A Century Lost

Have you ever had a dream and swore it was real ? I mean like to the point where you can feel the breeze of wind move within your hair? You can feel the warmth of someone’s skin against your own? Then when you awaken and your body is tingling from that phantom of a touch. I have always had dreams like that, as far back as I could remember. I could smell the sulfur in the air that burned my nose. I could feel the damp stone underneath my naked feet. I am running towards a figure hidden in the shadows, completely unafraid. I am eager to get to it as if it was life or death. However, no matter I was never able to reach it.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

I was pulled out of my dream from the sound of the alarm. I awaken to the darkness of my room in my home but not quite. Even though I do live here with my family, this house has never felt like home to me. This structure was simply that, a structure, even though there was obviously love and happiness shared here amongst my family and I; there was something missing. I have always felt incomplete, it is a feeling that I could never seem to explain to anyone no matter how hard I tried. The only time I felt at home was in my dreams which sounded completely crazy to most people, so it has often been ignored. As I got older I began to keep my thoughts and feelings hidden. I guess that kept me ‘normal’. Well somewhat ‘normal’.

“Get up Anna,” I murmured to myself. After a little self motivation I got up from my bed and headed to the bathroom to get ready for school. Unfortunately, I was not looking forward to this week at all. I was already over the formalities that I would have to endure from the masses. After I got out of the shower I glared at myself in the fogged up mirror. I gazed at my flawless porcelain skin that women envied. My piercing green eyes that men found themselves intraced in. My full breast and curved frame and wide hips that rounded an apple bottom, a body built for sin. Without any vanity in my words, I knew I was undeniably beautiful. The black curly hair that haloed my face just made my features even more apparent.

This is the face I would have for the remainder of my life and I say that because even though I appear human. I am not. I am only part human. Only half of a being and this would now be the face I would have for the rest of my life because this week I would be turning eighteen. Eighteen is the age where others like me stop growing, eighteen is the age where our abilities heighten to threatening levels. Unfortunately, for me I was already threatening, already too powerful, so for me that would simply be more medicine. I had to be controlled, I had to be watched, and kept safe. I was essentially in a prison and I have been for as long as I could remember. Which was not much. The constant medications that I was forced to endure affected my memory. It was very hard for me to recall moments of my childhood.

I pulled my hair up away from my face and continued to get ready. I always tried to keep my attire simple. I wore things to keep the attention away, even though that did not help much. However, it did help the boys and even a few men from looking at my chest and ass. In truth no man has ever seemed to interest ME. In their eyes I never saw any pure intentions; perhaps I have never come across the correct man. No matter; I hated the attention I would get from men. I have had crushes obviously but they were nothing more than that. They were aesthetically pleasing to look at and nothing else, yet I still had a boyfriend.

Poor Nicholas I was only dating him out of pity.

“Anna,” my mother shouted. “You are going to be late.”

I quickly finished up, grabbed my bag and headed downstairs. I could already smell the leftovers of breakfast that she had cooked for my brothers. She was over at the sink cleaning up their mess, as always.

“Good Morning, sweetie,” she greeted.

“Good Morning,” I replied. My mother Catherine was a single mother and not by choice my father died some time ago and she refused to remarry. Apparently, no man was good enough to replace the man that she fell in love with. She did not have many pictures of him but the few she did have was enough for me to at least see what he looked like. I surprisingly didn’t look like him at all nor her. She told me that he would often say I looked more like my grandmother, his mother Margaret.

“There is a breakfast sandwich on the counter.”

I glanced over at the square object wrapped in foil paper and stuffed it into my bag. “Why are you dressed like that, Anna,” she continued, as her eyes glanced over my baggy attire. “You are turning eighteen now, you can dress like a young lady.” Meaning skirts, dresses, and blouses to name a few.

“I get enough attention already,” I muttered.

“Anna, you are a half-breed. I thought you would be used to it by now.”

No. No, I will never get used to it. I will never get used to having a conversation and having to watch that person trail off in apparent hypnosis by my appearance. No mom I will never get used to…why would you even say something like that?

