I can feel it
The desperate control
A burning passion
When love takes it's toll
Yet souls have a reason

Dust swirled in the air as Persephone pushed up the door to the attic and light flooded in, illuminating all of the stacked boxes and junk. No one had been up here in a while-except Perry. She liked to climb up there when it was raining outside, so she couldn’t get on the roof, but she still needed to get away from her sister or her life in general. Reese was right behind her and Mags was lagging even farther down the hall-Perry knew her sister didn’t approve of this plan, but they couldn’t just throw Reese to the Guards-he was a person and deserved to be helped. Perry fumbled around in the darkness, almost tripping over a box or two until finally she found the light switch and then squinted as a bright light filled the space.

There were so many boxes up here-filled with only God knows what-and silently Perry grabbed for one and opened the top flaps. Reese had made it up and was doing the same, but Perry noticed that Maggie had stayed at the doorway, her blonde head poking up and her eyes held a look of concern. Oh well. Perry ignored her sister and instead focused on the box sitting at her feet. There were things in this box that she had never seen before, but still she knew what they were. Her father-when they were close-used to tuck Perry in to bed at night and then he would tell her of the world before F.E.A.R…when he was a teenager.

Things like CD’s and albums-these things played something called music, which Persephone found out her father had once loved. Now as she was looking down at the small plastic cases and larger round disks, Perry read over the names and found herself smirking. The Damned, The Misfits, Judas Priest, KISS-who came up with these names? Shaking her head, Perry moved on to another box and noticed out of the corner of her eye that Maggie had decided to join them. Her sister was sitting on the edge of the trap door, her hands folded neatly in her lap as her green eyes surveyed over the two of them.

Reese had found another box of albums and Persephone had to hold in her squeal as she opened a box and found that it held clothes. She pulled the pieces out, a smile lighting up her face as she ran her fingers over something she had only dreamed about-her father’s leather jacket. James Jones was a lawyer-turned factory worker-but before that he had been something of a troublemaker. He rode around on a motorcycle, listened to loud music and wore leather jackets and smoked cigarettes. The leather felt smooth in Perry’s hands and as she held it out she found that she was longing to try it on.


“Look what I found!” She called out to the room and both Reese and Maggie’s heads shot up and now they were looking in her direction. Perry was still holding the jacket up and she noticed that there were also a pair of boots, some pants and a few shirts that had band names scrawled across the front.

“Please tell me that didn’t belong to dad…” Maggie giggled as she came over and soon enough the two girls were sitting side by side.

“I’m pretty sure it did-he used to tell me about life before F.E.A.R when he would tuck me in and he mentioned having a jacket like this.” Perry said and Maggie only smiled as she grabbed for another box. Their father and Perry had been so close at one point, but Perry had gotten a rebellious streak in her and their father had distanced himself.

“Look Perry-I found more things for your room…” Reese was holding something up and as Perry looked over her mouth dropped open. The one in his hands was beautiful-it had blue birds all over it and they were flying off into the sky. She kept her squeal inside though-no need to scare the boy off.

“That’s amazing!” Perry said as she moved over to where Reese was sitting and the two of them began to dig through the box together. Maggie just sat there, watching the two of them as they smiled at one another and laughed. She just sat there…she would always be the outsider.


Marguerite and Persephone had always been close-they were all each other had growing up and of course that was going to make them lean on one another more. Lately-within the past two years- Perry had distanced herself from Maggie. It wasn’t intentional, but the nineteen year old had no interest in learning how to clean, cook, sew or be the perfect house wife. Maggie wanted all of those things-she was okay with their life and never really felt like anything was wrong with the way things were. That had caused a rift and so Maggie spent more time with their parents-their mother especially-and Perry just went off and did her own thing…which mostly consisted of breaking as many rules as possible.

Maggie only smiled as she sifted through some more boxes, finding clothing that belonged to their mother and a few family photos albums that were so caked in dust it was hard to tell what they were at first. She flipped through the pages and saw a young Perry, her red hair flying around her face as she played and then Maggie noticed that she was in these photos as well. Something was different though-she was laughing and smiling…she and Perry actually looked pretty similar in these pictures. This had been before F.E.A.R-before the laws that protected them had been put in place. Maggie knew nothing of a world without F.E.A.R and it scared her to think about.


“Well I think I’m gonna go back down and help mother with lunch…” Maggie said, her tone guarded and Perry finally looked up to find her younger sister standing in front of them, a book held to her chest and her green eyes filled with sadness.

“Are you sure Mags? I mean we have so many more boxes to go through…” Perry said as she stood and Maggie only smiled at her. The girl, her younger sister, was only slightly shorter than her and Perry found that she seemed sad all of a sudden. Did Maggie feel left out? That was a strange thought…usually it was Perry who was the odd man out.

“Yeah-yeah…you and Reese seem to have things under control. I’ll call up when lunch is ready…” Maggie gave her a soft smile, patting her on the shoulder and Perry only stood there as she watched her baby sister disappear through the trap door.

