The wind whipped violently around us and I heard Bella let out a small yelp as the wind cut against her frail cheeks and blew straight through her worn jacket, I wrapped my arms around her tiny frame and pulled her close to shield her from the wind. She shivered violent while the wind continued to abuse those of us waiting in line and a small drizzle was beginning to fall from the sky; I untangled myself from Bella and pulled off my jacket only to drape it over Bella's head and let it trail down around her shoulders.
"Edward..no..it's cold." Her small voice chimed up at me as she tried to pull it from her head, I swatted her hands away and simply wrapped my arms around myself to try and stay somewhat warm.
"It's fine, you need it more than I do Bella and you know it."
"Edwa-" I cut her off before she could even truly start her sentence "No. You're lucky that the flu passed last time, but you're still weak and you can't afford to get sick again." She sighed before stepping forward and wrapping herself around me, I wrapped my own arms around her and kissed the crown of her head over the jacket.
"You're the best Edward." She whispered into my chest and I simply smiled down at her and squeezed her tighter. "Well of course I am, whats a big brother for?" Bella let out a scoff and pulled away from me slightly to playfully glare at me "You were born like a minute before me, that's nothing to gloat about Edward Charles Swan!" I only rolled my green eyes at her while she continued to glare at me with her chocolate brown eyes; damn now I was craving chocolate.
"NEXT!" I whipped my head towards the booming voice and saw a brawny man with a tablet standing near the front of the line and watched as a boy walked towards one of the pristine white tents. Bella and I were only two more people behind before we would have to enter one of those white tents and be inspected for the Trial; a dated system used to find the perfect partner for each healthy individual able to birth the next generation, my older friends said it was an invasive and uncomfortable process, but sometimes it got you out of the Slums if you were paired with some rich kid from the Community.
The line moved slowly while I stared around the Slums, we were at some run down school that had a brick fence surrounding us while guards were scattered around with guns, mainly for the Corpses, but also to keep us in line. The drizzle had turned into a full on downpour and those of us in line were drenched as we were kept waiting in line until we would finally be called; eventually Bella and I were standing in front when the girl that had been in front of us was escorted out of the tent and we both were called forward.
"Right Tent." I hurried Bella through the mud ground and pushed open the tent's flap, the inside had tools and different chairs and tables filling the whole thing along with computers and a few people themselves who quickly directed us to opposite sides of the room.
My eyes stayed on Bella as they helped her out of the jackets and hurried to start inspecting her, they stuck swabs in our mouths and capped them in some tube before moving to our hair as the tilted our heads every which way before moving on to inspect our arms and legs. Lastly for me they drew a vial of my blood before allowing me to go free, I walked over to Bella and saw they had lifted her shirt slightly and had placed something on her stomach while some TV had a creepy image of something on it. They drew her blood finally after wiping off the weird clear gel and allowed her to go, I helped her back into her jackets and we followed an escort out of the tent; we were led through the mudded grounds into an armored truck that would lead us back to our run down shack of a house. We had walked here ourselves (it had taken a little over an hour) but they always drove you back since we were now seen as investments until the results came back as to whether or not we had 'worth' in the society.
Our house was a one story, two bedroom shack that was now an off white and the windows which once must've had glass, were now covered in plywood to keep out people, Corpses and the weather in general. I jumped out of the armor truck first and grabbed Bella gently around the waist, setting her down on the ground and helping her into the house, observing my surroundings the whole way in.
"Edward, Bella! How did it go?" I smiled warmly at my mom, Renee, her coppery hair shone dully in the florescent lights, I kissed her check while Bella hung our jackets near the door before hugging mom.
"It went well I guess, we won't get the results for another day or so, but they didn't say that anything seemed wrong while we were there." Mom smiled happily, patting my cheek gently before moving off into the kitchen where a minimal dinner she had attempted to prepare was waiting.
"Bella, are you feeling ok? I know it started to rain and you've just gotten over the flu, maybe you shouldn't have gone today?" Bella smiled at our moms worrying and waved off her concerns lightly; "No, mom, I promise I'm fine besides Edward gave me his jacket once it started to rain, you know how protective he is." "And for a good reason! You have the best brother Bella, Edward is a fine young man and whoever he pairs with is going to be a lucky girl." I flushed as mom looked at me adoration and turned my attention to my food, digging in quickly when I heard the footsteps of our dad.
"Well doesn't it smell delicious in here." Mom jumped up and hugged dad, kissing him briefly before ushering him into his seat, but not before he clasped my shoulder and squeezed it lovingly and planting a kiss to the crown of Bella's head. We all continued to eat and had small talk around the table when the lights suddenly went out and the house was engulfed in pitch black.
I sighed before dad and I pushed away from the table and gathered the candles, placing them around the house and lastly one at the table which I lit and I saw Bella's face light up at the fiery glow and I was left standing for a moment as I smiled at my sister, my twin sister to be exact who was absolutely beautiful, the man she paired with was going to be the real lucky one.
The rest of the night passed by normally until finally Bella and I were crawling into bed, we were crammed into a tiny, rundown room that was basically filled due to our two twin sized beds. Once Bella had climbed into her bed and under her covers I blew out the single candle in our room before making myself comfortable as sirens rang out in the night with occasional laughter or yelling. I heard Bella's soft, even breathing and finally let myself close my eyes and tried to drift off to sleep when I heard the gently creek of our bedroom being opened. My eyes flew open with my back to the door and I felt my heart pound lightly in my chest as I kept my eyes trained on Bella and my hearing to the door.
