[Max]

My sister cried as another explosion rocked the building. I watched outside through the window. There, smoke was billowing towards the sky and all around from the wind. “Matthew?” My sister asked, trembling at my side. I looked back at her, “it’s okay Lily.” I reassured her, as she hugged me. This was the end; we weren’t going to make it out of here alive. But, I couldn’t tell her that. She’s my little sister; I could never break her heart. I just don’t have the gut to tell her something as sad as that.
“Would you like something to drink?” I ask her gently, she was crying a lot and I didn’t want her dehydrated. She looked up to me with big watery blue eyes and nodded. I smiled down at her and lightly got her to stop hugging me. Standing up, I walked over to the other side of the room where most of the ladies sat.
Their hair was a mess, with some of the ladies mascara running down their faces. I couldn’t help but watch as they huddled together and talked amongst themselves. Walking over to the bundle of water bottles, I took one out. Just to be stopped as one of the ladies looked my way. “Hey! You’re not allowed that!” She growled at me, they seemed like nice people, but if you do something the wrong way, they grow vicious.
I raised an eyebrow at her, “Well, excuse me for wanting to help my little sister out.” I said back, sarcastically. (That probably wasn’t a good idea.) The lady glowered at me as she explained, “You’re not allowed the whole bottle, you have to share it. If you don’t then we won’t share our food.”
“I will, I was going to do that in the first place, but then you stopped me.” I-I’m talking back to her; I’ve never done that before. Why is my heart racing? Is it because of the situation? Must be, I’m kind of frightened by her. I won’t want to talk to her for a while. She probably hates me now more than ever. She looks like a mother; maybe her child or children have been killed. Maybe that’s why she’s in a nasty attitude. She looked at me, then hmfped and turned her head.
Walking back to Lily, I unscrewed the cap and gave her the water bottle. “Don’t drink all of it, we have to share.” I said and watched her gulp down a mouthful of that delicious liquid.  Taking a breather, she put down the bottle. It might’ve been a big gulp for her, but the bottle wasn’t even half way gone. Putting it to her lips again I caught a glimpse at her wrist. Writings mark her wrist with all her flaws. Over thinking, stubbornness, and impatience. Roaming my eyes back to Lily’s eyes, a look of sadness crossed her’s, and I knew what that sadness was for too. I looked at my wrists, neither of them had any writing on them.

(This is just something that I made up, that I also copied from my Quotev account. So if you ever see this on Quotev it is by me~)

[Max]

You see, in this world. When you are born, printed on your wrist are all your flaws. It’s absolutely normal to have them, but to not have them is a different matter. There are no perfect people; everyone has their own different flaws, my sister included. But, me on the other hand, it seems that I have none. And the weird thing is, I’m the oldest too. I’m older than my sister, yet every day I could always see her’s. I’ve never had mine, I could never see it. No tiny scribbles or even a dot could be found on my body.
Some people think that finally, they had found the perfect human being. Seriously, who do you take me for? A celebrity or something, I’m nothing of the sort perfect.  Even if you can’t see them written down, you still know you have them.
So in conclusion, I have a hypothesis. Something might’ve happened while I was born. Maybe I have amnesia or something that is blocking me from remembering what had happened. Either way, I can’t remember a thing, but might also be because nobody ever remembers what happened when you were just born.
Off that topic, I take a sip of water, swishing it around my mouth before drinking it down.  I jumped slightly, hearing a vibrating sound. Standing up, I watch the window. The vibrating was radiating everywhere; I could both hear and feel it.  “Matthew? What is happening?” Lily looked up from where she sat.
I looked at her, “I have no idea.” Watching the outside, I saw a speck of black in the distance.  “What the-“ I whispered to myself.
“What do you see?” Lily was now standing beside me, but couldn’t see out the window that I was standing in front of.
“I see…I see something in the distance!” I said, I didn’t know if it was bad or good. If you were in my situation though, you would always hope for the best.
“What is it though?” She asked me, but I shook my head.
“It’s too far away for me to see.”
“Can I see?” Her eyes moved to mine that were concentrated to the window. I didn’t say anything; I just picked her up and put her in front of the window.  “It’s coming closer!” Her saying that caught the attention of the others in the room.
“What’s happening?” One of the ladies inquired. I turned around and was about to explain when another vibrating sound cut me off.
“Wh-What’s happening?” Another lady said.
“I’m going to die! I’m going to die! I’m too young to die!” Another screamed.
“Calm down!” My sister yelled.  “Have you not just seen my brother and I? We both are younger than you combined.” She stated calmly.
The woman who yelled before looked at Lily and glared. She opened her mouth to say something, but was stopped when someone said something.
“Need help?”

