Today was like yesterday, and yesterday was like any other day. Or, at least, like any day in the last 11 months. The year during which I was 17 seemed to be stuck in time, suspended between one second and the next. It holds no purpose, only prolonging the pondering of "what will happen?" Tomorrow, exactly one month before I turn 18, everything will be different. Today, I can watch the autumn leaves sink slowly to the ground, but tomorrow? I might not even be alive to see them.
I would be the first of my friends to reach this age, and my eyes would be the first to change. And that is what I have yet to explain. When I was born, my eyes were like everyone else's: an earthy brown. And for most people, they will always stay that way. After all, the browns are the weakest of all society, and the weakest alway have the hardest becoming stronger. But a month before you turn 18, those who are unlucky will develop powers, and their eyes will shift colors. Those who are lucky will keep their brown eyes, because being tainted is a death sentence.
As rare as being tainted may be, I still have suspicions that my eyes have never looked quite right. I know of only one girl who has had tainted eyes, and hers were dark green, only one step up from brown. She can levitate five feet of the ground. Or at least, she could. That was before she was taken and never seen again.
The King of Alyra was the most powerful man our world has ever seen. He can control, read, and destroy minds. His eyes were black, the color of coals in a fire, and just as dangerous. There was not a single person in all of Alyra who was not frightened of him, myself included.
As the sun sinks lower in the sky, I set my alarm for 11:50. Ten minutes before midnight. I roll in to bed and try to shut off my whirling thoughts. "What if..." No, not thinking about it. "But seriously! What if..." Just shut up, brain. I toss and turn, wishing that tomorrow wasn't happening, wishing that it already had, wishing that I already knew. As the world begins to fade around me, a final whisper echoes. "You already know."
YOU ARE READING
The Tainted
General Fiction"There is no beauty without some strangeness." ~Edgar Allen Poe Have you ever wondered why the most beautiful things are the most fragile? Why the leaves turn brilliant shades of red, than tumble to the floor? Why the sunsets fade in seconds, but th...
