Her changing was different then any other. They were usually long. At least a few days. Memories came back in the form of choppy movies playing out through the victims brain as they slipped in an out of consciousness. The Swipe that blocked a Glader's memories would open like a floodgate, but only a few inches at a time, letting out snippets of a memory. Any afflicted victims were plagued with bubbly yellow boils on their skin and a a hue of green over their skin. They woke up in cold sweat, screamed through out the night and returned to consciousness a colder dislikable person.
For her, there were snippets, but more than usual. Plus a group of three memories that came in more cohesive pictures, like a movie recorded on a scratched CD. She didn't vomit on her self or turn green. She didn't jolt awake screaming or wake up a total b-i-t-c-h. It was like she arrived to the Maze with 0 percent of her past, and she woke up from a deep but short sleep with 50 percent of it.
It's soft and it's yellow. The world around her swims in warm light. It's adventure, but within the security of home.
She's younger. Her hands are round and plump, void of callouses and scratches. Golden curls peak into her peripheral vision and she leaves them be. On her legs she can see a pair of pale pink foot pajamas. These make her inexplicably happy.
She's trying to go down a set of stairs with a blanket clutched in one hand and the other grasping the banister above her. It's a challenge to hold the bannister but also squat low enough to reach the step below her. Before every decent she must take a leap of faith an release the wooden bar. The blanket is essential to her journey.
Suddenly two figures blow by her. It's her brothers. They are older, not much, but enough to make it down the stairs with ease. They push at eachother and roughhouse around, not noticing her struggle.
Then a leg catches her back. Some one is nearly tripping but then they catch themselves on the bannister. She is furious, they've nearly kicked her all the way down the wretched stairs.
"Be careful Aiden." Some one say in a high pitched voice.
Then the two people are in front of her. It's Chase and Aiden. Curly blonde hair just like hers... big smiles just like hers.
"Sorry Pipes." Aiden apologizes bending in front of her..
She isn't angry anymore. She lets out a gurgled laugh.
Chas tugs at Aiden's shoulder. "C'mon guys, it's time to go open presents." The glee returns to Chase's voice. With out needing to ask permission he scoops her into his arms and bounds down the stairs.
It's absolutely terrifying and thrilling and Piper can't help but squeal in joy and fear and happiness as she and her brother run towards the living room. She can't be sure, but if she had to guess she'd say Chase is one of the fastest boys in the world.
The aderenilne rush stops as soon as the tree comes into view. It's decorated brilliantly. Off of each branch sprouts a brilliantly crafted ornament; they shimmer in the glow of thousands of shining lights. Tinsel hangs in dramatic bellowing waves. There are dozens and dozens of boxes scatter along the floor covered in bright packaging.
A mile wide smile cracks over her face.
Then there are adults. There is a baby in the woman's arm. It's Mommy and Daddy and little Chloe.
"Look who came guys!" Daddy cries.
"Santa!" Chase and Aiden cheer.
Piper's eyes grow wide, "Thanta?" She'd only heard stories of the man's glory, but it was true. He really did bring presents to all the good boys and girls!
They open gifts and eat cinnamon roles and later it snows. The rest is choppy and muddled in Green's brain, but the warm feeling remains.
Then bullets of information zoom through her brain.
Chase Adien Piper and Chloe. They were the Richards.
Her middle name is Evelyn. Chloe's is Fiona.
She got a bike for her fifth birthday.
Aiden is 18 months older than her. Chase is 3 years older.
Chloe is 2 years younger than her.
She likes the color purple. She doesn't tell people this because is makes them think she's a girly girl.
Her best friends where Mary and Sam. They played soccer together.
Then a long one comes again.
It starts blue and green. Alive and beyond happy to be so.
They're outside, She's older now. The stairs don't phase her anymore. The new obstacle she faces are the metal monkey bars on the swing set Dad just bought chase for his 9th birthday. They must be at least 5 feet apart and 10 feet high!
The cold steel rods stand between her and her brothers. Both Chase and Aiden have made it across. Chloe marvels at the toys in the sand box to their right.
