The Chosen Ones

“Sweet baby girl with a smile as bright as a thousand suns, I bless you with my protection from the hardships you’re going to endure.” A tiny baby with bright blue eyes stared up at her grandfather, with hands flailing as he secured a rose gold heart shaped locket around her neck. “This locket will provide you with an escape whenever you need it the most. I will always be right here.” The grandfather said as he patted the shiny adornment, he had given the baby.

The tiny locket began to vibrate against the baby’s skin and glow with a bright teal aura surrounding it, moments later, the locket became invisible. The grandfather, a tanned skin man with dark hair, and dark brown eyes that resembled the beauty of the earth, clutched his granddaughter to his chest in a warm embrace. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes as he walked her towards the line for the transit, which was provided to take all of the ‘approved’ children inside of the walls. His heart ached, full of fear as he stared down at this beautiful baby. She was so full of life, with her curly brown hair, pale skin, and angel kiss birthmark on her forehead. He longed for the ability to keep her safe with him, with their family. Safe at home where she rightly belonged, to be raised in an environment full of love. Unfortunately, he had neared the front of the line.

Two people in charge of admissions looked upon the grandfather with expressions full of disgust. They wore stark white coats, face masks, and gloves. As a child, he had not been so ‘lucky’ to be chosen as his granddaughter had, and it was apparent. His clothes, unlike the admissions team, were dark and worn, showing just how different life outside the walls was from the inside.

“Admissions number?” One of the team members asked.

“00766670.” The grandfather replied choking back tears. The thought crossed his mind to turn around and walk away holding the baby closer than ever before. He also knew, however, that doing so would result in militia from inside the wall coming to his village and burning down his family home. Most of the other villagers are unaware of the consequences of failing to turn in a chosen child, they see the opportunity as a blessing, and a fresh start. However, this grandfather knew the soul of the baby, and grieved for her. Once she had been taken from his arms, she would become the property of the elite, no longer free to live as their ancestors had for centuries before them. He leaned down to kiss the babe, Paxton, one last time between the brows. “I promise, you will see me again soon dear child.”

“Hey! You’re NOT allowed to do that! You could contaminate the child!” The older of the two women on the other side of the table stated as she leapt up from her seat. In the blink of an eye, she had taken the beloved girl from his arms. Grief coursed through his entire body as he turned to walk away, back towards the village. He hung his head in shame. The walk home was a miserable one, he couldn’t bring himself to enjoy the buzzing of cicadas and the babbling of the creek winding through the trees off of the dirt path as he normally would. His feet were seemingly as heavy as his heart, and he wondered if he would ever make it back home to his family.

Paxton sat upon the wall surrounding the community that had now become her home for the last fifteen miserable years. Behind her was nothing but bare concrete buildings and walk paths as pristine and sterile as could be. She let out a heavy sigh, from deep within her heart, as she wished to once again be reunited with what she knew lay beyond the wall. She never understood how none of her peers had been bestowed with the same gift she had. Certainly, her family wasn’t the only one from the village that knew how to enchant an item so their child could visit them. Of course, she had never asked them because it meant that her secret could be found out by the elite, but she had never seen any of the other children on her trips outside of the wall. She felt angry, so angry that she could feel her cheeks become warm without even touching them. She hated life within the walls, it was miserable! Her heart longed for the sound of the babbling creek where her grandfather had taught her how to swim and fish. She had been six at the time, and it was only the fourth time her locket had transported her home to him, to them, where she belonged. She closed her eyes and remembered him vividly. Eyes so dark, mysterious, and beautiful compared to her pale blues deprived of happiness. She remembered the way his strong shoulders had carried her home wrapped up in his arms when she had become too exhausted to continue along the muddy path after a day of exploring.

Her heart ached as tears began to stream beyond her closed eyelids. How is this opportunity a gift? How is the life she is living a blessing, when she is literally forced to betray her soul by being there? Maybe, she thought for a moment, maybe her peers’ families had done them a favor by not allowing them to return home. To know what a magical life exists that they are being deprived of. Suddenly, as she opened her eyes and saw the glow of sun flickering behind the trees far in the distance, panic filled her body. If she did not descend the wall, and quickly, she would be reported missing, and thereby defective to the elites.

