Yuki

It was the middle of the night by the time they arrived at the campsite. The soft sound of wings fluttering above them, either from owls or bats, joined the chirp of crickets. It would have been peaceful if Yuki’s nerves weren’t stretched to the point of snapping.

She tried to keep from jittering too much, looking too obviously suspicious as Viola jimmed open an SUV door and hot-wired it.

“Where did you even learn to do that?” Yuki whispered to her. She shrugged one shoulder, focusing on the wires in her hand.

“My brothers are car junkies, they fix cars a lot and taught me a few things,” she said. The SUV purred to life. They quickly piled in, Mark and Yuki jammed in the backseat. Mel hopped in behind the steering wheel, and Vi jumped in to the passenger seat.

They eased out of the campsite and down a back dirt road, signs painted with sunflowers happily pointing the way out.

As they exited the campsite a sign cheerfully read “Thank you for your stay! We hope you enjoyed your time here!” 

Yuki stared at it in silence as they drove past.

There were several half-empty backpacks, a cooler and sandy towels shoved into the back of the car- all the signs of a family summer vacation. Mark leaned over the backseat and started digging around, pawing through whosever belongings these were. A small twinge of guilt brushed through Yuki, but she knew that they were in more need of this car than whoever could afford a new SUV with leather seats.

“What are you doing?” She said to Mark, half of his body leaned uncomfortably over the seat.

“Being nosey,” he responded. Mel rolled her eyes in the rearview mirror.

Glass bottles clinked together.

“Look what I found,” Mark smirked proudly holding up an unopened bottle of beer.

Vi twisted around in her seat, “Don’t you even think about it. Put those back,” she scolded him.

“Party pooper,” he grumbled dropping the beer back into the cooler. Vi turned to face the front in her seat. After a few minutes he shoved a grey men’s zip-up hoodie into Yuki’s hands.

“Put the hood up, your hair is too noticeable,” he said.

“I can’t help how my hair grows,” Yuki muttered, self-consciously pulling at one of the bright blue strands. Her hair grew naturally blue, like one of the little troll-doll that she played with as a kid. Growing up her mom dyed it dull flat brown and made her wear brown colored contacts to hide Yuki’s ruby red eyes.

“Vi, check the glovebox for anything useful,” Mark said. Vi popped open the glove box.

“There’s a wallet in here!” Vi squealed. She opened the wallet, and pulled out a handful of bills. Her nimble fingers quickly flipped through them, counting under her breath. She exhaled deeply, “There’s a hundred dollars in it,” she said smiling. “And a map.” She pulled out a folded map of Michigan.

They drove until the sun was rising over the tops of trees, passing through small towns and avoiding city traffic as best they could. Vi navigated, occasionally giving Mel directions. In the back, Yuki dozed fitfully. She tried to stay awake but exhaustion finally caught up with her and the plush leather seats felt like heaven. She’d always been a light sleeper, constantly hearing other people’s thoughts (in some cases that included their dreams) made it hard to sleep. It was like having a crowd of people in your bedroom at all times.

At one point she woke up leaning on Mark’s shoulder. He was asleep, his head rested against the window. Quickly she sat up and shifted back over to her side of the seat.

“How are you doing Melanie?” She asked quietly, trying not to wake Mark. Mel and Vi were awake, both looking ragged and worn out.

“We should stop at a motel,” Mel said around a big yawn. “Rest up, take a shower, and plan our next move.”

Another hour later they pulled off the road at the the next town they passed through, tiny with only a small gas station, a Main Street with a few touristy shops, and a dingy motel meant mainly for vacationing families traveling west of the state to the Great Lakes for the summer. The sight of a flickering pink Vacancy sign was a welcome relief.

“We shouldn’t all go in,” Mel said.

“Well Yuki can’t be the one to go in, she has blue hair.” Mark, who was awake now, said. Yuki tucked a piece of hair that kept falling in her eyes behind her ears.

