were going to kill her," Myka murmured after a few moments.

Helena stood up and stared at Myka. "What?"

Myka stared at the apple for a few moments then grabbed it. She turned it around in her hands. Helena could see the struggle in Myka, between telling and forgetting. She twisted the stem off of the apple and inspected it as she began to speak.

"Everything there was…perfect." She spat the word out in disgust and snapped the stem in half. "Or, what they decided was perfect. And, Christina didn't meet their idea of perfection."

"She's just a child, what perfection could she possibly not meet?"

"She wasn't growing fast enough."

"That's preposterous, how could they expect a child to grow by their schedule?"

Myka put the apple down and turned to Helena. Her green eyes were bright and Helena couldn't imagine them as the grey Myka had once described.

"I can't explain it," Myka slowly said. "The average citizen didn't know that release meant death, but to the ones who did, it made perfect sense. What better fate for one who didn't adequately serve the community?" She let out a dark laugh and turned to stare out the window. The last few rays of light fought to shine over the horizon and drape a golden glow across Myka's face. "They don't even know the true meaning of death."

Helena hooked her fingers under Myka's chin and turned her head towards her.

"But you know." She moved her fingers up to push some hair behind Myka's ear. "You know and you saved her."

Myka blinked a few times as she watched Helena. The sun finally vanished beyond the distant hills. Darkness took the room as its own but neither girl noticed.

"And you will never go back there," Helena murmured. "I won't let you."