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 Five
Chapter 5
There are five parts to my old life. The first is my life in my home. Then life at school. Then my life in the candy store. My life with Quinn. And...my life in the woods.
I was taught how to plant at a very young age. Mainly fruits, but sometimes vegetables for food sources. A lot of our meals were foraged or small due to the fact that candymaker isn’t exactly the best job ever. A lot of people liked my parents but they didn’t like the fact that our pockets weren’t filled with gold.
I don’t have much money. Ten coins in all. Everyday I would count them up and think of what I could buy, but don’t. I could buy beef stew or some pork chops from the butchers. I could take my family out to dinner for one night. I could buy us ten loaves of bread from the baker. And maybe some new plants if I buy the right loaves.
We can’t afford to spend money like that. Quinn could never spend that kind of money. He never has time.
My life in the candy store is boring. I barely show my face. I only knead the taffy and mix the nougat and dip the things into chocolate. Sometimes I can sneak a bite of some of our marshmallow delights before having to go back to work. The marshmallows are a giant hit with everyone and they’re dirt cheap to make.
My life with Quinn… is hard to explain. We met each other at school, when they put him in my class, and not with the other boys. The boys and girls are separated from each other, to ensure that we will not have any romantic relationships with them until after we are safe from the council.
The classrooms are too small, and there are only three of them. They put the younger kids, the ones who just play pretend like they're in love in one classroom. They then put the boys who are old enough to understand and the girls who are old enough to understand in the other two. They took a lot of girls that year from our class, so it was small.
Quinn was shoved into our class, being the youngest boy. And that’s how it went.
My life in the woods is the hardest part for me to think about. Cause I don’t think about it anymore. I don’t want to.
Quinn’s showed me the woods. Not the woods that you think of. It’s the woods behind his house. We call it Darkwich Clearing, but it’s not really a clearing. It’s dense and scary, and it’s cold and dark year round. Only Quinn’s family goes in there, and it’s mainly to hunt.
It scared me. And it’s where I watched a man die. An old, drunk man, hobbling around the forest. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and he was singing old folk songs. No shoes either, if I can remember it. He kept going in deeper and deeper into the woods.
And then a scream. I guess you could say I didn’t watch a man die. But I certainly heard one. And I never went into those woods again.
And that was the end of my life in the woods.
I remember. I am still stuck in this suit. The sweat is still getting to me. My instructors finally tell me to unbuckle my suit. There’s one girl on the other side of the room, who is shaking and giggling hysterically.
A metal thing grabs her, places her on a bed, and wheels her away. I’ll never see her again.
We commune in the dining room, and those who could not make it have a big fat x across their faces. Five people have been eliminated, including the hysterical girl. They give another big and boring speech. Something about congratulations and how excited they are to continue and some other things. They say they are weeding out the weak and sending them home, where they will be fine. I believe the first part, but I’m not sure if I can trust the second.
They say that more testing will continue tomorrow. But I can’t believe they are tests anymore. I don’t know what they are, but they aren’t tests.
The rest of the day is boring. We eat lunch. I go back to my room and change. There’s another grand old dinner tonight, because the council is making a “surprise” visit. So more fancy tulle and crazy dresses. Great.
I have only one other memory of the council. They once came to our village to teach us about our land. That was the first time I’d seen a map. A pointer. A marker. They brought these items and they showed us and insisted that the land around us was simply inhabited.
They were crossing off things as we went along with the assembly. Asia became Dunwich. Australia became Anemone. I forget which areas became the others, but I think a thing called Europe became Phaeton and a chunk of land called North America became The Highlands.
I know it’s hard to believe that all the other areas were uninhabited, it was hard for me to swallow too, but they told us that it had been so destroyed by natural disasters that if human life even went into that area, we would probably die immediately. They then showed us pictures of the wasteland. I still can’t get the images out of my mind today.
This time we don’t get a semi choice on what to wear. We must wear white. The fabric of the dress flows like a river and is perfectly cut off at the knees. A bow is positioned on the back and the neckline isn’t TOO deep. Emphasis on too.
There’s a card. Number 19. I think about it before heading into the bathroom to change. Number 19… I almost say it out loud as I change into the dress. Number 19…
A screen is across from me as I exit the bathroom, dirty clothes in hand. The screen is showing the list of people in the program… and even those x-ed out.
But this time, the eliminated are at the top of the screen. Number 41, number 8, number 1, number 34, and… number 19. I drop my card as I realize what they are telling me. Don’t end up like her.
Without thinking, I scream and pound my fists against the screen. But it is gone. And I wake up again. I am back in the suit. I thought I had escaped. But I haven’t.
The instructor addresses me formally this time. “Congrats on making it out. Testing will continue tomorrow. Have a lovely day.”
I was still stuck in the simulation. I can’t tell what’s real and what’s not.