“I’m leaving,”I simply said. “I will see you later.” As soon as I opened the door the sounds of the city flooded in. I loved it. I loved hearing the sounds of its life. The notifications on my phone seemed to be going off as soon as I closed the door. It wasn’t even 8:30am and everyone was already caught up in some drama. Some of the drama unsurprisingly had to do with me. Apparently, one of my classmates' boyfriends was making comments about me (which I did not care about) and she was jealous.

On the way to the school I saw that there were more soldiers patrolling the streets, which was not that uncommon. All attacks from enemy soldiers have halted but we are still in an ongoing war. Armored vehicles lined the side streets; perhaps something was about to happen. Always on alert.

Unfortunately, for nearly 100 years the human race has been at war with an intergalactic species which are referred to as Imperials. They are a much older race than humans previously thought; in fact they predate humans by a few millennia. They are superior to humans in many ways. They aren’t plagued with mortality unless it is physically brought upon them. They possess supernatural abilities such as telepathy, superhuman strength, and speed to name a few. They are also incredibly beautiful; they would essentially look like gods and that is how I came to be. My mother became intraced with one of these beings, my father Anthony Hunter.

However, regardless of their obvious beauty and abilities they are monsters. They are blood sucking creatures with a thirst that has no end. Most of them desired blood not because they needed it, they desired it because they seemingly wanted it. They could live for ages without a single drop, but they would be weak only noticably to another like themselves. Luckily half-breeds like myself do not have to worry about that. Still we are feared as if we were one of these creatures. So I am both loved and feared by most people I interact with.

As I arrived at the school I noticed soldiers in the adjacent parking lot across from the building. Quite a few students were still lingering outside, a few were even taking pictures of the apparent growing situation. Amongst them I saw one of my best friends Jasmine. She was a tall skinny girl but tough as hell. She would defend me with her last breath from humans and probably Imperials.

“Anna,” she greeted. “You look amazing as usual.”

“Hey, girl, “ I smiled. “Do you know what is going on across the street ?”

She shook her head. “Apparently they have been here since earlier this morning. I just think they are starting to get paranoid. The Imperials haven’t attacked in months and maybe they are worried they are planning something bigger. Well if they didn’t know where the fuck you guys were, they will surely know now. Idiots.”

About almost a year ago there was an unexpected ‘attack’ no one was killed which was kind of strange. The military could not seem to understand the gravity of the sudden arrival , but they called it an ‘attack’. It was right here in New York actually. I had never seen so much panic in my life. They arrived in their blackened airships using their cloak devices to bypass our military defenses. I was in Times Square when it happened along with a few friends, Jasmine included. We all ran to the nearest building to seek shelter, we just needed to get out from the streets. I knew there was nothing that could be done to save us if we were discovered, not even me in my current state. We hid as best as we could. I will never forget hearing just silence after the screaming finally stopped and then the sound of boot steps entering the building. It was an eerie feeling as they seemed to grow closer. We were discovered by a singular Imperial soldier and to our surprise he let us go. I had never ran so fast in my life.

I wasn’t the only half-breed at my school. In fact there were four of us. Valerie, Jessica, and Io. Valerie and I had known each other for quite a long time. We were stationed at CAMP together which was really a government containment facility for half-breeds. CAMP just sounded less serious. All half-breeds were forced to go to these facilities where we would be ranked based on our power and abilities. It was broken down into 5 ranks with 1 being the lowest. Most half-breeds were Rank 1, even less were Rank 2, and then there was me. The special one. I don’t remember much about my childhood but I remembered that moment.

Sitting in a cold room with no windows with my mother at my side as a doctor told us I was a Rank 5 half-breed and being the only one in existence. They told me that I would be highly coveted and as I got older I soon realized how true that was. I was desired by many controlling powers, amongst the humans, especially the military. Many believe my power were equal to the members of the Imperial Royal Family or possibly greater. They wanted to turn me into a weapon as long as I was able to be controlled.

Of course I was kept under the utmost secrecy. If the Imperials ever found out about me I would be hunted till the ends of the earth. Half-breeds were sought after but me…I would be…HUNTED.