~Amara~

"I love you mommy, I love you daddy." I giggled as I ran around them with my arms out like an airplane.

"We love you too Amara." They smiled and laughed with me.

It was perfect it was...

A dream.

I hate dreams. Even good dreams are bad. Good dreams make you happy while your sleeping, then disappointed when you wake up. Bad dreams remind us that monsters aren't under our bed, but in our head.

My alarm clock blared its screeching sound. I rolled over and turned it off. I groaned as I sat up and ran a hand through my knotty hair.

My tears threatened to spill as I thought back to when life was perfect. Me, Mom, and Dad lived together in a cozy house. We loved each other. We were happy. I was happy.

Then Dad disappeared. Later we learned he was killed by the Circle. We never got a reason. Mother changed since that day. It started slow, she began with blocking me out. She wouldn't play, she wouldn't talk. Then the drinking. With the drinking came the beating. Now her problems have been getting worse as the years go by. I'm not sure how much more I can take. I would leave, but the thought of doing that scares me more than staying.

I walked out of my room and into the kitchen. As I cracked eggs and whisked them in a bowl, memories of yesterday came crashing down on me. Austin, the woods, his Pokémon, and then the other bird Pokémon that took me. The silver bird brought me straight to my house. How did it know where I lived?

I put the food in a cracked bowl and went back to my room. I pulled out some clothes then put them back. Austin might be at school today, I don't think I could handle talking about his weird Resistance thing. Instead I climbed back into my bed. Mother wouldn't care if I skipped. I closed my eyes and went back to sleep.

~Mother~

I wasn't drunk yesterday.

At least not at the time Amara came home on a Pokémon. I've been needing an excuse to get rid of that girl, she's expensive. I have to buy her food and that's not cheap.

I walked into the kitchen and ate my eggs. Cooking is the only good thing the brat is good for. I smiled as I saw that she was still in the house. It wasn't like her to skip, but that's okay. It will only add to my story when I get to the station. They would have to believe me that she needed contained.

I placed my dishes in the sink and grabbed my coat and put it on. In the mirror I looked average, not the mother of a violent teenage girl. I would have to look the part to play the part.

I went into the living room and grabbed an empty bottle off the floor. I smashed it against the arm of the couch to make a sharp, jagged end. With the point, I slowly dragged it across my face. I winced as it cut into my flesh. Deep, but not deep enough for stitches. I looked back in the mirror and checked out my handy work. I smeared the blood on my clothes to make the wound worse than it really is.

I smiled again as I walked out the door to the nearest Circle station. They wouldn't even question it as I told them The Silver Man's daughter went rogue.

"Bye bye Amara!" I laughed.

~Amara~

I woke up again and stretched my arms. The house was unusually quiet. I went out into the kitchen and saw that mother's bowl was in the sink. She wasn't in the living room, bathroom, or bedroom. This was the first time I've been home alone in a long time. Mother doesn't normally leave very often.

I went out to the kitchen and grabbed a handful of berries. I went back into the living room and flipped on the tv.

"An Absol was seen rampaging across Elk Street this morning. Stay indoors if you are in the area. If seen, contact local authorities." A reporter said in front of the camera..9.).9

A clip of a scared Absol was seen cornered in an ally. On its back was an egg. The Absol's eyes frantically darted from side to side looking for an escape. When a guard step forward with a whip, the Absol was sent into mother mode. It bared its fangs and lunged out at the guard. Black energy spewed from it. Smoke covered the camera and when it cleared, the Absol was nowhere to be seen.

"It wouldn't have been scared if you didn't try to hurt its egg!" I yelled at the reporter even though she couldn't hear me.

What did I just say? Did I really feel bad for it?

No. I turned the knob on the tv to turn it off and looked around the house. I needed to do something to keep my mind from wandering where I didn't want it to. I walked back down the hallway and passed Dad's old office.

"You are the daughter of the Silver Man aren't you?" Austin's voice asked me inside my head.

I rested my hand on the door knob. I was scared to go inside. Mother and I haven't stepped foot inside since Dad's death. I don't want to go inside, but what if this room held answers? I wouldn't know unless I checked.

I opened the door.

The first thing that hit me was the old smell of newspapers and dust. So much dust. It covered every inch of the room. Even the ceiling seemed to be coated in a thick layer of the stuff.

I stepped all the way inside. I didn't know how long Mom would be out so I would have to be fast.

I quickly went straight to Dad's desk and began going through the papers on top. Billing, billing, billing, boring, boring, boring. I yanked open the top drawer which was filled with pictures. I grabbed one off the top and tears filled my eyes as I saw it.

It was me and my parents.

We were all sitting on bench eating ice cream. I couldn't have been any older than five. We all had huge smiles on out faces as we beamed at the camera. I took the picture and put it in my  pocket.

