Something to Hold On
To
By Viviane
“Kara? Where are you? Kara!”
Emma strained her eyes, trying to catch a glimpse of her sister. She brushed a lock of straggly brown hair out of her face, only to have another fall in its place. It didn’t really matter; in this dark cave, she could see nothing, and nothing could see her.
She stepped gingerly over a puddle of murky water, wondering how long it had been there. Emma knew perfectly well that this grotto was over a century old, which didn’t make her feel any better about wandering around inside it. But she had to find Kara…
Suddenly the young girl froze. She was positive she had heard something, a quiet shuffle, and a faint moan—could it be a moan of pain?
“Kara?” she barely whispered. If that was her sister, she needed to be heard. But if it was a wild beast, she could consider herself dead.
To Emma’s great relief, she heard a familiar voice reply to her call. “Emma! Emma, is that you? It’s me, Kara. I think my leg’s broken. Can you help me up? Thanks, Em.”
Emma soon learned that it was no easy task to lift a 13-year-old girl with a badly twisted leg. She struggled against Kara’s weight for almost two minutes, but she finally had to give up.
“It’s no use,” she murmured, flopping down beside her sibling. “You’re too heavy, and I’m too weak.”
Suddenly a third voice spoke, startling the sisters.
“Are you lost, my dears?” The voice sounded as if several very sick frogs had spoken in unison. Its words were kind, but its tone suggested the exact opposite. Kara and Emma could only huddle together, shaking visibly with fright, as two words screamed in their minds:
Raider soldier!
The voice, clearly sensing their terror, spoke again. “Oh, you have nothing to be worried about. In fact, fear should be the last thing on your darling little minds right now.”
A figure stepped closer. Emma couldn’t see its features, except for a cold, cruel smile on what must be its face. Then she saw something swinging toward her…and an endless universe of a new, peaceful kind of darkness greeted her as she fell into the realm of merciful unconsciousness.
Emma stirred and opened her eyes. At first she had no recollection of what had happened less than three hours ago. Then she heard someone speaking to her, whispering in her ear:
“Emma, wake up! Wake up!”
That was
when everything came back to her. Mom had sent her to find Kara, who had been
hiding in the ancient
Emma found Kara hurt in the cave…the soldier found both of them…and now they must be in the Raider prison.
She turned to face her sister. “They caught us.” It wasn’t a question.
Kara sighed and nodded. Her clear blue eyes, peeping out from behind unruly golden bangs, were filled with misery and despair as she looked up at Emma. “They’re going to separate us.”
It took a moment for those words to sink in. When she finally spoke, Emma clearly heard the horror in her own voice. “But…they can’t…can they? It’s not fair!”
Tears welled up in Kara’s eyes. “There’s nothing we can do.”
“We’ll find each other, won’t we?”
“Yes.”
“But they’ll change our names…we might not recognize each other. How will I know who you are?”
Kara sat still for a moment, lost in thought. Emma dropped her head into her hands. Inspiration didn’t come easily to her, especially under pressure. Luckily, she wouldn’t have to come up with an idea today—her sibling seemed to be saying something.
“A song…we’ll use a song…”
“We don't have time to write a song,” Emma snapped impatiently.
Kara pulled a crumpled sheet of paper out of the pocket of her dirty brown miniskirt. “I’ve been writing something. We could just use one line,” she explained.
The younger girl peered over her sister’s shoulder. As she scanned the paper, one line caught her eye. “I like that one,” she said, pointing to a spot near the top of the page.
The echoes of Emma’s words still permeated the jail cell when Kara heard a steady clicking outside the door. Within moments, Emma heard it, too.
“They're coming,” the young girl breathed. She turned to her sister. “We have to figure something out, now!”
The clicks, which the siblings knew must be footsteps, were louder and closer now. Emma could also hear a faint voice, muttering something about “bothersome rebels.”
Kara stared at her sheet for a second longer, and then turned it towards her sister. “If we find each other…when we find each other, one of us will have to sing this.” She waited as Emma read the line she had indicated, and then continued, “If you hear that, and the person singing it could be me, respond with this line. I’ll do the same if I hear you.”
Emma looked up at Kara. “What if I forget? What if I hear you, but I can’t remember what to say? What’ll we do then?”
Kara held up the paper, and abruptly ripped the top third of it off. “Take this! Hide it—hide it in your locket!”
Emma couldn’t move. She hadn’t heard the tearing paper, because it had been covered up by a louder noise—the sound of the rusty cell door creaking open.
A tall man entered the room. He was dressed in what was obviously a uniform, with black pants, a bright red jacket with the top buttons open to reveal a black shirt, and a short black hat with a narrow rim. Several official-looking golden medals were pinned to his vest, and his shiny black boots had gold buckles to match. Kara was suddenly reminded of the British soldiers—Lobsterbacks, they were called—that she had seen in her history textbook.
As the Raider soldier turned around to shut the door behind him, Emma snatched the paper from Kara and stuffed it into the locket that hung just out of sight below her shirt.
The soldier turned around and straightened up, glaring at the two girls down his long nose. For a moment, the three just stared at each other, one side gazing with fear, and the other watching with cruel contempt. Then the soldier spoke, his tone level and calm. He sounded almost robotic.
“So these are the two little brats we caught in that old cave. Hiding from labor recruitment, I suppose.”
Kara surprised everyone by speaking up then. “You Raiders are filth. We would never work for anyone as cruel as you are. Do you really think you’ll succeed?”
Kara was on her feet by now, and Emma could see that she was almost as tall as the soldier.
The older girl kept talking.
“Nobody comes into
The Raider looked beyond furious. His face and hands were the brightest shade of scarlet Emma had ever seen, and he could barely speak. Finally, he managed to spit out three words:
“How dare you!” The soldier shoved Kara to the floor. She shrieked, and hit the ground hard.
The Raider turned around and faced the wall, breathing heavily. He stood there for a full two minutes before turning around to speak to the sisters.
“Before I was interrupted, I was here to tell you that we will be taking you to your new homes in half an hour. You,” he said, pointing at Kara, “will come with me now. You will be staying in the city, working with the other capable girls for our—organization. My associate will be here in a moment for the other.”
Kara looked like she was about to say something, but thought better of it. She glared at the soldier for a moment, and then turned to face her sibling.
Emma flung herself into her sister’s arms. “Goodbye,” she whispered. Kara echoed her.
The soldier, looking rather embarrassed, dragged Kara away. Emma stood up and watched through the cell window until they went around a corner and could be seen no longer. Then she leaned against the wall and slid to her knees, tears falling like spring rain on her face.
Emma fingered her silver necklace. It may be years before she saw her sister again, but it would happen someday. Until then, she still had her locket. There was always something, no matter how small. There was always something to hold on to.