The Writing Contest Club!! discussion

This is for kenadie ♔ to post her book cursed.

kenadie please let me know if I need to change anything.

thanks wolfie!

hey guys! thanks so much for checking my book out! right now I am almost done with part one of a _______ part book. just to let you know that chapters are very short, that is intentional and that's just because there will be a lot of chapters! so please enjoy!

part one:
- chapters: eleven
- words: ---
- completed or not: completed

part two:
- chapters: right now: none
- words: ---
- completed or not: not yet started

Part one; chapter one:

pov: #111/girl

Pain ripped over my chest. Needles dug into my skin. Sweat plastered itself along my forehead. The metallic smell of blood clung to my nose. Bile rose in the back of my throat. Screams died on the tip of my tongue before I could let them out. I heard other screams from people in other rooms. I bit the inside of my cheek. The pain only dulled a little. It was like that saying, sometimes the best way to get rid of pain was by inflicting more pain. It may or may not have gone that way. I can never remember.

My mind was rarely my own these days. It was usually filled with the horrors of being blessed by the long-gone goddess. It was only five hundred years ago. Our goddess went missing. Like a flame dropped in water, the light fizzled out. Her temples went decrepit, her followers faded into the dark, and the world as we knew it was left in eternal night.

People were born with the power to create the very light that's so regulated within the cities. People blessed by the long-gone goddess, people hunted down by high-level spies and assassins, used like conduits, strapped to machines for their energies and light to be absorbed.

I am one of those people.

I have been here since I can remember. But then again, I can’t remember that far back. All the memories are foggy. Something about the experiments makes it that way. Sirens roared overhead, flashing red lights set ablaze to my eyes. Someone was either attacking the facility, trying to escape the facility, or someone was dying or already dead. The sirens and lights flared and flashed on and off through the week. I knew the buzzing would eventually turn into a dull throb in my head, a small annoyance that would hurt more than it should.

Part one; chapter two:

pov: livia/scientist

The sirens screeched in the background. It wasn't the first time one of the Blessed tried to escape, and it won't be the last. They always tried, and they never understood that we needed them. They powered out cities, our world. It wasn't our fault that the Goddess left us, that she disappeared. She was the reason that we actually lived. She was our way of life. And as a scientist myself, we tried finding ways of living without her. We had to. Over five hundred years and we still couldn't find ways. And then these blessings popped up and we had a way. I didn't love using these people, and they were people and I thought that that was the problem. But the problem is that they aren't actually people are they?

They were inhuman, they were blessed. They had powers they shouldn't have. They had the powers of the missing Goddess. I still disagree with using them to power up the world, but it doesn't matter what I think or want; I work for DIVISION and if DIVISION wants something done, you do it. Or you die. It's as easy as that.

Now back to the screaming sirens.

They wouldn't stop for another hour. I tried to finish my work. I couldn't concentrate. “Cruz! Can you shut that stupid thing off?!” I yelled. Diana Cruz was my lab partner, and the head engineer. She wasn't the one that built the dang alarm, but she is the one that fixes it constantly.

“Shaw!” she exclaimed, calling me by my last name. I looked over my shoulder to where she was at. “You know I can't! Not until the blessed is back in its cell! That's like one of the biggest rules!” Cruz yelled back at me, from her corner in the lab.

She was right, of course she was. She always was right. Or at least when it came to the rules. That woman always knew the rules and she followed everyone of them, and expected everyone else to follow them too. She wasn't rude or anything, she could be very humorous at times, but she was a rule follower. I was too, it was just
I broke them once in a while. Some of the rules that DIVISION has set shouldn't even be rules. But they are what they are; and I would like to keep my job so I decided a long time ago that I wouldn't mess with DIVISION and its rules, unless I absolutely needed to break them. Unfortunately for DIVISION that has been happening a lot lately. It just happens that I need to break into DIVISIONS security systems more times than not because I need it for the research they want.

My blessed’s, the one that Cruz and I research and work on, name is, or well we don't actually know their names but here in the facility she is called #111. I watch her through the diamond glass window. If she were to break out she couldn't come though the window, it is impenetrable. My arms cross as I watch her struggle. I hate watching her, she looks to only be sixteen. Too young to be a lab rat, I think as I watch and hear her scream. Her screams are my nightmares every night. What I have to do to her everyday is in my nightmares. #111 is in my nightmares. She is the youngest we have here at the facility. I feel like DIVISION only paired us together because my daughter died when she was sixteen. Her and her father both on that one dark, stormy night. #111 reminded me so much of Mae.