“Mel, you can’t, you look too scary and pissed off, people will think you’re trying to rob the motel,” he said. Mel, arms crossed, smiled smugly.

“And I can’t because I’m too good looking, everyone remembers me,” He said, pushing a gold wave of hair off his forehead.

“Good looks and you’re modest, you’re the full package,” Yuki rolled her eyes. He grinned at her and winked.

“Vi should be the one to go since she’s the least noticeable,” Mark continued saying.

“I’ll try not to be offended by that,” Vi said. She hopped out of the car, casually walking into the reception lounge of the motel. Yuki heard the bell lightly chime as she pushed open the door.

The room was barely worth what they paid for it. The paper thin mattress was rock hard with stiff sheets, a thin blanket and two pillows. There was a small table with two chairs and a dim lamp in the corner. Mel instantly stretched out on the bed with a groan.

“Dibs on the shower,” Yuki said but everyone was too tired to fight her for it. The bath was surprisingly clean but the water pressure was weak and the water lukewarm, but she swore to god she’d never felt anything so good. The water soothed her aching muscles, washing off the sweat and dirt caked to her skin. She stood under the stream watching the dirty water circle the drain. The previous occupant had left a travel bottle of body wash that she used to scrub her skin and wash her tangled hair.

Exhaustion hit her like a train, all she wanted to do was curl up under the blankets and sleep forever.

She stepped out of the bathroom towel drying her hair. Her reflection in the fogged over mirror made her freeze in shock. The girl looking back at her was… hollow. Bruises in every shade, from purple to yellow, marred her skin. In the months inside the Organization her hair had grown just below her collarbone. She didn’t recognize herself, and it terrified her.

Yuki pressed the back of her hand against her trembling lips. Tears slipped down her cheeks, and once she started crying she couldn’t stop. How did this happen to them?

She couldn’t breath around her gasping sobs, and slowly she collapsed to her knees, clutching the threadbare towel. She quietly sobbed, she didn’t want Melanie to hear her. Yuki knew she couldn’t stay here on the dirty bathroom floor forever, no matter how weak and exhausted she was, any minute someone would be concerned and check on her and the last thing she wanted was for Mel to be worried about her.

“Pull yourself together,” she said to her reflection, splashing cold water on her blotchy face.

Melanie was on the bed, her face was chalk white and it made the dark circles under her eyes stand out like bruises. Her long red hair was fanned out on the pillow. It used to be vibrant, but now it was a dull faded color, like all the energy had been leached out of her— she was just a paler version of herself.

“Hey,” Yuki said gently lowering herself onto the bed. “Where are Mark and Vi?”

“They went to the vending machine,” she said her eyes fluttering open slowly to look up at her. Yuki laid down next to her sister. Mel rolled onto her side so that they were facing each other. When they were kids they used to sleep in the same bed, Yuki would crawl under Mel’s covers, it was the only thing that would comfort her enough to be actually able to sleep.

“This mattress is uncomfortable,” Yuki groaned, shifting her weight because her arm was going numb.

“At least it’s not the floor of a jail cell,” Mel said. They paused a beat before laughing together as if it was the funniest thing in the world. Maybe they were more exhausted than Yuki originally thought, because they were definitely slap-happy. After a minute she sighed, reaching over to hold her sister’s hand.

Mel scrubbed her other hand tiredly over her face, “God I need a cigarette,” she groaned. Yuki rolled her eyes, she hated Mel’s smoking habit.

“What now?” Yuki asked.

It was the urgent question on both of their minds. They needed to figure out what to do next. Right now they were like a life-raft adrift at sea, barely staying afloat.

“We do what I said I'd do,” Mel’s voice was cold— it brought Yuki back to the cold cell they’d been caged in, to the night Mel had promised on her grave. She met Yuki’s gaze, her stare was lit from within, burning so intensely that Yuki felt a shiver jolt down her spine.

“I’m going to burn The Organization to the ground for what they did to us.”