In Between Seasons

Chapter One

I  stared at the chalk board as Father wrote on it with angry precision.  His letters were harsh just like the sound of the chalk scratching  against the wall. I squinted against the sound; at least today's history  class was the last one. I sunk into my seat as I took a deep breath and  smiled. I would never have to sit in this classroom again and listen to  stories about how the world was and how it became what was today.

Never. Again.

Trevor reached over my shoulder and squeezed, and I  glanced over to smile at him. He was my boyfriend, but looking around  the classroom, it wasn't like I'd had many choices other than him. My  sister, Sara, sat diagonal to us with her arms crossed, and her eyes  tipped towards us. I watched as her grimace deepened, and her lashes  fluttered before her eyes went to Father's back. I had begun noticing  the looks she was giving Trevor and me more and more frequently, but I  couldn't quite place what they meant.

Maybe she wanted him for her own. I knew my stomach  should roll at the thought, but it didn't—just like I didn't really feel  anything when he touched me. Trevor fiddled with the waves of my hair,  running his pencil through them in his boredom, and I felt my lip twitch  as the pencil ran up my neck. I knew he felt it was sexy, but it made  my skin crawl in the exact opposite way.

"Kate, what happened in 2021?" Father's voice snapped me out of my annoyance.

"2021?" I repeated, my eyes locking on his fierce black ones.

He blinked at me two times before his jaw clenched and he slammed the chalk onto the board, writing 2021.
I took a shaky breath as my pulse sped up. I hated it when he was mad at  me, but I hated it even more when he acted like I was an idiot.

"The government fell into martial law," I replied.

I watched as he turned back towards me, his tongue running over his teeth. "That answer is unacceptable."

It was my turn to grit my teeth. "The recession that  began in 2012 quickly spiraled into a depression and by 2016 laws were  changed and the president never left office. By 2021 the government had  collapsed and fallen into martial law, and then everything went to  shit."

It was blunt, and Father's face turned red.

"Young lady!" he snapped as he narrowed eyes.

I sighed. "We've heard this story a thousand times, Father! It never changes, and you never really explain how we got here."

Sara stifled a giggle, and when I saw the look on her  face I knew it wasn't because she enjoyed my talking back. She was  eagerly anticipating my ass getting reamed out.

"We were prepared, that's how we got here. That's how  we survived when the world decided to tear itself apart," Father said  with his arms crossed.

I watched him, our breathing matching one another. I  looked so much like him—we even had identical eyes, but aside from  features we were completely different. He always wanted me to settle for  his version of the truth, for our family's version of the truth, yet I  never bought it. I always fought back and asked more questions than  needed.

I felt the heat crawling up my neck and flushing my  cheeks as all the eyes in the room turned to me. I needed to know more,  while they were mortified of it. I yearned for the books and DVDs the  elders forbade us from having but took pleasure in themselves. I wanted  to see the past, but all I could see was the picture they painted for  us.

Bad government go boom.

Somehow our parents knew it would happen and dragged our families out here to survive. It was all too convenient.

I let my eyes fall from Father's. It was pointless to  fight back, and I really didn't have it left in me anymore. I had fought  for years against their tyranny, asking for explanations I would never  receive. I wanted to know where the plain tees and jeans came from. I  wanted to know if there were other people out there. I wanted to be  free, but now at eighteen, there was only thing I was certain of—I'd  never be free, for the world was at constant war. The reason why—I  didn't know; I wasn't allowed to know, but we were slaves to it. The men  fought to keep the bad guys out, but I'd never even seen anyone outside  of the group I'd grown up with. It didn't seem like there was anyone to  keep out. The women were taught to cook, clean and keep their mouths  shut, and I was pretty sure Father thought the only thing I was good for  was causing trouble.

I looked up when I saw the shadow on the floor and felt the heat of Father's angry body at the front of my desk.

He leaned down, and I stayed rigid as his breath sent ice down my spine.

"It's your last day of school; must you fight me on everything?" he asked.

I looked straight ahead and shook my head.

"Never Math or Science," Sara said just loud enough for everyone to hear. "So glad I don't have to deal with this next year."
I bit my lip and let my eyes fall to my hands as Father moved back to the front of the room.

Sara was a year younger, and would still have one year  of 'schooling' left. I scoffed internally at the word, it was more like  indoctrination.

"Let's wrap up this year with some biology, mhmm?" Father suggested, and no one answered.

Whatever he said went for them.