Chapter One

The music box alarm clock went off. The notes floated in the air and echoed throughout my room. It woke me like it did everyday, the simple melody that emitted from the metal comb and whatnots the music box was made out of chimed with a cheery tune. The small baby blue box finishes it's song as I stretched. I scratched my bed head and frumped over my sheets.

I sighed, I knew what today was. Today was my eighteenth birthday. Every eighteen year old was walked around town so they can collect any gifts the commune has for them before a walk in the woods to collect whatever was needed for the selected dish of the night. For the special occasion I chose a simple herbal soup, and cake. They said no to the cake like I knew they would.

There was no chance of anything they couldn't hand make or find in the woods. Even if we had everything, no one knew how to make a cake and told me to never say that around the elders. I was told that they would be very upset if I did, I didn't know why. Nothing from the outside world was allowed. It wasn't something I questioned verbally, but I questioned it in my soul everyday.

The birthday celebration was a whole process I didn't want to do today. I didn't feel like I earned today. I knew it didn't make sense, it didn't make much sense for me either when the thought came up. I buried the intrusive thoughts down into my soul and rolled out of bed. Looking at myself through the vanity across the room, I looked tired. Hunched over and lazy eyes, not wanting to be alive right now was what could be read off of my face.

Fast forward the normal routine of brushing out the mane my hair was every morning and parting it down the middle. The picking between the two outfits I owned and the three hair clips everyone had. Boring brown overall dress with a white long sleeve shirt under it or the navy blue overall dress, same white tee shirt and overall buttons the other overalls wore. I only owned one pair of shoes. A pair of working shoes that wore the same ugly brown my dress wore, I needed new ones. I won't get any new ones until these ones fell apart to the sole. That was just the way it went.

Overtime, I yearned for something I could call my own. I kept silent about the hair clip I made with a paper clip and spare ribbon. It stayed in the bottom of the floor under a loose board. No one could know of my hair clip, I would get in so much trouble for the fact of hiding something, let alone it being something the elders didn't allow. You weren't allowed to be selfish and keep things for yourself. It was rule number three after all.

I brought my hair into a ponytail then pulled the loose hair around, braiding it, I stare into my reflection from my vanity. One bottle of perfume sat on it next to a small box. That was new.

I picked up the small red gift box that had blue ribbon all around it, holding it close. I pulled the ribbon off and stashed it away under my floorboard. Returning to my vanity and sitting back down on the matching stool, I opened the box to reveal a small hairpin. It was very similar to the ones all the older girls in town had. A small blue flower that had four petals that each had a speckle of purple in the middle and appeared to be made from a gem. It shone in the sunlight, the glimmer trapped itself in my memory.

With the new hairpin in my hair instead of my first choice, I was in the plain beige and white kitchen and greeted my family.

I walked up behind and hugged my aunt, "Good morning, Aunt Brianna!"

After Aunt Brianna jumped from the surprise hug, she spun around to greet me. She let out a gleeful laugh and wrapped her arms around me in a bear hug in return, "Good morning, birthday girl!" She sung this as she twirled me around for a half second before setting me back down.

Aunt Brianna turned back around to the stove then brought over a steaming hot plate to the kitchen table and gestured for me to take a seat. I got up to my seat and faced a plate of fried potatoes, a piece of corn that was boiled, and a piece of steak. I cherished the steak since they were rare to get due to how far away we lived from everything. The taste of something besides flowers, berries, and herbs was tantalizing on my tongue. It was such a different taste than my normal, it could get me hooked. If I had another piece of steak, I would get hooked I thought to myself as I scarfed it down.

My plate was cleaned in minutes and I was preparing to leave the table but Aunt Brianna stopped me. She smiled and sat a slice of pie in front of me, "I'm sorry we couldn't get what you asked for but I wanted to make it up to you somehow so I made a cherry pie for you last night. You have a slice now and run along, the birthday group is waiting for ya." I smiled brightly back at her hazel nut eyes, her blonde hair strung around the back of her neck, making a halo of some sort.

"Okay, can I come back as soon as we're done?" I took my fork from my breakfast and dug into the pie slice. It was juicy and ran all over the plate. I ate bite by bite, not even upset about the crust being a bit hard from sitting overnight. The sweet taste kept me going until the pie slice was no more. Aunt Brianna shook her head at my question as she took my plate and told me to run off.

I groaned as I made my way to the front door, "Are you sure they won't miss me? I'm sure the others being there will be enough." Aunt Brianna raised an eyebrow at me and that was my cue to not push my limits.

"Okay, okay, I'm going," I said, opening the front door and stepping out into the sunlight. I waved at Aunt Brianna and closed the door behind me, my smile dropping immediately.

I felt a bad feeling in my gut about this. I didn't know what but I knew trouble was going to find me today, and I had a feeling going to the birthday walk was going to start it all.