The Other Side Of The Coin: The Selection Series

Storm outside, heavy rain crashing in the windows,  darkness, a young woman bursting into tears, a man shouting angrily and pushing her away from him, on the cold, concrete floor of the basement right next to me. Man slamming the door, then a moment of  complete silence, shaking but still gentle hands providing my cut left eyebrow. Quiet apologies. A lot more tears..
   
As always I was awaken by the same old, loud, ugly alarm clock. I've heard it's sharp tones repeatedly for over a dozen years in a row now and it was probably my most hated part of living in the Colony.

"You had your nightmares again, didn't you?" I heard a high, girlish voice from across the room. I looked around and noticed that all the beds were empty, apart from the one in the corner. Mia was the youngest one in our cabin, only six years old when we rescued her from a burning shed which must had been her home back then. She was probably a seven before the castes were abolished. Now, after almost three years she became my only real friend here. You can call me a recluse but believe me It's kinda hard to stay friendly when you've been raised to kill whatever's moving.
     
"Yeah, they're getting more disturbing lately." I admitted truthfully. Was I sleepwalking?" I asked hesitantly.

  "Not this time. Just shouting... is everything all right Avory?" her big, navy eyes seemed concerned. She was watching me carefully as if I was one of her precious, fragile dolls. Despite her young age Mia always seemed to understand everything quicker than anyone else.

"Do not worry about me bumblebee," I eventually managed to get out of bed then I rubbed her dark curls, threw my casual black uniform on, stepped out of the cabin and added "I'm fine" more to myself than to her. There's a different definition of 'fine' after you've spent your first years of life in constant fear of the wrathful king,
who for some reason hated your guts, in a dingy, clammy basement away from a single living soul besides an old nanny who rarely even talked to you. I'm telling you, growing up being told how worthless you are just because you're a bit different than the others suck. Due to that I really hated having heterochromia* back then but even though I had no idea why the Shreaves even cared about me, I knew that I hated this whole family most in the world and I was ready to kill them whenever I had a chance. That's what I was trained for my whole life.

*Heterochromia - A difference in coloration in two structures or two parts of the same structure that are normally alike in color (for ex. in Avory's case eyes)