Chipped Heartz & Broken Smilez

How to Make a Killer (2)

Bella steered the car down the empty regional road; grass swept across the carved land, a green sea on either side of us. Our vehicle belonged to a widow, Ms. Johnson, who had given it to Bella as a present for taking care of her cheating husband. It was one of the roofless cars, something you would never see in T-grid; most of us rode bicycles, walked, or ran to get to where we needed to go. We might splurge on a bus or train ticket on rare occasions when we happened upon some money, but that was about it.

The window down, I hung my hand outside, splaying my fingers, so each parted the wind. A slow love song played on the radio, but I ignored it; I was distracted by the warm breeze that brushed my skin and tousled my hair. The sun was a soft orange ball melting towards the horizon. Warm pinks, oranges, and yellows spread across the sky till they hit a solid blue barrier, the remnants of the day that had yet to pass.

We were quiet; we didn't necessarily have to speak to enjoy each other's company. Being there for each other was more than enough. Sometimes unnecessary thoughts slipped into my mind, 'What if we get caught? What if one of Bella's clients exposed her crimes to the police?'

'What if one of her random killings left a trail?'

'What if I ended up on her list?'

While I was occasionally worried, I never saw so much as concern knitting the skin between Bella's brows. She was always calm, closed off from whatever was happening around us. Distant. Sometimes I thought I should be more like her, shut myself away from everything, and not feel anything. I imagined her and me floating on our backs in a gentle lake, drifting in the current. The water plugged our ears, muffling the noise of our surroundings. And everything outside of the two of us ceased to matter. Ceased to hurt us.

***

When I returned to the dorm after cleaning the bathroom— a punishment for writing, 'headless army' on the mirror, I found a dead bird balanced atop the white sheet covering my bed. I looked around, but the other girls were relaxing, sitting, and talking in groups by their beds. Most of them were from grid C or above, so they had radiant skin, hair that glimmered like satin when the light hit it, and pale skin. In their own way, they had become the soldiers they were meant to be. Fierce, accurate with a gun, and not afraid to crawl in the mud. Hell, some of them could stab someone without blinking an eye.

I sighed and picked up the deceased bird; red matted the grey feathers that puffed out from its chest. A girl raised her head to look up at me; her blonde hair was in a ponytail. Freckles danced around her nose. Her dark golden eyes seemed to flash as she smirked. If she thought something as petty as this would hurt my feelings, she was wrong.

I want to see her make it through night watch with three hours of sleep and no dinner.

The blonde girl, Anya, was from Grid-S, known for tailoring and clothes manufacturing; its people earned a little bit more money than those in Grid T but not much. The people in S insisted that they were better than those that resided in T, which led to frequent quarrels between the two grids, and police lined the borders where we met because we couldn't help fighting. People from our grids didn't even consider marrying each other. To be completely honest with you, the people in S were simply too annoying to put up with. They spoke all posh and wore designer clothes because they knew how to sew, so they kept whatever clothes the brand name stores rejected.

I thought of throwing the corpse at her but knew better than to give into her taunts.

Instead, I walked to the bin and tossed the dead creature inside.

***

I didn't have any friends in the dorm, so I spent my one hour of free time sitting on the ledge by the window, forehead pressed to the glass, gazing outside at the ring of trees surrounding us, thinking of Bella, my mom, brother, or father. Time passed without me noticing, and soon, an alarm signaled the end of my break, and I went back to my duties, forever an obedient servant. I missed the freedom I had when I was with Bella. The thrill of getting away with murder and spending the money on things I could never afford otherwise.