I examined #111 from where I stood behind the diamond glass. I watched as injections flowed through the tubes that were injected into her skin. I watch her try to remove the restraints put on her wrists, ankles, and waist. Its strong leather, she would never be able to break them. In many ways I wish she could, but I don't want to have to die so I say nothing, I do nothing.

That's how I live my life now, I do nothing, I say nothing, so I wont get killed.

Part one; chapter three:

pov: #111/girl

I can see her through the glass window. Her face is streaked with pain, from what, I don't know. But she would know nothing of pain. She has seen nothing of pain, and she has never felt pain. Of course, I can only assume this, but I have gone through the worst and I am still going through it now. Most days I wish to die on the spot, expeccially when they are taking the light away, those are the worst days. They bring in this huge machine, it has clear tubes and sharp blades attached to it. Luckily for me they haven't brought the thing in, in a few days. But I have a feeling that today, or tommrrow they will bring the stupid thing in.

I crane my head so now my focus is on the lady. I don't know her name, and I don't want to know her name. She stands there, her arms crossed, a tear, maybe, falls down from her eye and onto her cheek. As soon as she realizes I am watching her she wipes her tears away and turns away from me. I wish I could smile, but the pain would hurt too much. I stretch and then contract my body trying to break free. I bet I would have been able to break free if it wasn't for all the drugs they keep putting in me. I guess the first part about an escape plan is that you have to know who they are. I would also have to know the layout of the building, but they only keep me in my cell. Third thing is that, you need to know who is controlling you. I have yet to learn how that person or society is.

I turn away from my thoughts, instead of dreaming up an escape I tell myself to at least try. I crane my neck and try to bite the restraints that hold me to the metal table. I don't have a long neck, it wasn't going to work and I think whoever was watching me and myself knew that. I still continued to try. It was worth the shot, except the fact every time I moved it sent a ripple of pain down my spine. I scream in agony. There was no point. I couldn't try. I just couldn't. The pain was too much, every inch of me said no, quit now, but there was a beating of my heart that told me to try and try again. The every inch won. I just couldn't take it anymore. Another scream bellowed out of my mouth.

Part one; chapter four:

pov: livia/scientist

I showed #111 pain, and it looked like she had enjoyed it. I don't blame her. The siren still sounded in the background. It had been over thirty minutes. Still at least thirty more minutes before the dang thing shut off. I had turned back to #111, I watched her try and bite the restraints off, her neck wasn't long enough and she crumpled her body in. She must have known that it wasn't going to work. I watched her for a little while longer, yeah, she had given up. I turn my head trying to spot Cruz. I don't see her and I begin to panic.

Do I really want to do this? I ask myself. I did, I really didn't want to see #111 be in pain anymore. I think it was mostly the part where she had given up. She had never, not even once given up in her time being here. Not once. I wanted to give her the freedom that I know I will never be able to have. I have to atleast give her a chance. The sirens are still blaring their banshee scream in the background, it doesn't help me concentrate. It does the complete opposite. It worsens the splitting headache that I have had since this morning. I look between where Cruz was and where #111 is.

I knew I would be breaking so many rules right now, but the face that #111 had on when she had given up, I couldn't handle letting another child suffer like this. I sped-walked back to my desk. It was cluttered head-to-toe in papers. Papers that I need to look over to help DIVISION, but at this moment all I can think about is #111. I need to help her before I help myself. I scatter the papers more, trying to find the right one. It took me a few minutes and then I heard Cruz’s figure banging into a few tables on her way back to her desk. I freeze.

“What ya’ doin’ Shaw?” Cruz asked peering over my shoulder.

“I am just finding some papers that DIVISION requested,” I lied, I wasn't the best at lying but Cruz nodded and left me to sigh in relief.

I guess she wasn't as smart as I thought. Puch that sounded mean. I do my best to continue searching for the right paper, the one with the lock numbers for #111’s cell. I wince at the word cell, it sounds so terrible. But that is exactly what it was, a cell. It kept her in and us out, but on a few occasions we had to get in to control them. Of course this wasn't one of those times, because instead of trying to keep her in, I am trying to get her out.

I remember the day they brought her in. It was over two years ago. One of the DIVISION representatives told me that she was now my job, my work, and my responsibility. I took it in stride, I had to. And one the guy that had given me the papers on her was terrifying and second I couldn't say no, it wasn't an option. When I watched the DIVISION spys strap her to the metale table, I saw she had hope in her eyes, she wasn't scared. I didn't understand at the time, but now I did. It was the only thing that had kept her from giving up, kept her from dying. Her hair was a bright chestnut brown then, she had strikingly brown eyes that looked almost black, but in the glint of the light you were able to see that in fact it was brown. The biggest thing she had was youth. She was fourteen when DIVISION brought her in, fourteen. Now, two years later, sixteen, and giving up.

