Sage Alden's Story

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Red. It stared back on the other side of the mirror, boring into his soul. Alek shook his head, black hair falling into his eyes. He grabbed his eye patch from its spot on his wooden dresser and placed it over his eye, checking in the mirror to ensure you could not see the devilish gaze through the stark white patch. Nothing. With a satisfied nod Alek turned the handle of his door, the squeak of the hinges indicating they needed to be oiled. He would have to remind Father of that at the breakfast table. Alek walked down the hall, the tie of his Academy uniform feeling more like a noose than a tie. Everyday he went through this routine, acting as though his family were still whole and well despite the fact that they had been ripped to shreds and pieced back together with staples rather than glue. Alek loved his family, but more often then not they ignored the fact that he was a mutant and attempted to live as though they had two normal children. While he couldn't blame them, Alek also didn't understand their sudden change in attitude.

"Morning Alek," his mother spoke, her cheerful voice ringing in his head. Alek returned her smile and kissed her cheek before going to the oven to see what was inside. His Mother shooed him away with her oven mitts, telling Alek to take a seat and wait patiently for breakfast like the rest of them. They were soon joined by Father and Alek's little sister, Wren. she was the spitting image of their Mother and quite often Alek found himself wondering if she was going to grow out of it. "Hurry up you two, or you'll miss the train." Their Father spoke, lowering his newspaper as he wiped his mouth on his napkin.

"Yes Father," Alek and Wren spoke in the same moment, the two rising from the table and taking their plates to the sink. Unlike Alek, Wren had to go to the city over in order to reach her middle school. She had attempted to go to the middle school in Main City, but the children bullied Alek's sister relentlessly although no one was sure why, so she enrolled in academy in the next city over. Alek's academy, however, was only two stops from the platform that led to section five where his home was.

Alek stepped off of the train and onto the platform, shouldering his satchel where his homework from last night was. It was his last year of academy before he began selective studies and then hopefully became a botanist. Currently Alek was keeping a little garden on the porch of their apartment, coaxing plants to flourish under his green thumb. He was very successful and his work did not go unnoticed. He had gotten permission from both the King and academic board to pursue this career and while he was excited, Alek was more curious about the plants that grew on the planet below Castle Rock, not that he would ever express this. Speaking of Earth was forbidden and you could be declared irrational just for uttering the word ground. It was scary living in a place with such a fragile balance, but this was the life Alek had been living since he was born and he knew how to keep the scales balanced.

The first bell rang, shaking Alek from his thoughts. If he didn't hurry he was going to be late for the first class and it would permanently stain his near perfect record. Unfortunately, however, Alek would not make it to class on time. He was swarmed by a group of girls almost as soon as he stepped through the academy's gates and despite his uttering of "Pardon," and "Excuse me," they continued to follow him. His hair was white by the time he reached the classroom and explained to his teacher about his reason for being late. Their instructor simply shook his head and pointed to the last empty seat in the back row. Quietly, Alek took a seat and reached for the text book in his bag, hoping to stay out of trouble for the rest of the day.

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"S-stop it," Reyna choked, her air supply quickly dwindling. Ezra's fingers wrapped tighter around her throat, he leaned in close to his little sister's ear and began to whisper. "You were a mistake," in the next moment the front door opened and Ezra let Reyna go, shoving her back against the wall and exiting her room. Reyna collapsed to the ground, choking and pulling as much air into her lungs as they would allow. The tag around her neck jangled, reminding Reyna that even if she told someone of her older brother's abuse, her accusations would fall on deaf ears. Being declared irrational meant that nearly everything you said was dismissed and so Reyna did the only thing she could think of, she turned on her side and spoke to the stuffed animal whose head Ezra had ripped off. "You saw that, right Harry?" she whispered to the purple stuffed animal.

A knock sounded on her bedroom door. Reyna's mother entered with a tight smile, holding up Reyna's uniform. "Why aren't you dressed yet sweetie?" she asked and Reyna looked past her mother, wondering what had put the woman on edge. Oh, her Grandmother was there. Elanor stood in all of her glory, her foot tapping impatiently on the ground. "Dammit Terra, if you can't take care of your daughter I'm going to have her sent back to Mao Village!" Her threats were never bluffs, Reyna had learned early on and she jumped to her feet, grabbing the uniform from her mother's hands. "Thank you Mom, you can go now."

