Alright so here you guys go! This is my new story that I am going to be writing! I am loosely basing this story off of Kristen Simmons' novel, Article 5 First off I highly recommend that you read it. It is a great novel that I truly enjoyed. If you're a fan of dystopian novels, definitely read it, because it's great. Secondly, when I say loosely, I mean loosely. There will be no mention of characters in the book. The only thing that you will really know from the book is the setting, how she is taken to the reformatory, as well as some of the stuff from the reformatory. You will also recognize that she is taken in for violation of article 5. So don't expect too much with that part. I really enjoyed the world Kristen created and thought that it'd be a great world to make a Brittana story in. So without further ado, I present to you Rehabilitation.
I slammed my fist on the table and cursed quietly under my breath as my sleeping mother jumped a little in her sleep. She works herself thin, trying to provide for herself and I. As much as I would love to work, I'm still in school and can't until I'm at least 18. Our country has become a mess after the latest world war. Everyone is practically broke and live on rations from our government. My mother is what they call one of the "lucky" ones. She worked for a company that was, thankfully, not shut down by the government during the war and is still up and running. She still has her job and is able to give us a little more than what others around me have.
"Hey, you ok?" Puck puts his hand on my shoulder while asking the question. Puck's full name is Noah Puckerman and he and I have been best friends since Middle School. He sees right through my "Top Bitch" attitude and is able to read me like a book. Puck was also my first kiss, and boyfriend, but that ended pretty soon because we were more like brother and sister to each other. Fortunately he and I had been assigned partners for the essay board project about the 5 articles.
"Yeah, Puck, just a little frustrated on this essay. Damn Articles are hard to write about." I nudge into his shoulder and continue writing. I wasn't lying, they really were hard to write about, but I was the better writer of us two so I volunteered to do the essay while Puck is doing the artsy stuff. The articles were tacked on the Constitution after the war ended, since there was complete chaos. The government thought they'd be able to control us. Our bill of rights were also taken away, as well as many of the other basic rights given to us in the Constitution. I am really not a fan of the articles, especially since I am technically a violation of the 5th. The 5th Article states that no children shall be had out of wedlock. Unfortunately, My father knocked up my mom and left her with a promise that he'd marry her. Even thinking about the articles made me beyond frustrated with him.
Puck was just about to respond when there was a knock at our front door. I nodded slightly to him, telling him to stay where he was. I walked swiftly to the door and opened it to two FBR agents. The FBR are basically our militia. They find article violators and take them into custody. Puck and I like to call the the Moral Militia.
"Hello," says one of the agents who's uniform is labeled Hudson. The man was very tall, and stood kind of awkwardly next to skinny asian man by his side. "we are looking for a Maribel Lopez, does she live here?"
I nod slightly opening my mouth to answer. "Yes, she's asleep in the living room, would you like me to grab her for you?"
"No." Interrupts the other officer, who's uniform reads Chang. "We can get her ourselves." Hudson pushes past me and into our living room, where my mom is asleep. He then grabs her by one of her shoulders and lifts her up, shaking her awake. "Maribel Lopez," begins Chang, "You are under arrest for violation of article 5."
"What? No!" I scream, storming towards the man. "You can't take her, she's the only family I have!" I watch my mother struggle in the hands of the two men who violently grope her arms.
"Obviously!" Laughs Hudson. "Thats why you're an article 5."
The words hit me hard and next thing I know, I'm seeing red. I go up to the tall man and lash my nails out against his face. I feel a satisfying pang of adrenaline when I see the blood running from the wounds. I shove him backwards as hard as he can and deliver another punch to her jaw. I can feel Puck trying to pull me off of him, but I just shrug him off and go back on the attack. I am beating him pretty good until there is a searing white hot pain on the back of my thighs that causes me to collapse. Hudson then takes the chance to take a strike at my face, landing one on my eye. I tumble backwards from the impact only to fall into Chang's arms. He pulls my arms behind my back and handcuffs them tightly into place. I heard nothing but white noise as Chang leads me outside to the van where there is a crowd of people watching our house intently. I barley hear Pucks cries from behind me as I wait for whats next. For his skinny appearance, Chang is very strong. He picks me up and tosses me into the back of the van without an effort. I land on my back, unable to get up.
I spent what seems like hours tumbling in the back of the FBR van. The van is white and has absolutely nothing in the back, so it's constantly causing to tumble about and always land on a hard, uncomfortable metal. It really took way too much time to figure out how to get my self standing up. I pushed my back against the side of the van and used my legs to push myself into an upright position. Once I am up I walk wobbly over to where there is a small window that is used for communication.
