Breathing in shadows

Another red sunset.

Red dawns yesterday... red days last month... red skies a few years ago. I could no longer recall the exact date the sky was any other colour than red... but I remember what happened the day red was all it became.

We called that day the Deep Sleep... when the world woke to death. No one knew why many had died in their sleep. They simply did not wake up. But it wasn't just people. It was entire lineages. It was as though an unseen force reached into a genealogy book and randomly erased entire ancestral lines from existence. That was the first day of the red skies.

That was the day our world changed. It was believed the Elites, the last two wealthy families in our part of the world would have answers but instead, they shut themselves in highly policed homes and recreated a society that protected their own. Everyone else was counted and contained in regional areas. Streets were under 24-hour surveillance and cameras watched our every move while a protection force, known as the Guard, kept uprisings down.

Every once-in-a-while, posters around free will and thought slathered walls in public spaces but they were removed within hours. Still, rumours around the Elites use of power to control the masses continued and I was often reminded of The Hunger Games. But I was no Katniss Everdeen. No protagonists existed in this story.

I was 19 and living in the city with my sister Sarah when the skies turned red. She was 18 and we both were at college and worked in coffee shops, going on dates and staying up late talking about boys, and browsing antique stores and thrift shopping. We were teased for our orange hair in high school, yet these very locks drew college boys to us like moths to flames... something I never got used to. My sister found love and lost it, then found it again so when the skies turned red, she held on to that one and did not let him go.

Everything crashed from that day... internet... mobile service... electricity. So, the three of us walked away from the city to our family hut in the mountains. I think it took a year. Robbie had survived the Deep Sleep so he knew his family was alive, but they lived in the States and we did not. He knew he would never see them again. He could hunt and shoot, and we watched enough of The Walking Dead to know how to scavenge but surviving was so exhausting. That was something we didn't count on. We also didn't count on arriving at the hut to find it empty. I think that was ten years ago.

"Town has changed," Robbie spoke quietly as we sat around the fireplace.

"What?! You promised you wouldn't go for any old reason, Rob-"

"-He had a reason, Evie," Sarah cut in.

"Did the Guard see you?" I asked, alarmed. "We haven't been counted in the census and I don't-"

"-The Guard didn't see me Evie... but I did see a friend from the city."

Sarah looked at him, surprised. This was news to her as well.

"Remember Michael... we played-"

"-He's an Elite, Rob," Sarah said quickly. "He's not one of us. He's one of them!"

"He left their compound and needs a place to hide. He'll be here in the morning."

"What have you done?!" I asked as I stood. My heart raced as fear snaked through my body and lodged itself in my throat. I reached for the heart-shaped locket around my neck... the only reminder I had of our mother ever being in our lives.

Sarah reached for Rob's hand and he squeezed hers tight. She tried to calm me with a smile, but the snake just hissed in my throat. I retreated to my bedroom and found comfort in the darkness.

Another red sunrise.

My head ached. The sky was too red, and it hurt my eyes to look at it. I was sure they bled the same colour. Red everywhere. Michael was sitting at our kitchen table and Rob and Sarah looked to be captivated as they laughed when he told them a story that I thought was bullshit. He stood when I walked towards them and dared to smile at me.

"Morn-", he began.

"Shut up," I said calmly as I sipped a hot cup of tea.

"Evie don't be rude," Sarah said with a frown as she rested her head on Robbie's right shoulder. Their arms were entwined and as I glared at her, he rubbed her back as though he was protecting her from me.

"What are you doing here Michael?" I asked while staring at him.

"I was invited by Robbie- and look, I needed somewhere to go. I know when the snow comes this place will be hard to get to, so I'll have time to plan my next move. I won't stay longer than necessary."

I inhaled sharply and was ready to spit out a response but exhaled slowly instead. "You will have work. This won't be a holiday for you."

Robbie and Sarah glanced at each other and I saw Sarah smile as she widened her eyes with surprise.

"I'll show him the ropes Evie," Robbie promised.

"Yea-yes," Michael nodded. "I'll pull my weight. Thank you."

Another red sunset... and another. Then the snow came, and it looked pink under the red skies. Another pink winter. Every day there was something that needed doing. Every day we all woke together, worked together, ate together. We bathed, we talked, we laughed, and sometimes we drank.

Then the night came when all of that stopped.

I was dreaming…I could see our mother with her long orange locks tied loosely in a bun, laughing as our father kissed her neck. We were in our kitchen and Sarah was eating toast with me as we laughed and watched them. I could feel happiness embrace me and I felt safe. Then the ground rumbled, and Sarah screamed. The house began to shake, and I looked at our mother and her eyes were wide. "Run," she whispered.

