Anna’s story continues…
Day 69: Thoughts began to flicker through her mind.
Thoughts began to flicker through her mind. Anna lived in the Capitol all of her life. She visited other cities and the large estates just outside of the capitol more times than she could count. She visited her family estate and made the rounds for the estates of others in her social class. She had gone in and out of the city so many times that she expected an onslaught of memories each blending into each other. Instead, she found she had just one.
The day she ran.
As the car drove through the city shields and through the gateway arch, Anna felt the fear of that day. Her heart alternated between hammering painfully against her chest to rising into her throat and threatening to choke her. She fled and hid, waiting, watching after her family was taken. She saw the newspapers and knew when the executions were carried out. Only when she knew there was no safe place for her in the capitol did she run. She oscillated between terror and grief. In the end, Anna was fairly certain it was more luck than anything that got her out of the city alive. She used the lessons she learned in ways no one thought she would, but luck played more a role than skill.
The car rolled into the city and Christopher began pointing out the changes that took place in the city since she left. He was oblivious to the dark turn of her memories and Anna wondered if she would ever be able to look at the city again without those few days obliterating everything that came before. Again she felt eyes on her. A glance to Christopher told her that he was pointing to various buildings and statuary, his eyes and mind turned to the outside world.
It was the driver that was studying her. She caught his eye in the rear view and she knew that Christopher may be oblivious, but the driver was not. He realized this wasn’t the simple homecoming Christopher seemed intent on making it seem.
While there were new buildings added and slight changes to the fabric of the city, Anna was familiar with the streets and tensed as they passed by her family home. Christopher either didn’t notice or didn’t feel it was worth mentioning as he told her about the artist competition between two sculptors as they vied for the commission of the regents new statue. They passed the house and it looked as though nothing changed. The façade wa as it had always been.
‘But there is no one I know there,’ Either the house was empty and bare under governmental orders or someone else lived there now.
“And here we are,” Christopher said as the car glided to a stop at the curb. Anna blinked. Like the house, the apartment building hadn’t changed. The only difference was that Marcus was standing outside waiting.
“And I will leave Marcus to help you inside. After all I doubt after all this time you still have your keys,’ Christopher told her. Anna blinked at him.
“Thank you for arranging the travel so efficiently,” Anna said. “I hope the rest of your day is pleasant.”
The words felt stilted but she had heard enough of Christopher’s voice and wanted to step away from both him and the watchful driver.
“Anytime,” Christopher said. “Well not any time I suppose. Hopefully there won’t be any ause for you to leave the capitol any time soon. So, I suppose it was my pleasure.”
Anna nodded.
Ten til Midnight 