[Max]

My head snapped over to the voice. It was masculine with a hint of roughness to it. There sat in a weird body suit/armor was a man of at least 30’s. His suit was made up metal; it kind of looked like he was wearing a machine. It was a greyish kind of colour, but there were some red and blue patches on it too. Also, some things on the suit were flashing and blinking. He was young, but his voice said otherwise. Everyone was shocked, how did this man get here all of a sudden? What was with his weird get up? Why was he here? Was he here to save us?
Some of the woman ran over to the man, “Are you here to help us?” One of them asked, she must’ve been the leader of the group.
“In a matter of fact, I am.” He flashed us a grin. He grinned at us, we were in a messy situation and he just grinned at us. I feel calm around him, like he would keep me safe from everything that could hurt me. I liked that feeling, especially when I’m in something like this.
I looked at him, “What’s your name? Also, what’s with the get up?”
“Names Johnathon, and I wear this so I can fly.” He answered calmly as another vibrating sound could be heard.
Everyone went silent as he said the word fly. The only thing I could think of when I heard the word fly would be plane. But this man, he wasn’t a plane. How could he fly? When I described him earlier, there were no wings on his suit.
“What’s with the vibrating?” Someone asked out of the blue, it was another lady.
He frowned, “We’re in a war, anything can happen. And that includes weird sounds. I’m sorry, but I can’t explain it right now. I have to get you out of here.” They nodded in understanding. “Now, who should I pick?”
All the woman put up there hand. “Sorry, but I can only carry two at a time. “
“Then pick us,” two woman walked up. The one that talked had light brown hair, while the other had blonde hair.
“Or, you can choose us!” Two others yelled at him, which then started a ruckus. The women were yelling at each other, saying they should go first.
Lily and I stood back from them, we shouldn’t meddle with them, and they would just get madder. An irritated look came over his face. “Everybody just shut up!” Everybody became quiet when he yelled. Sighing, Johnathon walked over to Lily and me. “I’ll take you first, ‘kay?” He grinned again, looking at us. From the corner of my eye I could see the entire room of people glaring at us.
“Um, sir-“ I started.
“Johnathon.”
“Right, Johnathon. Why us?” I asked
“You’re the youngest here, I was taught to help the young ones first.” He answered and before I knew it, I was picked up. Picking Lily up too, he walked over to the window. About to jump, he stopped when hearing a screech. Looking over his shoulder, his eyes widened when he saw a lady lurching towards them.
“Don’t worry, I’m light! Please, please take me with you! I’m light, I promise!” She yelled at him, begging him to carry her to safety also. But to no avail, her pleading didn’t work for a second as she watched with an horrid expression. Her eyes bulging when she saw that he jumped.
I tightly squeezed my eyes shut, as the wind rushed past my ears. I had a queasy feeling building up in my stomach. I had never been in an airplane before, and well this, this isn’t even close to an airplane. “It’s okay, you can open your eyes!” Johnathon yelled over the wind.
I hesitantly opened them, and there before me was a sky full of smoke. It had no beauty to it at all. I looked to my right. There, clinging to the man’s suit was my sister. My own hands were tightly gripping his jacket too.
Johnathon looked over to me for a second, seeing that my eyes were on the sky. Smiling, “The sky will look prettier once we leave the area.”
My eyes were still on the sky, while my dark brown hair was billowing behind me from the wind. “Really?” I had to shout so that he could hear me.
“Yeah, much prettier than this,” he said, and then smirked. “Of course, not as pretty as your sister.”
I glared at him, “She’s nine years old.”
He playfully smiled at me, “I’m joking around, I would never date someone like her. She’s not my type.”
“I’m still not happy; she’s not your type!” I angrily said.
He just smiled and laughed, ignoring what I had said.

[Max]