"Wait Reyna, where are those bruises from?" Terra moved further into the room, Elanor following. Reyna froze as her mother's fingers brushed her neck, the memory of Ezra choking her still fresh. "I'm going to be late!" She pretended she hadn't heard her mother and began pulling off her clothes; jumping into the plaid skirt and colored shirt. She shrugged on her blazer and tied up the ribbon that indicated she was a first year, finally dressed, Reyna was ready to go. "Oh, alright, well have a good day." her mother kissed her cheek and her Grandmother grabbed her in for a quick hug. Despite all of her threats, Elanor really did love her granddaughter, she just didn't know the truth about Mao Village. While Reyna was in the hall she heard her grandmother ask, "Why did she rip Harry's head off of his body?"

A pang resounded in her chest. Harry had been sent to Reyna from her Grandfather while she was away in the Village. No doubt her grandmother was hurt, but there was nothing Reyna could do, it was Ezra who had ripped Harry's head off.

She ran for the front door, ignoring Ezra as he called after her in a sarcastic tone to have a good day. Soon she walking off the platform and into academy, but Reyna had no intention of going to class. She was sitting in the stalls in the girl's restroom when a teacher caught her and dragged her to home room. Quietly Reyna stalked inside with the rest of the students, glad that the second bell had just rung as she took her seat. Oh well, maybe she would slip her tag in her desk and climb the fence later.

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Alek could feel eyes on him as he made his way to the back, where a single seat by the window was left open. He sat quietly in his seat, glad that his hair was slowly reverting to its normal shade of black. Soon all of the eyes returned to the front, all except one. Coming from beside him; Sage. Alek had noticed Sage watching from a far for a while now and to be honest he didn't mind. He could tell it was out of curiosity that the boy did so, what did disturb Alek though, was that Sage was constantly scrawling something in his notebook after taking glances at the mutant. Sometimes Alek fancied the thought that he was a spy for the King, then he would quickly dismiss it figuring it was a silly notion. The King would never employee someone so young, unless of course, he was now using children for his plans to keep them all marooned on Castle Rock.

The teacher began to speak, lecturing them on the importance of staying within the fence. There had been another jumper yesterday; if you hurtled yourself off of the edge of Castle Rock the winds would ensnare you and spit you back up onto the floating island. This man, however, hadn't been so lucky. The winds hadn't caught him and instead of flying back up he went hurtling towards the ground. Thankfully death snatched him before he could so much as see the earth below Castle Rock and so he had felt no pain as his body flattened against the earth. Alek envied him though, he had always wondered what it was like to fly. If humans were meant for such a thing they would have been born with wings and while there were some mutants who did have parts of animals twisted into their DNA, Alek wasn't so fortunate to be one of them.

The lunch bell rang. Alek stood and collected his things, placing his notes in the leather satchel that hung on the side of his desk. He glanced across the space to where Sage sat and wondered for the millionth time what the boy could possibly be writing. "Care to walk with me to lunch?" Alek asked and stood upright, taking off the blazer that went with the uniform and hanging it from the back of his chair.

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Reyna tilted her head curiously. Six? What was that supposed to mean? Her eyes widened a bit when he took out a set of dice and rolled them across the table. And they call me irrational... She thought and watched as the dice spun across the desk. Quickly Reyna added the total in her head and mentally cheered. Yay! So she wouldn't be eating alone again today. Keahi had said yes as well, so she would be joined by two! "Normally I sit outside," Reyna spoke eagerly, her attempts at masking her excitement failing. She had never eaten with others at lunch, well, unless you counted her imaginary friend and sometimes Alek who would simply stop to converse on his way to class or coax her out of the tree as a favor to their instructor.

Reyna led them to the cafeteria, where all of the students gathered to pick up their lunches. Academy provided lunches to the students at no cost, a sort of incentive to keep them on campus so they would not be late to after meal classes. Normally by the time those began Reyna had given up on academy studies, unless they had art or science, then she would stay and hide out in the bathroom until it was time. The girls in art were especially mean; they did not understand the concept of artistic license and seemed to have made their mission to ruin any project Reyna attempted to start. Despite this she always went, figuring it was better to show her face and prove that she was no coward.

She had always found a certain majesty in the ability to create. To see an artists hands sullied by color was powerful and strange.

Reyna shook her head, this was no time to be daydreaming. She had two new friends to speak to! "So what do you two normally do during lunch?" Reyna asked. She knew what she did, but what did people with friends do during the free period? Sometimes from her perch in the trees around academy she could see that the boys would gather for tournaments of sports, showing off and flexing under their uniform jackets or running around and smelling of rot when they returned to class due to the sweat that clung to their underarms and chests.