Finally steps moved quietly over the floor and I shut my eyes tightly when I felt a hand gently run across my cheek and through my messy copper hair, they leaned closer and I breathed in my mom's scent and let myself relax as I continued to feign sleep. She kissed my cheek lightly and I felt something watery run against my cheek and I heard her start to sniffle; my dad's hand ran through my hair and to my shock I felt him kiss my forehead lightly before they moved away from my bed and moved to Bella. I opened one eye and watched as they stood over Bella, running their hands through her dark, long hair and kiss her cheeks, my mother tracing her fingers over Bella's freckles while dad ran his finger down the bridge of her dainty nose, my moms own nose.
I closed my eye when they started to turn and I waited until they closed the door before turning in my bed, I threw the cover back and tiptoed to the door with my ear pressed against the thin wood. I heard my mom crying and my dad sniffling, my eyebrows screwed together in utter confusion; my mom had her occasional emotional moments, but in all my eighteen years I'd never heard my dad sniffle much less cry!
"Do you think they'll hate us Charlie?" "Maybe…but hopefully they can learn to forgive us." "They won't hurt Bella will they?! She didn't know anything, she's so young and innocent!" "Shhhh….shhhh Renee you have to be quiet, you don't want to wake them up. I doubt they'll hurt Bella, she's an asset and she may even be matched off to some Community boy; they'd never hurt her potential to bring the next generation."
"..Edward?" I pulled away from the door and made out Bella's figure from the faint light shining into the room "What're you doing?" Sleep was heavy in her voice and I quickly shushed her "Its nothing, go back to sleep Bells" She huffed and turned in bed before laying down again, with a sigh I moved away from the door and crawled back into bed reluctantly. I stared at the dark ceiling for what felt like forever as I tried to figure out what the hell was going on before I finally couldn't keep my eyes open any longer and I fell asleep.
"How did you sleep last night kids?" Bella smiled warmly at dad as she chewed happily at the eggs mom had made, "Good! I didn't cough once, did I Edward!" I smiled at Bella, she was one of the few who could be called a 'morning person' and she seemed to be the only one in this family!
"She's telling the truth, for once in the past month I wasn't kept up to her constant yakking!" She threw a strip of bread at me before bitting into the rest of it happily, I smiled at my sister as I scooped a spoonful of eggs into my mouth. Dad cleared his throat suddenly causing Bella and I to turn towards him, his expression was rather sad and I sat down my spoon while Bella looked at me worriedly.
"Edward, Bella, your mother and I want you two to know how much we love you…nothing could ever change that and we did the best we could for you. You are the light of our lives in this terrible world and nothing either of the tests say will change that." Dad grabs each of our hands while our mom grabs the other and we sit around the table in utter silent; Bella and I both completely confused as mom starts to silently cry. Bella opens her mouth to, I assume, ask what the heck is going on; suddenly the loudest sound echoes throughout the small house and shards of wood go flying along with bullets as Bella lets out a loud shriek.
We all stand from the table and I quickly move to Bella's side, standing in front of her as men loudly shout, filling the entire house, Bella lets out another shriek as the men come around the corner with large guns pointed at all of us.
"GET ON THE GROUND NOW!" None of us move as shock paralyzes me, I feel someone holding my arm tightly and somewhere in the back of my mind I know its Bella, her cries sound like they're miles away.
"I SAID GET ON THE GROUND! HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!" I suddenly drop harshly onto my knees and I feel my arms shake as my hands fold against the back of my head, I look to my side and see men forcing my parents onto the ground and one man jerks Bella forward until we're all kneeling in a line. Bella's eyes a closed tightly as tears pour down her cheeks and I feel my chest heaving up and down, something feeling as though its pressing harshly against my chest as my ears ring.
"Charlie and Renee Swan, you've been charged with abduction and concealment of a member of the Community. On the orders of the Administration you've been sentenced to death by firing squad." My eyes widen as the force of their orders hit me and I hear as Bella lets out a loud cry; I look at mom and dad as they simply hang their heads with tears running down their cheeks.
I jerk out of my head as hands suddenly grab me and pull me from the ground, I pull against them and struggle as I continue to watch my family, I shout out against them and kick them as more men grab onto me and begin to pull my out the dining room.
"No! Let me go! I said let me go!" I turn around harshly and look at Bella as she crumbles to the ground in tears, her screams drowned out by the men and my struggle when I watch as men suddenly grab her; I begin to struggle harshly against the men as fear begins to grow in my chest. "Get your hands off of her! Bella!" She starts to scream as she tries her hardest to stay on the ground, a man has a gun pointed at her as the men grasp her hair and force her to stand.
"BELLA! GET THE FUCK OFF OF HER! MOM! DAD! DO SOMETHING!" Charlie and Renee simply stay on the floor as tears run down their cheeks, men standing over them with guns pointed at their heads. My eyes flash to Bella as she is thrown over the shoulder of one of the men, her hands tied with something clear as she screams for Charlie and Renee.
"MOM! DAD!" The whole world suddenly slows down as I watch the men cock back the guns and suddenly bullets exit the guns and blood sprays everywhere as Renee and Charlie fall to the floor.
"NOOOO!" I slowly turn as I'm pulled out of the house, my eyes never leaving Bella, her wide brown eyes, red with tears running down her flushed face and snot runs down her nose. Her terror and anguish suddenly brings me back to reality and I realize my cheeks are damp while my eyes burn with outside light burns my eyes as I'm led to some armored car and thrown into the back, I land on some type of padding as a tidal wave rushes over me and I let out anguished cries. I stand and slam my hands against the door, screaming for Bella, for anyone while the car starts and peels off, drowning out my own cries until I fall numbly to the floor.
What the hell just happened? Where's Bella? Abduction..concealment?
