(This is my entry for Weekly wattpad Contest #58 Contests )
The air smelled like crushed beetroot, the typical smell of South West district. My sneakers were practically blood red due to all the crimson soil which covered the ground. The trees sighed in unison with the wind as I trudged along the beaten path.
That was when my phone rang "What's up, Diana. Where you at?" Chance said through the receiver.
"I'm at South West. Wanna meet?" I asked.
"Damn, right now?" Chance asked. Chance lived in the South West District. It was four in the morning and the sky was a funky shade of vermillion so I could tell why he was reluctant.
"Get your lazy butt in front of your house, we need to take care of something" I said and heard him sigh at the end of the line. I took that as a yes and ended the call.
To get to Chance's house I had to climb over two barbed fences and avoid one security unit. This was the shortcut.
My bag weighed heavy on my shoulder as I swung myself over the first fence. It seemed almost effortless because I had done this so many times. The second fence was quite high so I had to climb over a nearby purple Francis tree and swift myself from there. And since the security unit was a bunch of middle-aged men in dire need of coffee, it wasn't difficult to get away from there.
I climbed the pipe which ran along the walls of the apartment building, Chance lived in and stopped when I reached his balcony. All it took was a jump to get over to his balcony.
He opened the door at the exact moment with a sheepish grin on his face. His blonde shoulder length hair were open and wavy and his green eyes were surveying me.
"I don't understand why you can't just take the lift" He said as a way of greeting.
"I like the cardio and besides I like to make my own way" I said, rolling my eyes.
He grinned "And who would happen to know you better than me?". The answer was no one and he knew it.
Chance was the friend I met when I was twelve years old. The same year the West District people took away my parents. Chance was thirteen then, he used to be the boy next door.
When the helicopters came roaring that morning, I was scared. I was a little girl with a head full of golden hair and blue eyes who was peeping through the blinds.
"Dia, let go of the blinds" My father whispered to me. The house was dark, my parents had turned the lights off as soon as the helicopters roared outside.
"But why?" I whined, at that exact moment my mom took me in her arms and hugged me tightly to her chest. They both led me to the basement where we sunk back in the darkness of shadows.
"Don't make a single sound" My father said and we sat like that for an hour. Me, sitting in between my parents with one hand in my father's and the other in my mother's. I was thankful for the dark because I couldn't see their scared faces, if I had I would have found it harder not to cry.
But they came anyway, after one hour our doors were banged open. We were shaking in anticipation and fear. I refrained from biting my nails.
They entered the basement and my father stood in front of my mother and pushed me behind them. He pleaded and requested them to stop this and spare his wife and kid.
They handcuffed him first and then Mom. My tears and screams didn't stop them. Neither did my pleadings.
I sat in that basement for two days which was when Chance found me. A thirteen year old, handsome boy with a heartwarming grin. He came into the dark basement and took my hand and held me. With my head on his shoulder I cried for the first and last time since my parents were taken away. He held onto me until my sobs subsided and made me drink water.