"You can do it Pipes!" Chase cheers to her.
"What are ya Green, chicken?" Aiden challenges, sticking out his tongue.
"Don't call me that." She whines.
"Don't listen to him. Just come across. I'll catch you if you fall."
"You mean when she falls?"
"Cut it out Aiden!" She demands. She looks at the metal bars, gripping them tightly in both hands.
She's brave, everyone tells her that. So why is she so scared?
Something happens, Green doesn't remember. But that part is no longer important because all of a sudden Dad's car is racing down the drive way. It's quite early for him to be home. Her siblings ignore this; they run to him, cheering about their new swing set and all of its glory.
She had done the monkey bars. She wants to tell Dad, but she keeps quiet. Something isn't right... Dad has something else on his mind; she sees it right away. A thin layer of sweat lies on his forehead.
"Dad it's so cool!"
"The slide is fast!"
"Daddy will you come push me on the swing?" Chloe's blonde curls bounce as she reaches for dad. People all say they look alike. She doesn't see it. Chloe has blue eyes.
"Not now guys." Dad bends down and lifts Chloe into his arms, "I think you guys should all come inside. Where is your mom?"
"What's going on Dad?" She asks. He doesn't answer.
They're inside all of a sudden. Mom and Dad whisper harshly in the kitchen. The voices of reporters echo in the background from the small TV. Something bad has happened.
Chloe wants to play dolls. She won't play with her, she's trying to listen. Chase agrees to be Ken.
She and Aiden sit at the edge of the playroom, their eyes glued on the TV.
The floods.
The sun flares.
Then the Flare.
Mom dies.
Chloe dies.
Then they move. Dad is a doctor. He is needed in Denver to tend to the sick.
Dad isn't around much.
Chase dies.
It's the worst pain she's ever felt. She screams like she's being burnt by cigarettes.
She turns 7, Aiden turns 8. They have no presents and no party.
Dad dies. She doesn't cry for him or say any last words. She just stares. She wants to throw up.
They have funeral. They're alone.
Aiden won't stop calling her Green. She breaks his nose. He gives her a black eye. They don't talk for a week.
They only have each other now. Aiden tells her she's growing up.
WICKED finds them.
Aiden spends his days in testing. She trains to be a guard.
They are still aloud to share a room.
They don't spend much time together. When she sees him all she can do it smile. They talk about their days.
Aiden turns 16. He's not aloud to see her anymore.
She's alone.
She sees him on the screen one day. He's in the experiment now.
She watches him every chance she gets. He's doing really well. He's saving the world.
She trains.
Then a long one.
She's standing shoulder to shoulder with 20 other people dressed all in black. A man speaks to him. His words are nonsensical warbles to her. It might be the choppy memory or maybe she just didn't care what he was saying. He paces back and forth.
"Chapman, Waters, Yang. Left wing watch. Duty released at 18 hundred hours. Go now." Three guards nod and march off, rifles on their backs, heads looking straight a head. "Morris, Everrts, McBryd and White you've got Subject A quarters tonight." Four more detach themselves from the group. "Richards and Patel, you're on surveillance room A."
She smiles. That's Aiden's room.
She hides her excitement.
An Indian man is walking next to her. His name is Rohan. He's only a year older than her and the only other guard new to the Force. They've had this shift together before. Major Whick likes to keep them together. They're rookies, and Whick is dying for them to screw up. Rohan lives to annoy her, though he's the closest thing to a friend that she's got on the Force. There's Michael, a young engineer, but other then the two boys and herself, WICKED doesn't keep a lot of youths around if they aren't participating in experiments.
"Some one's in a good mood." Rohan sneers in a hushed tone as they near the surveillance room.
She rolls her eyes, "I should've never told you about Aiden."
"Happy to see your older brother?"
"I am actually." She beams, "Your shitty personality isn't going to change that."
"Ok... Green." She stops walking. Rohan does to. He's gone to far. Even he can recognize this. "I-I shouldn't've. Sorry."