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Alek wasn't expecting the reaction he had gotten from Sage. The boy was tripping over himself he seemed so happy, Alek was glad he could make someone's day even if it was in the smallest of ways. "Don't worry about it," Alek dismissed the boy's worries as he dumped the contents of Alek's satchel on the ground. It was a mistake, he could tell, but Alek didn't mind. Worse things had happened, he was just glad his satchel hadn't ended up in the fountain... again. "It's alright, I'm not very particular about the way my things go in." This was a lie, but Alek covered it up with a smile and a bit of a shy scratch beside his eyepatch. Once his things were sorted he rehung his bag and made his way out.

As they walked into the lunchroom, Alek surveyed the area, glad that he did not see his self proclaimed fan club anywhere. The group of girls that followed him around were very annoying and he wasn't sure why they insisted on shadowing him. They had earned themselves more than one lunch detention, so Alek would not be surprised if he passed by the main office and saw them sitting in a silent circle. He did, however, see an even odder sight though, his favorite irrational was happily speaking to two students and his heart swelled with pride. Alek had met Reyna in Mao Village and he knew her to be very shy. He felt somewhat protective over the girl since her older brother had failed at that task and the patrolmen that were posted around the school were useless for protecting anyone proclaimed different.

"Why don't we eat with them?" Alek turned towards Sage, gesturing to the group. William, a boy in the year below them had just strode up to Vincent, Keahi, and Reyna and Alek wondered if they had arranged this before hand. Regardless he would ask to join, figuring it was better to eat with new people than the normal group of semi decent students that would somewhat ignore him while he read at the table. Alek wasn't as good at making conversation as he pretended to be. His parents had drilled small talk into him, but beyond that Alek was in the dark. "So do you have any favorite books? You're always writing so I figured you must be pretty into literature." Real paper was a commodity on Castle Rock. It was reserved for the blind who needed unblemished sheets in order to read. Most other paper was recycled and normally you could find flecks of newspapers and other passages when you picked up new notebooks. Rumor had it that the King horded old novels whose pages were untarnished by sun and weather. Nothing on Castle Rock was new really, most everything, including the seats on the train, were recycled. There were tubes around the academy and throughout the sectioned neighborhoods that would suck up the trash and take it to the recycling center, where it was burned or melted and recreated. Alek thought it was wonderful how nothing was ever wasted and he often wondered if the ground lived like this as well, or if there was so much space that they needn't worry about reusing what they had.

He never spoke of these musings to anyone aside from his sister, who enjoyed contemplating these things as well. Alek blinked, realizing he had spaced out and could have possibly missed Sage's answer, but from the looks of it the boy was still deciding. "Take your time, we seem to have plenty considering how long the lunch line is." Occasionally students would bring left overs from the cold box at home, but academy provided one meal a day for free and it was encouraged to gather in the dining room for it.

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Reyna watched as the events before her unfolded like a map of the city slowly being put together. A boy bumped into Keahi who appeared as though she were going to explode when she realized she bumped into a snowy white haired girl Reyna had noticed had been moved to their academy class. "Celia!" The Reyna pipped, suddenly remembering her name and walked over to the other female, taking her hands in her own and looking directly into her eyes. "Um-do you want to join us for lunch?" The expression on Reyna's face was sincere and intense and should anyone else have seen it they no doubt would have laughed. It had taken much courage for Reyna to do something so outspoken and she drew in a shaky breath as she waited for an answer.

In that moment, William, whose artwork Reyna often stopped to admire walked up to them and requested to join them as well. She was so glad so many people were eating with her today! "Of course!" Reyna nodded her head, her smile wide. They moved up on the lunch line and she collected her food, the smell of vegetable loaf wafting under her nose. Meat was reserved for special occasions and holidays, it was rarely served in academy unless they were having the end of the year meal or a student had been honored by the king for being especially exceptional.

Reyna waited for the others to gather their food before making her way outside. The sun was warm on her back and in the distance, boys were already throwing off their blazers and rolling up their sleeves in order to begin a game of soccer. Reyna loyally sat beneath her favorite tree, she would not abandon it now that she had new friends to eat with, especially if these friends proved to be like others and simply thought they could make a few jokes at her expense. Unfortunately it would not be the first time and nervously she began to play with the tag around her neck, wondering if they had only agreed to eat with her in order to humor her and really had no intention of staying friends.

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"I won't laugh," Alek promised, his expression serious. He always took literature seriously, being quite a large fan of books and having read some embarrassing titles himself, Alek knew what it was like to be nervous about what he was reading. Especially since some of the books had been deemed illegal and were supposed to be burned, but his parents had hidden them away, wanting Alek to have some piece of his family's legacy from the ground. "Really?" Alek asked when Sage confessed his favorite story. "I would have never pegged you for a Poe fan." Conversation came easy now that there was a real topic. "I've always enjoyed his collection of poems, although they can be rather morbid. I guess that's to be expected after the sort of life he lived though."

