Chapter 2

“Took some time for all of this to end”

-31rst Nuni, 15th month, year 151-

“The annual exam is over. Leave the Instruction center. You will be granted access to your results in 5 days.

It is 5pm, you have one hour left of free time until going home.”

Yeetlhy walked towards a fountain and sat down. Her eyes were fixated on her calendar. Date, weather, the main event of the next day: the aptitude test. She sighed. The teenager was tired. She rubbed her hand against her eyes. She sighed again.

“There’s really nothing to do around here. Nowhere to go either.”

The girl stared at the sky. It was nightlight. She tried to look at the stars, but the golden threads of the climate regulator were emanating too much light. It was still a beautiful sight that amazed Yeetlhy every time she looked at it. The sky was the same since she was born, but she couldn’t stop herself from admiring it. She found comfort, peace in it, a fleeting feeling that she liked to let herself dive in from time to time. She would sometimes close her eyes, appreciate the wind. It was making her feel like this world didn’t exist, like she was the only one there. After what she thought was a few minutes, she got interrupted by a voice.

“It is 6pm” said her connector, “Time to go back home”

“Why is it that the only time I hear someone talking to me, it’s you ?” whispered Yeetlhy, “Well at least you're not mean. You’re probably my only friend. If I can call you that.”

The connector didn’t answer, as expected. Yeetlhy stood up and went towards her house. The closer she got to her house, the more her anxiety was rising. Her parents were probably not home, which reassured her, but the house itself was making her uncomfortable. The teenager had a hard time breathing. She felt her consciousness slowly losing control over her body. She had to go back, quickly. Yeetlhy didn’t want anyone to see her in that state.

Once she arrived, Yeetlhy went into the kitchen to grab a glass of water. She found herself face to face with her mother. A really unexpected sight that took the girl by surprise. She gasped, looked down, and went hiding in a corner so that her mother wouldn't notice her. When she saw her mother finally leaving the kitchen, she raced towards the drawer and pulled out a glass. Yeetlhy’s father arrived behind her back and pushed her without giving it much thoughts, spilling all the water on her.

“I can't be that invisible '' thought Yeetlhy.

The red-headed girl looked at her parents. She was angry, really angry, but sensing their indifference, she didn’t have the guts to stand up for herself. She wanted to though and squeezed her hands really hard. The girl was ashamed of herself. How could she let them treat her like that? It was a pointless argument anyway. She only had to wait one day. One day and they would finally acknowledge her. She climbed the stairs and went into her room to lay down a bit.

An hour passed, maybe two, when the connector released Yeetlhy from her drowsiness.

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“Dinner”

The girl went down, back to the kitchen, and started to cook for herself. She thought about asking her parents if she could make something for them and immediately threw out the idea. They never ate together. It was always like that in this house, no one was allowed to step into someone else’s business. No one was even interested. This always made Yeetlhy wonder why her parents were together to begin with. They never talked, except about work, they never slept in the same room, they never worried about each other, they never cooked or did the laundry for each other.

“Appearances are really all that matters, huh.” said Yeetlhy out loud.

After she finished her dinner, Yeetlhy walked into the living room, to inform her parents of tomorrow’s event. She stopped and looked at the couch where absolutely no one was seated. They were both at the opposite corner of the room. Sitting so that neither of them could see the other one.

“Hum… hu” Yeetlhy sighed, knowing that she was probably putting herself in a bad position, she thought that it was the time to make herself be heard. They were her parents, and she was their child.

“Excuse me ?” Yeetlhy waited a bit, not sure if she was allowed to continue. Unsure of what she truly wanted to say and seeing the lack of attention from them, she went back upstairs.

Before entering her room, the young girl heard a voice calling her out.

“Come down now.”

She went back to the living room, and noticed that the curtains were closed. She immediately understood what was going to happen. Yeetlhy cursed herself, she should’ve stayed quiet. The father closed the door and the mother started talking.

“So what is it ?” asked her mother.

This surprised Yeetlhy. They really never took the time to talk to her before beating her up. What was going on ?

“It’s about the aptitude test, since it’s tomorrow, I thought…” The teenager couldn’t end her sentences, she was too anxious for that.

“What about it ?” whispered her father, already bored by this conversation.

“You thought what ?” asked her mother, who looked really annoyed. It was a sign that the conversation would end soon.

“I…I just… I just thought… I just thought that maybe, you could, we could, I don’t know, do something special.” said Yeetlhy with a trembling voice.

“Because you think you’re special ? For passing a test that every 16 years old child pass every fucking year ?” Yelled her mother. Her father rolled his eyes.

“Of course it’s something stupid” he said, before looking back at his work.

Yeetlhy was anxious, sad, lonely, and crying, but she was also extremely angry. It was taking over the rest. She started screaming*.

“I did everything you ever wanted me to do. I’m the top student. I have perfect grades. I work really hard to make you proud. I’ve been as invisible as you wanted me to be. I never complained that you treated me like this. I never talked to anyone about it. It’s the only favor that I ever asked of you. The only one. Just do it !”

The girl was out of breath. Tears all over her face. But strangely enough, she felt relieved. She said all she ever wanted to say. But she regretted it soon enough. No one was allowed to talk to her mother or her father like that. No one. She felt a slap on her cheek, a burning one. She fell down. Half of her face was burnt. She looked up and saw the flaming hand of her mother. Yeetlhy suddenly had a hard time breathing. All that was coming out from her mouth and nose was water. She knew it was her father’s doing. She lost consciousness.

She woke up later in the night, her whole body was hurting. She hardly stood up and looked at the bruises covering her. The red-headed girl took a generator to create some ice. She then used it to create a warm light and hardly went back to her room. She hid herself in her closet with all of her cushions. The damaged girl didn’t want to be heard.

She finally allowed the tears to come out.

“And now it is my time.”