Witches Curse

The cool water splashing my face helped chase away the nightmares. I sighed as I stared into the mirror. My normally perfectly straight platinum blonde hair was tangled and sticking out in every direction. My normally ice blue eyes flashed red, usually this happened when I was upset or angry. “You have to learn to control it Eleanor.” My mothers panicked voice flashed in the back of my mind. With a deep breath I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose. When I opened my eyes again the mirror confirmed they were back to my usual ice blue. My skin had always been pale but even I seemed a little paler than usual. I pinched my cheeks to bring some life back to them. Well, as much life as they ever had anyway. I wished my mother would tell me why my eyes were such a concern. I mean sure, eyes that change to every color of the rainbow are odd but they’re just eyes. Right? Shaking my head I pushed back from the bathroom sink and headed back to my room. My alarm clock indicated 3:04 in the morning. Still plenty of time to get some rest. Climbing back into my bed I sighed and stared up at my blank ceiling. My room was pristine and spotless, as it always had to be for inspections. I had a small twin sized bed, a bedside table with an alarm clock, a basic desk for my studies, and a dresser for my clothes which were all folded to perfection, of course. Everything was white or off white. It’s as if our government didn’t believe in color. To be fair they wanted all the citizens to have the exact same things, no favoritism. Naturally the high ranking officials got nicer mansions and cars which no one else was allowed to have. That didn’t seem very “fair” to me. But hey, I didn’t make the rules. All houses were the same size as well, no family was allowed to have more than 2 children. If by some chance they had more their child would be taken at birth and given to a family who couldn’t have children. Some women would volunteer to have extra children so that every family could have that perfect number four. It also seemed odd to me that everyone was only allowed a certain amount of children as we were nowhere near an overpopulation issue. 100 years ago, before my grandparents were even born a worldwide pandemic cleaned out our countries population, forcing us into isolation and permanent quarantine. We knew nothing of the rest of the world anymore since we were forced behind the walls that were once Fort Benning, or so I was told. As an old army base it was already surrounded by fencing and defense, but in the past hundred years the walls were 50 feet high, white and pristine like everything else, and 4 feet thick as if they were daring anyone or anything to try to force their way in. All of this information was crammed into my head over the past week, as it was my 21st birthday today they felt it was time to tell the people who were coming of age the “truths” of our world. Ever since I could remember school was all about history and how dangerous the outside world was. It was essentially fear mongering and made us all feel lucky to reside within the walls. For whatever reason now that our schooling was nearly over and we were about to be unleashed upon the world to live our own lives and choose careers they chose then to dust over all the rules and regulations of our community. A lot of it didn’t sit right with me and there seemed to be a great many holes in their stories. However, thinking like that could get me into serious trouble with the authorities. Sighing I rolled back over and pushed my worries out of my head. Maybe it was all for the best. All of this for the sake of keeping what was left of humanity alive? I guess that requires a lot of sacrifices on everyone’s part. Surely they were only doing what was best for humanity. Or so I thought. My alarm chimed promptly as 6:30 as it did every morning. I glared at it for just a moment before groaning, stretching, and shutting it off. I climbed slowly out of bed and made my way to the bathroom attached to my room. I could hear clamoring downstairs, my mother must’ve woken up nearly this morning. I quickly ran a brush through my hair and brushed my teeth. If mother was awake early I wanted to greet her and find out why. Returning to my room I rummaged through my dresser. I decided on a white button down, black slacks, black flats, and a black cardigan. That’s all we had, either black or white business casual clothing, and black and white sleepwear. Again. No color. Admittedly I loved the black better than all the bland white everywhere. I decided to study myself one last time to make sure I was presentable for the day. My hair was perfectly straight again and my outfit was crisp, clean, and tidy. Just as our community liked. I smiled, nodded, and rushed out the door. In our small stairwell I heard voices downstairs and froze. “We won’t take much time. It’s mandatory to check in on families when their children come of age.” “How courteous.” My mothers voice seemed strained. An awkward silence fell. Drawing a deep breath