She rolls her eyes again, "Just try to keep your mouth shut for the rest of this day? Really. Don't piss me off. You've seen me with a knife."
"Sure, you could kill me in a second from 20 feet away, but the question is... will you?" Rohan asks as if he is some sort of poet/philosopher.
"With pleasure." She smirks.
Rohan is silent the rest of the way.
They reach their post. Surveillance room A is written on the door in small black block letters. She knocks on it sharply.
Doctor Crawford opens it.
"Hello Doctor. We are here for your protection." Green says robotically.
Doctor Crawford sighs, "Is this because of the Right Arm raids?"
Neither she nor Rohan answer. Reluctantly, she lets them in.
It's a large, white room covered in TVs and desks. There are three other scientists sitting at different clusters of screens.
Rohan plants himself on the right side of the room; she takes the left. The rules are that they remain silent. They are not to disturb the scientist unless their lives are in danger. Doing so would mean termination from the Guard Force.
Green watches the Screens. Something is happening. The boys of Glade A gather around the box.
Some one has gone down there.
She scans for Aiden but… but he's not there.
"See anything Nick?" Some one from the screen calls.
Her eyes grow wide. Long ago she figured out that her brothers name was replace by WICKED. Nick for Nikola Tesla she assumed.
"Keep lowerin—"
There is a loud SWOOSH. The boys gasp and whisper. Some one calls for Nick but he doesn't answer. They began pulling on the rope quickly.
Her heart drops a thousand feet. "C'mon Aiden." She whispers to her self, "c'mon."
And then his body is there. Just half of it. He lies motionless on the grass.
He's dead.
She wants to scream.
She bites her tongue.
She want's to shoot the scientists.
She clenches her fists.
She wants to cry.
Tears slip from her eyes silently. She can't control it.
She must watch for the rest of the day.
She is now completely and entirely alone.
This... this is the worst pain she's ever felt. This is the worst pain she will ever feel. This is emptiness. This is looking at yourself and realizing... you are alone now, you are a movement and the universe is a force acting against you and no one is looking out for you.
This is losing her best friend and her guardian.
It crushes her.
""""""""""""""
Minho had agreed to stay awake. Honestly, he didn't trust Jeff not to turn on them. Sure, Thomas had been convincing. "Even if you are going to kill her, don't let her go out like this." He'd said as she contorted and seized; the heart stopping pain was evident on her face. But just because Jeff gave them the serum didn't mean he wouldn't run the first chance he got.
So Minho watched and waited.
His eyes drifted to Green, they seemed to return there often through out the night.
His heart nearly stopped as he saw her. She was no longer laying on the ground in a motionless heap. Instead, she was sitting up straight, her eyes open and staring off into space somewhere right next to his head. In the dim light cascading in through the single window, Minho could see that they were wet.
"Oh my God Green, you scared the klunk out of me." Minho half whispered. She didn't blink. "You ok there shank?" Minho wondered why she was awake so early. The Changing often took days, but she barely been out an 8th of one.
He studied her. She was distant and cold. He saw no resemblance to the girl he'd spent the last 10 hours with.
She spoke to him in a voice so quiet and so haunting that Minho nearly shivered "I remember everything." She said. Her damp eyes flick to him. They were swollen and blotchy. "You all killed my brother."
"""""""""""""""
This was a lot of backstory and memory. Hope you guys liked it. Bookrain, I would be conflicted to honestly. I mean is freedom for 50 boys really not worth the life of one girl? Especially because, to them, she is a stranger. I'm glad you're feeling conflicted, that's kind of how I want my readers to feel! To the guest asking about my SYOC, I am stuck on whether or not to go back. I really like the other characters in the story, but I'm conflicted with a mix of writers block and not feeling interest from my readers. I find writing SYOCs a little more rewarding because people are reading not for their own character but for interest in my actual story. Thanks also to Anne and SDB for their continued support and to every new reviewer! Let me know what you think about Green/Piper's life before the Glade! the Next chapter will be up soon with more action.