Young Writers Society

June 15, 3037.

“Yes, yes, I promise, Les.” He said, grinning at her. “Like I always do.”

“It’s just that I’m sc-” she paused, then hugged him tightly. “Just be careful. You’ll come back, right?”

“Of course I’ll come back.”

———

“What do you mean you won’t send a team out?” She screeched, “They haven’t contacted us in three days! Three days!”

“We can’t lose more people. We’ve already lost Mercedes, Jace, and now Az and Caspian! Leslie, don’t you see? This is not about us. There is a limit to how many lives we can sacrifice for a futile cause before it’s unreasonable.”

“Fine.” She whispered, “I’ll go out there alone.”

The other girl shook her head. “The others are trained, but nothing will stop them from tearing all of our secrets from your mind. Jace would have taught you how if he’d been here.”

“And you can’t teach me?” she said, taking a step forward.

In response, the girl only shook her head. “I’m sorry, Les.” Agents rushed into the room, grabbing her. “We can’t have you leaving. It’s for your own good.”

“Ana!” She screamed as they started dragging her away, and dug her feet into the ground. “Don’t you remember Jace? Mer? Did you forget all those times that we went out together? Did you forget those times when you used to laugh with Cas? How you teased Az about his stories?”

For a second, she thought the girl looked pained. “I’m sorry, Les. I just want you to be safe.”

“Let me go!”

“Take her away.”

She felt tears slipping down her face. “I hate you.”

The girl’s face morphed into a sneer. “Wake up.”

“I hate you so much.” She screamed.

She turned away. “Wake up.”

“You-”

“WAKE UP!”

———

“WAKE UP!” A hand shook her shoulder and she bolted upright, hands instinctively shooting towards her belt where weapons would have been. But there were none.

The Capitol. The lights were dim, but she could make out the face of the guard, a look of pure disgust etched onto it.

"Shit girl, you’ve been writing in your sleep for thirty minutes now.” He said, retracting his hand and wiped it on his pants. “I’m starting to get annoyed.”

“Oh well, I’m sorry.” She sneered, “What time is it?”

“Three o’clock in the morning.” He rolled his eyes, “I was supposed to meet my girlfriend a few hours ago.”

“Then why are you still here?” She asked, trying to act dignified by straightening the scraps of what had once been a dark leather jacket, and a black camisole and jeans.

“You think Akira would leave you here, unguarded, for the whole night?” He scoffed. “You’re crazy. And we agents know better than to disobey him.”

“Fine.” She said, and lay back down. “I’m going back to sleep, so get out.”

He shook his head and left out of a section in the bullet-proof glass walls, fortified by iron bars and multiple deadbolts. She grinned to herself.

They must expect that I’m extremely good. She thought with satisfaction, I don’t even have the strength to walk more than a few steps right now, let alone break down a door.

She closed her eyes again, and this time, the darkness welcomed her.

———

"Fuck it. Nothing again? You've got to be kidding me."

"The programs don't seem to be working. It looks like she was trained to resist it."

"She also won't answer any of our questions, either."

"The other option is that for some reason, her memory was wiped."

"How, exactly? You know that the government oversees every medical procedure relating on that topic."

"I-I'm not sure, Sir."

"Well, you better be fucking sure soon, Hex. I'm fed up with your shit already."

———

Leslie woke up to the door closing with a loud slam. Her eyes fluttered open and she glanced at the figure that had entered the room. A Leader. She sat up. They usually didn't come into the cell, though. But the boy seemed to not be under orders. The top button of his fleecy shirt was unbuttoned and his hair was tousled like he had just rolled out of bed.

"Do I know you?" She suddenly said, squinting, and feeling the familiarity of his face.

"Ah, so you're memory has been wiped, after all." He ran a hand through his hair, sweeping it to the side. “Not a surprise, though.”

She blinked. "How do you know?"

"Never mind that. I won’t tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about. I came here to tell you that tomorrow, you will be told that you have been given some freedom - you have been classified with the other unthreatening prisoners. You will be permitted to join them at the common room through that door-" He gestured to a door that hadn't been there the night before, "-during meals. But if they find that you are collaborating with them to plot an escape, the program will be diminished."

“Why did you have to come tell me now? I assume you’re not here under orders.”

The boy paused for a second, just stared at her with a sort of… sadness. He finally sighed, and his face immediately. “You’re right, I shouldn’t be here. I just don’t want you to make a fool of yourself tomorrow. I captured you, after all, and it's already embarrassing that you were classified as unthreatening.”

There was a certain air of viciousness around this man... boy, rather. He looked around her age, seventeen, but his eyes looked older than twice his age. “All right.” then after a second of silence, “What’s your name?”

“If i told you, where would the fun be in it?” He slowly turned around and started to do the three-layered unlocking system. The boy scanned his fingertips, then entered his passcode behind his hand. Finally, he let out a breathy laugh.

"You asked me before how I knew that your memory had been wiped." A scanner scanned his retinas and the screen in front of him flashed green. "It's because if you remembered anything-" The door clicked open, "You would have remembered me."

The door closed silently behind him.