Frozen

Chapter 1

A year ago, or 14 months ago to be exact, humanity froze in time. They did not literally freeze, they just stopped moving. Only a few were lucky enough to not be affected by the mysterious force that froze everyone. At this point in my life, I do not know if lucky would be the term I would use. The people around here call that time period, "The Freeze"... how clever. 

I babysitting my nephew, Dominic, at the time of The Freeze. I took him out to his favorite park and then I met up with my friends at a cafe. Dominic loves the chocolate chip cookies they bake there because they were warm and gooey. He loved my friends, Crystal and Hunter, and they admired him too. It was nice to see Dominic being treated so nice since he barely sees his father at home. 

My brother is a lot older than me, which could mean a lot but I rather not think to much about it. My father passed away when I was 2 years old but my brother was 17 at the time. It definitely took a toll on him but he decided to change his life for the better. At the age of 25 he had Dominic with his girlfriend who apparently ran away because she could not handle the stress of raising a child and "has so much more to live for". I never liked her growing up. 

Being 10 years older than Dominic made me feel powerful and I loved it. I loved caring for my little nephew and watching him grow. I also loved the feeling of responsibility even though all I had to do was watch him at times. 

When we were taken he was 6 and I was 16. They also took my friend Hunter who was also not affected by The Freeze. Since he is one year older than me we are not in the same age groups but I get to see him more frequently. I rarely see Dominic. I fought for Dom and I to be able to spend our birthdays together. I can tell that H.O.P.E is just a bunch of heartless, rude people who do not care at all for humanity. If they were looking for a "cure" why are they training us and teaching us how to use guns instead of doing something productive. 

I can't believe Dominic is learning how to kill, use guns, fight, and all these unnecessary things that he should not be learning about at him age. He should be learning his times tables and the planets in our solar system. Why are they training us?

I am surprised they have not killed me yet. I stole knives from the training room one time and did not notice until they counted the knifes two weeks after. Now they count everyday after a group finishes a training session. I was not planning on hurting anyone, I was just taking them in case I needed them. One time this kid named Martin took a butter knife from the kitchen and no one saw him ever since. I am pretty sure taking multiple knives from the training room is worse but they decided to keep me here. Maybe it is because they know how much I hate it here and rather let me suffer. 

Like I mentioned, H.O.P.E splits us into groups according to age. My group's name is 2-16 which makes us the second group of "sixteen year olds". Your birthday does not effect the arrangement of your group. The group you were put into in the beginning is the group you will always be a part of. This is why I am still in the sixteen year old group even though I am now 17. There are 6 of us in one group. This building holds kids of all different ages which is why Dominic is also in this building. Since he is in the 6 year old group he is in the far end of this building. The section we are is is called Section A.

Each group gets an assigned leader that works with H.O.P.E. Our leader's name is Grayson Dolan. I do not like him at all but everyone else loves him. I can see right through him. His fake likable charm is an act so he can get the answers he needs to give back to H.O.P.E. I do not trust anyone who works for that damn organization especially him. The girls in my group make me want to steal another knife and stab myself to end the misery of hearing them freak out about Grayson. He is literally the same age as us which probably plays a part in why everyone likes him. He is the youngest H.O.P.E group leader in this whole section which makes me curious as to how he was able to get that position. What makes him so special? 

 I am going to try to get out of here. I have been trying for the whole year now but I have not succeeded yet, but I will.