The Scarlet Knife

Grace

Survive, sleep, eat, and don't cry. That's what I thought every single day. At night my body would shake from fear and pain. In the morning my stomach would ache for food. I was too weak to move most of the time and when I did move, it was because a Coatman had forced me to. I asked myself so many times, why me? But I never knew the answer. But I suppose I didn't really want to know either.

About two months after I was taken, another girl was forced into the cell with me. She was about a year older than I, so maybe four. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. Her name was Grace. And she was my sanity.

She was my only friend. The only one who understood. She was treated well for a week just like me. Then one day the Coatmen came and took her. When she came back that night she had blood stains on her chest and shoulder. Near her neck there was a small bump and cut where a chip had been implanted. She cried herself to sleep that night and I did too. It was as if they had taken me as well

Every other week one of us was taken. Sometimes when an experiment failed and one of us would become ill, the other would take care of them. Feeding them and comforting them. We only had each other.

Grace was a quiet girl when she first came in but as time passed she became loud and independent, much like I had. We told each other jokes and found ourselves coming up with stories to tell. We made the most of our little world, for years we were inseparable. I think I had become her sanity too.

We would often talk about escaping. Getting away from this place. Grace thought that if we could just get outside, then we could run. But it was such a far-fetched idea. We didn't have a clue what was outside of the building. And it was a scary thought being captured again.

When I was six, well almost, Grace was taken for another experiment. This one wasn't a chip. It was a drink that would coat her throat and stomach to speed up digestion, the same experiment that had killed three other children in the past. This time was no different.

When Grace got back that night she was coughing up blood, so I gave her my left over water. She drank it and went to sleep, granted I probably should have made her stay up. But she was in so much pain. I sat beside her and slowly drifted off too. I woke up the next morning, and screamed.

Grace's throat had slowly started to turn a sick black color. The skin that was still tan was a raw red. Her eyes were glassy with tears, the blue a faint, faint color, and her lips were turning purple. My tears spilled onto her cheek that was now pale and cold.

"Grace... don't leave me... you're all I have left!" My voice was harsh and I found it hard to speak. The lump in my throat only grew when I heard her voice respond.

"Just promise... you'll escape for me. Run away, have a life. Live for both of us. Aura.... Please... promise..."

"I promise! Grace please...." My voice drifted off as her eyes closed. She took one last breath. My friend, almost my sister, was gone. Slowly her body went limp, and after a minute or two she was taken away from me.

I watched them carry her out, I let myself cry in front of the Coatman that took her. I couldn't help it.

"I promise..."

...

I shot up in bed, my head and heart pounding. I ran into the bathroom and gagged into the marble, but nothing came up. My head rested on the seat, it was cool which brought me a strange feeling of comfort.

"I kept my promise Grace... I just wish you could have kept it with me..."