“So,” I sat awkwardly against a wall. We had finally gotten back, which was quite fast, to this building. Lily and I didn’t know what it was for, but John said that it was ‘somewhere to keep us safe’. He then took off, saying he needed to help the others, and get them safely here also.
After we had gotten out of my sister’s and mine’s area, I could finally see what our savior meant. The sky was much prettier without the smoke.
Lily sat to my right, slightly turned to me. She had a zoned-out look. Then, I got an idea, “hey Lily! You wanna play a game?” I asked, turning around to watch her with my light blue eyes. Hearing her name, she looked at me, and then registered the question. Thinking for a bit, she nodded, her light brown hair bouncing on her shoulders. (Ever since she got here, she’s been silent. So, I’ve been trying to lift her spirits.)
Grinning, “It’s one of those hand games we used to play. Stella, stella ola, is what it’s called.
Put up both your hands… Keep one on the side.” I interlock our hands together to make a fist. Putting my other hand on the opposite side of the fist, I started singing softly.
“Stella, stella ola, clap clap clap.
Singing yes chico chico, chico chico rackerjacker.” Our interlocked hands moved side to side, hitting the other’s hand as the song goes on.
“Yes, chico chico bologne, bologne,
with cheese and macaroni.
Saying one, two, three, four, five!” I said, as I finished the song.
“Yes! I win!” Lily said, grinning.
“Wanna play again?” I asked, she’s talking, good, it seemed like she was thinking over the situation. Well, it’s not every day that we get into something like this. Especially after our parents died. A frown formed on my face, but quickly turned into a smile. I shouldn’t dwell on it though.
Setting up our hands again, Lily helped me sing this time.
“Stella, stella ola clap clap clap…”

Off in the distance of the building, high heels clicking on the floor could be heard amongst the halls. A lab coat was flowing behind her as she briskly walked through the corridors. Stopping in mid-walk, she heard the faint sound of people playing a game.
Taking a few turns to find who is making the sound, she stood in front of a door. With confidence, she put her hand on the door knob, and pushed outwards.

[Max]

Her mouth fell open at the scene before her. Two kids were making this much ruckus? One of the kids, the older one she assumed, had short, dark brown hair. While, his sister, she assumed again, had light brown hair. They were too far away from her, so she couldn’t see their eye colour. The boy looked around 13, and his sister looked around 10.
The boy had on a light blue shirt, with black shorts. The girl had on a green hoodie, with a short, frilly, blue skirt. Underneath the skirt, she had gray leggings.

“Yes! I won!” I grinned; we had been playing this game at least for three minutes in a row. It’s not like the game is long either, so playing for three minutes was actually a lot of time.
“Lily, aren’t you getting a bit bored of this game?” I asked, looking at her. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a door open.
“…Matthew?” I jumped slightly at the mention of my name. I looked at Lily, “Did you hear what I said?” She said, her eyes directed at mine.
“Uh…” Was all I could say, because, really, I didn’t.
“I said, no,” She said, looking at me, slightly worried.
“There’s someone here,” I said, looking at the lady by the door. Lily turned around, seeing the lady also. The lady looked around 30, with slight wrinkles on her forehead. She had red glasses on, with curly, ginger hair cascaded over her shoulders. Her mouth was slightly ajar, while her eyes widened. She had a white lab coat on, but underneath that, she had a black turtle neck. She had on a gray, pencil skirt, and black high heels. With all that together, she looked like a normal scientist.
Another door opened, and in came Johnathon and two ladies. The lady snapped her attention over to him and said, “Why are you bringing them here?” Johnathon stared at her, while she stared back at him. It was intense, was something to say if you wanted to be dramatic about it. Then Johnathon looked away and mumbled something under his breath.
“What was that?” The lady inquired, Johnathon squirmed underneath the stare of hers. “I asked you a question, Johnathon; I didn’t quite hear what you said a few seconds ago. What did you say?” Her question sent shivers down my spine, no wonder John looked uncomfortable. I would too if I had to work with someone like that. Of course I’m just assuming that they’re working together. John opened his mouth, “It was nothing!” He hurriedly waved his hands around, emphasizing that it was absolutely nothing. He then grinned, “You should be happy though! You love kids, Eliza!”
A vein appeared, “Don’t call me Eliza, I told you to call my whole name.” She growled out, her teeth clenched.
John chuckled lightly, and then he turned serious. “I need a place to put them, and this was the closest. If I flew all the way to the end of this building, it would just add more time into trying to help the others to safety. This place was the closest and safest out of all the others I could have placed these kids.”
Eliza sighed, “You do have a point.
“Okay, bring them here.”
“Great!” John said, then ushered the two ladies that looked quite out of place, over to Lily and me. Once they sat down, John ran back out the door he came in.
“So, now what?” One of the ladies said, she had brown hair, with brown eyes. The other one that was brought here had ginger hair, with hazel eyes. None of us had a clue what to do, maybe Eliza did, but I am choosing to not ask her. In my opinion, she’s too scary for my liking.
Then it hit me, we should probably introduce ourselves, that way I don’t have to keep using ‘the ladies’ as their title. “Um,” I cleared my voice, trying to get everyone’s attention on me. “How about we introduce ourselves?”
The lady with ginger hair nodded her head, “I like the sound of it. It’ll be easier to talk to each other that way.” The others nodded their heads too. “I’ll go first,” Lily said, “I’m Lily.”
“I’m Georgia,” the lady with the ginger hair stated.
The lady with the brown hair spoke next, “I’m Caitline.”
It was just me now, “Names Matthew.”
I looked over at Eliza, she was glaring at the wall. “Hey,” I called over to her. Then my eyes widened, why am I calling over to her?! Didn’t I just say that I thought she was too scary for me? What’s wrong with me, do I have a death wish or something?! I thought to myself, I must be crazy.
Her eyes turned towards me, “What?”
“We all introduced ourselves, well except you. So, what’s your name?”
“Elizabeth,” was all she said before walking away. Wiping my hands on my shorts, I sighed.
“Where are you going?” Caitline asked, looking at the back of Elizabeth, her form said nothing though.
“I guess she isn’t going to take care of us.” Lily said.
“What are we supposed to do here?” Georgia asked, glancing around. It was a room that was beige in colour. The floor was tile, black and white checkered. At the far front of the room, there was a rolling desk, and a turned off flat screen TV. The desk probably had little drawers; I wonder what would be in them.

