A young girl, no older than fifteen, was crouched in a muddy field. She was barefoot and wore a dark grey cloak which covered her face. If one stepped close enough, they would realise that she was humming a quiet, sweet tune while she worked. A second later the girl stood up and her hood fell down, revealing bright red curls tied in a messy bun. In the world that we know of, this wouldn't be an unusual thing, but the girl lived on the outskirts of a town filled with only brown haired, grey eyed citizens. She picked up the old woven basket that lay on the ground filled with unusual vegetables, and walked quickly into the nearby cottage. The girl hurried over to the kitchen and gave the basket to an older woman with a smile.
"There you go, mama." She said, and her mother grinned.
"Thanks Emmi. Can you go tell your father that lunch will be ready in ten minutes?"
"Sure." the red haired girl turned away and was about to climb up a worn wooden ladder, when she paused. "Mama?"
"Yes darling?" the mother placed the basket on the table and turned to her daughter.
"Can we go to town after lunch?" Emmi held her breath in nervous anticipation; she had been dying to ask this question for a long time and didn't know how her mother would react. She had never been to the town and was desperate to go, but had always been too scared to ask.
The mother froze, her eyes fixated on the girl, a frown forming on her face. There was a long silence before the older woman sighed deeply and walked over to a faded red velvet couch that sat near the door. She patted the seat beside her and Emmi nervously sat down.
"Sweetie, there's something you should know. I didn't want to tell you this until you were older, but maybe it's best if you know now. Southbury has a sort of, genetic mutation, some might say. Five hundred years after the apocalypse, every child that was born in Southbury was discovered to have brown hair and grey eyes. A thousand years later and this is still happening."
"But then why don't I have brown hair and grey…" Emmi's eyes widened when she realised what her 'mother' was implying. Although they were living on the outskirts of Southbury, it was easy to see that this genetic mutation still occurred here. Which meant that Emmi wasn't born in Southbury. She was…
"I'm adopted? I'm adopted aren't I? You never dyed your hair! It's always been brown, hasn't it? Is that why I can't leave the house? Because I have different coloured hair and different coloured eyes than most people?" the red haired girl shouted, tears springing to her deep purple eyes. It all made sense. Everything had clicked into place and she did not like it one bit.
"Emmi, call down! You're still my daughter! I still love you! No, I'm not your biological mother. But your father and I look after you, protect you, and have watched you grow!"
The tears were falling heavily down Emmi's porcelain face and in blind anger she opened the door and ran outside where it was starting to pour. As she ran further and further from her home, the girl could hear her name being called, but since she wasn't thinking clearly, she ignored it and continued to run.
The sun was setting by the time Emmi saw buildings in the distance. She had calmed down now but had made up her mind to go to Southbury, and she wasn't going to turn back since she was so close to reaching her goal. It had stopped raining but she was soaked to the bone, and decided to take off her coat to get dried.
As Emmi wandered into the town, copper hair reflecting against the evening sun, gasps could be heard everywhere she went. Emmi, meanwhile, had her mouth agape as she stared at the gigantic building at the end of the road, with 'Parliament' written in large silver letters. The girl jumped when she felt a tap on her shoulder, and when she turned around she frowned at the sigh. Just meters away from her must have been hundreds of citizens, young and old, staring and pointing at the strange red haired, purple eyed girl. The man who had tapped her shoulder wore a very official looking uniform and was carrying a polearm in one hand and a one handed blade in the other.
"By the authority of his Majesty and according to degree 15A, 'any citizen who does not have brown hair and grey eyes is a work of the devil and will be imprisoned.'You are placed under arrest." His gruff voice instructed and Emmi's eyes widened in horror. "It's disgusting to see that people like you still exist. You're going to a place where you belong and where society will no longer be forced to look at you."
The girl backed away from the guard, panic settling in and a fast, irregular heartbeat picking up. "I haven't done anything wrong! It's not my fault I'm like this! You can't put me in prison for something I had absolutely no control over!" she screamed and turned around but before she could run the guard gripped her right arm tightly.
"If you try to escape you will be sentenced to death. Still think running is a good idea?" the guard warned.
Emmi shook her head, her mind blank, and wrestled herself from the man's grip. The second she was free, the girl sprinted off towards the Parliament building with the sound of heavy footsteps behind her; the guard was giving chase.
Determined to lose him, Emmi zipped left and right, trying to find a marketplace or somewhere she could hide. As she passed by the Parliament building, the girl had a strange gut feeling to look into the windows, and what she saw shocked her and Emmi almost stopped running.
A man was standing by a window and was observing the girl with calculating, deep purple eyes. He smiled, but the smile didn't reach his eyes as he waved to the runaway. Emmi was stunned beyond belief and if she wasn't running for her life she would've questioned the man with the purple eyes, living in the city with the grey eyes. The thing she was wondering the most was why the man wasn't imprisoned. There was definitely more to this town than meets the eye, and Emmi was determined to come back and discover all its secrets.