Then Sage said something unexpected, that he did not like how Reyna was labeled irrational simply because of her opinion. "It's a bit more complicated then that," Alek confessed quietly. "If one were simply deemed irrational for conversing about the ground then we'd all be wearing tags." Alek scratched the back of his neck, balancing his lunch tray as they walked outside. "She's a jumper, she climbed the fence and tried to throw herself over the edge." It was unusual for children to scale the fence and attempt to jump. Normally it was adults who were unsatisfied with their life in the sky. "And it's the King's fault." Too late Alek realized what he had let slip. It wasn't his secret to tell and instantly he regretted it, which caused his hair to turn white. "You can't tell anyone I told you that though," he spoke quietly as they approached the group.

Keahi was holding on to Reyna's tags and Alek was afraid he was going to have to jump in and do something when Keahi simply told Reyna she was not a dog and tucked the tags under the girl's shirt. Alek sighed with quiet relief and waited for someone to answer Sage's inquiry. It was Celia who did it, the mute who had just transferred to their academy. Alek took a seat on the grass beside William, who expressed with sincerity about liking a large group. Alek could tell Keahi's nerves were beginning to become frayed, she seemed a bit jumpy as though one little thing could startle her into running away. "If it's becoming too much I don't mind eating somewhere else." He was looking directly at the girl, although whether Keahi received the message was unclear.

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Reyna was frozen in that moment, even after Keahi tucked the tags under her shirt Reyna could not move. It took Sage and Alek coming over to finally shake her out of it and slowly Reyna reached for the pack of juice on her tray, taking slow, deliberate sips as she thought. She wasn't sure what to make of this sudden development and it made her nervous. She was not a dog, no, but the tags made sure she couldn't climb the fence again without alerting authorities. Reyna pushed her tray away, no longer hungry and hugged her knees. Come over the fence, come play the wind whispered. Reyna had not heard the wind in a long time and it startled her. She shook her head, raising her hands over her ears and pressing tightly to make the voice go away. It sounded like one of her childhood friends, one who had moved to a different section for her parents work that Reyna never got to see anymore.

"Reyna are you alright?" Alek asked and her head snapped up. They were somewhere else, inside of a memory. Alek was sitting under a tree reading a book, she was standing behind a fence, watching him. The mutants were so free and yet, they were trapped here on this island, just like them, different from irrational, but treated like humans. "Yes," Reyna replied and it was the truth. She pulled her tray towards her and picked up her juice pouch once more, draining the rest of it and regretting it instantly. Now she wouldn't have any juice for later.

Reyna turned towards William, she was excited to talk to the artist. "I saw your coloring that they used for the Festival of Stars, it was really pretty." The Festival of Stars was a week during the winter where they prayed for forgiveness from the Sky God. Castle Rock was supposed to be a punishment after all. Some treated the Festival of Stars like a carnival, they decorated the trains and hallways, hung up large coloring's and burnt paper offerings in prayer, then had a feast and exchanged gifts. In Reyna's family they celebrated the Festival, although to Reyna it had always felt wrong. She had told her Mother this once and the woman that was supposed to protect and love her had slapped her daughter instead, telling Reyna never to speak of such things again.

Reyna had been careful about what she let slip in front of her Mother afterwards, although sometimes during a fit she couldn't help but express what she was feeling, mostly because during a fit Reyna wasn't always aware of what or who was around her.

Back to reality, she had to go back. No, stay with me, stay a little longer. The Wind tried again, its soothing voice cooed gently and it was tempting, but Reyna did not want to lose her new friends. "How do you get the colors like that?" Reyna asked William, her voice eager. She wanted to learn, she wanted to color like that, but mostly, she wanted the voice to go away.

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Reyna was hiding under her bed. The large boots of her brother clomped against the wooden floor, his heavy footsteps causing the ground to vibrate beneath her. The ajar bedroom door suddenly swung open to full length, slamming against the wall. "I know you're in here," Ezra breathed. The two were home alone, her parents having gone to a meeting at the King's Castle about the Festival that would start tonight. Reyna had been sitting in the family room, attempting to copy one of William's beautiful colorings when Ezra returned early from school and mercilessly ripped the paper up.