“There you are!” I whisper yell. I saw Cruz look over her shoulder out of the corner of my eye. She shrugged then turned back to her work. I traped the sigh in my mouth and then the sirens stopped screaming.

Part one; chapter five:

pov: #111/girl

The sirens finally stop, my headache is now only a small dull. I set my head against the cool metal table. It calms the dull down only a little. I look back and forth from wall to wall, then from ceiling to my toes. My hair is slicked back with sweat. Multiple strands cover my forehead. Sweat drips from my head to my neck. I can smell the saltiness from the sweat and the metallicness of my blood flow together. My neck is stiff and a kink seems to be affecting where I place my head. I wish I could just let myself surrender to the cold. Surrender to the small light at the end of the tunnel. I wish that darkness and death would come. Voices screamed to let go, let go of all the pain, let go of all the hate, just let it go and let the darkness consume me. Oh how I wanted to. But few voices yelled back telling me to fight, to fight for life, to fight for the light that the world needed so badly.

I didn't know who to listen to. Each side tugged at my mind telling me to do what they said. Who to listen to? That was the question. I let my head rise and then fall back onto the table. Tears streamed down my face. Adding to the mixture of sweat and blood. Pain started up again, it threw itself against every bone in my body. Every muscle went weak, every joint stiffened, every cell died. I didn't have to choose, my body chose for me. It had made the difficult choice between life and death.

It had chosen the light at the end of the tunnel.

It had chosen darkness.

It had chosen death over life.

I sighed, I let myself give in. I let the darkness tug at the corners of my eyes. My mind slowed, my breathing slowed, my heart slowed. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. I surrendered it all, I surrendered life. I was done with this place. I was done with feeling lonely. I was done with trying to decide every day, every minute, every second, if I wanted to live or not. The dull in my head left. The pain of the injections left. It was peace. All of it gone. Just like that. The darkness was not patient. It pulled my eyes closed.

Part one; chapter six:

pov: livia/scientist

I grabbed the paper and looked and saw that Diana had left with a coffee cup in hand. A smile was plastered to my face. I was actually going to do it. I was going to set #111 free, she deserved it after all these years, after all the pain, after everything I had done to her.

Diana was just there to supervise, she hadn't ordered all those things done to #111, that was me. All me. I let a tear slip from my eye and then I wiped it away before another streamed down my face. I looked back at the window. #111’s figure looked like she was slowly leaving, slowly leaving the world that never wanted her. More tears left my eyes. I didn't wipe them away this time, instead I let them fall and I stormed to #111’s cell door. I punched in the numbers to her cell.

When I knew the guard wasn't looking I stepped inside. I quickly recoiled from the smell. I had never actually been in the girls cell before, ever. It was against protocol. Well screw protocol! I screamed inside my head. I watched as the girls chest rose and fell, they were becoming slower and slower. Her breaths are less raggedy and more calm and ready, and well ready to die. I couldn't let her die now. I was so close to helping her live! I rushed over to her drifting figure.

She really did look a lot like Mae. If only I knew what her name actually was. But if I did, then maybe this would have never lasted this long. If only, I thought. I made slow movements towards the girl. Her breathing had decreased quite a bit since I had snuck into her cell.

I undid her wrist restraints, the leather felt thick in my hands. Then I heard yells and the sirens started up again. My eyes widened in fear. Luckily the only glass in the room was the wall that I looked into from my safe place. I still crouched down underneath the girls metal table, trying to dodge all the wires and tubes that filled the area. After the yells had ceased I went back to untying her restraints. The girl mumbled something unillegent.

I untied her waist restraints and moved down to remove her ankle ones when I saw a shadow of a figure, Diana. I cursed under my breath and quickly untied her two ankle restraints. I watched her from the bottom edge of the glass. Cruz doesn't notice me. She walks back to her desk. I sigh again in relief, and then I turn around.

I am met with dark eyes.

Part one; chapter seven:

pov: #111/girl

I watch the scientist through half closed eyes. She needs to look at what she is doing before she does it. I was about ready to leave this forsaken world. I make my breaths more shallow, trying my hardest not to be affected by what she is doing. I dont know what she is doing, but I do wish she would leave. Her blue eyes dart around my cell. Her eyes run along the bruises on my wrist and ankles. The black and blue of them didn't hurt anymore. I had gotten used to most of the pain, but the huge machine thing that they used to take the light away hurt more than the pain of just laying here.

