Writing Contest 2026 (Open!) Prizegivers Needed! remix

Notes & Credits

Chapter One I’m being kidnapped, again. This is the twelfth time this month. I feel the binds around my wrist and groan inwardly. These attempts always end the same. I reach into the back pocket of my jeans; I struggle for a moment but manage to grab the thing I need. A knife. I flip it around in my palm and cut the ropes that are strapping me to a wooden chair. I’m in a small van, no bigger than a queen-sized bed. My kidnappers are at the front of the car, that’s good, it’ll give me a chance to escape. I open the sliding door, I can hear shouts and yelling, another fight must have broken out. The door creaks and I wince; people are yelling from the front of the car. They definitely heard me open the door. We’re only going about fifteen MPH, in this small of a city there’s no reason to go any faster, you can only build so much underground. I wait patiently, my body already in the routine I’ve done over and over again. Wait patiently for ten seconds, one, two three, four… I count in my head, I can feel the car slowing down. They think that’ll help them, little do they know it only makes my job easier. There! I spot a patch of grass, I’ve unfortunately learned from experience that landing on concrete doesn’t feel awesome. I give myself half a second to prepare, then jump. I land on the grass and roll, it still hurts, but less so than landing on the cold hard ground. I stand up and begin racing through the city, the buildings begin passing by in a blur. If you could even call them buildings, the broken windows and half destroyed walls don’t make it obvious. I don’t have much time, those people will be after me soon. But after years of being here I’ve practically memorized the layout. A right, two lefts, one straight, and then one more left, climb up two flights of stairs, and you’re at the exit. I pause to catch my breath, smooth out my hair, and climb the last few steps to the landing. There are three guards on the landing, they all have weapons on them, a gun, knifes, though they hardly need to use them. The one in the middle is blocking a metal door, made of some of the strongest metal in the world, in case anyone gets any funny ideas. The middle one walks towards me with a smile on his face. “Hello Ms. Ensrith!” I give him a tired grin, “Hi!” I stretch my arm out and he walks towards me. “Another kidnapping?” He asks as he pulls out a machine and holds it over my arm. I nod and he sighs, “Well, at least you’re alright.” The machine beeps and the door opens, “Nice seeing you!” He says with a wave as I walk through the door. I give him a wave of my own before turning ahead. The first few times I went from The Red Garden to Pineyard it was always a shock. But after so long I began to get used to the scenery change. Now the broken and destroyed buildings are long gone. Replaced with cute little houses all in a row. People smiling and walking around, the artificial sunlight making it seem as though it was a normal day outside. Coming up from the sectors feels like stepping between worlds. As if the metal doors are galaxies I’m traveling through. But this isn’t my galaxy. I don’t have to run through this layer of the underground. Instead, I stroll through it, people wave at me, but it’s always with this small hint of fear. Nobody truly trusts me here, I don’t know if anyone in any sector does. So even though I’d like to stick around and talk to some of the people, I speed walk towards the exit, which of course requires another three flights of stairs. And another beep of the machine, but then, I’m finally at my home. I have to cover my eyes as I walk through the door, the real sun is a whole not brighter than the artificial light underground. After a second my eyes begin to get used to the light and I’m staring at my house. For the heiress to hundreds of people underground you’d think we’d live in a palace. Instead, we live in a medium sized cottage. Flowers planted all around and a porch swing right next to the door. My brother Ankh is walking towards me. “Hi Ankh.” I call and he grins. He’s nineteen, a whole five years older than me, but we’re still close, seeing as we’re the only kids we can actually talk to. “Hey Anna! What took you so long? Did you get kidnapped again?” I nod and roll my eyes, “It’s really annoying.” “I bet, I’m glad I’m not bringing food down there anymore.” This chapter was too long so the rest will be in comments!