"We need to go!" Sarah yelled as I woke to her shaking me. The ground and the house were trembling. "They're here. The Elite have found us!"

"Fucken Mike betrayed us!" Robbie yelled from the doorway of my bedroom. "C'mon!"

I sat up and slid into the boots near my bed. Sarah helped me dressed then the three of us inched towards the basement. Thank God that was the one secret we kept from Michael.

Robbie led the way with a shotgun under his left arm and a lantern in his right hand. The dirt tunnel was narrow and risky, but it led us to the dry creek bed.

"Someone is behind us," I panicked. I could hear noises and they were getting louder.

"Hide!" Robbie urged and as Sarah and I crouched behind a shrub, he stood in front with his shotgun ready and aimed at the darkness.

"Don't shoot me... please," Michael said as he walked out into the light of the moon with his arms raised above his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't know they had put a trace on me."

Robbie lowered the shotgun.

"Shoot the fucker!" I yelled. "He's lying!"

"No!" Michael pleaded as he shook his head. "Let me explain... please!"

Robbie nodded then led us to a cave hidden in the mountains and once inside, he lit a fire for us to get warm. He had thought only of our survival and as I looked around and saw supplies crammed into the small space, I was overwhelmed with appreciation and love.

Michael laid the book on a large rock used as a table. He turned the pages quickly then stopped at one with writing I could not read let alone understand.

“I should have told you earlier… Look, I know my family is-” he shook his head as he struggled to speak. “They have done things to serve themselves. When the Deep Sleep fell on us, they rounded up the families that woke. People like your parents.”

“Our parents? Where are they?” I asked as Sarah held onto my arm.

“They’re in one of the testing facilities. Look, the two great families wanted to find out why we woke and not others. We had people from our side volunteer for testing too-”

“-Our parents didn’t volunteer! They were stolen,” Sarah stated matter-of-factly.

Michael nodded. “Yeah, I…”

“Are they okay?” she asked.

“Like everyone else, their blood and DNA have been tested. But they are being looked after because we need answers if we are to survive as a human race. So, it’s taken a long time, but it looks like they have found that we all have inherited what is now known as the Vita gene. Those lines that died did not have this gene, but they had the Eve gene as we do too. The Eve gene connected all of us to who we thought was our first mother from the creation story in the Bible.”

“Genesis?” Robbie asked.

“Yes, Eve in the Book of Genesis. But the Vita gene refers to the daughter of the Most High. She is referred to in old texts as the Mother of our Earth as we know it. So, the one common gene we woke lineages have is named in her honour.”

“If we all have this gene then what just happened now? Why are the Elite looking for us?” I asked as I studied the man.

“Some of us have more... direct... connections with the goddess Vita and your mother’s lineage is one of them. That is why the two great families are in a war over you.”

“Why?” Robbie asked.

“Mythology spoke about a female child breaking the curse of the red skies. Where do you think the name, Deep Sleep, comes from? It sounds ancient, doesn’t it?”

“It came from that?” Robbie asked as he glanced at the book. Michael nodded.

"What is this bullshit about a curse?" I asked, fearing his response.

"This book will tell us," Michael said as he closed it. "I'm working as fast as I can but it’s confusing. What I do know is that those who woke are now living under this curse which has to do with all that we know the colour red to mean… anger… addictions… selfishness… bad health. There are increases of these in the city. You guys are untouched."

"This sounds like hocus pocus, demonic shit to me!" I spoke in disbelief as I stood and paced the small enclosed space of the cave.

"Posters and shit of this stuff have been put out there for years Evie," Michael argued. "People know about this story and they believe. Why do you think the two great families have gone to huge lengths to control the masses?"

"How will a female child break this curse?" Robbie asked, his thoughts fixated on the details.

“Something to do with the connection to the goddess and bringing some sort of balance," Michael explained. "The two great families believe one of you will bring this child into the world. But the balance won't last long... there will be another event. I'm not sure what but whichever family has this child will definitely survive it.”

Robbie looked at Sarah and she placed her hands on her stomach.

“I feel sick,” she breathed deeply as she walked towards the entrance of the cave. I watched her stumble in the morning light and frowned when I didn’t see the pink snow under her feet.

"What is happening?" Sarah gasped as she struggled to catch her breath. The three of us ran then stopped short as we stared outside.

The skies were orange.

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