[Max]

“Go fish.”
Caitline sighed and went to get another card off the stack.
“Any sevens, Georgia?” Lily asked, turning to her.
Checking her hand, she smiled, “Go fish.”
Lily shrugged and grabbed a card from the stack.

I had found a pack of cards in one of the drawers of the desk. Why it was there? I have no idea. Maybe someone got bored one day and found out there was nothing to do here, so they put a pack of cards in the desk. That might be it, but I doubt it.

Lily waved a hand in front of my face. Jolting awake from my daydream, I sheepishly smiled at her. Lily had an annoyed look on her face, “Could you do your daydreaming else where or could you finally play this game with us?” She huffed at me.
“Ahh, sorry Lily. I think I’m just sleepy. How about you girls play some more and finish the game while I can watch or as you said, ‘daydream’.” I said, turning to her. She had a look of thought on her face. Knowing her, she’ll say the logical answer.
She nodded her head, “Yeah, that’ll be fine.”
Letting them get back to their game, I let my mind wander.

John had came back a couple more times, the others were sitting a ways away from our group. Then John went to get the rest of them. The others that were brought here seemed nice enough, even though they didn’t speak to us. Maybe they didn’t like playing go fish, or they didn’t want to interrupt the game, or maybe yet, they are being the adults they are and don’t want to play a game that kids are playing. Elizabeth hasn’t come back yet, probably having other stuff to do. Then again though, she didn’t seem all that happy that we were here. I had also heard some ruckus behind one of the doors, I couldn’t pin point which one and I didn’t really care. It wasn’t my problem. But in the back of my head I knew that I kind of did want to know.

Finishing the game, Lily look over too Matthew. He had a spaced out look on his face. I wonder what he’s thinking about, Lily thought. He looked comfortable on the floor, as did she. They were the first ones there after all.

John had finally come back with the last of them. The whole area was covered in smoke, John couldn’t see a thing so he had some trouble finding them. But in the end, he had found them.
“Will we just be staying here then?” Lily asked, she was probably the smartest out of our little group. She asks most of the questions, of course every once and a while, Caitline, Georgia, or even I would ask a question. Less likely though. John shook his head.
“No, I’ll be taking you further into the complex. But before we do that, I just have to see everyone’s wrist.”
My heart surged, does he have to check our wrists to enter? My heart was beating furiously, what should I do?! My eyes widened as my body trembled uncontrollably.
Lily looked at me, worried. “Is something wrong?” John asked looking over to us.
Lily looked at me, “Should I tell him for you?” She whispered so only I could hear. I shook my head frantically.
“No, I’m fine, you guys can go ahead without me. I’m fine here,” I whispered back as I clutched my wrist. Lily watched me, here eyes locked on me.
“I’m not going if you’re not.” She finally told me. As I was about to say something, John walked over to us.
“Could you please answer me this? Why are you whispering to each other?” He asked, Lily and I turned to each other. I could have sworn I had seen a mischievous look in her eyes.
“We have to talk this other, Matthew doesn’t like people seeing his flaws.” I blushed lightly at her statement and glared at her. She smiled at me, “he really doesn’t like it.” I grumbled, but it seemed to do the trick.
“Wait, John do you have a pen?” Lily asked suddenly. What was she thinking, I had wondered.
Taking a pen out of his pocket, (John had pockets on his cool suit) and flipped it lazily. “Why do you want it?” He asked suspiciously, well I bet anyone would think of something like this suspiciously. Two people- kids no less- have been whispering to each other and all of a sudden one of them wanted a pen? Maybe John thought we were plotting a plan to cause even more damage. Not. Even. Close.