“She okay?” Reese asked as Perry turned towards him again and smiled. He looked kind of cute sitting there, his hands buried in a cardboard box and his hair was covered in a layer of dust bunnies.

“Yeah. Maggie gets kind of weird when I talk about what life was like before F.E.A.R.” Perry explained as she began to pick up boxes and move them to a far corner of the attic. The space was huge-more than enough room for them to get a bed up here so that Reese had somewhere to stay.

“Why? Doesn’t she remember what it was like?” He asked as Reese followed her lead and began to move some boxes of his own. Perry was smiling-he liked it when she smiled because it seemed to light up whatever room she happened to be in.

“No, no I don’t think she does. Maggie was only four when F.E.A.R took over and our parents sheltered her more than me…I was always expected to be the brave one.” Perry explained and Reese only nodded his head. He was the eldest…atleast he had been and he knew that expectation because it had been placed on his shoulders as well.


Silently the two of them worked around the attic, getting boxes condensed and moved to a far corner. They had found more clothes and Perry almost died of happiness when she opened a box and found a small leather jacket from when her father had been a teenager. She slid the jacket up her arms and smiled brightly when she realized that it was a perfect fit. The jacket-while just a piece of clothing-meant everything to Perry because it showed her that there was a way to break away from F.E.A.R. Of course she would only wear the jacket inside of the house, but still it was like her own personal rebellion.

Pretty soon Maggie was calling up the steps for lunch and the two teens stopped their work for a quick break. A small lunch of cheese, bread and water was what they were given and Perry only sighed-she hated the food they were given. Food was rationed for those who lived in smaller towns and even though her father worked at a food plant-they were still given hardly anything. All of the food went to the bigger cities-LA, Austin and Las Vegas, leaving the scraps for those who were stuck in small town America. Soon enough the two teens were back upstairs, armed with brooms and mops as they tried to do battle against the never ending dust.

Finally everything was clean and Perry was grunting as they tried to get a small bed up from the cellar, through the house and up into the attic. Two hours, a few stubbed toes and some cursing under her breath later and the bed was placed on the floor of the attic. Maggie had found them some sheets and Reese only stood by as Perry made his bed. He didn’t know the first thing about any of this house stuff-his mother and sisters had always taken care of that for him. Reese had been responsible for fixing things around the house and making sure that his younger siblings stayed out of trouble.


“All finished and it doesn’t look half bad up here.” Perry said, smiling as she collapsed onto the bed. Reese only smiled as he looked around-he had a bed, a night table that they had fashioned from two boxes filled with books and there had been some hooks already so that he could hang his clothes.

“Yeah-I like it. I might hang some of those pictures up-if you don’t mind…just to cover the bare walls with something.” Reese said as he sat down beside the girl on his bed and smiled. Perry only looked at him, they were sitting really close together and Reese was looking at her like she was the only girl in the room…which she technically was.

“Go for it. My dad said he’s going to try and get in to your house in the next few days-saying that your dad had something of ours and we need to get it back. That way he can get your clothes and anything else you might want or need…” Perry said and her breath caught in her throat as Reese only smiled gently at her and placed his hand on top of her own.

“Thanks for everything Perry…I have a lot of what I need right here…” He squeezed her hand and Perry tried, in vain, to fight the blush that was creeping on to her nose.

“Y-you do?” She said, her voice soft and Reese only smiled as he placed a hand on her soft cheek and ran a thumb across her skin. She was so beautiful-her red hair shining like fire in the light and those eyes…he could get lost in them forever.

“Yeah…Perry?” His voice had grown soft and Perry said nothing at first as she just looked at Reese and noticed that now he was the one blushing. He was also biting down on his lip and Perry felt a shiver run up her spine-why was that so attractive?

“Yes?” She said and then the two of them locked eyes. Perry noticed that he kept licking his lips and then Reese moved his other hand and placed it on her face. He was cradling her head and smiling at her as his eyes trailed down from her own and landed on her lips.

“I’m gonna kiss you…” He said and Perry felt breathless.

“I-I might not be very good at it…” She said with worry in her voice and Reese only smiled as he moved closer.


Soon enough their lips were touching and he was pressing against her slightly-Perry felt like her heart was going to beat right out of her chest in that moment. His lips were soft and as she sat there with her eyes closed Perry could see things flashing before her.A small wedding, walking down towards Reese and seeing him smile, moving in to a house of their own, raising a family and then being together. She had never felt like this about someone before and Perry couldn’t really explain it. Maybe only being around her family for so long had left her starved for affection…or maybe this was just fate. They broke away and as Perry opened her eyes and gazed into the green ones that were staring at her…she felt like maybe her life had gotten a little bit better.

Oh but it would get so much worse…

Notes

What's going to happen?

Sorry this is so late guys-life tends to get in the way sometimes.

Review<3