Wynona
written by cinna
Wynona's been chosen for a special program and is dragged away from her forest life in Dunwich to live with the council in Anemone, the capitol of the land. But Wynona's learning to escape the council, and she learns that they are not the only ones in their world...
Last Updated
05/31/21
Chapters
5
Reads
449
Chapter Four
Chapter 4
I wake up. I throw the comfort of my fluffy blankets to the side as I hobble out of bed. My eyes are blinded by the bright sun that is shining through my windows and I feel my vision white out as I stretch.
My wardrobe is not filled with the usual fancy sequins and sparkles that plagued my storage. It is filled with a simple white set, a shirt, some shorts, socks, and a pair of squeaky clean white shoes. White shoes. They are a luxury in Phaeton, since none of us can afford to keep them clean. Bleach and white coloring is expensive too, so it’s even harder for us to afford them.
I take a quick and simple shower, then I change into the clothes. The shoes are so clean, I can wear them inside my room. Aitana is waiting for me outside, but this time, she is not so heavily dressed. She is wearing a black t-shirt with words printed on them. “I Eat Phaetonians For Breakfast” it says. A sunny side up egg is also printed on it, with a fork.
She’s flicking through a magazine called the Anemone Daily, with a porcelain figure on it. The magazine says it’s this super star called Julia Loretta, and she’s dressed in a white dress, and cheesy headlines are posted in chunky letters. She’s got a stack next to her, and she’s got a distasteful look on her face.
“Bleh. Julia Loretta. When are they going to learn that all the beauties in the world don’t have to have pale white skin.” She takes out a black pen and starts scribbling funny mustaches and glasses on Julia’s face. She’s quite a good artist, and the mustache looks real with it’s little hairs. She chuckles before noticing me and giving a little cocky smile.
“You missed breakfast. I’m going to take you to your testing room.” She gets up and starts walking down the stairs. “I know the elevator makes you feel uncomfortable, so I’m just going to take you down this way.” It seems she can read my mind. “Plus, the room is only on the second floor anyways.”
We trot down the stairs and she leads me to the second floor. There are green, yellow, and white doors. The Phaetonians are wearing yellow, the Highlanders green. Like always. Only one of our main instructors is standing there, and it’s Emily. She has blonde hair that pierces my eyes, and green eyes that pierce my soul.
“Today is your first day of training. Today is merely a test of whether we have to drop you or not. If we drop you, then you will begin your job as a maid or a cook in our kitchens and we will teach you there. If you fail only one test, you will most likely become a teacher or janitor. Those who pass will get a great opportunity of a lifetime.”
“What is that opportunity?” A boy asks in the audience.
“That is for us to know, and for you to find out.” I’ve never liked that sentence, because it could mean anything.
She tells us that we are going into rooms with others in our region. The whole talk is quite boring. We learn how to strap ourselves into the simulation machines, which are big, clunky, and cover our whole body. We learn how to adjust our helmets, which will be where the simulation mainly comes from.
I have two controls in my giant suit. One to start the simulation, and one to emergency exit. Looks like bad things have happened here before. Let’s hope they don’t happen to me.
Solid holograms. That’s how they do everything. They explain the technology to us, and show us with a quick demo. It’s quite amusing and the technology is impressive, but it’s glitchy. If you aren’t wearing a headset and you walk around the figure, then it’ll glitch out and become flat, not 3-D.
I don’t like how I feel restrained in this suit. I am sweating, and my white clothes have visible stains on them. I can’t even move my fingers, which are restrained in tiny slips on the end of the suit’s arms. It’s like I’ve gone stiff, but worse. This could be some sort of torture device.
They instruct us to turn on the suit. It is big and clunky, like a suit would be. It reminds me of… those mech things.
In The Market, there is this group of people. They have no name, but we nickname them “The Shadows”. They bring Phaetonian and Highlander goods to the market, at a steep price. I think the only time I’ve bought from them is when we needed clothes for the winter, and they were selling warm fur jackets at a discount.
Quinn knows them better. He’s done many more trades with them. Meat is more valuable than candy. It’s a simple fact.
They once brought these “mech suits” into the market. They said it was something from something called… a TV show. I’m still not sure what that is. They were tiny little toys that were made from a hard material. They look exactly like these suits.
I twist my fingers towards the button, and my vision is whited out. For about two seconds. I get a glimpse of a grid, but it’s more like a wave of squares.
The white flashes are over and I am awake in a forest. Instead of flowing streams of water, there are flowing streams of lava. The rocks are dark and shallow, getting splashed by lava. The heat that I once had in the suit is replaced by this new kind of heat. It is searing me.
I have a pack on my back. I slowly peel it off, the sweat making it sticky. Inside is a small bottle of water, an eject button, and a piece of rope. I grab the rope immediately, but it turns into a pile of useless ash. I groan as the only things I have are not going to help me get out.
The water won’t help me. Flowing lava can’t be stopped by a single drop of water; it’ll evaporate.
I tip the water bottle to my throat, my lips sweaty and searing with heat. I feel the water touch my lips- but something feels wrong.
The water is not cold. It is warm. And my lips feel like they have been burned. Burned. The water in here is not cold. It is not even water.
I scream as fire erupts from the top of my bottle, and I throw it into the lava, desperate to get rid of it. I wait for the sizzling sounds of it melting. But it is not melting. It is floating.
I grab the ashes from my pack, grab a handful, and toss them in. If it is real lava, it will be gone. If the lava is fake… it should do something else. I’m not sure what.
The ashes float. This lava can’t be real.
I feel the areas where the lava has splashed the rocks. It is cold. My hands are wet… wet with something I can only describe as… water.
Water. The lava is water. The water is lava. Meaning that… it’s my way out.
I jump in, and I feel the cold wrap around me, and the pink fluffy clouds drag me down under the waves. I have done it. I am free.