Her hands began to shake, Reyna clutched them against her chest, attempting to remain quiet. "Found you!" Ezra suddenly dropped to the ground, pulling Reyna out from under the bed by the collar of her shirt like how a mother lion would a cub. "You're going to pay for what you've done," Ezra growled, the scratch mark on his cheek glowing brightly under the vibrant light of Reyna's room. "No, it was an accident!" Reyna screamed as Ezra shoved her into the wall, allowing her body to slide towards the ground. Her head spun, a deep ache seeding itself into her chest. No, not now, she couldn't have an attack now.

Like a frightened mouse Reyna scurried away, out the door and down the hall. She almost made it to the apartment when it began and her body convulsed in pain. Much like a seizure it started with shaking, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she felt as though there was a giant brick sitting on her chest. "I've got you-oh shit! Mom's gonna kill me." Ezra grabbed her hand and squeezed so she knew he was still there. "Breath," Reyna's lips were turning blue from the lack of oxygen in her lungs, every breath was a struggle and her free hand clutched her shirt in her fist, as though that would help her intake air. Ezra's hand let go and Reyna felt as though she were spiraling through darkness. She could hear him running, most likely towards the emergency box at the end of the hallway.

The rest of the morning's events were fuzzy. When Reyna finally passed out there were two medics by her side, carrying her out of her family's apartment and to an awaiting empty train car. When she awoke her mother was by her side, her father standing like a shadow in the doorway. It had been a long time since she had last seen them together in the same room, both parents were always working, their shoulders drooped with the weight of Castle Rock and their once happy expressions forever gone. "Oh thank goodness, you're awake." Her mother's quick embrace and worried face brought tears to Reyna's eyes. Her arms were heavy and she had no energy to return the hug. Her Father joined quickly after, saying how lucky it was that Ezra was home at the time.

As soon as they left she scrambled up from the bed, changing back into her own clothes and ripping off the tags, leaving them in bed and propping open the window. There was a tree right outside and so her escape was easy. Reyna made her way past the train tracks and scrambled over the fence, tasting the wind and feeling free as it ripped through her hair. "I have to get off of this rock."

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Academy was over for the week. Alek sat at home on his bed, reading one of his favorite books. A cool breeze was filtering in through the open window, winter finally having thawed into spring and leaving beautiful flowers to bloom. It never snowed on castle rock, but winter was especially chilly and so Alek was thankful for the warm air. "Alek, I need you to run some errands!" His mom called, she was home from the sanitation plant for the Sky Festival and was preparing a large dinner to thank the Sky God. Alek put his book face down on the bed and stood, stretching. He grabbed the list of groceries they needed as well as some money and slipped his shoes on, running towards the elevators and taking one to the ground floor.

Alek was just about to step onto the train platform in the fifth section, he had missed it by a few minutes in his own section and had to run to the next platform. Just when Alek thought he was in the clear, the train whizzed by, not even bothering to stop and was gone in a blink. "Are you kidding me!" Alek threw his hands up in frustration, his raven black hair turning to a soft, pale white. "What are you looking at?" He asked a cat that was staring at him from under a bench. The cat mewed and stretched, walking away as his tail lazily flicked back and forth. With a sigh he began the long walk into town, which was three more sections away. Maybe he would see his friends at the market? Alek brightened at the thought.

He was in the medical district now, section 4. Alek was reviewing his list again when he noticed something and looked up, spotting someone beyond the fence. Moving as though in a daze, he dropped his bag and ran across the train tracks to see. It was someone much older, a man with blond hair and a sad face. He walked slowly, as though he were savoring the feel of the ground beneath his feet and when he drew close threw himself over the ledge. As told in the stories the wind was too strong and sent the man flying back, as though the ground were spitting up something it had stuck between his teeth. Alek could no longer watch and turned away from the sad sight of the broken body, kneeling down in order to pick up the things he had dropped, then walking once more. It was only a few moments afterwards that he heard the words, hardly above a whisper that seemed to connect with his mind and heart. He turned, spotting a familiar figure beyond the fence.

For the second time that day Alek crossed the railroad tracks, but this time he did not marvel at a man that had more bravery in his body then Alek did in his pinky, no he felt a pang of pity and the need to protect that innocent girl from the monsters in her life. How could someone so young have so many demons? He often wondered. "Reyna!" She turned, her cheeks wet and dotted with tears. She was smiling though, something Alek wouldn't understand until later. "Why don't you come with me to the market!" He called, desperately wanting to bring her back to where it was safe, but knowing the consequences of crossing the fence. He held his breath as she did nothing, then finally gave a nod and Alek felt as though he could breath again. Soon Reyna was over the fence and by his side and the two were walking towards the market.