Prologue

She was being carried. What's more, she was being chased. Whoever was carrying her wasn't too worried about hurting her as her weak body was being squashed against his arms.

"Give her back you son of a bitch!"

"It's ready go!"

"Shut it off, shut down the machine!"

Her vision began to clear and she saw him. An overwhelming urge to be with the man, to let him hold her made her reach out her tiny hand out as he reached out for her.

"GIVE ME BACK MY DAUGHTER!"

Elizabeth slowly opened her eyes and saw her disfigured finger lying on top of the blanket.

"It's that dream again…"

It was always that dream. Every birthday she could ever remember had always began with her waking up to that dream. She reached up to her face and felt the familiar signs that she had, again, been crying during the night. Getting up, she walked over to her full length mirror and stared at herself.

"Who is he… Who am I…"

Sighing softly, she got dressed and began her morning routine. First she cooked breakfast, poured herself a cup of juice, and went to her library. Elizabeth was fairly certain that she would have gone insane by now if it hadn't been for her books.

So many wonderful stories and so much knowledge… What should I start the day with?

Looking through her many novels, essays, and papers to choose from, she decided she wanted something… different. She had never actually done a full inventory of what was in the library, and she decided that today, her 16th birthday, she was going to. Usually she had to simply search through the different bookshelves until she found something that caught her eye but it would be nice to know exactly how many books she has left before she has to start rereading them.

Hopefully I'm still far from that…

All in all it took the young woman half the day to catalog the books. Nearing the last few books, she came to the section that she disliked the most, Religion. It's not that she didn't enjoy some of the stories from the Holy Bible but most of it was writings from Father Comstock. His stories were a little more… totalitarian in her opinion. Still, she did need to finish her catalog so she began to take the books from off of the shelf. Opening one of the later writings of Father Comstock revealed something that made Elizabeth hold her breath in excitement.

What is this?

There was a cutout inside of the book containing another, more batter booklet, almost a small pamphlet and on the cover was the Eiffel Tower.

"It's from Paris!"

Excited, Elizabeth grabbed and looked it over. Upon opening it she saw that it was extremely worn and had some water damage making almost all of the words unreadable. Frustrated with the lack of closure of this incredible find Elizabeth looked back at the cover. There was a small amount of grim from where water had leaked on it and Elizabeth gently wiped it off as to not tear it and saw the only words that "La Commune de Paris".

"The Commune of Paris… What's that?"

Not being able to see a date and being extremely excited that she found something from her favorite place in the world, she decided to try to create a tear. She still hadn't mastered how exactly she did what she did but her natural curiosity pushed aside caution. Sitting the pamphlet on her easel, she stood in front of it and stared. Taking a deep breath she said,

"Well, here it goes."

Using all her might, she tried to focus on the pamphlet, the image of the Eiffel Tower, and the words "La Commune de Paris". It started slow but she managed to create a small tear to look through and what she saw on the other side made her smile that she had given the extra effort. There was a woman with around 10 children who appeared to be her students in a park in front of the Eiffel Tower. As the children played with one another, the woman sat down in the grass under the cover of a tree and pulled out a book and began to read. Watching the scene unfold in front of her, Elizabeth shed a small tear wishing that she could go there. She would give anything to be there at that moment. It was at that moment that a child fell down and began to sob quietly. The woman walked up behind him and said, "Louis?" Elizabeth looked over to the small boy and giggled when he tried to wipe his eyes when he saw the woman. "I'm fine Ms. Michel. I wasn't crying." The woman smiled and helped the boy up and started singing a song that the whole class joined in. Elizabeth listened intently to their song and quietly thanked them, "Thanks for singing on my birthday. I think this is the best present I have ever received…" Realizing that this actually was the best gift she had ever received, she began to get down as she realized that the tear wouldn't hold forever and that this moment would eventually pass.

And I'll still, and forever be, trapped here…

It was in this moment of sorrow that Elizabeth noticed something that she hadn't before, what was just on the other side of the tear.

That's the book she was reading…

Elizabeth had never tried to actually go into a tear before and it made her very nervous. What if the tear collapsed, as they often do, and something happens? Would she be sucked into that place? Would nothing happen?

Would my hand get cut off?

It was at this moment that she noticed that the woman was heading back over to her tree to continue reading and Elizabeth, in a moment of fear and excitement, reached through the tear and grabbed the book. As soon as she withdrew her hand the tear immediately collapsed making her almost faint from the anxiety. Falling back to the floor and breathing heavily, Elizabeth looked at her treasured item and read the title on the cover aloud with great curiosity:

"The Communist Manifesto"