• Winter Widow • 1

'Chapter 1'

I had grown familiar to the timetable that I had been given. First, they would awaken us, unclipping the hand cuffs that chained us to our beds. They then lead us into a separate room and gave us our training uniforms. We would learn self-defensive and fighting movements. After training we would been sent back to the room with another uniform, we would quickly change and then be sent to class. They taught us English and literature, math, and sciences and then they would teach us language. Finally, once we were finished, they would put on a film.

We had seen this film before but every-time I would see words and weapons flash across the film. Words like 'Kill', 'Humanity', 'Fear', 'Instil' , 'Pain'. The words put me into some sort of trance because once the movie was over, I was staring at the screen until the teacher clicked his fingers.

I rose to my feet. It was time for ballet. Getting dressed in leotards and skirts we would perform the same dance. The levels of ballet getting harder than the last. As I worked my way up each class got harder. Schooling became difficult but math and other subjects came simply to me. The ballet dance became harder, more difficult steps were added but still I remained graceful on my feet. The fighting classes went from becoming better and learning more techniques, to using them in other people.

First it was to knock them to the ground, then it would be to hold them down for 5 seconds, next it would be knocking them out and finally, the classes went to killing classmates. Watching as their bodies became limp by the force of yourself. Washing their blood off your hands but once your hands becomes bloodied, they would never be clean again.

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The usual banging on the door awoke me. Today was the day, the day that would decide If I moved on or not. I clicked the handcuffs like I had been taught. The girls that didn't pass this point were never seen again. I arose from bed and walked out. Walking in unison with my class group we walked and collected our clothing.We walked out and saw the last group fighting. It was between a blonde haired girl and a brown haired girl. The brown had the upper hand and punched the blonde girl in the face. The blonde stumbled back but she was not done yet. The blonde girl found strength and quickly wrapped herself around the brown haired girl knocking her down and the blonde quickly snapped her neck. The fight was over.

The body cleared it was our turn. The girls looked about two years younger than us. We stood in two straight lines; I was near the front. The grunts and screams from the fighters before us echoed around the room. I was now first in line watching as the girls in front of us fight. One was on the ground and the other was on top. Blood sprayed as the girls fought, punching, and kicking until one girl didn't get back up. The body was moved to the pile that was in the corner. I stepped onto the mat ready to fight.

The girl ran at me trying to punch but I quickly swept and rolled underneath her and quickly kicked her legs. I then swung her around and threw her down onto the mat and climbed on top of her. I punched her as hard as I could, and her face was knocked that way. I looked up at the teacher and he nodded his head. I knew I had to do it. I lifted her head up and wrapped my hands on either side and twisted, snapping her neck.

Scrubbing my hands clean from blood I got dressed into my schooling outfit. I made my way to class when three girls pulled me aside. I was shoved against a wall.

"как ты посмел, ты убил ее без задней мысли! (how dare you, you killed her with no second thought!)" she yelled in my face.
"я должен был сейчас слезть с меня (I had to, now get off me.)" I snapped at the girl. She scoffed and her grip on me tightened.
"вы думаете, что вы собираетесь сделать это мимо следующего этапа? (do you think you're going to make it past the next stage?)" she scolded.
"я доберусь дальше, чем ты (I will get further than you)" I smirked. Her hand contacted my face, but I didn't flinch.
"ты слаб (You're weak)" I snapped. She went to hit me again, but I caught her hand and twisted it backwards. She yelped in pain and then I kicked her in the chest sending her flying backwards .I started running to class, I knew I was late, and they punished the late ones. I opened the door and I felt everyone's eyes on me. I silently walked to my seat and sat down. I opened my book, looked to the board, and started writing everything that had been taught. I didn't get a punishment, but I knew those girls would. Someone would have seen them, and they would never mess with me again. I was kept after class. They girl that had hit me soon joined. We sat upright staring at the blank wall in front of us when a woman walked inside.

"The human brain works best when there are no loose strings. Emotional, Physical and Mental are usually the strings that need to be cut." She stood over me, looking down at me. He hands traced my cheek and then held my chin pointing it upwards, so I was staring directly at her.

"You have no place in this world, say it with me."
"I have no place in this world." I echoed back to her.

"Once you learn that you will understand our use for you, understand why we are doing this."
"Now stand, follow me." I stood and followed the woman as she lead us out. We walked down the wooden hallways and to a room with two chairs.
"Sit." I walked to the old wooden chair and sat, making it creak. She stood in front of us.
"Our program is working on cutting of the physical aspect of the strings but the mental and emotional, I can cut off right now." He words thin but the sentence meaningful. She brought over a large table full of metal devices. She picked one up and walked to the other girl and grabbed her wrist. I turned my head towards her. She held a pair of plyers. She grabbed the pinkie finger of the girl and put the plyers onto it.

"Once you cut out the mental pain off your emotional will follow." She then cracked the finger, breaking it. The girl's ear splitting screams rang through the room. I clenched my eyes shut as I heard the ladies footsteps inch closer to me. I opened my eyes and looked up at the lady.

"Cut out mental, emotional will follow." She continued to put my pinkie finger in between the plyers and twisted, breaking my pinkie finger. I bit my lip to contain my scream. I tried to focus on one thing, one thing that could calm me. I chose a memory, it was foggy in my mind, but I remember the feeling, the feeling of being joyous. It felt warm and bubbly and almost felt as if I could spread the feeling. I held onto the memory. I then focus as hard as I could and repeated one main message through my head, over and over.
'Turn it off,' , 'Turn it off,' , 'Turn it off,' , 'Turn it off,' , 'Turn it off,' .

"First it hurts, then it changes you."

I felt something shift inside of me, something almost switch. I felt the pain in my pinkie decrease to a small and easily ignorable sting. I looked up at the lady and she bent in front of me, a sickening smile playing on her lips.

"You my dear, are going to be one of our strongest widows, I have a strong feeling."

I nodded my head, with no mental or physical pain humans perform better.