The next drawer was empty. I went to close it but I could hear things moving inside of it. I opened it up again to inspect it closer. In the back the bottom of the drawer didn't fit right. I picked at the corner and sure enough, it pulled off like a lid. The bottom was fake.

Now I was interested.

There were loads of unusual things in here. I picked up a small satin bag. I opened it up and saw that it was filled with types of stones I've never seen before. There was one with a leaf on top, a orange stone with a flame inside, a clear blue stone with a lightning bolt, and a stone that almost looked like a liquid. They seemed very valuable so I gently placed them back in the bag and then back in the drawer.

The next thing I pulled out was a red and white ping pong ball sized device. I picked it up and on contact, it expanded to the size of a baseball. I moved it around in my hand and threw it in the air a few times to see if it would do anything. It didn't.

Disappointed, I put it back with the stones. I went through other things labeled potions and revives. Nothing really stood out until the very bottom. It was another picture.

This was one was from when I was a baby. My eyes were closed and I was wrapped snugly in a blanket so that only my head was  sticking out. The silver Pokémon from before had its wing around me as we sat on soft green grass. Green grass! Dad must have taken this picture, secretly of course. Pokémon were already banned by the time I was born. I didn't want to be caught having this picture so I put it back with all of the other things and got up. I placed the secret part of the drawer back on top. I glanced around to see where I should search next.

Piles and piles of newspapers sat in the corner. I walked over to those and picked up a few. They talked about how the Silver Man rallied hundreds of people in protests against Poké Farming rights and the killing of innocent Pokémon. Dozens more all had stories on what the Silver Man did.Then I got to the last one which was placed in a frame with silver trim.

It was all about the disappearance of the Silver Man and his death. A grainy picture of Dad in handcuffs was below the story. I gasped. He really was the Silver Man!

Wait, if Dad was dead who put this in here...

"There she is Officers!" I turned my head and saw a small squad of Circle members at the door of the office along with Mother.

Mother. She was the one that put this here, I was sure of it!

I didn't have much time to ponder the thought. Two of the guards sprung forward and tackled me to the floor. My head cracked against the hard wood. My vision went fuzzy and black around the edges. The others surrounded me, guns out. One of them stepped forward and placed handcuffs on my wrists behind my back.

"Thank you ma'am. We can take it from here." A burly officer said to my Mother.

"Thank you Officers. I will feel much safer when she is... taken care of." Mother sobbed. A Circle member patted her shoulder for comfort.

I glanced around in confusion. I didn't know what was happening. On Mom's face an angry red cut ran from her eye down to her cheek. How did that get there? Did they think I did it?

I was grabbed under my arms and hauled to my feet. My head spun around the a merry go round. Since I couldn't walk, I was dragged to a sleek black van waiting outside our house in the driveway. How did I not hear these people enter?

They swung the doors open and literally threw me in. Without my hands to catch my fall, I once again hit my head off of the floor. They locked the big doors behind me, said a few words to my mother, then piled into squad cars behind the van. With the doors closed, I was sent into darkness, the only light coming from a small window on the door. Someone started the car up front and we slowly began to move forward.

On shaky feet feet I rose up to the barred window on the doors of the van. Outside my mother stood in the middle of the road smiling and waving as we drove away. I haven't seen my Mother smile in nine years. Who knew that all it took for her to smile was just for me to go away. Tears began to form behind my blue eyes.

I refused to let my tears flow. I turned away from the window and looked around the back of the van. In the corner something shifted inside a metal cage. I cautiously stepped closer over to it and looked inside.

Through the darkness I squinted and made out a furry white body. It shifted again and lifted its head up. Shiny black eyes filled with sadness stared at me with fear. It was the Absol from the news report.

"Ab-Absol!" It wailed.

I looked around the cage and saw a terrible sight that made my heart break. On the floor of the cage, the Absol's egg laid on the cool metal floor of the cage.

Broken.

Smashed bits of shell were strewn around all over the floor of the van. The sick guards were the only ones that could have done this. The Absol threw up its head to the ceiling and let out a howl of sadness as it choked on its own sobs.

"Absol?" I called to it.

It stopped its crying and looked at me with teary eyes.

"I will get you out of here." I stated.

I walked over to it and placed my head on the bars of its cage. It lifted its nose and rested it in my knuckles.

"I will make them pay."

~Austin~

No, no, no. This could not be happening.

The fake math worksheets I clutched fluttered down onto the sidewalk as I watched Amara get loaded into a Circle van. I was going to pretend that I was in Amara's class and was sent to giver her work. I needed an excuse to go talk to her, and now she was going to jail.

I ran all the way to the woods as fast as I could. The second I got on the path I began yelling. "Star! Star I need you!" I yelled.

The Staraptor swooped down from a tree and quickly went over to me. She bent down so I could climb on. Star took to sky with me on her back. I pulled my bag around so it was on the front of me and dug through it. I found my pen.

"Godric?" I said.