[Max]

I looked over at Lily, “why do you want a pen?” She gave me one, long stare. Willing me to understand what she is trying to tell me, and I understood. I stared back at her, I don’t think we need a pen.
Why? She said with her eyes.
I- We were interrupted with our conversation.
“Can’t we go in already?! Whats taking so long?” A lady angrily yelled out.
It’s taking long, maybe I should let Matthew go on through. But then I’d be breaking the rules. I could get fired, and that wouldn’t help either of us. They need me, and I need to help them win this raging war. John sighed, I’ll have to do something. “Okay, look, Matthew I cannot make an exception but if you and your sister would like to have a bit of time to talk and stuff. You know if she wants to stay with you if you want to stay here. You two can, but only for a few minutes, I’ll check the others and they will go in. I’ll wait for you to be finished talking to each other and after you have decided. I’ll either let you in or have someone stay with you while you stay here, okay?” Lily and I both nodded, and John nodded back. “Good.”

“I have a plan,” Lily stated once we were alone.
“What is it?” I waited for her to continue.
“We’ll say that we want to stay here, but then ask for the pen. You know, to occupy ourselves. As he gives us a pen, he’ll probably want to know where we will be drawing. Let me do the talking, okay?” She started, and I nodded. “Good. Now once we have the pen, I can write three words on your wrist quickly. After that, you’ll become fidgety, scared that no one will come and then run over to John and say that you want to go with them. I’ll follow you. Okay?” She finished, I smiled.
“That’s a great plan! Sounds good.” She smiled back and we nodded our heads.
Operation: Get in without John knowing of my secret is on!

Walking up, Lily started talking. “We’d like to stay here, but could we have a pen to occupy ourselves. I don’t wanna just stay here and be bored. And I don’t think my bro wants that either. Right, Matthew?”
“Y-yeah!” I nodded my head.
“Sure, you could have my pen, but what are you gonna write and draw on?” He asked, right as Lily predicted!
“On our hands,” she stated matter of fact.
John sweat-dropped, “yeah, okay. Here you go.” He handed the pen over to Lily.
Walking back to the little corner, Lily quickly wrote three words as fast and neat as she could. Slow, Selfless, and Caught up in own world.
As I became my fidgety self, I ran over to John quickly.
“J-John…?” I stuttered out, I looked at my shoes, find that it was much more interesting.
“Yes?” John looked over at me, “I was just about to get going, so could you make it quick?”
I nodded my head shyly, “w-w-well, I-I was j-just wondering if I c-could c-come with y-you.”
“Hmm, but I thought you two wanted to stay here.”
I made myself shed a few tears, trying to make it seem like I was actually really sad. “I-I’m just s-scared that n-no one w-will c-come to,” I hiccuped and was about to start again when John put a hand on my shoulder.
“It’s okay, so you want to come with us? That’s fine, but are you fine with me looking at your wrist?” John asked, and I nodded my head. Lily came over to us, ready to come, but feigning ignorance.
“Where are we going?” She asked, I nodded over to John.
“Oh, Lily, Matthew wanted to come with us. And I bet you do too, right?” John said after he saw her with me.
“Yes, I’d like to come as well.”
John walked over to Lily first, looking at her wrist, he then let her past. He then walked over to me. I hesitantly let him look at my wrist. What if the writing doesn’t look good enough? What if he can tell that it’s just pen on my wrist? What if he doesn’t let me through?! My heart pounded in my chest, harder as each question came in my mind. Trying to calm down, I took a few breaths. I looked over to Lily and I saw a sure look of defiance on her face. She nodded at me, and then looked away.
John took his time with my wrist for some unknown reason. He squinted his eyes, and rubbed over my wrist. When he finally thought I was good though, he let go and made me walk over to lily. Not that I was complaining though, we siblings like to stick together.
“Okay!” John yelled over all the people talking. “We can go now!” He walked over to the front of the crowd. Some of them were muttering about how long it took, but everyone was just happy that they could become even more safe than before.
We continued to walk down a hallway, then took a door to the left which left to another hallway. I had wondered how anyone could remember this place. To me it just felt like we were going in a big circle. All the hallways looked exactly the same, but it seemed like John knew where we were going. Well he should at least!

Bumping into someone that was in front of me, I yelped out a sorry. It seemed that John had stopped to talk to someone. I tried to look over to see who it was but everyone else was so much taller. I then turned to look at the side, and I saw a man with short, curly, blonde hair. Since I was too short and too far away, I couldn’t make out his eye colour.
They were talking about something, I couldn’t make it out though, once again because I was too far away. I could tell they were close friends though.
As Lily and I both waited for them to stop talking, I heard one word that was a bit louder than the others. “…Zeke.”