Promise: The Scarred Girl E-Book

Maya Shepherd

• Herausgeber: Maya Shepherd
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Promise: The Scarred Girl

Leseprobe

Maya Shepherd

Promise

„The Scarred Girl“

Table of Contents

Title Page

Promise: The Scarred Girl

Prologue

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Acknowledgments

Translated by Bradley Hall

Copyright ©2014 Maya Shepherd

Coverdesign: Ines Caranaubahx

Facebook: Maya Shepherd

Blog: www.mayashepherd.blogspot.de

Twitter: MayaShepherd

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For Sabrina Keim,

never forget E+M 4 freedom

Prologue

Do you know the feeling when you know that something terrible is going to happen? But instead of freaking out, you feel empty and internally frozen simply because you know you cannot change it? You have no choice but to stand impotent and look toward the coming disaster There is a small hope that maybe things won’t be so bad.

We are all affected, regardless of whether we are young or old, fat or thin, black or white. The disease does not discriminate. It can strike anyone.

There are people dying everywhere, and with them electricity, the water supply, food production... and everything else that is required for life in the twenty-first century. All of this is due to a disease that starts as a cold and progresses to a high fever and then on to hair loss and a skin rash until there is nothing left to hope for but death.

The news became filled with new theories about the disease. The adults have no other topic of conversation anymore. No matter where you go, you meet people who have lost someone they know due to the virus. Every evening on the news statistics are displayed that show how much of the world’s population has fallen victim. At the same time, researchers will not tire of pointing out that they are working on an antidote. Of course it has the highest priority and all other research has been postponed. Anyone with even a little medical knowledge is occupied with the search for the urgently needed vaccine day and night. It is the biggest disaster in the history of mankind. Not even the Plague claimed as many victims, and yet there must be some kind of cure. The solution must be close enough to touch, because otherwise it would not explain why some people are spared.

With all the panic, many sects and new religious communities sprang up to explain why some people are spared. Everything is the will of God, who wanted to cleanse the world. But neither myself, nor my parents, are very religious. We never went to church; never spoke a blessing, so why should we start now? But I catch my mother quiet and seemingly unguarded with folded hands as she silently prays to herself more and more frequently. She has a great fear that I can see in her. Her eyes are often red and swollen from crying.

When I was twelve-years-old, my parents ceased giving me a goodnight kiss in the evening or wishing me sweet dreams. I was embarrassed and explained to them that you cannot do something like that to older children. But for four weeks, they came back to me every night. They would sit down on the edge of my bed and look at me with concern. They would tell me that I should not fear and that everything would work out somehow. That no matter what happens, life would go on for me and it would be all right again. I do not know what they feared more, the fact that I might get the plague and die in front of them or that they might die and leave me alone?

I often lie awake all night long in my bed and seriously try to imagine how the world would be without my parents, without electricity, and all the things that go with them every day. But I do not succeed.

A few days ago in our garden, I tried to start a fire with two sticks. But instead of producing sparks, I only poked my arm with one of the two sticks so that it bled. How will I ever survive in this changed world? I will not even have a light in the dark in this world without electricity.

Of course, I could team up with other survivors, but I never had many friends. I have always been more of a loner because I do not like to rely on others.

In addition to my parents, there is only one other person for whom I would do anything for unconditionally, and that’s Miro. He’s my best friend. More than that, he’s the brother I never had. With him, I share my hopes and dreams and worries and fears. Whenever I am sad, he conjures up a smile upon my face.

If the world goes down in flames, he will hold my hand and dance with me upon the ruins.

One

(Six Years Later)

A cold wind blows Nea’s face while drilling her bare toes into the wet sand. The sea water spills over her feet. It is early morning. The sun slowly rises over the horizon and bathes the world in a golden glow, dissipating the deep blue of the night. She keeps her eyes closed and inhales the salty smell and tries to memorize the sound of the sea. To her, these are as natural as the air she breathes. Since her birth, she has lived in this small seaside village. Here she not only learned to walk, but spent each of her birthdays with a campfire and grilled fish on the beach. Leaving the place of her childhood is to draw a line under her past life. Too many people have died. Too much suffering has she endured. Here there is no future and no hope. Her goal is the newly built city of Promise in the south. Nea will travel for several weeks on the road to reach it, but it’s worth it. She would take every risk and effort upon herself to be able to forget and to start over from scratch. About two years ago she learned about Promise. The only city that has electricity. The only city where she could make a life without fear. The only city that promises a better future. Of course, they do not grant just anyone access. There is a strict selection process, because it is an honor to be granted entry into Promise.

Nea is neither a high performance athlete nor a technical genius, but she learns quickly. Over the last six years, she developed a strong will to survive. She knows she can do a lot once she has seized the ambition. This ambition does not belong to the girls who are looking for a strong guy who can protect them; it belongs to those who have learned to get by alone. She had to learn it because she was alone in the world without family or friends.

Therefore, many take advantage of the power of community and hunt and survive together. Together we are stronger than alone, but the more people who come together, the more significant the strong differ from the weak. The strong take what they want, while the rest is left for the weak.