"Austin? Are you... flying right now?"

"Yes! There has been a change of plans. Amara sorta, got herself into trouble."

"Austin..."

"Don't worry I got it covered. If not, it's been great working for you."

"Austin!"

I hung up and stuffed the pen back into my bag. I leaned close to Star's ear and whispered to her my plan. She whipped her head around and glared at me. Are you crazy! She seemed to say.

I patted Star's side. "It will work." I told her.

It had to.

~Amara~

Hours later the van doors swung open.

"Now!" I yelled to Absol.

She leapt out the doors, fangs bared. I stumbled after her with my hands behind my back from the handcuffs. Guards shouted to one another as Absol made her way to the edge of the prison yard we were in. I started to run after her, but I was tackled again by a guard to the ground. Absol started to come back towards me.

"No! Run away Absol!" I screamed.

She looked back at me with a hurt look. Advancing guards started towards her with whips. She looked at me one last time before nodding, a thank you. Her feet were enveloped in clouds of dust as she sprinted faster than I could of ever imagined. She ran up the barbed fence and away and into the nearby woods. Guards swore as they saw her get away.

The Circle Guard on top of my picked my up by a handful of my hair. "Ow!" I yelped.

He let go and grabbed a phone and dialed some numbers. I took this as my chance. Following where Absol ran, I sprinted towards the edge of the barbed wire fence.

"I'm doing it!" I whisper screeched.

"I'm...I'm...I'm...I." My body started to fail me.

I fell to the ground in a heap. I looked down at my leg and saw the flag of a tranq dart buried in my flesh. I pinched the top and pulled it out. My eyes began to feel heavy and slowly closed as the drug worked its way through me.

That's funny, I must be hallucinating.

I thought I saw Austin's bird Pokémon.

~Amara (Later)~

My eyes slowly opened and I quickly saw that I was in a cell. My head was spinning. What happened?

"Don't rush it." Someone said behind me.

My mouth tried to form words but no sound came out. I closed my eyes and went back to sleep.

I had a dream of the Absol.

The Absol ran wild, but not free. For now she had to bear the the burden of knowing she was a failed mother. She should have fought harder. It was too late, her baby was dead before ever being alive. She abandoned a girl in her own selfishness. The Absol crumpled to the ground in pain. However, it was not physical. It was the thoughts that hurt her.

"Amara!"

"Huh?" I opened my eyes, but couldn't find the person that belonged to the voice belonged to.

I felt better this time, the dose of the tranq gun must be going away now. I propped myself up on a damp, concrete wall behind me. Sitting in the middle of the cell was none other than Austin. A gasp escaped my lips, I definitely wasn't expecting him.

"Sorry to wake you, but you were screaming about an Absol."

I chose to ignore him and looked around the room we were in. It was a cell. There were four cement walls surrounding us. It had no windows or bars, not even on the door which was made of thick and heavy metal. Two planks of wood rested on the ground, raised just enough so the many bugs wouldn't crawl all over us as we slept. All of the corners held a camera. They were all pointed at us from different angles.

"What happened?" I asked him groggily.

"You came in here knocked out. I was already in here for a few hours before that happened." He explained.

"Oh..." I looked away and closed my eyes again.

I wasn't able to fall asleep because the door rattled as it swung open. It revealed a tall guard with jet black hair and eyes so black you couldn't see the pupils. I shivered as he stared right at me. I wouldn't let him see my fear.

"Hello Jackson." I smiled as I read his name tag.

He stared at me with his dark glare. "Amara Rayes?" He asked with an almost robotic tone.

"Hey I'm Amara Rayes!" I grinned.

He did not look amused.

"Come with me." He demanded.

"Not too friendly are ya?" I frowned but followed him anyways.

Austin was smirking over in the corner. Another guard entered the cell just as I was being led out. He must of been there for Austin. I followed the guard down the hallway that was lined with regular barred cells. Why was ours so different from these ones.

"So Jacky, why are these cells different. Would you happen to be scared of us?" I turned my head a little to look back at him. He gritted his teeth slightly. I could tell I was starting to get to him.

We turned the corner and stopped in front of a wooden door. "In you go." Officer Jackson said as he pushed me inside.

"Thank you sir!" I exclaimed as I rolled my eyes. He paid no mind and turned around, guarding the door.

I walked inside and saw a very scrawny old man in a suit. "Do they ever let you guys retire?" I asked him.

He showed no emotion to what I said. He just brushed it off and went straight to business. "Amara Rayes, in for breaking statements three, four, six, twelve and thirty-one in the Circle accord. Is this correct?"

"How many freaking statements are there?"

"For violating these rules, you have been sentenced to cementing."

My jaw dropped as a scream made its way out of my throat.

I was not joking around anymore.

Hey guys!

Are you all ready to see what cementing is? I hope you enjoyed this chapter of The Silver Girl!

Byeeee!