I watch as she ducks underneath the table when yells and sirens start back up again. After a few minutes she comes back up and returns to untying the leather straps. When she turns to look at the glass window, I roll my wrists and ankles around, making them crack a few times from never actually moving. I then sit up, my back aches as I do so. But I sit up all the same. I stretch out my shoulder by tilting my head from side to side.

The scientist woman had dark blue eyes and dirty blonde hair. She was thin and willowy. Her hair was put into a low bun that stuck to her neck. I could see a glint of something shiny on her finger. She’s married, I thought.

I still didn't understand why she was in my cell, I thought that was against one of DIVISION’s numerous rules. Then she turned around sighing. I looked her straight in the eyes. Her dark blue eyes widened, obviously afraid that I had woken up without her realizing. I smiled, it hurt, but I smiled all the same. I swung my legs over the table, my toes barely touched the ground. Her eyes grew in shock and fear. I wasn't going to hurt her. Even though I really wanted to. She was the one who had been hurting me for over two years.

I continued to watch her for several more minutes, then she blinked and huffed out a few curse words.

“Who-are-you-?” I asked, my voice hoarse from one; screaming way too much, and second from not actually talking in two years.

“Livia Shaw, but at the moment that doesn't matter. I am breaking you out of here #111” she said, I could hear the sadness as she said the word, #111. So that's what they called me in the facility? I wanted to ask her why in the world she was doing that, but for some reason I seemed to be going mute.

I nodded my thanks, but I didn't owe her thanks, so I stopped just as fast as I had started. She wasn't my friend, she may be helping me break out; but I was in no place to thank her for anything. Livia gave me a solemn nod and stood up, her white lab coat edges were stained with dirt and dust. She patted down the wrinkles.

“We need to get you out of here, I have a way out. But you have to follow everything I say. I know you probably hate every bit of me, but if you want to get out alive; you have to do everything I say. Are we clear?” Livia said, her tone was calm and collected, but I could tell in her eyes that she was terrified. I smiled inside knowing that I did this to her.

“We are clear, but know this. If I get the feeling that you are just pulling me into a trap, dont think that I won't kill you,” it was a threat I knew I wouldn't follow up on, because I knew that I needed her alive to get out of here and I had no idea how to kill someone.

Let alone someone who had kept me captive for two years.

Part one; chapter eight:

pov: livia/scientist

“We are clear, but know this. If I get the feeling that you are pulling me into a trap, don't think that I won't kill you,” the girl said. I believed her until I realized that the girl couldn't even escape the facility, how was she going to kill me? Yes, I know, a horrible thought. But I couldn't help that it was true.

I stared her down, “Deal,” I said. I wasn't going to ‘pull her into a trap’ so what was the point of saying no?

She nodded her head, “Alright then Livia, get me the heck out of here,” #111 said, her voice stiff.

Then it hit me, she hadn't talked since she arrived; and when she had arrived she had cursed so many words I couldn't keep track. The DIVISION guards had cursed quite a bit as well, trying to get the ew blessed under control. I smiled thinking of the thought of her actually fighting for something, even though she shouldn't have even been caught in the first place.

“Somethin’ funny?” the girl asked, I wiped the smile off my face immediately.

“No, now let's go,” I said, peeling myself away from the wall and walking over to the door. My heels clicked against the ground, with a steady pace I knew we could make it out.

Then I turned around looking at the girl up and down, we were not going to make it out alive if she is dressed like that, I thought.

“Follow me, we need you to look like one of us,” I said, turning back around and peeking my head out of the cracked open door. My eyes searched for any DIVISION guards dressed in black. After looking for a few minutes and seeing none, I beckoned #111 over, I didn't turn back around to see if she had followed me. I knew she had by the loud footsteps the fell behind me. I shook my head, and walked slowly but quickly at the same time to one of the women's dressing rooms. No one was roaming in the halls and I became confused. The sirens had turned off and the flaring lights were no longer on either. Had I missed something? We snuk quietly into the dressing room.

“You have two minutes, go take a shower and change into these,” I said, tossing her a pair of white clothes; a white under-shirt, white pants and a white blouse.

She nodded and ran away in the direction of the showers. I waited impatiently for her to change. My foot tapping seemed to echo through the room. I glanced every few seconds at the silver and leather watch that my mother had given me when I was younger.

When I was about to walk in on her to tell her that it had been two minutes, she walked out; pulling her hair into a wet bun. Her face was cleaned of all the grime, blood, sweat, and tears. She looked decent in the white, but I could tell that white was not her color. Maybe more of a black, but that didn't matter right now.

