-Annie-
I woke up to the cold. I have for years. It's too early for my father to be up, and by the smell of it, any time before two in the afternoon would be too early for him. I stepped out from the small worn blanket that Claire and I share. she rolls over in her sleep but doesn't wake up. Today is the day of becoming. I slowly walk to the fireplace and light a match. I place the blue flame on the smeared news paper. The misprints the city couldn't sell. I walk out into the small town where we live. I have to pay for the drinks my father had had. The sun was just coming over the skyline. It was almost a hopeful sight, but I had been to New Asia and it was no better than here. It almost hurt me to know that Claire still believes that someday someone from there was going to come and save us. I never had the heart to tell her no one was coming, but my father had no problem with it. After mom died, Claire was only a baby, but I told her the stories. I described her to Claire. We used to be best friends, but after I went to the fields she was just one of the things I had to protect from our father. Just Claire and the key. He didn't know I had the key. He goes out every day and searches, but he never finds it. I don't know why he wants it, but Mama said not to let him have it. "Someday" she said "someone from new Asia will come and save you, but only if you keep it." Then she was gone.
