A Tear Of Insanity

Chapter 3

Sebastian

Once the fabricated speech is over, people begin scurrying home. I turn to the two girls beside me. Leila is looking up at me with fearful doe eyes and Stryder is squinting at me with suspicion, as if I were to offer them up to Mr Monroe myself.
"You definitely have some sort of scheme beneath this." Stryder splays her fingers wide and in an exaggerated, circular motion, gestures in my general direction.
"Scheme? God save me, you say this every bloody time! I am fulfilling a duty and nothing more, its been six years, I could have dumped you both if I wanted to and I haven't." I exhale, explaining myself all over again.
"Exactly my point! You can leave, we will both be completely fine. You have 'protected' us long enough. "

Immediately, and in synch, we whip our heads around to look at Leila. "What do you want?" I ask, knowing very well that she is only fourteen, but at least she has more class and maturity than her older sister here, still glaring in my direction. She chuckles before answering.
"Well, I actually quite like his company. And watching you two bickering like an old couple is an entertainment in itself." I put on a victorious grin when I notice her sister's irritated face. Leila puts on a pleading smile."It's clearly better than only us two."
"Traitor," Stryder whispers under her breath. "And we are not a couple, I could never marry an old cow!" I let out a sardonic laugh, clearly pleased with her outburst.

I parade my victory, as we make our way back down the road, listening to Leila's stories of school and watching people ready themselves for the 'Day Of Feasting.'
"I know there is a few hours left till the feast," I say, "but... would you both want to go with me to the woods again. I've set some traps and I'm going to see if anything's caught." Leila nods eagerly, skipping ahead, while Stryder simply follows after us with the reluctance of a horse.

The forest is at the edge of our district, separated from the Imus houses by a steep, grassy, hillside. Vermillion trees reach far and wide, but what lays beyond here, is something I safely stay away from. I climb uphill at a steady pace, Leila is already at the top, her plait swinging like a rope as she runs. I twist my head back to see if Stryder is still trailing behind us. She sure is. With her head bent low and hands in the pockets of her brown trousers, she silently carries herself up the hill with much ease, a strange thing for someone so small.

"Hurry up you two!" Leila shouts swinging around a thin tree. "It's beautiful up here."

The sky begins to dim as we reach the top of the hill. We stand at the edge, looking down at what our homes have become. Cramped, crumbling homes, dumped side by side in twisted rows. Paint of most the walls have peeled off, leaving ugly shades of brown. About a thousand houses forward, you can see a large flat horizon, with four sets of tall, strong, iron fences. Beyond that, is the District we despise. The Altus District. All the concrete, glass and gold of sky scrapers reaching the clouds, showing off their unreasonable wealth.

I sidestep a large stone and begin my way deeper into the forest, both of them following behind me.
I move up the creek to a mossy hillside, beside a river, bearing edible, blue flowers.
"This is it." I gesture to small cages, I had set up the day before. The tight rope I had laid out, is gnawed apart so something must have nibbled away at it. I bend on my knees to look in one of them. Its empty. Then I move to another, then another, both are also empty.

"I guess the old cow is not as good with snares as he shows." Stryder sneers.
I role my eyes and cross my fingers as I turn to the last trap. Leaning forward, I see grey fur and specks of white patches. It's a rabbit.
"You know what they say," I jest, "fourth times a charm."
I pull up the cage and hold it in my arms. It has strange reddish eyes, floppy ears and is rather measly, with barely any meat on its bones. Oh well, it will have to do.

"Aww! It's adorable," Leila squeals, stealing it from my hands. They both start stroking its fur and patting its head.
"By the way," she teases, looking up at me, "it's third times a charm." Nice. I liked this sister.
"I'm going to call him Reign." She announces. My eyes widen.
"Wait... what? No. No Leila, we are not keeping it, we are selling it."
"No. We are keeping him."
"But it is my only find in weeks!" I yell.
I stand straighter and cross my arms tightly.
"You are not keeping it, end of."

As we bicker back and forth, I see Stryder smile. It's not a mocking one but a sweet one, that slowly morphs into a giggle. Then, she laughs. A sweet, addicting sound so rare, that I find myself tripping over my words.
"You two are absolutely ridiculous." She scoffs.
"Well, I'm, I'm not..." I clear my throat.
"I'm not the one to blame. She clearly does not know how hard it is to come by any sort of..."

In the distance, the horn booms, cutting off my words and piercing our ears. Birds scatter to the sky and we glance at each other in foreboding apprehension.
The silence that follows will soon be gone.