With great haste, she gathered her belongings, and slung them in her backpack. She scrambled down the rope ladder she had fashioned on her last trip home, at age thirteen. When she reached the bottom, she closed her eyes, and thought about the rope ladder becoming invisible as she rubbed her locket. When she opened her eyes again, the ladder was seemingly no longer there. She smiled to herself and looked up to the sky as she thanked her creator for blessing her with the gift, given to her by her grandfather so many years ago. As she turned around, she saw a dark-haired boy with deep brown eyes smiling at her with amusement. He approached her, and her heart sank. He was surely going to report her to the elites! Her hand drew near her locket as he motioned for her to stop, he held his pointer finger to his lips, and moved his hand to his chest. It was then she watched him as he revealed his locket to her. It was a white gold circle with a teal gemstone embedded in it. She cocked her head sideways as her eyes widened with bewilderment. I’m not the only one after all!

“Cody” the boy said, as she realized that he reminded her of her grandfather, “My name is Cody. We are akin, and your secret is safe with me.”

Once Paxton got back home, she repeated the process with her locket to hide her forbidden treasures. She then went into the bathroom and reimplanted the tracking device behind her ear. She closed her eyes, rubbed behind her ear, and placed her other hand on her locket. Her skin healed instantly, and there wasn’t even a scar to give away her secret operation. As she crawled into bed that night, thoughts raced through her mind like the wind on a spring day beyond the wall! How lucky was she had been that he was like her. Unlike the rest of her peers, she knew that ‘defectives’ saw a miserable fate. The elites were all about control, and corporal punishment. From a young age, she and her peers had been subjected to daily floggings, because the elites believed that a fearful child was a dutiful and respectful child. Paxton knew differently. Her loyalty had, and always will belong to her family in the village beyond the wall. Their love, had taught her a sense of responsibility a million times stronger than what the elites had managed to elicit from her with their tactics. If it wasn’t for her desire to protect them from the elites, Paxton would have returned home to her family permanently years ago. As her eyes grew heavy, she hoped that her dreams would be light tonight, and that she wouldn’t awake startled from a nightmare that was her waking reality in this confined life.

In the dark of the night, something aroused Paxton from her sleep. It didn’t take long for her to realize that it was her locket. “This is odd,” Paxton thought to herself. “It’s as if my locket is lightly pulsating. This has never happened before.” Suddenly, Paxton’s locket radiated a teal light that projected onto the pathway before her that lead to the door of her abode. She heard her grandfather speaking to her from within her heart.

“Paxton, follow the path before you.” He said, “The path will lead you where you need to go. I will see you soon.”

Paxton scrambled to put on her shoes. She followed the path beyond the door down three flights of stairs. It stopped in front of the door of another room. The thrum of anxiety coursed through her. As she reached out to quietly knock, the knob twisted and it sprang open. Cody! The boy with the dark eyes who had seen me descend the wall earlier in the evening was standing on the other side. He looked like he was about to run for his life.

“Grab my hand Paxton!” he exclaimed as I heard footsteps quickly approaching from the darkened end of the far side of the corridor. “WE MUST GO NOW!” and in the blink of an eye, he grabbed my had as my locket grew brighter than ever before. Suddenly, I knew that soon this horrible place would be far behind me. As my body morphed into a light of it’s own and I dissolved into the unseen, I felt his presence beside me.

When I arrived on the other side of the unseen, I was standing next to Cody, on the familiar dirt path in the dark of night, still with my hand in his.

“Soon, we will begin on the journey we were meant to be on all along, beautiful angel.” Cody spoke softly. “I know, that you don’t understand right now, but my heart has known yours since the beginning of time. We were meant to find each other, and that is why we were set free from the place controlled by those who no longer understand the way of life. The life that was meant for us. We will be happy, but first we must travel towards the village.”

With that, I looked into his eyes, and felt something that I couldn’t identify. It reminded me of the way I often felt on my trips home, spent with my grandfather amongst the wild. A feeling that reminded me of picking berries from briars in the woods, of swimming in the creek. A feeling that told me that I was finally free to be happy and find my destiny. For the first time, she knew that she would be able to heal from the pain she had experienced for the last fifteen years. An environment that was meant to protect her had nearly destroyed her. With hope, she took a deep breath, looked this new companion in the eyes, and began the journey home.

“I will see you soon.” She heard her grandpa speak from within her heart, and her smile radiated with the glow of that of a thousand suns.