I decided to make my entrance even though I desperately wanted to stay upstairs until they left. “She should be down any moment.” My mother said just as I rounded the corner to the kitchen. Her eyes flicked to me and she smiled a genuine smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes a bit. Other than that you couldn’t tell my mother was in her forties. She didn’t look a day over thirty. “Ah, and here’s the star of the show herself.” My mother let out a forced chuckle. The two men crammed in our kitchen didn’t seem amused. It was then that I truly felt the tension in the room. I put on a tight smile. “Good morning everyone, please forgive my tardiness.” Like they weren’t the ones who showed up unannounced, I thought to myself. Two tall, buff men stood before me in crisp black tux’s with sunglasses so dark you couldn’t see their eyes. They stood military style across the kitchen. One had dark skin and a beard that was short and groomed to perfection, but the rest of his head was bald. The other had an olive skin tone with slicked back black hair. Slicked back hair spoke first. “No need to apologize, you were not tardy as you were unaware of our visit. It is typical for guardsman to check up on families when their children come of age to see if everything is in order and if anything is needed.” I wasn’t sure what to say. “Again, thank you for checking in on us, it is much appreciated, however all of our affairs for Eleanor’s graduation and coming of age ceremony are in order.” My mother had a final tone in her voice that let the two men know that their presence was no longer needed, or welcome. They exchanged glances and gave the two of us a curt nod as they headed to the door. “Good day then.” Beard guy said as he headed to the door. Slicked back hair didn’t look over his shoulder as he left, but beard cast one last glance at me before he disappeared through the doorway, and that look sent chills down my spine. We waited a moment in silence until we were sure our guests were gone. My mother turned to me, a genuine smile on her lips this time. “Good morning Ellie, I have a surprise for you!” It was at that moment I realized she had been holding a hand towel in front of her apron as if to hide something. When she moved it I noticed flour. My mom turned to the fridge and rummaged through it. She then produced a cake with blue frosting like the sky, in darker blue the words “Happy birthday Ellie bear!” Were written. My eyes nearly popped out of my head. “Mother you know this is forbidden!” I gasped. I peeked over my shoulder as if the guards would come busting back in the house that instant. “There will be cake at the ceremony.” I whispered. It would be in plain white with black lettering that read “congratulations graduates.” The same way it looked every month for those who had come of age. All in the name of being fair I suppose. My mother snorted. “Oh please, those cakes are cardboard with a hint of sugar and you know it. This is better.” She looked around mischievously. “A recipe passed down several generations from before the walls.” I gasped. “Mother please keep it down, you could be sent away for treason for that!” “Ah, let them take me.” She said as she began to cut the small cake. I shook my head and sat down at the table. “As long as we leave no evidence we will be fine.” I sighed and pulled out a chair. There was no arguing with my mother once she got an idea in her head. She handed me a piece and she took the other. The cake was only big enough for two. Probably so we could eat it and be rid of any evidence of unauthorized food. We ate quietly for a while before an idea in the back of my mind began eating away at me. A lot of dangerous ideas and worries seemed to pop in my head after this past week. “Mother.” I said quietly. “Yes, my dear?” She was happily chewing a piece of her cake and browsing the morning paper. She was right by the way, the cake was amazing and had ten times the flavor of the lousy cakes the government made. “You always seem much colder to the authorities than anyone else. Does it.. does it have anything to do with why father and sister disappeared 3 years ago?” My mother froze. It was a subject we never talked about. My mother refused to ever since it had happened. The only thing she told me was that my father and older sister were dead and that was that. The fear and tears in her eyes startled me so much we never even spoke of them since. It was as if with her thoughts alone she told me it was a dangerous subject which should never be brought up again. So, I hadn’t. Not ever. Until today. She swallowed hard and placed her fork down gently. This time I got a forced smile, but this time it was from pain, not hatred. She then grabbed her napkin and dabbed at the corners of her mouth, ever so polite. She never forgot her manners. Clearing her throat she gently said, “my dear, that is a subject best discussed at another time.” And with that she turned her attention back to the paper and I looked down at my cake, with ever more questions than answers.