As dark as the room was a solitary light could be seen from the doorway, illuminating from a small lamp, which sat forgotten near the only window the room had to offer. The fragment of light barely allowed the sight of the rooms meager contents. In the corner sat a small metal bared bed barely covered by a quilt of all sorts of colors lying ruffled at the foot of the mattress. Scattered around the room was paper of all sizes and all colors, some hanging from the walls, some one tear away from cascading to the floor, but all were marvelous. Each one a memory hanging for all to see, all drawn carefully and skillfully by the same child who now could be see laying peacefully on the floor.
A sketchbook in hand, she gazed down at the picture she was drawing with careful admiration. A look that on a child of her age seemed misplaced, for it was the look of someone far beyond the adolescent age of 8.
Yet, just as she began to lay her pencil to the sheet once more, a small boy entered by the rear. Wearing the same grey uniform look as the girl herself, the boy casually rubbed at the neck of his shirt in obvious discomfort while walking as if by memory, to the center where the girl sat waiting. The child seemed amused by the girl's position and sat down loudly next to her, not bothering to hide his easy nature in her company.
"What is it this time It's-a-belly, what was so important you couldn't wait till morning to finish sketching?" the boy asked drawing in breath as if scolding her like a parent.
"It's him Toe-mas, it's our special place, I can see it in my memory as if it was only yesterday, yet I know that had I ever truly seen such a place I'd surely never have left in good conscience." She traced the edge of the picture with such a delicate touch one might think the child expected it to break under immense pressure.
The boy sat with an odd expression on his face while peering at the drawing over her shoulder, carefully pushing aside her fingers when they obstructed his view.
"It's not finished yet, but I can't seem to sleep, or eat, or do anything knowing that it lie's here so shamed with incompletion." She said.
The boy did not move, and if he heard her he made no indication. He sat stone eyed staring at the picture of a meadow so covered in flowers, one might think they all desired the chance to bask in the sunlight, only this place could offer.
"I desire so much to just be their with him, 10 years seems like such a long time when faced with the prospect of eternity." She tore the picture from his hands, and walked to the dark corner near the bed, dropping to the floor and prying up a loose floorboard with her bare hands. After placing it carefully on the top of a pile, she pushed the floorboard back into place and moved to stand and straiten her clothes.
"It will do us no good for you to produce evidence of what they already fear is true. Your visions will only cause you more pain, more tests, more years stuck in this hole instead of out in the world where we belong." The boy said as she came to rest back on the floor she had left so suddenly not a moment before. "Don't you understand Isabella!" he tore at her sketchbook and threw it to the floor, the once playful expression having left his face.
The girl turned roughly from his grasp, and walked toward the window in frustration. The use of her full name throwing her for a moment, having been used to their childish nicknames for so long. She remained there gazing through bars out into the fading sunset. "You used to hope with me Thomas, hope that one day our parents would come back for us, that they'd save us from this retched place. What happened to you to make you believe our future must be sacrificed for our survival here?" she whispered through clenched teeth.
Thomas stifled his rage long enough to make it to the doorway without daring to speak what they both knew to be true. "Your mother and father don't even know you were born, my mother was too busy swooning for the big shoot doctor to take a second opinion on whether or not I was really dead! Their not coming back for us, they left us here to rot." And with those words he left the room and tore down the hallway in blind fury.
She stayed rooted to the spot, tears threatening to spill over. Once her and Thomas had kept maps in her special place under the floorboard, keeping track of all the places their parents were throughout their childhood. They had marks all over the continent, and many in Alaska were their family stayed from the time they were born to the time Isabella learned to walk, Thomas learning soon after if only in an attempt to keep up with her.
Isabella couldn't believe he'd given up hope so soon; after all he was the reason she hadn't cracked years ago under all the pressure her glimpses of the future had given her. Turning to the mirror she knew he would come back to her and make things right again, after all it was them vs. him and her and if they weren't together they'd never manage to escape and find their parents.
A heavy boot approaching told her that Thomas was still far away, and left her in a vulnerable position, alone they could pick us off like ducks in open water. She didn't turn around, not even when the man sent to her room cleared his throat in annoyance. Only then did she fear for the worst when his boots more hurried and impatient came strait for her from the door.
"Your presence is requested in the head matrons office . . .. Now." He gripped her arm and dragged her away from the window. A last glance over her shoulder showed her that the sun had fully set and as she was dragged away, she couldn't help but think how fitting it all was that she be pulled away for punishment so soon after being refueled with the hope of an escape from this prison.
Bella Swan awoke with a start, troubled by a passing thought that her dreams have become more intrusive as of late. More often than not, she'd wake up feeling as if she was missing something, some piece of a puzzle that's never really quite fit together. But, she didn't dwell on it for long, something told her that it might be better to not dwell on what she wasn't sure could really end up meaning anything important.
So instead of wondering why she was having such vivid nightmares of a small dark room, and a boy with such an easy going smile it made her heart ache, she simply left well enough alone.
"Bella, Edward's here." Charlie sounded from down the hall, sounding more annoyed than usual with the arrival of my still-in-the-dog-house boyfriend. I rolled my eyes at Charlie's audible show of making Edward uncomfortable, and made my way downstairs to rescue him, pushing aside any lingering thoughts of how familiar the dreams seemed.