“Let’s go,” I said.

Part one; chapter nine:

pov: #111/girl

The shower had been my first in two years. It felt cooling, refreshing; like a breath of fresh air. I had followed Livia’s rules. I was out in two minutes. The clothing that she had given me fit good enough. I didn't look like her, but I looked like one of the scientist people, and I think that that was the idea. I approached Livia, pulling my wet hair into a bun at the back of my head. I looked up, meeting her eyes. She looked deep in thought, but after my heavy footsteps had moved towards her something clicked in her brain.

“Let’s go,” she said.

I followed her out of what seemed to be a dressing room. I didn't know what it was and I didn't particularly care.

We hurried down the halls of the facility, I still couldn't believe that I was finally breaking out of here. Livia had shown me kindness that I didn't think the human race still had. I don't know if I could ever forgive her for keeping me captive for two years. I didn't know if I was cursed or blessed. I didn't know if I would get out of here alive, but I knew that some of my faith, some of my hope was restored by Liva’s kindness today.

Part one; chapter ten:

pov: livia/scientist

We ran through the halls, dodging all of the rooms that were filled with people. We had made it to the back entrance just in time before the sirens started blaring their wail again. Dang it! I thought I could get her fully out of here before the sirens went off again! A voice yelled in my head. I had to agree. I looked at the watch on my wrist, we didn't have much time before the guards would be sent out to find #111. I latched my hand onto her wrist, she instantly pulled away, but I still had a grasp on her arm.

“What are you doing?” I whisper yelled. “You are so close, we have to get you out of here before the guards get here!” I yelled a little louder, my voice rising.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked.

“Seriously?! This-” I stopped myself, I was going to say something that I would regret and then I knew I would pay for it later. “#111, you have to trust me. I want you gone as much as you want everyone in the whole world dead.” Something passed across her face. I couldn't tell what, I just knew she was thinking about something.

“But why?” she asked, a tear falling down her cheek.

“Can I tell you once you are out of here?” I asked.

She nodded and I pulled her - gently, but forcefully - out of the facility. The cold air hit my face first. We still had a few ways to go. I wanted her to run to the treeline and then find a place in the town that was behind the line.

“I will take you to the treeline, but then you are on your own. Run until you reach the town that comes right after the treeline.” I said.

Then we began to run - together. That's when the guards slammed the back doors open and ran after us.

Part one; chapter eleven:

pov: #111/girl

I watched as the guards ran after us, I ran with Livia, because I didn't want this mission to be a waste and I was so close to freedom. I was still barefoot and the snow crunched under my feet. I wanted to say it was cold, but Livia ran in front of me with a look of terror. We both knew what it meant for both of us.

Death.

The guards ordered things behind us, their voices seemed to drift over me like a wave crashing over a bed of rocks.

Thwack!

A branch hit me smack in the chest. It sent me spiraling backwards, but I got to my feet just as fast as I had going down. Then I heard gunshots. They were trying to kill us! It wasn't a new thought, but it still echoed through my brain. I was able to catch up to Livia.

“Kid, you're fine, we are almost there!” she yelled, trying to make me hear her over the gunshots.

More tears fell down my face, but I wiped them away with the back of my hand, but they were replaced by a new set of tears. They clung to my face, freezing the moment they hit the air. I stepped on sticks and twigs, jumped over fallen logs, and dodged swinging branches.

Another gunshot sounded, I looked back and there was a guard pursuing us. He was on our tails and then I looked ahead and watched as the bullet struck Livia’s side. A scream curdled out of her mouth. A yell came from mine. I ran over to her falling body. The guard was far enough behind that I helped Livia to sit up against the trunk of a tree.

“Go, GO!” she yelled, she held her side, blood dripped and flowed like a river through her hands that held onto the wound. “Go kid! Run and don't look back. I have done some pretty messed up things in my time. It is my time to go see my daughter, and my husband,” she said, tears dripped down her face, a smile was spread across her face. This time it met her eyes.

I got up, and I ran. I didn't look back. I wanted to, but I knew that if I did I wouldn't keep going. Livia had given me something no one could, she gave me love. She showed it to me, and she somehow made me be able to feel it.

I reached the end of the other side of the treeline.
I was free. I let the tears fall, I sobbed. Livia may have been my first and now last friend. DIVISION was going to pay for killing her. But I had to make sure they never found me again. I may be blessed in their eyes, but I was cursed. There was no doubt about that.

end of part one...