"Where are we going?" I shout out him. Chang just stares at the road ignoring me and my loud protesting. "Where are we fucking going?" I shout even louder into his ear. He just turns his head and looks me in the eye, then turns his focus back to the road, where he continues ignoring me. "You know what Chang, I could do this all fucking day. If you would just tell me where the fuck we are going, I would lay off you asshole." I scream at him, kicking at where the back of his seat would be.
Chang is silent for a few minutes as I scream profanities and threats at him while he drives. He shows no sign of answering so soon enough I groan loudly and stand in the middle of the van, muttering curses and threats.
I am so focused on what I am saying that I don't see his grip on the wheel tightening. He turns the vehicle left to right so many times that it sends me spiraling into the walls of the van more times than I can count. A few I the times I landing hard on my head. Once he stops, I throw up all over myself as my vision begins to fuzz. I can hear Chang mutter under his breath as I loose my consciousness.
When I wake up, I am in a fairly short line of girls, next to a pretty blonde girl dressed practically in rags. I prop my self up as well as I can, looking at my attire. I can see myself covered in an orange substance that looks disgusting. I look over to the blonde next to me. "Where the hell am I?" I ask
"Oh hey, sleeping beauty woke up." She starts. I can already tell that I won't like her. "If you must know, we are waiting to go to the 'Rehab Center'. Can I ask why you have puke on your shirt?" She asks, adding air quotes around Rehab Center. "Also, what article are you?" She asks.
"Uhm... Article 5," I answer cautiously. "and I hit my head a few times on the ride here I guess." She throws her head back laughing.
"Oh thats great!" She cheers. "Your mom is a slut! Woo I was right, I need to collect my winnings from Tina. Also, you smell awful."
"Yes, because I can sure help how I smell right now." I growl. "And my mom is not a slut."
"Sure of course. It's called not puking all over yourself. Aim for the ground next time." She states calmly. "And you know if you keep telling yourself that you'll probably grow up to be just like her."
I shake my head, ready to give her a comeback before one of the militia men speaks up, ordering us to get in the bus. Guards come to accompany every girl in line, hoisting them up onto their feet. I can see that guard helping me is still Chang.
"This is your fucking fault." I spit at him.
He doesn't answer and just keeps moving, pushing me onto the bus like all the other guards. Once he sits me next to the blonde, then bends over near my ear.
"If you don't watch your mouth," he whispers. "you'll be real sorry in the reformatory."
I grumble in response and kick my leg out, successfully making contact with his leg. Chang pulls out the metal baton, and slashes me across the face.
"That's just the start, Lopez." He states, then walks calmly off the bus. I look around to see all the other girls staring at me. I can feel the metallic blood dripping down my cheek and onto my clothes. I sigh loudly and settle into my seat next to the blonde.
"You're kind of bleeding" The blonde girl states obviously as the silence stops and girls begin talking to each other.
"Yeah I kind of realized" I grumble lowly.
"What's that slut? I can't hear you over the stench of whore." She replies, smirking. "You might want to try to clean that up."
"With what hands, Blondie?" I nearly shout at her.
"The ones behind your back." She says smoothly, putting her hands up for show. "Oh wait, you're cuffed aren't you? Damn, did you try to fuck the officer?"
I shake my head at her, letting her know that I am not going to answer that question, and she just grins.
"You know, I kind of like you." She begins, "You remind me of myself." She continues talking, like I actually cared. I just tried my best to tune her out and try to prepare myself for what is to come.
"Hello, slut?" I hear as I come back to the real world. "What's your name, I've asked you twice already."
"It's Santana." I answer. "What's it to you?"
"Well, as amusing as it is to call you slut and have you actually respond, I get bored easily so it's not as entertaining as it was." She has her smirk on again. " My names Quinn by the way." She sticks out her hand as if she was trying to shake mine, but then pulled it back quickly, a look of embarrassment on her face.
"Well, ok Quinn, as great as it is to talk to someone I would rather be alone right now because this reformatory shi-" My sentence is cut off by a speaker asking us all to exit the bus as quickly as possible. Orders also stated that if anyone falls out of line they will be punished in front of the whole Reformatory. I look nervously at Quinn, who gives me a curt nod and then pushes me up to get off the bus.
Ok, well I hope you enjoyed the story! I think I am going to keep it T for now, but I may change it to M later for maturer themes. Please follow and review. And keep in mind, the more feedback you give me, the better the story will become!