Four

Prologue

Xenon- The place of health

She walks in this infirmary not knowing her place or her purpose. Then she sees. “Susan! It will be alright it is only faint!” a nurse says rushing to calm Susan. “It is not alright, and do not call me by my name!” Susan yells rushing out the door swinging her blond hair behind her. She pushes past the girl’s invisible self, and drops her bright blue scarf moaning and whipping her hair in irritation. The girl gathers her scarf and places it in her palm then takes out the two barrettes that once had a home on her head and gives them to her, “ They might help with the hair, to keep it out of your eyes.” she says. A smile tugs at Susan’s mouth and there is gratefulness in her eyes.  She disappears into the door and was never seen by the girl again.

Strontium- In the vicinity of food

She sits in a chair straighter than she is and at a table too nice for her, with smells from delicacies too rich for her tongue. “Oh, I am so sorry sir!” a waitress stampers at a finely dressed customer with the look of horror as his shirt is dampened with a bright red substance. The server holds out a hand but the angry man stands up and pushes her away, “do not touch me!” he stomps off and brushes the girl’s shoulder and something falls.  As the man turns around to pick it up the girl holds out a handkerchief to the man and the man takes it and looks at her in a gracious manner and walks away, never to be seen by the girl again.

In the comfort of- Barium

She speaks in this place of comfort still stiff, but still at home. “You will listen to me, as I order and put those books back!” a scolding James yells at her drilling his eyes in her skull. “They aren’t mine.” A voice comes from her mouth but she does not speak it. “I don’t care, I told you to.” His voice lowers to almost a whisper which is the scariest part because you do not know what to expect next. But she is not afraid. She walks up and sorts the books.  She takes one half of his unread books and put them in his hands.  The other she holds in her grasp and puts back on the shelf as she walks away with no vocals pronounced.

Entertainment of-Thorium

She listens in this place of sound booming and eyes wide on a screen. She hears a thud then experiences popcorn flying in every direction and a mad voice, unfortunately. “You imbecile! You lost me 10 dollars and nearly disrupted the whole building!” a woman’s voice shouts. “I’m sorry, Ava.” A boy stampers and sits down four seats away from the girl. She looks at the boy, then at her popcorn bucket and reaches to the boy giving him the popcorn. He looks at her in disbelief.  His eyes soften with pleasure and gratitude. He doesn’t say anything but you can see it in his eyes, that it’s the small deeds that matter most.

12 years later.

2035- The world of Erbium

She sits in this glossy leather chair smiling as she is announced vice president of Erbium. The President shakes her hand and says a flattering speech but it does not quite connect to her brain, she is thinking of her new life and what she did to deserve it but there is no time.  The president is gesturing for her to come forward to speak. She stands on the platform that doesn’t touch the ground and thinks, “I should be nervous”, but she strangely isn’t. She looks down into the crowd and sees all the eyes staring and the words come streaming out without her giving a second thought. “Imagine when you were young.  Picture yourself now. Would you ever dream of becoming the first female vice president? I certainly did not.  You may think that you have to be a certain kind of person to stand up here but the truth is, you don’t. All you have to do is have hope, kindness, and motivation and if you have that you will make it as far as anyone can possibly go in the world.” She takes a step back, off the floating pedestal, and she gives a smile to the crowd.  The president smiles back.  When she looks in his eye’s she sees the man she’s known for four years.  The man that tutored her and helped her become a better person. However, after all this time she still feels relief when he gives his thumbs up and she knows that it went well. She wasn’t trying to impress anyone; she was just trying to have hope, kindness, and motivation while she was talking. They walk out of the big building and into an osmium and it starts moving all by itself as she sits. She can tell that Nobelium, the president’s body guard, must feel a little uncomfortable in the dry silence but she doesn’t mind it, she actually finds it quite peaceful.  Then the president breaks the stillness in the air. He reaches over to one of those foldable touchscreens and starts clicking.  She watches him press on her address and the osmium turns the corner.  He probably directed it to go to her house, but why?  She couldn’t help her curiosity, “Sir? I was just wondering… why are we going to my house this early?” she says trying to sound as polite as possible. “Oh, well to pick up your belongings of course!”  He says obviously to her, but yet it is not so obvious. “I am sorry sir, but why are we picking up my belongings?”  She asks feeling not so smart, “oh miss V.P! This will be the last time you are seeing your house because you will be living at the palace, so instead of going straight there I thought you might want to pick up a few possessions” the president says. “Oh, well thank you Mr. President” she says blushing at herself. The osmium comes to a halt and she gets out going inside her quaint little home. When she opens the door she finds a cozy living room with only a couch and a coffee table, a decent sized kitchen, and one bedroom with not many objects accept one picture on the wall, a picture of colors and shapes in all shades and sizes, and in the center of the beautiful picture there is only one word. Trust. She gathers a few belongings and thinks of what the president said ‘this will be the last time you are seeing your house.’ She thinks about it over and over again second guessing everything. What did he mean by she won’t see it again, of course she will, she could visit it or pass by it, but it is not like she will never see it again. Then she thinks of something, too absurd to say but just in case she walks to the front door to check.  When she pulls on it, it doesn’t budge, as if she’s trying to move a mountain. She tries to unlock it but it is locked from the outside. She did not do that. That means that only someone from the outside did it, but who? Questions start running through her head in a blur like a fast car speeding by. What if the president is in trouble? Has he been kidnapped? Maybe nothing is wrong but then why is the door locked from the outside? She starts to pace, thinking intensely, gears shifting and churning in her mind. A window. She runs into the kitchen to the only window in the house, but before she can open it she hears a click tick click repeatedly. She looks at the door then the noise stops and momentarily the door burst open and she jumps at the sight of the president’s body guard, Nobelium. “What are you doing here? Where is the president?” she asks in a rush at first not noticing him panting and his red face. “He’s gone” he says trying to catch his breath. “What? How?”  she asks her heart thumping. Without waiting for an answer she runs past him and onto the solar panels that touch the ground and looks everywhere not seeing any sight of the president for miles. Then all of a sudden something goes around her head that smells like sweat and tears and she can’t move or breathe being tossed everywhere and by that point she has no point in struggling so she lays limp.  She is sat in a chair and is tied up, immobile in all possible ways. The bag is taken off her head and she gasps for air and Nobelium, not gasping at all, and suddenly someone familiar steps into view.  The president, smirking a smile that did not belong to the president she knew. It all comes together in her mind, everything. He only went to her house so he could distract her, she knew something was wrong, she should’ve known because in the V. P handbook it clearly states that the V. P will live in his/her OWN house, never the presidents. And when Nobelium looked uncomfortable in the osmium but she thought it was because of silence, and then the president noticed it too so he broke the silence so she wouldn’t notice or say anything. Then the whole locking the door thing to get her worried and Nobelium breaking in and gasping for air like he’d been under attack, it all makes perfect sense. How could this be? The man she knew for years betraying her with the snap of his bony fingers. Then he speaks with only coldness in his voice, “Here’s how it’s going to work.  You’re going to do something for me and if you don’t I kill one of them.” He gestures toward the door and Nobelium opens it and pushes four people forward. They look familiar in a way like she’s seen them before but they’re different. After a lot of confusion she finally remembers. 12 years ago she knew or met each one of them briefly. She can’t remember their names but all she cares about right now is their lives. But why?  Why these people?  They never did anything for her but yet she feels they are her responsibility. “Why are you doing this Nick?” it is the first time she has said the president’s name in a long time but he doesn’t seem to notice as his eyes are hooked into hers. “Because that is what I want dear, Selah.”

This saga has only begun to unfold…….