Neave Hackett
She’s too innocent for this city. I looked at the deep black marking of a sparrow on the small girl next to me, who had just moved in from a part of the countryside where there is no need for this ranking system. There, everyone helps each other, here, I should be ignoring her. I’m a horse, or at least will be. So says the symbol of a horse’s head on my arm, a thing of pride nor shame for me. The horse head symbol faded in when I was five, some get theirs as young as two or even as old as twelve. These symbols determine what we will be in our next life- even my dog has one, he’s a field mouse. “So, just because I’m marked as a sparrow, I can’t go to college?” She shook her head, ginger colored hair falling in a curtain beside her face. Her name was
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We could have a chance?” Gaea gazed hopefully up at me, her voice almost giddy with excitement. I breathed in the heavy air, still damp from the rain. “No, I don’t think we would.” Her face dropped. I stood up from the plastic crates we sat on and glanced around. “I should go now, my parents will wonder, and I shouldn’t be here. Don’t tell anyone you think this whole “system” is wrong, alri-” “Ok ok! But you have to come back! I still have questions” She trailed off looking down the street. “Um, Casey? Why are they chasing that boy?”
I whirled around “What b- Oh no, we need to go, come on.” Grabbing her arm I dragged Gaea around a corner and into an alleyway despite her protests.
“Oh stop! What’s so bad about them! We have to help him!” She tried to run out into the street again. Pulling her back I moved us behind a trash bin.
“Gaea! No! Be quiet, they’ll kill me. I’ll explain later but we have to hide.”
“Well if they’ll kill you, they’ll kill him too, right? We have to help him! I’m getting him.”
Groaning I looked out of the alley “Fine, you stay here, I’ll pull him in when he turns the corner. Just get back and be ready to run.” She grinned smugly but stepped back as I