Kyra sat at the back of math class, she sighed as she rubbed her eyes, realising that she was almost asleep from the mind numbing boredom... School had been so much duller since Marrisa vanished. Marrisa had been Kyra’s wonderful, completely insane purple haired best friend, they had done everything together and knew pretty much everything about each other, everything had been completely fine, until one day Kyra gets a text from her saying that she was going shoe shopping with her sister Megan. This didnt seem so out of the ordinary, sure Marrisa had never really liked shopping, but Megan had, and well, they are sisters...

Were sisters...

She sighed again, this time the breath was layered with sadness; Kyra hadn't heard anything since that one final text. The police had of course tried to help, but there was nothing, not a trace not a footstep. On top of all the drama surrounding that, Kyra found school was getting weirder, take maths for example, It had always been boring and dull especially for her, but at least they used to learn about things like theories or algebra. But since Riss’s disappearance that had all changed, a medical centre had bought a large stake in the college and almost instantly maths has become a psychology class. All the lessons had.
Better Living Industries, a business that made their money by giving people 'happy pills' after the great depression that came straight after the times of World War 3, they had begun taking over places like shops and schools, even the weapon stores that littered the backstreets, The entire capital where she and her brother had grown up, Battery City, is now almost completely run by the fuckers.

"RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGGGGGGGGG"

"Finally" Kyra muttered softly,

"I can get out of this hell hole and go home." Kyra stood, and left class, weaving between the students, all of them smiling silently, it unnerved her, she never spoke in school anymore, unless someone asked her a direct question. She broke out of the final door and steadily made her way down the long, chilly pathways of New Jersey. Suddenly unfamiliar voices floated into her consciousness, she turned and realised they were coming from an alley way to the left of her, and being the curious girl she was, Kyra turned and stopped and began to listen to what the suspicious voices were saying. She couldn’t help but move into the entrance of the alley, since the hushed tones were so subtle and quiet.

“So they’ve decided to make that school take the pill as well, soon too I'm guessing, the takeover seemed to go smoothly enough. No complaints from the students at least...” A man's voice said, he seemed... sad? or, concerned maybe?

“We could always go and watch when they start giving them out, even if one student refuses, helping one person better than no-one right?” Another man’s voice inserted, but this time, the sound was chirpier, positive almost childlike in its nature. What school where they one about? She wondered silently. Could it be mine? It had to be, since the only other college in this Zone, was a thousand miles away. Well, maybe not that far, but still. The takeover part sounds about right, but I don’t know, pills, we'd have been told about that right?

She tried her best to strain her eyes so she could see the men that she was ease dropping on, but even when she was actively trying she couldn’t make out much off them. Until one of the group turned around and walked straight into the blazing light of the sun, where it had broken through the trees. She felt her breath catch in her chest as she saw him. He was, perfect. He had short blonde hair that was brushed back; slowly it faded into a more natural looking brown down the sides. The beautiful stranger wore a red jacket with a leopard print top, and black skinny jeans, which skimmed along his long, sculpted thighs, tracing down his calve muscles, trapping her eyes on his body. What Kyra was too busy to notice was that the nameless man she had been staring at had seen her too.

“Shit guys, I think she heard” She gasped as she recognised his voice as the one that had begun the conversation about the school, The voice was thick and calming, if it wasn’t for the humiliating situation she was in, Kyra could of drowned in it.

"Damn it bro!" Shouted a similar voice, it was smooth, as smooth as the first voice, but more dominant, angry, and very slightly effeminate. This new man lead the remaining figures out into the light, Kyra didn’t spend much time looking at them though as she spun on her heels and ran back the way she'd came.

“No! Wait… the... purple...” One of the voices began, of course, she didnt hear it, since she was already half way down the alley by this point, she just ran, not stopping until she reached her garden.

"Safe." she thought,

"I’m safe... that was nothing just forget about it." At this point, she made the choice to go inside, say nothing, and forget about today, it had been a failure from start to finish.

The door opened gently as the shivering Kyra walked in the warm house, her cheeks instantly burning from the attack of hot air. New Jersey wasn’t always the warmest place on earth, but right now, her house felt like it might be. The smell of waffles and syrups filled lungs as she gasped in the warm, humid air. She grinned as her brother came out carrying a plate of freshly cooked waffles and cream.

Kyra's smile remained on her face, she loved Jake a lot, he was always so caring and protective over her, ever since they where kids and living like a family in the heart of battery city. To her, it didn’t matter that she now stayed in a one room flat and was forced to sleep on the couch most nights, Jake tried his best, and all that mattered was that they had each other, they always had, and they always would... Life’s hard when your own your own, but, she smiled, she would never be alone.

“Hey Kye!” Jake beamed as he embraced his little sister in a hug, happy that she was simply home and safe in his arms again.

“Hey Jakey. By any chance do you have some spare waffles for me?” Kyra looked up at her brother and even under his long black fringe his eyes still met hers as she tried to pull the best puppy dog face she could.

“Of course, now get your ass in the living room so I can watch TV already”

Without another word they travelled through the short hallway and sat down on the old, rough leather couch, they then began the same old routine of eating, watching TV, and doing nothing.
Slowly Kyra found herself drifting off on her brother’s lap. So she dropped the last mouthful of waffles and nestled her head against her brothers slightly bent knee. Her life had been like this for years, and she hoped that it wouldn’t change. That evening she dreamed of that gorgeous blonde man.

It was strange, at first they were together, she didn’t know much about what was happening, it was all blury, but she knew she was happy, as happy as she had ever dreamt she could be, but suddenly these things started running towards them,
"Dracs." He whispered in her ear, like it would mean something later, then they began dragging her love away... She chased after him, but nothing she could do seemed to make a difference to her speed, it was just impossible for her to keep up. All of a sudden she bumped into bald man, wearing dark glasses and an evil grin. Before she knew anything else he pointed a laser gun to her head then...

Kyra woke up in a cold sweat; her brother had fallen asleep on the couch with her, clearly not wanting to wake the sleeping girl by going to bed. Jake and Kyra lived in a small one bedroom flat, with three room all together, so they were used to living on top of each other half the time. As quietly as she could Kyra got up, stretched upwards, and clicked her joints before creeping silently into the kitchen for some form of drink, looking in the mirror on the way she saw her burning cheeks were red and damp, she used her hands to dry them off, she must have been crying in her sleep, but why?
The dream, as she tried to think of it, she was rewarded with the extremely vibrant images of the blonde haired man. All she'd done was look at him once, in an alley, why did the thought of him make her heart flutter? Could this be... Could this be, love? Or was she finally going insane.
Once again, she wished she could confide in Marrisa, or just, anyone, Jake didn’t need to stress himself out about this...

but talking to anyone would be better than wandering...