@@Wanheda
I'm working my story and I feel like I wrote myself into a wall with this chapter. I'm working on several different ones at once (I can't do things chronologically.) and this characters story seemed to stop really quick. I need someone to help me fix this ending so I can lead into the next part of the story.
Eden shakes slightly in her cramped hiding space. Her legs were starting to hurt and the pain in her chest was growing. She wants to cry, she wants to whimper, she wants to scream and run out into the openness of her sister’s bedroom. She wasn’t allowed to have her own. Everything she had was Ruby’s first. Her parents reminded her almost every day what would happen if she was to expose herself. When she was younger they would make her repeat it again and again before shoving her into the space behind the wall to hide.
“Tell us what happens if they find you.” They would say, as they shoved her into the walls. “We have to hear you say it.”
“They will execute both mommy and daddy.”
Eden tries to keep quiet as she takes a deep, shaky breath. It’s hard to breathe in here, it’s the same feeling of suffocation she gets when she kept the blankets over her head for too long. This little crawlspace in the wall of her sister’s bedroom was the only safe place for her, but it always felt like it was trying to kill her. She had begged for Ruby to take her place, just once. We’re identical. If I don’t say anything they will never know. Her twin always refused. A part of Eden hated and resented her for being the one who didn’t have to live in constant fear.
“Check the bedrooms.” She hears a voice say from the hallway. The Guard is almost done with the inspection, it would be over soon. Footsteps enter the room, she can hear her sisters twin bed hit the wall as they check underneath it for anything that might be suspicious. There’s nothing in the room that would suggest more than one teenage girl inhabits the space. Everyday Eden was careful to clean up the proof of her existence, the mat that she sleeps on is rolled up and placed in the storage closet along with her blankets and pillows. Her clothes are made to look like Ruby’s, even though Eden hates what her sister choses to wear.
The footsteps circle around the room, coming to a stop mere inches away from where she’s hidden. Eden’s legs begin to cramp. The sound of her heart beating in her ears is almost deafening and even after years of hiding in this very spot she wonders if the Guardsmen can hear it too.
“Room’s clear.” The voice says from the other side of the thin wall, making her jump. He must have been a new recruit he sounded a lot younger than the one who usually searched her familiy’s apartment.
“About time.” Ruby’s says, Eden doesn’t have to see her sister to know that she’s standing in the doorway, hands on hips, with that annoyed look that’s permanently etched onto her face. The guardsman mutters something that Eden can’t make out before exciting the room. What seems like an eternity later Ruby finally says the words the she’s been dying to hear. “You can come out now.”
Eden stumbles out of her hiding place, taking a deep breath she sits in the wobbly computer chair, her lightly tanned hand reaches up to push her dark brown hair away from her face. She stretches out, thankful to finally have some room to move. “What took so long?”
“Mom was talking to Commander Het about some Conclave meeting that’s coming up. The were being all secretive, so I don’t know what’s going on.” She replies, sitting on the bed and pulling off a pair of red heels. Ruby had found them at the center after one of the wealthier members of Bunker 113 died. She had used her points to buy them for a party that was being held on the Alpha Deck and had worn them almost every day since.
“Do you think it has to do with someone getting executed?” She asks, staring at the pink stain that almost ruins the grey rug on the bedroom floor.
“I don’t know.”
Eden leans back frustrated. When they were younger, Ruby would often come back with stories of what was going on in the world outside of their housing unit. Now, she had to press to get her twin to tell her anything. When they were younger, Eden and Ruby would get to take turns leaving the safety of the family’s unit and go into the outside world. That stopped when the girls turned four. With the mandatory start of schooling it became too much of a risk to have both girls pretend to be the same person outside. Ruby got to be the one to leave, because she was twelve minutes older. Eden herself hadn’t seen anyone outside her own family in thirteen years.
“Did you see Declan today?” Eden asks, knowing that bringing up her sister’s crush was a good way to get her talking. Declan had been the object of Rubys affection for a little over a year now.
Ruby shakes her head. “I haven’t seen him in a week. He usually works on Charlie Deck during the mornings, but I guess he got a new assignment.” She smiles slightly, letting her hair fall over her face to hide her blush. “Lottie thinks that we would be a cute couple.”
“You said Lottie thinks that everyone is cute.”
“This time she’s not being an idiot about it.”
A shrill beep comes from Ruby’s desks getting both the girl’s attention. The screen of Ruby’s tech lights up, letting her know she has a notification. Picking it up, Ruby’s champagne brown eyes skim it quickly. “I got selected to special testing. I’ll get currency points and special consideration in whatever field I go into.”
“That’s great.” Eden says, looking over her sisters’ shoulder. The medical field was extremely competitive. So, why did Ruby seem so upset by the news?
“I’ll be back later.” Ruby says, setting down her tech and slipping her heels back on her feet. “I’m going to Alpha Deck with Lottie.”
