Lucius stood before his two children. He let out a sigh and looked at Anna, who was the older of the two, fourteen . Her hair was golden in color like Ivy's but she had Lucius' dark brown eyes. She stood with her arms hanging at her sides staring up to her father trying to put an innocent look on her face. Lucius looked to Nicholas who was nearly in tears staring up at him. Wetting his lips he looked back to her, "Anna, why do you scare your brother?"

Anna looked to her mother who was now walking out to them then back to Lucius, "Well father... I do it because it's so simple." She answered coolly, glancing down to her seven year old brother who now had tears running down his cheeks. "I said I was sorry."

"But you said it while laughing!" Nicholas cried.

"Anna, you always say you're sorry... but it keeps happening. We've warned you time and time again not to scare him, to act how a sister should to her younger brother."

Anna said nothing, but she looked up to the gray August sky. It wasn't very summer like. She pressed her lips together and turned her gaze to the forest. The forest had always interested her. At night, people in yellow cloaks would light the torches that lined the edge of the forest. Someone was in the tower each night, also in yellow cloaks. Yellow was the safe color, and red was the bad color. Red was her favorite color for some reason though. Maybe because it was forbidden made Red seem so much... better then the other colors. Anna smiled to herself at this thought.

"Anna, are you listening?" Ivy asked her with a bit of a frown on her face.

Looking to her mother she cleared her throat, "Yes..."

"Then tell me what did we say?"

Anna looked between her mother and father, "I – well – you said that... er- I mean – "

Lucius sighed once again, "Anna... I think you need to go to the quite room."

She felt and heard herself gasp, "Why?" Anna demanded, "For scaring him a few times."

"You were trying to push me into the forest!" Nicholas said, hugging his mother quietly, now completely crying.

"I –I-" She stammered looking up into her father's face, "I didn't mean anything by it!"

Lucius rubbed his forehead and then dropped his arm to his sides, it tore at his heart to send his daughter to the room, but she really had scared Nicholas to much. At least once or twice a week, Lucius would find Nicholas sitting outside his and Ivy's room, crying. "I'm sorry Anna, but we warned you too many times. I'll come get you at dinner."

Anna stared up at him; dinner was about four hours from now. She frowned, "Fine." She held up her head and turned around making her way to the Quiet Room. Anna didn't stop when the other kids asked her what she was doing. She made her way past them, adults, livestock, without a single glance. Walking up the steps she pushed opened the door and walked inside, slamming the door behind her.

She said in the rocking chair that was in the corner. Staring out of the window she started to rock back and forth in it, the creaking from it filled the room. Tears were building up in her eyes, but she held them in. She would not cry because of this.

Slowly she stopped rocking and looked around the silent room. One of the scariest things to Anna was to be alone in silence. Anna frowned and started to rock again, trying to cause at least a little noise. To be sent to the Quiet Room was one of the biggest punishments. Be alone in a small room, nothing but quietness for hours. Yelling only made it seem worse. When she was around seven, she kept yelling so it wouldn't seem so quiet, but it only made her seem more alone. It made her feel like no one was even outside.

Anna again looked outside the window, gazing to the forest. She wondered if the forbidden line was, well, just that line, or if you could go some feet over it without anything happening. She wondered what would happen if you crossed that line. Anna sat up straight in the rocking chair, making a mental note to herself to find out for herself.